Comments

  • Risk perception - new study
    I think the reality is that as a society we have been raised to expect, or accept a whole lot of driving risk especially that imposed on people outside of vehicles that would not be acceptable in most other situations. The expression for this is 'car brain' or motonormativity. The fact that we refuse to apply basic H&S principles to those who create the most risk, and tend to look to blame others, usually the most vulnerable. Cars are rewiring our brains to ignore all the bad stuff about driving
  • No jab, no job?
    Yes permission or consent to gather and share should be sought from staff.
    There are definitely Privacy Act considerations, and these should also be shared with the people receiving the info. Ultimately we cannot control what other people do with the info but we can certainly make our expectations clear, and refer them to the law.
  • Covid in the workplace
    At the recent LegalSafe event, the WorkSafe CEO commented on their view that their interest in Covid19 was low in the sense of how they allocated resources. It was a fairly cool-headed comparison of deaths annually - 700-900 health-related, 70-90 workplace accidents, vs 28 (to date) for covid. And that based on those figures they had higher priorities for their spend, and that MoH was the proper place for the response to reside. And that they did not want to complicate the response by providing 'competing' info. I think he also commented that the last thing they felt people/businesses needed was anxiety and confusion-raising interventions or threat of interventions during the higher ALert Levels.
  • Paracetamol in First Aid Kits
    Perhaps we could have this conversation thread without the implied name calling - can get that on Twitter. Don't Really need that lecture in bold on the dangers of medications either.
    I think there are better ways to deliver convincing and thoughtful commentary.
  • Paracetamol in First Aid Kits
    After discussing this many times over the years. We continue to supply paracetamol in our office-based first aid kit.
    Staff requests for this seem to be the driver.
    We record how often we are restocking and how much
    They sit in the top of the1st aid box so as not to disturb the rest of the kit contents.
  • Sharing health and safety documentation with your team members
    Hi Chrissy, from fire service via our Approved fillers trainer and directly from a fire truck crew who said " your electronic pad is of no use to us if you are lying in a ditch , we need hard copies".
  • Sharing health and safety documentation with your team members
    Interesting comments re SDS sheets (probably a subject for another topic!) but we have been told Fire Dept requires hard copies in vehicles - electronic/downloadable is not acceptable - driver injured/device/signal not available etc.
  • A strange request
    Very well said. Thanks
  • H&S Management Software Query
    Thanks Everyone for the suggestions.
    Adam
  • E-scooters: am I right to be worried?
    @Graham Neate Yes I agree about footpaths, getting around mostly by foot power myself, but the simple fact is that in totally car-centric environment like ours, there are many circumstances in which breaking the rules as a pedestrian, on a scooter (or bike for that matter) is not only justified, but necessary to ensure your survival. It's quite clear that some of the most basic principles of H&S are deliberately excluded from what goes on in our streets and roads. We allow vehicles (SUVs for example) that are pretty much designed to kill a pedestrian - in fact we blame the vulnerable pedestrian (or cyclist etc) now - 'distracted', 'headphones' even though the vehicle driver is allowed to sit in a hermetically sealed, sound proofed, air bagged 2 tonne metal box with all manner of tech distractions and sound systems. Clearly the principle of 'if you create the risk ....' is not applied to anyone outside of the vehicle.
    Our culture has developed an almost unlimited appetite for risk when it comes to the motor vehicle. Akin to an addiction. My view is that Scooters are one of the least of our problems in our public realm in terms of managing risk.
  • E-scooters: am I right to be worried?
    Thankfully Phil Twyford seems to have a more nuanced and level headed view. Risk is risk and all risks should be assessed calmly without defaulting to a kneejerk ban/helmet/legislate etc position . If we applied the same risk assessment to the injuries caused by cars, as some are now applying to scooters, everyone in a car would be required to wear a helmet, all vehicle would be required to have speed limiters and actually they would probably just be banned immediately. Certainly reallocating our public realm, as in streets and road width to a wider range of different types of users will separate those users out and provide more safe options for everyone to move around efficiently, reliably and safely.