Abstract This paper presents the findings of qualitative research which examined how manufacturers addressed safety matters in the course of designing and constructing machinery, and the factors shaping their responses. This topic was investigated in 66 Australian firms that supplied machinery into local and international markets. Based on in-depth interviews, observation of machinery and review… Continue reading Safety in machinery design and construction: Performance for substantive safety outcomes

This brief conference paper explored the unintended consequences of a safety performance metric. This metric is/was apparently common in offshore oil & gas. It’s a semi-quantitative metric used to classify and track the strength of corrective actions. [Note: I’ve never heard of this metric, so did my best to describe it based on what I… Continue reading Unintended Consequences of a Promising Safety Management Leading Indicator

This study surveyed the views of industry practitioners familiar with incident investigation processes, the types of controls that are implemented following investigations and also reviewed submitted incident investigation manuals and procedures. 222 survey respondents were included in the data, across mining, construction, transport/postal/warehousing and other industries. Before moving into the results, the authors provide a… Continue reading Practitioners’ perspectives on incident investigations

Abstract The workplace is a key setting where gender issues and organizational structures may influence occupational health and safety practices. The enactment of dominant norms of masculinity in high risk occupations can be particularly problematic, as it exposes men to significant risks for injuries and fatalities. To encourage multi-disciplinary collaborations and advance knowledge in the… Continue reading Danger zone: Men, masculinity and occupational health and safety in high risk occupations

This study is pretty useful if you’re after the data for the quality of evidence for psychosocial risk factors on musculoskeletal disorders and absenteeism. The findings from 24 systematic reviews or meta-analyses and six longitudinal studies were reviewed. Results The systematic review found the following work characteristics to be strong risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders… Continue reading A systematic overview on the risk effects of psychosocial work characteristics on musculoskeletal disorders, absenteeism, and workplace accidents

This was really interesting. It explored the history and context of workplace safety campaigns increasingly attributed to worker carelessness and worker issues. (Note: this is a dense case study and I can only scratch the surface. I’ve had to skip most descriptions/explanations. Second, it’s not a criticism of the people involved in the safety campaigns,… Continue reading Bloody Lucky: the careless worker myth in Alberta, Canada

Abstract Occupational lung cancers represent a major health burden due to their increasing prevalence and poor long-term outcomes. While wood dust is a confirmed human carcinogen, its association with lung cancer remains unclear due to inconsistent findings in the literature. We aimed to clarify this association using meta-analysis. We performed a search of 10 databases… Continue reading Wood dust exposure and lung cancer risk: a meta-analysis

This explored how different types of safety leadership styles predicted different employee communications about safety, called safety voice. The leadership styles were: transformational safety leadership: leader showing consideration for employees’ personal & professional growth, listening to concerns and needs, influences followers’ behaviour via idealised influencing and role modelling. transactional safety leadership: leaders clarify expectations and… Continue reading Speaking Up about Workplace Safety: An Experimental Study on Safety Leadership

One of several older but well-known and referenced landmark studies which equated the objectively quantified performance decrement of fatigue against blood alcohol impairment. 40 subjects were included in a counterbalanced methodology, where in one condition the group was kept awake for 28 hours and in the other condition, they were asked to consume 10-15g of… Continue reading Fatigue, alcohol and performance impairment

Abstract A sample of 1518 Australian drivers from the Australian State of New South Wales and the neighbouring Australian Capital Territory took part in the study. The participants’ experiences with the signs of sleepiness were reasonably extensive. A number of the early signs of sleepiness (e.g., yawning, frequent eye blinks) were related with continuing to… Continue reading Examining signs of driver sleepiness, usage of sleepiness countermeasures and the associations with sleepy driving behaviours and individual factors