This weekend is the International Workers Memorial Day. In Victoria, in particular and in Australia more generally, it is highly likely that the issue of Industrial Manslaughter laws will be raised as part of a trade union campaign. Dr Gerry Ayers, the OHS&E Manager of one of the branches of the CFMEU, features in an … Continue reading “Interview with Dr Gerry Ayers”
On the evening of 28 April 2016, (Australian time), Professor Mike Behm of North Carolina, Ciaran McAleenan in Ireland and others coordinated an online discussion about the importance of International Workers Memorial Day (IWMD). Dr Gerry Ayers was scheduled to participate but was beaten by technical problems. However he shared his thoughts about the memorial and … Continue reading “Gerry Ayers on International Workers Memorial Day”
Most submissions to the inquiry into Sentencing Occupational Health and Safety Offences in Victoria are now publicly available. They raise a lot of different issues and some grumbles even though the Sentencing Advisory Council provided some structure to the topics it wanted addressed. A major purpose of any penalty is to deter harmful and damaging actions from being repeated. …
Victoria’s Minister for WorkSafe, Danny Pearson, has emerged from the occupational health and safety (OHS) wilderness to restate his commitment to introducing legislative amendments on psychosocial hazards at work. He has been stalling on these for a very long time, but he has recently provided an update to Parliament....
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is rife with ideas that refuse to die even though they are not supported by evidence. OHS management is dominated by a belief that Executive Leadership is either the answer or the first place to start change. Leadership and OHS are dangerously intertwined. Perhaps an assessment of Zombie Leadership is …
It has been several months since the 23rd World Congress for Health and Safety was held in Sydney, pictured above. A major benefit of attending occupational health and safety (OHS) conferences is meeting people, old and new. I was honoured to meet Rene LeBlanc, an occupational hygienist from Canada. We had dinner on a very …
Engineered stone manufacturers are, understandably, not happy with Australia’s proposed ban on their silicosis-generating products. Some home builders have also expressed dissatisfaction. They are often ignoring the reason for the ban – the unnecessary deaths of workers – although at least one argument has merit. In an article by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Caesarstone, the …
