Quantitative risk assessment techniques, or those that assign numerical or statistical ratings to risk and safety issues, are used to estimate risk or find the probability of something going wrong. It’s the sort of approach that results in those workplace safety signs you’ll see spruiked on business entrances such as “200 days without an incident”. …
Read this post
All the bells and whistles of strategy, focus, direction and management don’t matter if a business is hit with a public relations crisis. If your brand is your most valuable asset, then your employees, particularly those who interact with the public, are directly responsible for maintaining and communicating what a company stands for. With social …
Read this post
Seventy-two people died when Grenfell Tower, a 1970s high-rise apartment block in west London, was engulfed in flames in June 2017. Whole families perished, including a six-month-old baby found cradled in her mother’s arms. Another man burned to death staying behind with his two bull terriers. A 24-year-old artist whose work was being shown at …
Read this post
The death of 12 people at a Californian bar on Wednesday takes the number of mass shootings in America to 311 this year. As distasteful as it feels, people need to think about what their response plan would be, if it happened to them. When Kristina Anderson’s Professor of French told the class to call …
Read this post
The feedback for Roadies: The Secret History of Australian Rock ‘n’ Roll, since its release in late September, has been hugely positive from the industry it puts the spotlight on. It’s a book that looks at Australia’s greatest behind-the-scenes players of tours by the Rolling Stones, AC/DC, INXS and more. What it’s achieved is giving …
Read this post
During his time as a union official and State Secretary of the Plumbers Union, Jorgen Gullestrup was regularly faced with the harrowing task of helping families after the suicide of an industry member. He says it often involved organising a collection for the family, or sorting out superannuation entitlements. For families, it was never really …
Read this post
Retailers are experimenting with checkout-free shopping—and while it boosts convenience for customers, it’s yet to be seen what effect it might have on theft levels. It was Amazon who started the ball rolling in January with its “just walk out” shopping experience. The first Amazon Go store at the company’s headquarters in Seattle teamed an …
Read this post
There’s a new breed of corporate culture aimed at proactively keeping workplaces safe. It’s commonly known as “safety culture” and it’s revolutionizing how employers and employees engage with safety. 5,190 working people were killed on the job and more than 50,000 died from occupational diseases in the United States last year. In 2016, 991 construction …
Read this post
When Fi Shewring started work as a painter and decorator with her husband-to-be Peter 26 years ago, his advice was straight to the point. “He said, ‘Wear your whites, don’t touch me, don’t call me darling.’ That was probably the best advice anybody ever gave me, because we set this parameter to work very, very …
Read this post
The safest workplaces don’t just have comprehensive rules and standards—they feature great leadership, too. “Health and safety improvements are best achieved when health and safety are supported by the organisation’s culture,” says a Safe Work Australia spokesperson. “Leaders in organisations have a vital role to play.” Here, Dr Dan Caprar, a psychologist and senior lecturer …
Read this post
