• Peter Bateman
    270
    In the Jan/Feb edition of Safeguard magazine mailed this week to subscribers we pose three questions based on stories in the magazine. One of them is this:

    With the highly contagious Omicron variant of Covid-19 now in the community, H&S people will once again be at the centre of the workplace response. Has Covid been the challenge of your professional career, or an unwanted burden of responsibility?

    Feel free to respond here on the Forum, or privately here via a Survey Monkey form.

    An edited selection of responses will be published in the March/April edition, but with no names attached. One randomly selected person will receive a prize, namely a copy of Amy Edmondson's book The Fearless Organization: creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation and growth.
  • Andrew
    387
    How is this different for the overall "covid" response?
  • Peter Bateman
    270
    Fair point. I've slightly tweaked the question.
  • TracyRichardson
    48
    As a health and safety professional is it a case of singing from the same song book as most of the protocols were drafted in the first outbreak.

    As emergency response planning is part and parcel if what we do it is not such a burden.

    I have put a response plan in place but have reverted back to work bubbles in an attempt to delay the inevitable contagion.

    Here we go again....
  • Sheri Greenwell
    340
    COVID generally and now Omicron are an amplification of what safety professionals / practitioners have been aiming to do all along with Risk Management methodologies. Organisations that understand risk management principles and have supportive leadership will find it a lot easier to navigate. In organisations where senior managers have low engagement and expect the safety person to do all the heavy lifting will find it a lot more of a struggle.
  • TracyRichardson
    48
    It would be a lot easier if all the government departments were on the same page when putting guidance publications together .

    Putting the COVID response plan has been quite challenging as I have to make enquires with MSD, Work and Income, Healthline, covid response team, business connect response team, critical services escalations team, COVID health supply chain response team, etc to streamline the company response plan.

    It has been quite a journey.
  • Steve H
    308
    It would be a lot easier if all the government departments were on the same page when putting guidance publications together .TracyRichardson

    [Putting on suitable facial contortions] Tracy, I'd have to push back on this, the absence on connectivity, between Government departments is part of our overall Covid defense of socialized distancing, but we are all working very hard on this and we anticipate going forward to be able to announce a suitable joining of the dots toward the end of the Omega wave
  • TracyRichardson
    48
    Hi Steve

    At the moment I understand that the airplane (COVID response) is being built as the plane is flying and I would push back on this to. As generally I develop processes in line to comply with the guideline.

    With the use of technology such as zoom, etc if a project manager was assigned per government department, and each guideline was streamlined and project managed and tested with one or two companies to determine the use of ease on the application of the guideline.

    When it comes to small and medium businesses, the guidelines should also be supplemented with templates that are editable and ready to use. This would ensure easier understanding of what needs to be done.
  • Sheri Greenwell
    340
    I couldn't agree more - it's so difficult to get clarity and certainty, and there's a lot of responsibility on our shoulders to get this right.
  • MattD2
    337
    [Putting on suitable facial contortions] Tracy, I'd have to push back on this, the absence on connectivity, between Government departments is part of our overall Covid defense of socialized distancing, but we are all working very hard on this and we anticipate going forward to be able to announce a suitable joining of the dots toward the end of the Omega waveSteve H

    *Tell me you have no idea what you're doing, without telling me you have no idea what your doing* :rofl:
  • Sheri Greenwell
    340
    It's definitely becoming a burden, especially with all the changes and escalating case numbers - it gets more and more difficult to manage. I am SO over it.
  • Don Ramsay
    147
    It became a burden that we have struggled through and is about to become greater as people look to us for more guidance as government agencies back off. The support we need is not going to be there (worksafe). But as usual we box on and get it done
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