Getting the balance right between workplace health and safety and process safety risks is one of the more common challenges for organisations when it comes to process safety and being a high-reliability organisation, according to an expert.
The AIHS will be publishing a series of news stories through October to support the four themes of National Safe Work Month. The first week focuses on WHS fundamentals, and gets back to basics by unpacking the fundamentals of WHS. There are a number of fundamentals of good WHS practice, according to Safe Work Australia and industry leaders, who said one of the most important is taking an evidence-based approach to proactively managing WHS risks.
For organisations looking to shift from lagging safety indicators to leading indicators, they must first address their preparedness, priorities and safety culture maturity level, according to recent research. Specifically, leading indicators must be adopted with a systems-thinking approach where they are developed and used in a work context involving people and technology, rather than merely focusing on human behaviour or identifying leading indicators for machinery or plant.
Although most businesses strive to do the right thing by their employees and reduce psychosocial risks, the complexity of this task means most organisations are still struggling to comprehensively address workplace mental health challenges, according to the Black Dog Institute.
WHS professionals are in a crucial position to influence all pillars of an organisation’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy, according to an expert in the area. While the most obvious impact is in the area of physically and psychologically safe workplaces, the influence of WHS extends well beyond employee safety and reducing workplace incidents.
