During our everyday SOS-Switched Onto Safety business activities we see good things and bad things (and everything in between) in relation to Occupational Safety and Health. We actually say in our business when we are not ‘on duty’ we have to wear our ‘blinkers’. It was interesting to read that over the past financial year, WorkSafe WA have as a part of their proactive inspection program been looking at commercial property owners and property managers. This program had been instigated by a growing awareness by inspectors that commercial owners and property managers may not understand all their obligations, I would…

Megan LeNoir 20th July 2016 Hot off the press is the topic of; Installed ‘Roof Panels at the new (yet to open) Perth Children’s Hospital have been found to contain white asbestos (chrysotile). This subject is being discussed in many forums and quite frankly is very concerning. Guy very eloquently described his viewpoint on the subject on the SOS Facebook page the other day. Guy has always been concerned not just about the worker but also the effect work has on the worker’s family. This situation is no different. Workers who worked on this product allegedly were covered in dust…

Stuart Platt– Friday 1st July 2016 Part of my role here at SOS – Switched Onto Safety is to conduct Health, Safety, Quality and Environment audits and inspections for a wide variety of clients and organisations. Another role is to conduct chemical inventories and management practices associated with hazardous substances. I find I have a good understanding of risk management practices (with regards to chemicals) due to my back ground of working in the field as an X-construction worker and my many years working in project management companies. A recent review of some of these Audits and Inspections with regards to chemical…

Megan LeNoir – Monday 13th June 2016. During our recent meetings in the office, it came to our attention that we use a variety of methods including our website, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus etc to let everyone know what we do. However, this information may not be clear as to how these services could be used in relation to your organisation. I believe this would be quite a valid statement for many consulting / auditing companies. So we thought we would ask some questions so you can see what sounds familiar to you or your organisation. You are looking for…

When you think of young people in the workplace, what do you think of? You could think of someone unskilled, young, fit, a ‘know it all’ or anything. These views may affect how employers treat and support young workers, however, this should not be the case. Did you know that Safe Work Australia revealed that a fifth of all work-related injuries experienced by Australian workers were by workers aged 25 years and under? This shows that young workers have a higher rate of work-related injuries than the rate of older workers. This may make you wonder about young workers applying…

June Newsletter

Winter is almost here. This means increased absentees and new hazards in the workplace. While there is no need to stop work during winter, there is a need to undertake The Risk Management Process. According to St John Ambulance Australia, colds and flu cost Australian companies more than $7 billion in lost time each year. That is 1, 500, 00 days of work. If you are an employer, are you prepared to manage sick day entitlements? It is important to note that staff who are sick at work can do more harm than good. Employees working with colds and flu…

Make it safe for me to take risks   The shared belief held by workers that their psychological safety and well-being is protected and supported by senior management. Defined as an organisation or team level construct that refers to policies, practices and procedures that are upheld by managers and leaders for the protection of worker psychological health and safety.   Danger Vs. Safety Fear of admitting mistakes   Comfort admitting mistakes Blaming others   Learning from failure Less likely to share different views   Everyone openly shares ideas Common knowledge effect   Better innovation and decision-making   Having values such…

What is it? Customer relations is the way a business communicates and interacts with the public to gain and retain customers. It is simply, the way they communicate and deal with new and existing customers.  It is necessary for a business to cultivate good customer relations to attract and keep a loyal base of customers. Business’ may be interested in bigger sales, but attention to existing customers is essential for the business. Why are customer relations important? Customer relations is key to understanding consumer motivation. Without assessing customer relations, it’s difficult for a company to know how visible it is…

Combustibility As long as there is fuel for a fire, we have seen that it can be easily spread from floor to floor, through and over facades, and the result can be catastrophic. A fire hazard is more severe if the components of the façade system are combustible and/or incorrectly installed. Do you know any common exterior faced materials that are combustible? Here are some: • Exterior Insulation Finish System (EIFS) • High-Pressure Laminates • Structural Insulation Panel Systems (SIPS) • Weather Resistive Barriers (WRB) • External Timber Panelling • PE Aluminium Composite Material (ACM) Cladding You may have seen…