Are the institutional responses following workplace deaths adequate for the surviving families?
A study to be posted explored this question via interviews with surviving family members, following traumatic workplace deaths.
Probably the most difficult topic I’ve written about, as it’s such an irreducibly personal and devastating outcome for the families.
This paper found that: (Noting it’s from pre-2010):
· Families commended the role of unions, and some people had positive encounters with employers and the OHS inspectorate
· However, there was significant problems for others with institutional responses
· This included insensitive treatment by authorities, inadequate fines and punishments for organisations, confusing inquests and lack of information
· Families “often saw their interactions with authorities as exacerbating their distress and Grief” and moreover “Formal procedures were also seen as increasing the family’s isolation from the post-death process”
· Family were sometimes rushed and pressured spending time with the deceased before the autopsy/coronial process commenced
· Some families were “frustrated and hurt by the perceived injustice of the system” and this was most evident in the unreasonably narrow definition of a dependent in determining compensation
· Employers were seen poorly. In one case, the deceased’ boss visited the family, paid out the day’s wage and left, leaving the deceased’ mother “disgusted”
· Media were “hounds … Very intrusive and they “caused a lot of damage”
Ref: Authors: Lynda R. Matthews, Michael Quinlan, Olivia Rawlings-Way, and Philip Bohle. International Journal of Disability Management, 2012, Volume 6, 37-48.
SafetyInsights.org 