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Rolling the sleeves up – a good OHS technique.
My father has a smallish block up in the bush, north-east Victoria in the Ovens Valley. He can’t live there safely anymore, but since he built the place himself and with all the family history it has,...
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Another government department limits ATV/quad bike use over safety concerns
At the end of May 2011, The Weekly Times newspaper reported that the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment “has enforced limited use of ATVs by staff while it conducted a risk...
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Politics slows the safety regulation process in Australian oilfields
On 8 August 2011, the Australian Financial Review (not available online) reported on a letter from the head of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety Agency (NOPSA), John Clegg, that criticised the...
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Similarities between the regulation of environmental and workplace safety
In June 2011, Victoria’s Environment Protection Authority (EPA) released a revised Compliance and Enforcement (C&E) policy. There seemed to be some similarities to WorkSafe’s C&E policy,...
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OHS will eventually need to address the big climate change impacts
The latest edition of the Journal of Occupational Medicine (JOM) (Vol 61. No 5 Aug 2011) includes a short article on the occupational impact of climate change, an issue that must be addressed in the...
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Tread carefully when speaking with the media
One of the most important professional lessons is to only talk about what you know. I found this out personally after a disastrous pre-conference workshop many years ago where I did not understand...
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The synchronicity of safety and environment
There has always been a moral similarity between the occupational health and safety (OHS) profession and the environmental advocates. One focusses on the immediate safety of humans and the other on...
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Who would buy asbestos?
A busy mum, two little kids playing on the carpet in the corridor. She is busy pulling out an old gas heater from the cavity in the wall. Dust everywhere. She wants to recreate the old fashioned...
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Extraordinary duty of care prosecution over a near miss
Near miss events, or “close calls”, are important opportunities to review safety and work processes. In fact they can be the best opportunities as the participants and witnesses are still alive and...
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The Australian Government targets former PM, Kevin Rudd, over insulation deaths
The investigation into workplace deaths associated with Australia’s Home Insulation Program (HIP) was refreshed yesterday with the publication of some of the terms of reference for a new Government...
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Australian media fishes for bad news on NBN Co and asbestos and misses the...
Prior to the 2013 election, the Australian media, particular the News Limited newspapers, went to town on the previous (Labor) government over its handling of the National Broadband Network (NBN)...
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One man’s frustration with OHS illustrates larger safety dysfunctions
Terry Reis has written a terrific article about how occupational health and safety (OHS) requirements can impede his work as a fauna ecologist. Instead of whingeing about green or red tape, Terry has...
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A rough ride on OHS
Since I heard about the Gaia hypothesis in the 1980s, I have read most of James Lovelock‘s books. I was confronted by his argument that nuclear power is undervalued as one of the cleanest and...
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Book review: Business, Environment, and Society – Themes and Cases
Australia’s Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program (HIP) spent a great deal of time looking at the design of what started as an environmental initiative delivered in one way to an economic...
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Australian PM responds to Insulation Royal Commission
Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott provided his interim response to the Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program (HIP) in Parliament on 30 September, 2014. One should not expect much...
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A top OHS blog for 2014
I am very proud to receive recognition from LexisNexis again in 2014 for my work on the SafetyAtWorkBlog. On 16 December 2014 LexisNexis Legal Newsroom Workers’ Compensation named the SafetyAtWorkBlog...
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WorkSafe Victoria heads roll
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has spoken publicly about the removal of the CEO and Chair of WorkSafe Victoria describing them as liars and incompetent. As Jon Faine pointed out in the radio...
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OHS and public health at The Coal Face
The Hazelwood mine fire has faded from the memory of most Victorians following the Parliamentary inquiry but not so for those who continue to live in the Latrobe Valley and with the health consequences...
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Cancer data needs to start a discussion on effective controls
The Cancer Council of Western Australia has released a report (not yet available online)that states: “The number of occupationally caused cancers compensated each year equates to less than eight per...
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Safety is missing from the political lexicon
At the moment in Australia, a political debate is gathering momentum over the creation of jobs at the expense of the environment. This, largely, ideological argument is an example of free market vs...
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