CSG Posts
You can always count on Kevin Jones to stimulate discussion about OHS, and his March presentation was no exception.
He started by talking about what he considers to be the 5 hot topics at the moment. One of those topics is working from home, which comes up against the prevailing approach of OHS systems that are based on "workplaces" rather than "work". This issue is linked to another of the hot topics, systems thinking, which Kevin believes tends to be very limited. In particular, during investgations the thinking can become bogged down in old systems and not open to the possibility of change.
Another topic that has been hot for quite a while is that of psychosocial hazards. Kevin had many interesting thoughts about these, including challenges with the traditional hierarchy of controls as well as the tendency for HR to see this as their patch rather than sharing a united front with OHS.
This led Kevin into a discussion of some of the books he's been reading lately on these various topics, and what an extensive reading list he presented to us. On the topic of psychosocial hazards, he started by talking about some books that are "shockers", mainly self-help books that put the onus on the person having difficulties to deal with it themselves, instead of tackling organisational aspects. Luckily there are publications about that do deal with the organisational side, and Kevin shared some of those with us.
It is impressive how well-read Kevin is, and it is not confined to published books alone. He also alerted us to an online research paper along with an interview on RN. The full list can be viewed here (log in first).
One of Kevin's key messages was that he encourages OHS practtioners to be less timid about speaking out, to be more visible and not be afraid to talk about politics. He invites us to join him on the May Day march to highlight the importance of safe jobs! As part of his message, he delved into some interesting ethical topics, including conflicts of interest with big consultancy firms; the profit versus productivity motivation of business and individuals; and even talked about the UN's Sustainable Development Goals that include "decent work". OHS is a fundamental human right.
To learn more of Kevin's insights, you can also re-visit his presentation from February 2022 New perspectives on OHS (log in first).
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On the 14th February 2023, Central Safety Group held its 2022 AGM.
The committee has changed slightly due to Frank Imbesi stepping down from the role of Vice-President. He has been replaced by Christina Rennick, and we have a new ordinary member, Dominic Melling. Congratulations Christina and welcome Dominic! The current committee is made up of the following people:
There were no nominees for the new position of Social Media Co-ordinator, but hopefully someone will put up their hand during the year. The primary purpose of the role is to maintain up-to-date information on our LinkedIn page, blog posts on our website, and develop other platforms over time.
The financial statement shows that our current account had a very low balance at the end of 2022, which was mainly due to costs associated with our 60th anniversary activities. Our Treasurer Cameron Cranstoun also informed members that the website is in need of a major upgrade this year, because the current platform will no longer be supported without it. This will be a considerable expense that cannot be avoided. As our webite is our greatest asset, it is certainly worth the investment.
This led to the first of 2 proposals: that the individual membership fee for 2024 increase to $85 per calendar year. There was quite a bit of discussion about this, as the fee has only just been raised to $80 and it is unusual for the fee to increase in consecutive years. In the end, the proposal was passed with 60% of the vote.
However, it was agreed that there is an option to hold a Special Meeting later in the year to reverse this increase, if our financial situation warrants it. For example, if we boost our membership numbers or if we receive sponsorship to pay for the upgrade. We also discussed having a slightly lower-key event at the end of the year instead of the Parliament House luncheon, the cost of which has increased substantially since pre-pandemic times. If you have other ideas, or can help us secure some sponsorship, we would love to hear from you!
The other proposal came from Jane Loudon: to form a working group to update and formalise the aims and purpose of Central Safety Group. This was passed with 80% of the vote. Volunteers for the working group so far are Nan Austin, Jane Loudon and Craig Ramadge. If you would like to be involved, contact Jane at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Thanks to those who attended the AGM and we are looking forward to another great year!
Log in to view the Minutes, Annual Report and Financial Statement.
It was a great start to a new year of presentations with Helen O'Keefe's insights into the OHS recruitment scene. As it happened to be St Valentine's Day, Helen gave her presentation a cute twist by drawing an analogy between the employee life cycle and a marriage, and it fitted surprisingly well. She covered the full gamut from recruitment as the dating phase; onboarding & retention equating to a marriage; and separation as a divorce. To avoid the latter, Helen gave several tips on how to maintain a happy marriage in the work sense.
She explained how January started as strongly as 2022 did, which had already broken records with the number of positions being advertised. In particular it is specialists that are being sought. Post lockdown candidates have become more selective, which is making recruitment harder. Position descriptions are changing as a result of this, so that they are more like an advertisement to attract people. Helen gave some practical suggestions about how to make a PD more attractive.
Helen also had some great tips during her presentation for retaining staff, and further tips came up during the engaging discussion afterwards. One fascinating insight was how important a platform like LinkedIn has become. Having an up-to-date profile is advantageous for both a candidate and a potential employer, because it can show how well-connected you are and the range of activities you are involved in. In fact, Helen predicts that CVs will become obsolete and will be replaced by a LinkedIn profile or similar.
Helen is such an enthusiastic speaker on her topic and the attendees really appreciated her expertise.
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What a great presentation this was as Ross demonstrated the qualities of the high-calibre speakers we have been able to bring you once again this year. His enthusiaism for the topic and incredible breadth of knowledge shone throughout the presentation. As he said himself, he could have spoken for hours.
The tips he discussed were around scheduling, planning, the audit interview, evidence and corrective action, and he showed how they can be applied to variously sized organisations. The tip he concentrated the most on was the third one, the audit interview, because this is the area most people struggle with. He talked about strategies to put people at ease and emphasised that the core aim of an audit is to verify risk controls and not to trip people up. I certailny felt that, if I were about to be audited, I would like it to be done by Ross.
During the discussion after his presentation, Ross mentioned that he had discovered surprising advantages with "zoom" audits, so it is good to find a silver lining from the pandemic restrictions of last year.
One of the comments from an attendee in the zoom chat sums up perfectly the standard of this presentation: "Great to hear what you have learnt throughout your years of auditing. Love the positive approach."
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In a refreshing change, we heard about a specific industry this month when Ben Thomson from Flight Academy Australia presented to us. While it was fascinating in itself to learn more about the subject of aviation safety, it was inspiring to learn about ways of instilling a better safety culture into smaller organisations more generally.
Ben began by giving a brief overview of the evolution of safety approaches. It was interesting to see how it began with "airmanship", which focussed on the individual, and gradually evolved to the holistic approach of a full-blown safety management system that they have today, where the focus is on the culture.
Ben outlined some new thinking into the 5 ingredients of an effective safety culture that are really useful for all organisations, no matter the size. The one that resonated most with us was the concept of a Just Culture and Ben delved into that, particularly in relation to incident reporting. One of the main challenges is encouraging people to admit when they've made a mistake, because it is counterintuitive for people to do so. The way an organistaion responds has an effect on the value that can be derived from reporting.
Another challenge with reporting is if the process to do so is overly complicated: while it's important to document incidents, it shouldn't be too onerous for the person reporting. This put me in mind of a great presentation a few years ago from David Provan about Safety Clutter, which complements Ben Thomson's advice for smaller organisations. Financial members can access it here.
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Long-time financial member Phil Lovelock gave a really interesting presentation about social sustainability, which is part of the UN Global Compact and yet , according to Phil, seems to have become the forgotten pillar of sustainability (environmental and economic being the other two pillars). There is no information about this on either the Federal or Victorian WorkSafe sites, even though it is the primary duty of government.
However, businesses can and should do their part as well. As is often the case, OHS practitioners are ahead of the game and are already contributing to social sustainability. Phil gave a couple of case studies of larger organisations that are making contributions, but posed the question about how SMEs can also address this important pillar.
One of Phil's suggestions was to embrace external engagement, such as your very own Central Safety Group that not only has a range of resources, but also a network of OHS professionals. Certainly having members of such calibre and experience as Phil, who share their insights, highlights once again the value of our network.
Please note, that the sound quality of the video is not great this month, but the accompanying slides are comprehensive and provide plenty of information.
If you would like to learn more about the UN Global Compact on social sustainability, click here.
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From LinkedIn News 30 July 2022
I found this interesting article to share:
As the world of work continues to evolve, it's necessary to keep your skills fresh. One economist told CNBC Make It that having in-demand skills during times of economic uncertainty can help you stand out in the job market, especially if you're switching industries. What skills do recruiters want to see on your resume? Flexibility, communication and project management. In other words, show that you can adapt to new environments, effectively communicate and work with a team towards a goal.
Here is the link to the full CNBC story: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/13/in-demand-soft-skills-to-put-in-your-resume.html
Related to this, we had a great presentation by Helen O'Keefe in October 2021 on the current OHS job scene that is worth checking out. The video and full presentation are still available to financial members -click here (login first).
Don’t miss this highlight of Health and Safety Month: Central Safety Group is holding a very special celebratory networking lunch to mark our 60th anniversary.
What an occasion! Compered by Professor David Caple with guest speakers Dr Narelle Beer, Executive Director of Health and Safety, WorkSafe Victoria; and Barry Naismith from OHS Intros, who has some fascinating insights into the history of safety.
Further details to be announced soon.
WHEN: Friday, 14th October, 12:00 - 2:00pm.
WHERE: The beautiful surrounds of Parliament House Victoria's Dining Room
COST: Members: $25 Non-members: $60
To help indicate numbers, please answer a survey question here:
As our first face-to-face event in more than two years, it will be a wonderful celebration indeed!
This was a fascinating presentation, in which Dr Carys Chan was able to take us through some very detailed research in a really accessible manner.
Carys is one of the authors of a paper commissioned by Safe Work Australia and published last year, entitled "Response To Injury: Research to support workers’ psychological responses to injury and successful return to work". It is an 88-page report that gathers research from the past decade, and Carys was able to give us a concise summary of the main findings and recommendations that certainly piqued the interest of all present.
It is good to know that Australia is doing reasonably well in this area compared with the rest of the world though, of course, there is still room for improvement. Carys explained how a multi-disciplinary approach is the most impactful in achieving success. She also spoke about enhancers to return to work, such as removing the stigma of disability and ensuring role clarification.
Other enhancers include characteristics of the person themselves, one of which is education. I was intrigued by this and followed it up with Carys during question time. I wanted to know if that meant a person's level of education or rather how much they have been educated in the RTW process. Carys said it was actually the former: the higher the level of education, the better the RTW outcome. As an example, someone who has learnt that failure is a part of success will have a more positive approach. I thought that was a really valuable message.
If you would like to read the whole research paper, click here.
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Free Event - Industrial Manslaughter–What Does It Mean for Contractor Safety Management?
CSG members LinkSafe are holding a free online event on 27 July 2022, 2:00 - 3:00pm on the topic of Industrial Manslaughter–What Does It Mean for Contractor Safety Management?
Most states have introduced legislation creating the offence of industrial manslaughter and a number of cases have been run under the provisions, with a business owner recently being sentenced to 18 months' jail.
However, LinkSafe says that there is no need to panic. What you need is to understand better how the law applies to you, particularly in relation to the contractors you engage. The experts in contractor safety management, LinkSafe Legal, will help you understand how the law works and to whom it applies. They will also talk about how to make sure your contractor management systems support you, both to manage liability and to improve contractor safety, to prevent the serious incidents that this legislation targets.
As it's a free event, it's bound to book out quickly, so make sure you register now via the link here.
In a recent edition of the global online publication "The Auditor", there is a profile of Heather Turner, who has had a long career in auditing and also happens to be the current Secretary of Central Safety Group.
It is a great article, where Heather is interviewed and shares many fascinating stories about her Australian work experiences. She also talks about the importance of lifelong learning, as well as how she sees the future of the auditing profession.
Heather began her working life in a chemical lab, where she was given the opportunity to branch out into chemical safety and, from there, to quality assurance. She had extensive experience with WorkSafe Victoria as an auditor prior to beginning her own consultancy in 2014. Therefore, she has worked from both sides of the fence: with the Regulator and with assisting businesses.
Heather gives plenty of sage advice in the interview, including this gem: "To be a good auditor, you’ve got to deliver bad news in a positive way."
The article certainly explains why, as our Secretary, she has such an eye for proper process and detail.
Here is the link to the full article.
One of the silver linings for CSG over the last couple of years has been the introduction of zoom events, which have allowed us to expand our scope beyond the Melbourne CBD, both with our members as well as our speakers. This could not have been illustrated better than by our June event, where Jason Green, speaking from Sydney, opened our eyes to the situation in parts of the world well beyond ours.
Workplace Health Without Borders began in Canada in 2011 and the Australian branch is its newest. Their activities are aligned with UN Sustainable Development Goals and consist primarily of mentorship, equipment donations, accredited training as well as policy and advocacy.
These activities focus on developing countries where a great proportion of the workforce is in the "informal" economy, and where there is a severe shortage of occupational hygienists and practitioners.
When Jason took us through some recent projects, it was astounding to think that there are countries grappling with hazards that we have already dealt with here, sometimes for a long time. This includes the use of lead paint in some African countries, asbestos in Indonesia and the issue of silicosis in Tanzania. It is clear that practitioners in Australia would have a great deal of expertise they could offer in these and other areas.
If you are interested in volunteering some of your time or finding out more about their work, check out the Workplace Health Without Borders Australian branch website here.
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This was such an interesting presentation that challenged us to look at the broader scope of our profession. In the words of Keith Govias, OHS professionals are moral change agents, and an ethical charter is a core element to their identity.
Discussions on ethics can be quite theoretical, but Keith put a very practical slant on it. While he began by explaining some complex theories, he did it in such a way that they could be understood and applied. Each of the 5 theories produces a different way of approaching ethics in business, such as the most common, which is a cost-benefit analysis. Keith showed us how to look beyond this.
One of the most interesting parts for me was when he discussed how to apply an ethical framework to incident investigation, to create a just culture that doesn't focus on worker error.
Another fascinating topic was the discussion of ethics versus following the law, and how mandatory vaccination policies pose an ethical conundrum.
Keith also discussed a number of valuable free resources available, such as ethical counsellors, the Body of Knowledge chapter on ethics that you can access here, and of course, networks such as your own Central Safety Group.
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