PRINCIPALS’ OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELLBEING SURVEY 2019
By Tom McIvor
The report of the latest Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey makes very interesting reading – and notes the disgraceful situations of principals being punched, kicked, headbutted, bitten, spat at, stabbed with scissors or pencils and having school furniture flung at them. The survey has run nationally every year since 2011 in response …
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WORKING AT HOME WITH THE KIDS ON HOLIDAYS? HERE ARE FOUR TIPS FOR COPING
By Tom McIvor
Do you work full or part-time from home? If so, you’re not alone – it is estimated that within the next few years, up to 50 per cent of employees will be working full or part-time, remotely – particularly from their homes. One of the main challenges for people working from home is achieving an …
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Hot weather is coming – Tips to prevent heat illness
By Tom McIvor
Working in warm to hot conditions is a serious safety concern. Thousands of workers become sick every year from exposure to heat. Some even die. Heat illnesses and death are preventable if you learn to identify the warning signs and take the appropriate action. Heat stress is the general term used to describe heat-generated illnesses …
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Work Safety in HealthCare
By Tom McIvor
OSHA’s CEO and Principal Consultant Dr David McIvor has addressed the 2019 national conference of the ‘Health Excellence Institute of Australia’. His talk focussed on “Work Safety in Health Care”. To see his paper, CLICK HERE. Themes covered in the paper included: Major sources of work-related injuries, illnesses and claims in the healthcare sector Inherent …
ARE MOBILE PHONES SAFE?
By Tom McIvor
… and if not, what can we do to reduce the risks? While mobile phone technology is absorbing a great deal of peoples’ time and money and is undoubtedly distracting, especially while driving, most of us see this technology as useful. However, most of us also are aware of the somewhat vague warnings of risks of brain tumours which implies, for some, deadly …
WORKING FROM HOME?
By Tom McIvor
Are you working full or part-time from home, or other remote working location? If so, you’re not alone. You still have a right to be able to do your work in a healthy and safe way, in a healthy and safe workplace. The legal duties (on your employer – and you) under the WHS Act …
Home-based workers still subject to Work Safety rules
By Tom McIvor
DAVID MCIVORTHE AUSTRALIANNOVEMBER 29, 2014THE increasing number of people working from home is a feature of modern life.Some people run home-based businesses. New mums work from home while looking after young children. And more employers are allowing, even encouraging, employees to work from home rather than come into a main workplace. With a National Broadband Network, working from …
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The Reality of Stress Illnesses in Schools
By Tom McIvor
Hundreds of people in the teaching profession every year break down under the strains. Globally the teaching profession is recognised as imposing high levels of metal and psychological strains. The consequences of this in modern Australia are becoming increasingly stark as the data on the numbers of principals and teachers experiencing psychological breakdown – and the …
Principals Health Safety and Wellbeing Study
By Tom McIvor
It is now well understood that sustained high levels of stress can have serious physical and mental health consequences including starkly shortened life expectancy. In 2011 British research into the prevalence of work related metal illness reported that “work related stress was higher in education than across all other industries… with work-related mental ill-health almost …
COMPUTERS AND YOUR EYESIGHT
By Tom McIvor
The use of digital devices, including personal computers, tablets and cell phones, continues to increase. And, the impact of prolonged usage can often be felt in the eye. Research shows computer eye problems are common. Somewhere between 50% and 90% of people who work at a computer screen occasionally have at least some symptoms of …
Obesity is a work safety issue
By Tom McIvor
OBESITY AND THE WORKPLACE In recent years, the prevalence of obesity has become a significant health issue in developed countries including Australia & the USA. In the US more than one-third of adults have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher and meet the clinical definition of “obese.” Additionally, the American Medical Association …
NEAR MISSES – OR NEAR HITS? ARE THEY WORTH INVESTIGATING?
By Tom McIvor
If we accept the basic incident model that says hazards cause or contribute to incidents, and the outcomes of incidents are variously death/injury/illness/damage/cost, then all outcomes must be after-the-event indicators of something having gone wrong. In that context they are lagging indicators. When an incident occurs but there is no measurable outcome, these tend to …
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STRETCH IT OUT
By Tom McIvor
5 Ways To Stretch It Out At Your Desk If you spend most of the workweek sitting, these fast and easy desk stretches are the perfect way to add some fit to your day. It’s no secret, sitting at a desk all day is tough on your health. That’s why it’s so important to add …
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYMENT, DISABILITIES AND OHS
By Tom McIvor
Pre-employment medical assessment of job applicants has always been a controversial subject, both from a scientific perspective and because of the risk of unfair discrimination. So is ‘discriminating’ against employing someone on the grounds of pre-existing disability legal (and/or ethical)? Well – yes and no! In a Queensland case a number of years ago (Cambey …
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DUE DILIGENCE & OHS – WHAT THE COURTS EXPECT
By Tom McIvor
Health and Safety Duties The terms of Occupational and/or Work Health and Safety (OHS/WHS) legislation in Australia are such that the duty of the employer (or the Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking – PCBU) has a duty of care – so far as is reasonably practicable – to secure the safety of an employee/worker. This means all workers, …
OHS AND THE OLDER WORKER: What’s Age Got To Do With It?
By Tom McIvor
In most developed countries, the number of workers over age 55 will increase by nearly 40 percent, and the number of workers over age 65 will almost double over the next 10 years. (BLS, Monthly Labor Review, November 2007). These estimates reflect a long-term trend that began in the 1970s and continues today, a result of …
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Productivity and Quality – The “Two-Sided Triangle”
By Tom McIvor
A national survey of 30 of Australia’s top companies (including car makers, insurance offices, oil refineries and computer marketers) found that: … the majority of middle level managers oppose work practices that would improve quality. While senior management is keen to improve quality, middle management often resents having to bear most of the burden of …
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Are your hazards surrounded by a SEP field?
By Tom McIvor
The Somebody Else’s Problem field (SEP field) is a fictional technology from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy “5-part trilogy” by Douglas Adams. It is a cheaper and more practical alternative to an invisibility field. Simply put, an SEP field is an energy field similar to an invisibility field. When somebody, or something, is surrounded by a SEP field, the …
Common-sense is Non-sense
By Tom McIvor
Common Sense is Non-Sense The trouble with common sense is that it is never common and rarely sensible (Confucius) I recently appeared in the Victorian County Court as an expert witness in a civil case. I was disappointed – even saddened – that both the barrister for the plaintiff …
Work Health & Safety in the 21st Century
By Tom McIvor
I recently saw a thought-provoking RSA animation clip by Dave Coplin, Chief Envisioning Officer at Microsoft that had me wondering, if he is right, what is going to happen to a field such as work or occupational health and safety? As more and more people move into the “knowledge industry”, just what is work – …