What Works Best | Labour Solutions Australia

Education and conversation are the keys to improving workplace safety.

More needs to be done to reduce work related deaths, which have risen despite widespread advertising campaigns, say health and safety experts. There were 138 work-related fatalities from 2010-2011, compared with 124 from 2009-2010, according to Safe Work Australia?s national figures from its annual Notified Fatalities Statistical Report 2011.

In more recent data from the first quarter of this year, New South Wales tops the workplace fatality list with 20 deaths, followed by Queensland with 11 and Western Australia with 4. Victoria has one of the safest records in the country but work deaths jumped there last year to 25, a 25 per cent increase from the previous year.

Such Sombre figures and a spate of high-profile legal cases have led politicians to push for improved employee protection, which is particularly needed in the most dangerous industries -? agriculture, forestry and fisheries, transport and storage, construction, manufacturing and mining. ?what we need is real change in all workplaces so people feel confident to speak up about safety issues and indeed, where necessary, tell the boss the bad news,? says Minister for Employment and Workplace Relation Bill Shorten.

Thanks to the gradual harmonisation of health and safety laws across the states, a new ?Body of Knowledge? for OH&S professionals, and the accreditation of university health and safety courses, the occupational health and safety industry is becoming better understood and regulated. Television advertising has also brought what was once considered a costly, niche area of business into the time light. ?The WorkSafe adverts really brought safety back to the fore. There is a sense we are starting to focus more on behaviour-based safety rather than process ? it?s becoming part of a company?s mission statement and values,? says Chris Grant, director of human resources business at Michael Page.

While advertising campaigns helped raise awareness, it is clear many businesses are not heeding warning or are receiving poor advice from carpetbag consultants. Martin Tennant, director of Safe smart Solutions, who consults to small and medium businesses ? which report the most incidents ? admits progress in OH&S is more about changing mind-sets than publicity or process. ?Safety takes time but if you can get people on the shop floor talking about it, great things can come of it. We talked to a company where a forklift truck was being used in a warehouse where people interacted in a close space. As a result of our discussions, they recognised the risk and started talking about putting a hole in the wall or using conveyor belts to increase productivity and reduce the likelihood of injuries,? explains Tennant.

While an increasing number of businesses appear keen to clean up their act, many are confused by the changing face of health and safety, which has been further complicated by issues such as bullying, harassment and stalking. ?Workplace bullying is a top-of-mind issue for many Australian employers at present,? says Siobhan Flores-Walsh, a leading workplace, health and safety and employment lawyer at law firm Norton Rose.

?This heightened awareness has been prompted, at least in part, by the high-profile harassment claims that have featured in the media recently, as well as amendments to the stalking offence under the Victorian Crimes Act 1958, which was created in response to the Brodie Panlock case,? says Flores-Walsh. Nineteen-year-old Panlock committed suicide after months of verbal and mental abuse, including being spat on and doused in oil while working as a waitress in Melbourne. Her story sparked the law passing of Brodie?s Law, making bullying a criminal offence culpable with up to 10 years in jail.

Some say the law has done little to improve workplace health and safety but Flores-Walsh is optimistic. ?There appears to have been a consequential increase in the reporting of bullying and similar conduct. What was once tolerated or simply endured is now more likely to be reported and litigated,? she says.

The more this happens, the better the likelihood of statistics improving, says? Leo Ruschena, senior lecture at RMIT University, who believes legal action, rather than advertising, has more impact on company safety policies. One in two WorkSafe Victoria investigations last year led to prosecution or enforcement, the lowest rate in at least four years.

To change the statistics you need to change the behaviour and that is done by showing it is important to obey the rules but also by successful prosecutions. Worksafe is cutting back the number of prosecutions ? that?s fundamentally wrong as we need to do that to improve safety.? says Ruschena.

Source: HR Monthly

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Source: http://www.laboursolutions.com.au/blog/2012/12/05/what-works-best/

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