OHS Professional Magazine March 2023

Kirstin Ferguson:

Why OHS needs to lead with both the head & the heart

The best way to get your OHS messages across

Strengthening OHS links in chain of responsibility

What’s on the technology horizon for OHS?

Design/Production

What’s the best way to get your OHS messages across? While health and safety information plays an important role in organisations, there are better ways to communicate with employees in order to engage them effectively

Printing/Distribution

What’s on the technology horizon for OHS? OHS is one of a number of functions that can benefit significantly from the adoption and application of a range of current and emerging technologies

Why OHS needs to lead with both the head and the heart: OHS professionals need to balance leading with the qualities of both “the head and the heart” in order to become more effective leaders at work, according to company director and author Kirstin Ferguson

Martin Ralph: leading from the front of resources safety: Martin Ralph won Inspector of the Year at the Australian Workplace Health & Safety Awards for outstanding levels of professionalism, collaboration, ethics, and service

Strengthening OHS links in the chain of responsibility: Chain of responsibility has emerged as an issue of significant importance for the OHS profession in the heavy vehicle industry

Delving into the art of modern leadership

through harnessing the virtues of both the head and the heart. Importantly, Ferguson discusses why this style of leadership is important for OHS professionals, for whom genuine engagement with employees and other stakeholders in the workplace is critical. If you're interested in hearing more from Ferguson, she will also be speaking at the AIHS National Health and Safety Conference, held from 30 May to 1 June 2023 at the Brisbane Convention Centre.

The events of the past few years have been challenging for leaders. There has been significant and lasting change in the workplace with employees working from home (and gradually returning to the workplace with increased flexibility and hybrid working arrangements). This has required a different style of leadership – one that engages employees without the benefit of in-person communication.

Author and company director Kirstin Ferguson explored this topic in her recent book, Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership. “Communicating as a leader of a remote team takes both head and heart – the perspective to know what is needed and the empathy and self-awareness to understand the best way to do it. For some, a message on Slack or some other technology platform will work. For others, a phone call or finding time to talk online, without the distraction of a long to-do list, may be needed,” she explains in her book. The cover story for this issue (beginning page 16) explores the concept of leading successfully in today’s world

Speaking of engagement in the workplace, the research feature for this edition (beginning page 12) features an interview with Dr Kelly Jaunzems, lecturer in the School of Medical Health Sciences and researcher in the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University. Jaunzems won a Dr Eric Wigglesworth Research Award for her PhD research last year, which examined how OHS information was communicated in workplaces and whether it was read, understood, taken on board, internalised, and acted upon. Her research highlighted disparities and misunderstandings between those creating and communicating information, and the employees expected to understand and implement it. “It is not simply the channels of WHS communication which warrant further investigation: the communication and reception of WHS information may be more complex and complicated than it has hitherto appeared to be,” said Jaunzems.

Also in this edition, we unpack the issue of OHS in the chain of responsibility for the heavy vehicle industry. This article features interviews with two representatives of the OHS Body of Knowledge’s chain of responsibility technical panel, including Nathan Cecil, a partner in Holding Redlich’s national transport, shipping, and logistics team. He noted that a key safety issue from both regulator and industry perspectives is

The OHS Professional editorial board 2023

National safety, property & environment manager, Ramsay Health Care

General manager of high reliability, ANSTO

DirectorGeneral, Office of Industrial Relations, Queensland

that the on-road safety of heavy vehicles, their drivers, and their loads is an offroad issue. “Vehicles, drivers, and loads rarely magically become unsafe in between departing their origin and arriving at their destination; they are more often unsafe before they even start and at least before they leave,” explained Cecil, who also observed many off-road business practices are controlled or influenced by businesses that use transport services but don’t own or operate heavy vehicles. For the full story turn to page 28.

Lastly, the AIHS announced late last year that Marilyn Hubner would be taking on the role of OHS Body of Knowledge manager as of 1 January 2023. With extensive experience in learning, development, and research across the health and safety profession, Marilyn sees the OHS Body of Knowledge as both an educational tool for new and emerging professionals and one that can improve practice through the interpretation and implementation of theory into practice. “The OHS Body of Knowledge continues to provide a wealth of information in the form of concepts, core theories, and evidence-based research that can be used to inform syllabus development and delivery,” explains Hubner, who outlines her vision for the future of the OHS Body of Knowledge on page 10. n

Managing partner, Clyde & Co Australia

GM Safety & Wellbeing, Safety, Australia Post

BELL Managing Partner –Employment, Industrial Relations and Safety (Australia, Asia)

Craig Donaldson, editor, OHS Professional

Leaders need to tap into and utilise the qualities of both their heads and hearts to be successful in today’s workplace, writes Craig Donaldson

“The communication and reception of WHS information may be more complex and complicated than it has hitherto appeared to be”

Six ways to influence for impact

Are health and safety practitioners and professionals influencers?

Influence refers to the capacity to affect the behaviour, decisions, or opinions of others. It can be exerted by individuals, organisations, or groups and can be positive or negative in nature. It is widely acknowledged that a person’s close relationships can strongly influence their decisions; however, with the global acceleration of digital and social innovation, there is a new paradigm, with influencer marketing now said to be more effective than traditional marketing. So, can this apply to the profession?

Selling health and safety: this was never more omnipresent than during the recent pandemic, where we witnessed the rise of importance in health, safety, and well-being. As a result, there was an array of safety professionals being rolled out in front of a camera, followed, liked, reposted/tweeted, and discussed at length on podcasts and mainstream media. But for most of the profession, being a safety leader or developing others’ safety capability is about how effectively and efficiently you can positively influence the safety culture from the tone set at the top to the safety-related activities at the front line of the organisation.

This year’s AIHS National Health and Safety Conference theme is ‘influence for impact’, which led me to reflect on an early safety influencer whose impact is undeniable, the late Dr Eric Wigglesworth AM.

Eric’s passion for the science of safety was palpable, and I still draw inspiration from his words, “what is the evidence-base?” when seeking to shape health and safety positively. As a profession, we are fortunate to have the OHS Body of Knowledge, which provides the foundation that practitioners and professionals can draw from to influence the organisation to bring about positive improvements in health and safety. So, what can you do to influence health and safety with impact in your workplace?

1. Develop expertise: Acquiring in-depth knowledge and understanding of health and safety issues is crucial to influence change effectively. This includes staying informed about current research and trends in the field – drawing from the OHS Body of Knowledge, attending and participating in webinars, forums, and conferences, and reading articles published in journals and the OHS Professional magazine.

4. Advocate: Advocate for policies and practices that promote health and safety. This may involve engaging in public speaking (presenting at safety events and conferences), writing op-eds, and meeting with elected officials.

5. Collaborate: Collaborating with others who share your goals and values can help to amplify your impact and increase your ability to effect change. This can involve working with other organisations, within or outside your industry or sector, to help tackle systemic health and safety issues through sharing ideas and coordinated efforts to leverage resources to bring about positive change that could simply not be achieved in some workplaces working independently.

6. Evaluate and adjust: Continuously evaluating the impact of your efforts and making adjustments, as needed, can help ensure that your influence for impact is effective and sustainable over time.

So how does the AIHS seek to influence with impact? Drawing on all the above. As a member organisation whose primary purpose is to shape workplace health and safety through influencing:

• An effective WHS workforce: having the necessary skills through shared insights and recognition;

• Contemporary WHS policy and practice: being a trusted voice on all things WHS through an informed policy agenda; and

2. Build relationships: Networking and building relationships with key stakeholders, both internal stakeholders (from C-suite through to frontline staff) and external (such as regulators, industry organisations, local health and safety branches, and community groups). These relationships can be useful to help bounce ideas and generate support for your initiatives.

3. Leverage media: Using media both traditional and social media can aid in raising awareness and engaging the workforce, highlighting necessary attention and support to important health and safety issues and initiatives.

• Workplaces to embrace health, safety, and well-being: inspiring industries to connect and collaborate to drive improved WHS outcomes.

While not every person or organisation with a social media account could be considered an influencer, we can sometimes forget that when (as a profession) we actively come together to share information or collectively advocate to improve health and safety policy and practice, we are influencers. So, I urge you to keep connecting with new and existing safety influencers, be it adding to the evidence base or sharing contemporary health and safety practices that positively drive health and safety outcomes in workplaces and communities. n

OHS professionals can act as influencers when they come together to share information and collectively advocate to improve health and safety policy and practice, writes Cameron Montgomery

Cameron Montgomery, Deputy Chair, Australian Institute of Health & Safety

“Acquiring in-depth knowledge and understanding of health and safety issues is crucial to effectively influence change”

Quad bike safety checks show improved compliance

Ninety-four per cent of new quad bikes assessed by Australia’s consumer law regulators were compliant with the national safety standard that has been in force since October 2021, according to a nationwide surveillance program. The ACCC worked with state and territory consumer protection and work health and safety agencies to conduct a second annual round of surveillance activities, inspecting over 440 quad bike dealers in the process. Manufacturers and dealers were warned where minor non-compliance issues were found. The ACCC and state and territory consumer protection agencies are investigating a small number of instances where potentially serious non-compliance was identified, including in relation to the safety of the operator protection devices. There have been 180 deaths associated with the use of quad bikes since 2011. The number of deaths has reduced significantly since 2020 when there were 24 lives lost in quad bike incidents, to 11 in 2021 and about nine last year.

Measuring the high cost of poor truck driver health

If nothing is done to improve the health of Australia’s male truck drivers, 6067 lives and $2.6 billion in productivity could be lost over the next 10 years, according to new research led by Monash University. It also found that inaction could cost an estimated $485 million in healthcare costs and 21,173 lost years of life due to workrelated diseases or injury in the truck driving industry. Published in The Journal of Occupational Rehabilitation, the study found that while the transport and logistics industry contributed significantly to the Australian economy, few studies had explored the economic and clinical burden attributed to poor truck driver health. In 2020 the industry contributed an estimated 7.4 per cent ($122.3 billion dollars) of gross domestic product (GDP) to Australia’s economy in 2015-16 and employed about 380,000 workers. Researchers estimated the work-related mortality burden among truck drivers using modelling to simulate the Australian male working-age population (aged 15-65) from 2021-2030.

More than 140 workers injured in forklift incidents last year

WorkSafe Victoria recently reminded employers of the dangers posed by the unsafe use of forklifts as warehouses and factories ramp up work moving into the rest of the year. More workplace injuries and deaths involve forklifts than any other type of equipment but can be avoided if employers put safety first and ensure their machinery and systems of work are fit for purpose. In 2022, WorkSafe accepted 142 claims where the cause of injury was a forklift incident, with the transport, postal, and warehousing industry accounting for the most claims (45), followed by manufacturing (35) and wholesale trade (32). More than half of these claims were from forklift operators. The most common incidents included pedestrians being hit by forklifts, with 26 serious injury claims accepted in 2022, and operators injured getting on and off forklifts (23 claims). On nine occasions workers were injured by poorly secured forklift loads that fell on them, and five people were injured when forklifts tipped over.

WA: new psychosocial hazard regulations in force

Work health and safety regulations that require businesses to eliminate psychosocial risks (or to minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable) recently came into effect in Western Australia. This new duty places psychosocial hazards on the same footing as other significant hazards such as falls or operating machinery. PCBUs already have a duty to manage psychosocial risks under the primary duty of care in the Work Health and Safety Act 2020. The new regulations, which came into effect on 24 December 2022, form part of the McGowan Government’s response to the report Enough is Enough, sexual harassment against women in the FIFO mining industry. “Psychosocial hazards are just as important as physical hazards and must be dealt with in the workplace, so it’s an important step to have regulations specifically covering mental health issues,” said WA Mines and Petroleum and Industrial Relations Minister Bill Johnston.

What is the impact of flexible working on health and safety?

Following the significant workplace changes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic of the past few years, a substantial portion of the global workforce is now working either long or short hours when compared to a standard eight-hour day/40-hour working week. A global report found that more than one-third of all workers are regularly working more than 48 hours per week, while a fifth of the global workforce is working short (part-time) hours of less than 35 per week, with gig economy workers more likely to have long or short hours. The report, Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World, analyses different working-time arrangements and their effects on work-life balance, including shift work, on-call work, compressed hours, and hoursaveraging schemes. The organisation of work and rest periods can have a profound influence on the physical and mental health and wellbeing of workers, and their safety at work and during the transit from their homes, said the International Labor Organization report.

$1.5 million fine issued for Yallourn electrocution fatality

The operator of Yallourn power station in Victoria has been convicted and fined a total of $1.5 million following the death of a worker in November 2018. Energy Australia Yallourn was recently sentenced in the Melbourne County Court after pleading guilty to three charges under the Occupational Health and Safety Act. The company was fined $700,000 for failing to provide and maintain plant that was safe and without risks to health; $300,000 for failing to provide information, instruction, and training; and $500,000 for failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work. Graeme Edwards, 54, died in hospital with severe burns sustained in an arc flash and explosion that occurred while he was racking a 6.6kV circuit breaker in a high voltage switch room that was being returned to service after a planned major outage. The court heard the incident likely occurred when a control cable being held by Edwards made contact with live components of the circuit breaker due to an inadequately attached infill panel on the switchboard cabinet.

Corporate Members

SHARING OUR VISION – DIAMOND MEMBERS

APA Group

APPENATE PTY LTD

Avetta

Everyday Massive Pty Ltd

Programmed Safety Champion Software Pty Ltd

GETTING CONNECTED – SILVER MEMBERS

Aurecon Australasia Pty Ltd

Australian Unity

Brisbane Catholic Education

Compita Consulting Pty Ltd

Craig Mostyn Group

Downer EDI Ltd

Engentus PTY LTD

FIFO Focus

Guardian Angel Safety Pty Ltd

Herbert Smith Freehills

HOK Talent Solutions

Pilz Australia

Strategic Partner Organisations

Ai Group

ASHPA

Australian College of Road Safety (ACRS)

Australian Institute of Management (AIM)

Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy (AusIMM)

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisations (CSIRO)

Environment Institute of Australia and New Zealand (EIANZ)

SIA360

Transurban

Zenergy Safety Health & Wellbeing

INVESTING IN HEALTH & SAFETY – GOLD MEMBERS

Alium Works

Area9 Lyceum

Ashburton Assurance Australasia

Australian Army CodeSafe Solutions

Coles Group

Defence Housing Australia

EY

Federation University

Insync Workplace Solutions

Investigations Differently

K & L Gates

Kitney OHS

MinterEllison Lawyers

PFP Robotics Pty Ltd T/A Presien

Sydney Metro Teamcare Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd

BEING PART OF THE NETWORK – BRONZE MEMBERS

Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Ltd

Safesearch Pty Ltd

Sustainable Future Solutions

The Safe Step

Trainwest Safety Institute

UnitingSA

University of Queensland

5 Sticks Consulting

Airbus Australia Pacific

BWC Safety Pty Ltd

Complete Security Protection Pty Ltd

Ecoportal

Employment Innovations Pty Ltd

Flick Anticimex Pty Ltd

Green Light Environmental Services

Pty Ltd

Health & Safety Advisory Service P/L

Integrated Trolley Management Pty Ltd

Isaac Regional Council

ITS Transport

Liberty Industrial

Maroondah City Council

National Storage

National Training Masters

Office for the Commissioner of Public Sector Employment

One Maestro

RMIT Vietnam

SafeWork SA

Scenic Rim Regional Council Services Australia

Farmsafe Australia Inc

Health and Safety Association of New Zealand (HASANZ)

Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA)

International Network of Safety & Health Practitioner Organisations (INSHPO)

National Road Safety Partnership Program (NRSPP)

New Zealand Institute of Safety Management (NZISM)

Primary Industries Health and Safety Partnership (PIHSP)

Professions Australia

SafeWork NSW

SafeWork SA

SANE Australia

Standards Australia

WorkSafe Victoria

Workplace Health and Safety Queensland

Would you like to become a Corporate Member of the AIHS?

Please contact AIHS on 03 8336 1995 to discuss the many options available.

How human-centred communication drives safety outcomes

OHS professionals need to avoid “content-first” approaches to safety and instead focus on a human-centred approach in order to improve the effectiveness of safety communications, according to Narelle Wagner, head of innovation for safety, engagement, and leadership for consulting firm Everyday Massive.

“During the pandemic, OHS was granted priority messaging, but now safety teams are telling us the battle for corporate communication real estate has returned – even in organisations where safety is a core value. And it’s a challenge that’s forecast to stay given the growing list of strategic projects and change initiatives in post-pandemic operations,” said Wagner.

“Our brains are wired to protect us from overwhelm, and with the average person exposed to more than 10,000 messages every day, we naturally screen out a lot of the noise. Safety communication needs to stand out to seize attention. Then there’s the challenge of ensuring safety communication connects with the needs of different audience segments.”

While a generic, ‘sheep-dip’ approach to safety messaging will tick the box for information dissemination, she said this would miss the mark when it comes to impact. Instead, messages must be meaningful and memorable to drive behaviour change – whether following a SWMS, completing WHS training, or putting controls in place to manage fatigue.

Addressing challenges and issues

To combat these challenges, there needs to be a shift in mindsets about what safety communication is, explained Wagner. Traditionally, organisations take a content-first approach (focusing on what information needs to be shared), but she said OHS teams that are cutting through take a human-centred approach (considering the needs of the humans at

Head of innovation for safety, engagement, and leadership for Everyday Massive, Narelle Wagner, says thinking outside the box is necessary to help messages cut through

the heart of the communication).

“Human-centred communication addresses audience needs, such as how do we make this content relevant to them; what makes it important or interesting to them in their role; why should they care; and how do we make it easy for different groups to access this message?” she said. “The last point is particularly important in high-risk industries where a large percentage of employees work offline. Thinking outside the box is necessary to help messages cut through – such as using alternative ‘real estate’ that is not already congested with corporate messages.”

Key elements of human-centred communication

When developing safety campaigns that cut through and connect with the workforce, Wagner said there are some human-centred principles to consider: “it’s really important to address the ‘why’ for safety and for your message. Before

changing behaviour, humans will always seek to understand why we are being asked to do something and how it fits as part of a bigger picture,” she said.

Empathy and emotions are also key for connection. Wagner said this is about understanding what’s important to people and their communication preferences across different work groups. This has never been more important than now in multigenerational workplaces. “From SMS to email, social media to a good-old face-to-face chat, there’s a lot to consider in order to ensure we deliver the right message, at the right time, in the right way,” said Wagner.

Further, making safety messages visual can really supercharge communication efforts (particularly for complex topics and technical information). She explained that 90 per cent of the information we process is visual: “it’s how we experience the world. Research tells us that visual communication not only gets processed 60,000 times faster than text, but we’ll be 80 per cent more likely to recall it,” said Wagner.

A case study in human-centred communication

Everyday Massive recently collaborated with a global logistics company and developed a communication campaign to build greater risk awareness in their large fulfilment centres and increase hazard reporting. Wagner recalled the usual corporate communication channels, such as noticeboards and toolbox talks, were already filled with important messages, so an alternative approach was needed to ensure the hazard reporting campaign cut through.

The firm created an omnichannel campaign using a variety of unique communication channels, with floor decals and stickers along workflow process paths to put messaging in the employees’ line of sight and pique their curiosity. In addition, table tents engaged employees in break

It is important to consider human-centred principles in creating safety campaigns that cut through and connect with the workforce

rooms with a QR code linking to animated videos that explained the ‘why’ for the campaign by tapping into emotions. At the same time, Instagram-worthy corflute signage and temporary reporting kiosks at the fulfilment centre entry and exit points provided simple infographics and instructions for hazard reporting.

“It motivated teams to report hazards daily and created an added hype around the campaign as they shared their stories through internal social media. The campaign really cut through and saw thousands of quality hazard reports from the frontline in just three weeks,” said Wagner.

Executives, line managers and OHS professionals

In adopting a human-centred approach to safety communication, Wagner said it is crucial to empower line managers so they are confident to be the voice of safety. This means providing leader toolkits and, in some cases, onboarding workshops so that they can be the advocates for safety

campaigns. “Armed with the right context and communication tools, they’ll be able to bring safety campaigns to life on the frontline, making them relevant and memorable,” she said.

And for line managers to take ownership of safety, capability gaps in human skills that underpin their ability to lead safety must be bridged. These are skills like how to build psychologically safe workplaces, give feedback, motivate their teams, generate buy-in, and influence the people that they work with, for better performance outcomes, Wagner explained.

“Just like society itself, our workplaces are made up of unique groupings of humans who all have different needs and preferences when it comes to communication. It can take more effort to take a human-centred approach to safety communication; however, when it comes to messaging that cuts through, connects, changes behaviour, and shifts performance, we’d argue that it’s worth it,” she concluded. n

Safety communication in 2023 IN OUT

Tailored messaging Sheep-dip, blanket communication

Segmented audience groups

Human-centred communication

Thinking creatively about real estate for safety messages in workplaces

One-size-fits-all

Content-focused information dissemination

Using the same congested corporate messaging channels

Everyday Massive is a professional services company dedicated to improving the people experience in high-risk organisations through developing effective safety, engagement, and leadership programs. Everyday Massive is a diamond member of the AIHS.

Meet the new OHS Bodyof Knowledge Manager

The OHS Body of Knowledge was launched 10 years ago at the 2012 SIA (now AIHS) National Convention Gala Dinner. Pam Pryor has led the development of the OHS Body of Knowledge since its inception and played a foundational role in its success (for more information, please read the feature ‘Celebrating 10 years of the OHS Body of Knowledge’ on page 30 of the December 2022 edition of OHS Professional).

Under her stewardship, Pryor has created one of the most significant and freely available assets for the OHS profession, an important legacy to carry on, according to Marilyn Hubner, who took over the role of OHS Body of Knowledge manager on 1 January 2023. With extensive experience in learning, development, and research across the health and safety profession, Hubner specialises in providing relevant, engaging, and practical learning interventions that enable empowerment and professional capability development.

OHS Professional magazine recently sat down with Hubner to discuss her previous experience in the OHS profession and her vision for the OHS Body of Knowledge.

What is your background, and how will your skills and experience assist in managing the OHS Body of Knowledge in the future?

Hubner: Safety was probably the last thing on my mind growing up, but

like many of us in the profession, I came up through the ranks, starting my ‘safety career’ as a health and safety representative (HSR). However, I started my life as an apprentice painter for the Brisbane City Council, moved into the Australian Army, and then worked in the security industry. I realised there was no real career in crowd controlling, so I enrolled with the University of Queensland and graduated with honours with an Applied Science Degree.

This was really where my passion for education started, and it has only grown stronger. Since then, I have had several academic and organisation-based education roles. However, reflecting on that HSR role around 20 years ago, the training I received was really what got me excited about how important safety was in the workplace. From there, I completed a Certificate IV, Diploma, and Advanced Diploma in OHS/WHS. I went on to complete a Master’s in Education, followed by the completion of my PhD, which brought my passion for training and my passion for safety together as I investigated the role and effectiveness of safety training within the construction industry.

I believe that it is my passion for lifelong learning and positive safety behaviours that will contribute most to this role of OHS Body of Knowledge manager. I see the OHS Body of Knowledge as both an educational tool for new and emerging professionals, as well as an opportunity to improve practice through the interpretation and implementation

of theory into practice. My experience in both education and safety will provide the foundation for my success in this role.

What are some strengths and potential areas for development for the OHS profession?

Hubner: I have always believed that the strength of the OHS profession is the people within. The professionals and practitioners that provide advice. The professionals and practitioners who are passionate about keeping workers safe. The professionals and practitioners that truly care. Coupled with the people is the strong global support network provided by professional organisations such as the AIHS.

I also believe that the profession is made strong through collaboration with people outside our immediate professional framework. The safety field today encompasses disciplines that are not traditionally considered OHS. Individual and organisational psychology, toxicology, epidemiology, communication and marketing, instructional design, and human factors to name a few. Today’s OHS profession must collaborate with a wider group of professionals to remain relevant. This is both a strength that we have and an area for improvement. Many organisations and individuals still try to work with an internal lens and perhaps implement tired, old, and worn-out practices. The improved cross-disciplinary collaboration will strengthen our

Pam Pryor recently passed the baton of managing the OHS Body of Knowledge to Dr Marilyn Hubner, who discusses her professional experience and vision for the OHS Body of Knowledge

New OHS Body of Knowledge manager, Marilyn Hubner, sees the OHS Body of Knowledge as both an educational tool for new and emerging professionals and one that can improve practice through the interpretation and implementation of theory into practice

profession and advance practice. I think one of our biggest areas for development will lie in understanding how technology can improve behaviour, attitude, perspective, and practice. The integration of cyber systems into everyday work practice, the seamless integration of computers, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, wearables, robotics –the list seems endless. The task at hand may be to understand not only how the safety professional can ensure that technology ensures safe workplaces but how the regulatory framework can keep in touch with it.

How has the OHS Body of Knowledge contributed to the OHS profession from a theoretical/academic perspective?

Hubner: Having completed vocational training in OHS, I had very limited exposure to the OHS Body of Knowledge during my initial studies. The OHS program I completed did not focus on the theory or science of safety. Having already finished university studies, I knew that theory was essential to the successful implementation of safety practice, so I exposed myself to the OHS Body of Knowledge while undertaking vocational

studies. Since then, I have used various chapters of the OHS Body of Knowledge to develop vocational and awareness-based training programs.

From an academic perspective, I believe the OHS Body of Knowledge continues to provide a wealth of information in the form of concepts, core theories, and evidence-based research that can be used to inform syllabus development and delivery. It also provides an opportunity for debate which I believe leads to further research.

How has the OHS Body of Knowledge contributed to the OHS profession in practice?

Hubner: One of the primary purposes of the OHS Body of Knowledge is to provide professionals with a resource that supports their understanding of risk, causation, and control. Most chapters are designed to prompt discussion and thought around safety-related topics. That said, how individuals use the OHS Body of Knowledge would be invaluable information for me in this role moving forward. In the perfect world, the OHS professional would attend the new chapter launch, read the chapter, reflect on its relevance in their working world, and continue to review the chapter

Maturity Profiling

Intelligent health and safety software.

Safe365 is transforming the health and safety practices of businesses globally. With a suite of innovative tech solutions and insights that enable stronger leadership, culture and decision making, Safe365 takes health and safety practice from compliance to proactive governance.

Try Safe365 for free.

Take our health and safety maturity assessment and get your Safety Index score with a free trial at safe365global.com or email us at sales@safe365global.com

as required. Perhaps even use the chapter as an opportunity to immerse themselves in an improvement project within the workplace. What happens in the real world may be very different.

From my perspective, I have used the chapters to improve the content of my training programs. I have discussed concepts within workplaces to gauge the level of interest. I have linked chapters to the need for professional development and organisational improvement. In most cases, the concepts and ideas discussed in the chapters prompt me to continue reading, and invariably I go down the rabbit hole that is online research. n

The AIHS is running a series of webinars in 2023, which expand on the OHS Body of Knowledge feature articles published in OHS Professional magazine. For more information, visit the AIHS events website.

www.ohsbok.org.au

Safe365 helps you understand where you sit on your journey to health and safety excellence, with clear visibility on where and how you can improve your health and safety practices.

Safety Index

Get an individual rating of your business' health and safety maturity status, with benchmarking insights to see how you compare to others in your industry.

Maturity Roadmap

Climb your way to health and safety Leadership status as Safe365 shows you exactly what you need to do next to get there.

What’s the best way to get your OHS messages across?

While health and safety information plays an important role in organisations, there are better ways to communicate with employees in order to engage them effectively

Most companies use email to convey OHS information, but it is not the most effective method or preferred by employees – and the potential of social media remains virtually untapped. This is the finding of PhD research conducted by Dr Kelly Jaunzems, lecturer in the School of Medical Health Sciences and researcher in the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University. Jaunzems, who won a Dr Eric Wigglesworth Research Award for her research last year, investigated how OHS information was communicated in workplaces and whether it was read, understood, taken on board, internalised, and acted upon.

What were the goals of the research?

Like many in the WHS profession, Jaunzems said her early career was not in the OHS industry. She began her career in hospitality management, and in 2011, she was thrust into a safety role out of necessity, and Jaunzems explained this is what sparked her interest and passion for keeping people safe at work.

In 2014, she completed a Master of Occupational Health and Safety at Edith Cowan University. During this time, she was required to read several articles by Andrew Hopkins on the Longford disaster. Lessons From Longford: The Esso Gas Plant Explosion (2000) changed her perceptions about workplace safety and health. “I found myself interested in the social side of safety and health – how employees create, shape, and manage shared perceptions of safe practices in the workplace, rather than the practical, hands-on ‘how can we keep people safe’ perspective,” she recalled. “I wanted to understand how these perceptions are formed, how they can be influenced, and how we can encourage constructive conversations around safety and health in the workplace.”

Jaunzems explained her research reflects a human-centred approach to researching WHS communication, investigating how WHS information is currently communicated to (and by) different levels within an organisation and what opportunities there are for WHS practitioners to make (greater) use of everyday technologies such as social media. “The research presents the perspectives of individual employees and workplace communities and offers deep, multilayered insights into how WHS is communicated within organisations while exploring how such communication is received by employees and by people outside an organisation,” said Jaunzems, who added there were two main observations that guided her research.

“Firstly, the way that we communicate WHS information appears to have changed little over the past 20 years,

despite significant advances in technology and shifting communication preferences; and second, WHS practitioners, and the profession in general, were not using social media as a communication platform, despite the fact that public health has had significant success with this medium,” she said.

There is a great deal of research available on the importance of educating and informing employees about WHS, yet Jaunzems observed there is little evidence available on what and which mediums are effective when communicating WHS information. Traditionally, WHS

Edith Cowan University lecturer and researcher Dr Kelly Jaunzems said the way WHS information is communicated appears to have changed little over the past 20 years, despite significant advances in technology and changing communication preferences

research has been approached from a technical perspective, and while there has been a significant shift in WHS research methodologies over the past 30 years, Jaunzems said the general focus remains on how to keep people safe at work. “Reducing the number and severity of accidents and incidents within the workplace is indeed a vital cause, however, the question becomes: ‘how effective is the implementation of these outcomes, updates and changes if workplace communication systems and structures are ineffective?’” she said.

Key research findings

The effective communication of WHS information is integral to the safety of employees, and more importantly, Jaunzems said how WHS information is communicated is just as important as the information provided. “This communication (and the resulting workforce perceptions) are inextricably linked with an organisation’s culture,” said Jaunzems, who noted in-depth interviews with management executives, WHS professionals, and employees who work onthe-ground, from multiple industries and

organisations, have highlighted disparities and misunderstandings between those creating and communicating information, and the employees expected to understand and implement it.

“Email tends to be the most frequently used communication channel for distributing WHS information, however, an over-reliance on email communication, and a failure to understand employees’ communication preferences, can be detrimental,” she said. “Overreliance on email, without much engagement or follow-up, suggests not only a persistently distant view of actual work on the part of those who create and push out WHS communications but may well reveal a growing (and increasingly acute) generational gap between various groups.”

While email may be the easiest and most used communication channel for organisations to distribute information to a large audience, this default setting can fail spectacularly, Jaunzems found. The sheer number of emails that an average employee receives daily often leads to email overload, and Jaunzems said emails are often automatically relegated to the ‘junk’ or other ‘read later’ folders, where they are left unopened and unread. In addition to this, there are many people who either do not check their emails due to their own communication preferences (this often applies to an older generation), do not have ready access to emails (perhaps due to the lack of computer access), or work on sites where mobile phone use is not permitted.

“Often, WHS information provided is identical for all levels and categories of employees without consideration for the amount of information or the detail each employee needs. While a manager or supervisor may require detailed background information about a specific task, an employee operating a crane, for example, may only need the information that specifically impacts them, the operation of their equipment, or the worksite on which they are working,” said Jaunzems.

Other issues with the communication of WHS information also became apparent, including the amount, quality, and timeliness of information provision, the use of accessible language, the realworld implementation of information communicated, and hierarchical communication structures. “These findings suggest that it is not simply the channels of WHS communication which warrant further investigation: the communication and reception of WHS information may be more complex and complicated than it has hitherto appeared to be,” said Jaunzems.

Communication issues in the workplace

Jaunzems drew on her research to provide an example of a large government organisation (LGO) as a case study of how, why, what, and when WHS information is communicated. “Each group of interviewees (on-the-ground, WHS, and management) recognise that communication is a key element in keeping employees safe,” said Jaunzems.

“At the same time, there is a general belief that the LGO does not communicate WHS information effectively. Participants suggest that WHS information may be communicated within a context of fear and uncertainty and that this attitude inhibits active, open, two-way conversations between different levels of employees. The LGO uses email as its main WHS communication channel, yet every employee interviewed says this can be problematic.”

onto the computer and check an email,” said Roy. Often, he said older employees who work ‘on-the-tools’ believe that “‘if you’re sending me that sort of thing, it’s junk mail… if it’s an email it can’t be that important’, it’s a bit like spam”.

The complexity of WHS information is also flagged as an issue, Jaunzems said. Keith, a civil engineer, was particularly concerned about employees who work in the field, especially those who did not finish high school: “The lockout, take out documents of the isolation… is 55 pages long. Now the guys who work for me have not graduated high school. So how management goes ‘55 pages is not too complex’ [I don’t know], that’s good, they’re university trained, probably some have a masters. They’re alright at school and all that stuff.

“They work in an office, where they’re using paperwork all the time. You almost want to have a university degree out in the field to decipher every single document that comes out, because it’s legally worded… they see the document, they see it’s legal, and then they [management] wonder why they treat it like it’s an arse covering exercise”.

people aren’t interested in reading about something that is constantly shoved down their throats and that for communication to be effective, it needs to be done in a way that resonates with people: “don’t put all this crappy, shiny, frickin’ Australian standards and all that crap in – it’s about managing their risk, so they go home safe, it’s pretty simple”.

Jaunzems explained that communication needs to be strategic and timely so that the information reaches its intended audience. As an example, Richard, an operations supervisor, discusses an email that was sent out during the LGO’s Christmas break: “They sent a new instruction out on the 28th of December last year, ‘back from the 1st day of January that all contractors will have to have this card, be inducted on here’. And everyone was on leave, [a] lot of people were on leave, so they got back in, what’s this new thing they were asked? It wasn’t well communicated, you know.”

Implications of the research for OHS

The sheer number of emails that employees receive may also contribute to the belief that WHS emails may be perceived as spam, according to Jaunzems, who said this overload of emails could make it hard to discern what relevant information, even when it is important.

Crew supervisor, Elmars, for example, pointed out that employees cannot take in all the information contained in emails and that, often, the information may not be relevant. Alex, the maintenance coordinator agreed: “some of them are – I get a quarter the way through and halfway through and say it’s not relevant to me”.

Operations supervisor, Richard, estimated that up to “80 per cent of people” no longer read or take in information sent in emails, as emails waste time. Roy, a service technician, agreed: “people develop the attitude ‘well you keep sending me this stuff for another section, it’s irrelevant to me, I’m not going to read it from now on’”.

Jaunzems said some employees, particularly those who do not have regular access to a computer terminal, do not check their emails regularly. “They might hop on the computer once every fortnight… There’s other guys that – yeah, they might be a month until they log

In another example, Andrew, a regional operations manager, said that while a high level of information is beneficial for him, it’s not relevant to many employees: “for the day-to-day guys operating in the organisation – would they need to know about the legislative changes?”. This was echoed by Louis, also a regional operations manager: “I might be quite comfortable in reading a 10-page procedure with jargon and acronyms and all that sort of caper with hyperlinks that take you to other places and what have you, but when it’s the guy that – today he’s going out to do a job, and I say to him ‘well just before you do that job can you just read that 20page procedure, find the six lines that are really important and make sure you don’t [expletive] it up?’”.

Jaunzems said Andrew’s concern lies in the type and quality of information communicated: “it’s not so much how, it’s more about what, so you know, that’s the thing for me […] I’m concerned about the quality, and what we communicate is really important”. He suggested that employees read and absorb information according to its relevance: “I don’t do that work, so I’ve got a licence to ignore that because that’s nothing to do with me.”

Jaunzems added a comment from Linda, a WHS communications liaison, who stated that employees often “receive lots of information they don’t really need”. Karen, a general manager of safety, said that

Focusing on the social side of safety and health (how employees create, shape, and manage shared perceptions of safe practices in the workplace), Jaunzems said she wanted to understand how perceptions of safety are formed, how they can be influenced, and how to encourage constructive conversations around safety and health in the workplace. “While I find this topic of WHS fascinating, I realised that it left others of my generation cold. Workplace safety and health was being taken for granted, ignored and marginalised. Organisations and employees appeared to be ‘going through the motions’ rather than engaging with, and participating in, conversations around the communication of OHS matters,” she said.

“Younger generations, in particular, often take ‘safety’ for granted, believing that the accidents and injuries that happen to others won’t happen to them. I believe that having employees of every age who understand how and why WHS legislation, policies, and procedures are designed to keep employees safe at work encourages constructive conversations around WHS in the workplace and safer behaviours.”

Knowledge of how perceptions are formed, how they can be influenced, and how WHS practitioners can encourage constructive conversations around safety and health in the workplace can deliver important workplace benefits, said Jaunzems: “the ways in which WHS information are communicated are just as important as the information provided. Importantly, the communication of WHS

“While I find this topic of WHS fascinating, I realised that it left others of my generation cold”

within a workplace, and the resulting workforce perceptions, are inextricably linked with an organisation’s culture,” she said.

While employees were happy to participate in confidential, one-on-one interviews, where their identity would be obscured, Jaunzems recalled they seemed reluctant to participate in a setting where their peers would be present, and their personal views and opinions may be open to criticism and/or leaked to people outside the focus group. She said this poses an issue for WHS communications: how is the discipline to investigate collegial collaboration and solidarity around preferred and effective communication channels? “If employees are unwilling to discuss or raise issues about how they receive safety information or the information they receive, then management and WHS personnel will be unable to identify areas for improvement or otherwise develop strategies and processes to address these issues,” said Jaunzems.

Advice for organisational and OHS professionals

Jaunzems’s research has highlighted the need for a more comprehensive and multifaceted WHS communication strategy that takes into account the differing communication preferences of employees, management and WHS practitioners. The importance, complexity and detailed nature of WHS information increases the importance of and that information is communicated effectively, ensuring that those receiving this information do so in a way that encourages active engagement,

understanding, and implementation. Jaunzems garnered a number of insights from her research, and her first recommendation (one that was repeated over and over by participants) was the need to ensure that the information received by employees is relevant and applicable to the real world. “Be aware of the level of information needed by each level of employee, and tailor the information to each level,” she said. “Sending a global email where all employees receive the same information is likely to result in unread and deleted emails – a person who works at a desk in an office does not need to know the ins and outs of a forklift or working at heights. Create ‘categories’ of employees, and tailor your communications to each category. Alternatively, include links that relate to different categories of employees so that an employee can access the level of information that is relevant to them.”

Secondly, Jaunzems said that every organisation must comprehensively understand its strategies and procedures for communicating WHS information to employees. By reviewing current strategies, an organisation can gain an in-depth understanding of how (what channels); what (which information, in which format); why (why particular channels are used, why this information needs to be communicated); when (when is information best communicated, timeliness of information); and who (who is initiating the communication, who is creating and sending the information, who is the information being sent to, who is receiving/not receiving this information).

This depth of understanding is necessary for an organisation to develop, implement and review effective WHS communication within its workplace, according to Jaunzems.

“Develop a database of current WHS communication channels. Evaluating the channels available for WHS communication enables the selection and implementation of options for communicating different types of WHS information to different employees working in different situations and locations. Ensure that you regularly review the communication channels and strategies used. Determining whether or not current strategies are working is an essential response to the challenges of an ever-changing organisational environment,” she said.

Lastly, Jaunzems recommended consulting with employees about WHS communication preferences. Information gleaned from formal and informal interviews, surveys, and related discussions can enable an organisation to build a profile of employees’ communication preferences, informing the channels chosen and underpinning the creation and positioning of WHS communication materials. “In addition, consider developing communication strategies with employees. The codevelopment of WHS communication strategies in partnership with employees encourages a cohesive and unified approach that is more likely to result in the effective communication of WHS information,” Jaunzems concluded. n

The Eric Wigglesworth OHS Education Medal is a national award made by the Australian Institute of Health & Safety recognising achievement in OHS education in the Doctor of Philosophy or professional doctorate category. The award recognises significant contributions to the OHS Body of Knowledge; the potential for application of research outcomes in preventing work-related fatalities, injuries, disease and/or ill health; and demonstrated dissemination of research outcomes to relevant parties.

“Workplace safety and health was being taken for granted, ignored and marginalised”

Why OHS needs to lead with both the head & the heart

OHS professionals need to balance leading with the qualities of both “the head and the heart” in order to become more effective leaders at work

The art of being a modern leader is knowing what attributes of leading with the head and heart are needed (and when), according to company director Kirstin Ferguson, who recently authored Head & Heart: The Art of Modern Leadership. “In any given situation, context or conversation you will need to draw on skills from both the head and heart to be the most effective leader you can be. For example, it is impossible to make a critical decision based on well-researched data without also considering the human cost of the decision,” said Ferguson, who was recently awarded an AM (Member of the Order of Australia) for her significant service to business and to gender equality.

leader at the upcoming AIHS National Health and Safety Conference, held from 30 May to 1 June 2023 at the Brisbane Convention Centre (for more information please see the end of the article).

“Knowing what attributes of head and heart leadership are needed, and when, is key. This will take all your skills of intuition to learn and develop over time. Our experience and maturity as leaders will mean our confidence and ability to integrate our leadership to lead with the head and the heart will change as we expand our experiences.”

The research behind head and heart leadership

Through quantitative and qualitative research, she identified the following attributes of leading with the head (curiosity, wisdom, perspective, and capability) and the heart (humility, self-awareness, courage, and empathy).

“The more attributes of a head and heart leader you can draw upon, the more effective you will be in the widest range of situations you might find yourself leading in,” said Ferguson, who will be speaking about how to become a more effective

In her book, Ferguson explains that thinking about the head and heart in a leadership context can’t include the literal qualities or capacities metaphors ascribe to them, but studies have shown that people don’t just talk in metaphors; they think in them too. For example, researchers asked participants in a study to self-identify which body part they most closely associated with their head or heart. They found that those who primarily identified with the heart (52 per cent of participants) paid greater attention to their emotions. They characterised themselves as warmer people, scored higher on agreeableness, were more likely to solve dilemmas in an emotional manner, and were more emotionally reactive to daily stressors.

The people who identified as primarily head-based (48 per cent of participants) said they enjoyed intellectual challenges more than others, were more logical, had greater general knowledge, were better at intellectual tasks, and had higher grade point averages (GPAs) in their university results.

“The more attributes of a head and heart leader you can draw upon, the more effective you will be in the widest range of situations you might find yourself leading in”

Author and company director Kirstin Ferguson says modern leaders are not expected to have all the answers or solutions

“Those results intuitively made sense, but then the study got really interesting. Next, the researchers randomly selected the same participants and asked them to answer general knowledge questions,” said Ferguson, who explained that, as they were answering, the participants were instructed to either physically place their hand on their head (closest to their brain) or to hold their hand over their chest (closest to their heart). Those who put their hands on their heads saw improved intellectual problem-solving. The people who held their hands over the hearts while they answered the questions placed more emphasis on emotional factors in their decision-making.

“The physical act of placing a hand near either the head or the heart played a role in how questions were answered. Understanding the value of leading with the head and heart in theory is one thing. But what does this look like in practice? What leadership attributes do you use to lead with the head and heart?” Ferguson asked.

Leadership attributes of the head and heart

Using quantitative research and academic literature, Ferguson has identified eight leadership attributes that are the key ingredients for a modern leader. She began by investigating the existing literature to identify those leadership concepts most frequently associated with leaders who are seen as highly capable and emotionally intelligent. Before confirming the eight attributes, she wanted to test their validity empirically. In conjunction with Professor Lisa Bradley at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Business School, the “Head & Heart Leader Scale” was developed.

Using a sample group of more than 700 leaders, eight leadership attributes (curiosity, wisdom, perspective, capability, humility, self-awareness, courage, and empathy) were identified. Testing these attributes to develop the scale confirmed their validity.

Ferguson said in her book that four interesting findings of the research include:

1. Leading with perspective has a special quality. Being able to lead with perspective is highly correlated with a leader who has high levels of empathy, capability, and self-awareness. Of all eight attributes, perspective has a special quality that, when utilised and developed, allows you to be an empathetic leader who is also capable and self-aware.

2. Being aware of your limitations is key. Awareness of your limitations is a key skill for modern leaders and strongly correlates with all eight head and heart attributes. This is because being aware of your limitations means you are more likely to be curious about other answers, humble about your inability to know everything and, self-aware of your abilities.

3. Modern leaders are prepared to challenge their assumptions. Leaders who self-assess as being willing to challenge what they think they know are more likely to be leaders who selfassess as being courageous and having high levels of empathy. This is because they are willing to accept that they don’t know everything and seek out the views of others that may be quite different to theirs.

4. Modern leaders are open to the ideas of others. Ferguson's research shows that if you self-assess as being open to the ideas of others, you are likely to also have high levels of perspective, empathy and curiosity. This is because modern leaders value diverse points of view, are curious about things they may not understand, and know that to make the best decision they must be able to ‘read the room’ and incorporate many different perspectives,” she said.

coach others to be successful, rather than being driven by their individual success. Modern leaders understand that when they focus on helping others achieve success, they too are more successful, more trusted, and more effective,” said Ferguson, who has served as a non-executive director with several business, cultural, and sports groups, in addition to acting chair of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Furthermore, modern leaders embrace the idea that they can integrate the leader they are at work, with the leaders they are outside of work. They understand empathy or curiosity they may show their children at home draws on the same skills and qualities leaders in the workplace need as well, according to Ferguson: “modern leaders appreciate that the self-awareness they have of their impact on others in meetings and workshops with colleagues, is the same self-awareness that will be beneficial as a volunteer in the community or when engaging with family and friends. Modern leaders are the leaders people want to work with and for.”

However, Ferguson also pointed out that modern leaders are not perfect. “Far from it,” she said. “Leading, like living, is a series of missteps and challenges, setbacks and lessons learnt. We will be invariably learning some of the same lessons our entire lives. The humility to know we don’t have all the answers and the curiosity to search for a solution requires a modern leader who understands when to lead with their head, and when to lead with their heart.”

“For all the leadership experiences we might have, the different teams we lead, the different ways we seek to lead in formal or informal ways – all of it comes down to knowing how and when to best lead with our heads and our hearts. This is the art of modern leadership,” she said.

The makings of modern leaders

Elaborating on her research, Ferguson explained that modern leaders are no longer the heroic leaders of the past. “They are no longer managers focusing only on themselves, the task at hand and a static environment. Leaders are not expected to have all the answers or solutions. Modern leaders serve the people they lead and focus on how to

She has observed traditional leaders who believe that formal leadership authority or position entitles them to be more important or more privileged than others, they stick out – and not in a good way. “These traditional leaders refuse to rethink their ideas or they may think they are always the ‘smartest person in the room’. These are leaders who demotivate those they work with and fail to lead inclusively and seek diverse ideas to their own. These leaders will increasingly find it challenging to succeed and develop cultures people want to be part of,” said Ferguson.

Modern leaders promote psychological safety

When a leader is self-aware, it can give others a feeling of safety because a selfaware leader will manage their emotions and behaviour to reduce stress, according to Ferguson, as she said they will seek to encourage a sense of flourishing for those they work with.

“The physical act of placing a hand near either the head or the heart played a role in how questions were answered”

Research shows that teams led by self-aware leaders are less likely to experience internal politics, backbiting, and toxic cultures. In her book, she said this is because self-aware leaders role model what not to do. “Self-aware leaders tend not to dominate conversations or ignore the contributions of others. They can develop an environment where all members of a team feel able to address their concerns in an open and calm way, ultimately increasing individual performance. Modern leaders are much more likely to build inclusive teams where people feel able to show up as themselves. This is because self-aware leaders create environments of authenticity where limitations are openly shared, vulnerabilities are embraced, and diverse viewpoints are sought,” she said.

“If you live or work in an environment where it is not safe to speak up, even the most courageous among us is going to find it challenging to do so. These are cultures where mistakes are seen as fatal to your promotion prospects, where people are unwilling to rock the boat, where you are more likely to keep your ideas to yourself than risk speaking up. These are cultures where you only talk about your strengths and are unlikely to freely share your limitations.”

Furthermore, modern leaders are required to lead in fluid, rapidly changing environments that require us to adapt to new, often radically uncertain, circumstances. “The teams we lead may be in the same building or they may be people we never meet in person. The challenges for leaders today are immense, which is why modern leaders, who can lead with their head and their heart, are the leaders we need for modern times.”

Modern leadership and the practice of OHS

Ferguson understands well the application of modern leadership to OHS, having completed a PhD in health and safety leadership (she received the Dr Eric Wigglesworth OHS Education (Research) Award in 2015 for her thesis, A study of safety leadership and safety governance for board members and senior executives) while she also served as CEO of the health and safety consultancy Sentis from 2006 to 2010. “This means much of the leadership experience and research I write about is grounded in an understanding of safety leadership and safety culture,” she said.

“Many OHS professionals are incredibly effective at leading with their head – they are curious, capable, use risk to make

wise decisions and try to ‘read the room’ to lead with perspective and influence outcomes,” explained Ferguson, who pointed out that it is equally important for an OHS professional to remember to balance those skills with leading with the heart: “using humility to accept you may not have all the answers, being self-aware of the impact you have on others, being empathetic around the impact policies and processes you develop may have on some, and being courageous to speak up even in the face of pressure not to do so,” she said.

The other consideration for OHS professionals is to remember that you are a leader regardless of where you may sit in the organisational chart or whether you have a formal ‘seat at the table’. “People are looking to you to lead at work, at home, in your industry, and in your community. It doesn’t matter whether you have anyone to formally lead in your OHS team or whether you are the sole OHS professional in your organisation,” said Ferguson.

She observed that the notion of needing to have followers as a prerequisite to being a leader has heavily influenced the notion of leadership as being those who command armies, run large corporations, or lead countries. “If we continue to accept leaders are only those with formal titles and responsibilities who manage or control others, then we exclude, rather than include, most people who are leading in their lives and workplaces,” she said.

“Modern leadership does not depend on formal notions of followership. Such a narrow definition of leaders ignores the informal leaders in our organisations, like OHS professionals, who may not have formal authority but are looked to by those they work with to guide the way,” Ferguson concluded. n

Dr Ferguson will present a keynote speech at the upcoming AIHS National Health and Safety Conference, which will be held from 30 May to 1 June 2023 at the Brisbane Convention Centre. This year’s conference theme is “Influence for Impact” and will feature a range of speakers who will examine different aspects of the theme. For more information please call (03) 8336 1995, email events@aihs.org.au or visit the event website. Readers can test their own levels of head and heart-based leadership by visiting www.headheartleader.com to receive a free personalised report.

What are the latest technology trends for OHS?

OHS is one function that can benefit significantly from the adoption and application of a range of current and emerging technologies

Technology has transformed many areas of work in recent years, and digital transformation remains an ongoing priority for many organisations. New technological developments offer a range of potential benefits, and OHS is one function in particular that can benefit from a range of applications.

It is common for companies to adopt one or more technology solutions; however, getting the most benefit and value from those solutions is often challenging. “The main challenge I see for organisations is a maximum positive impact,” said technology expert, biomedical engineer, and inventor Jordan Nguyen. “That is what I’ve seen across the board with many different companies. They aim to have some form of positive impact, but I don’t often hear about them trying to maximise it.”

He observed that some organisations adopt and use different technologies as a “bit of a tick box” exercise for the purposes of compliance, for example. While this might make things better than they were previously, Nguyen said there is a lot of energy within companies and their people to do better, regardless of their level, job role, or title. “We’re all making a difference in some way in the world. Sometimes you have to act like an entrepreneur to be able to build up a base of followers and get them on board with your ideas. And that’s what it starts with: the ideas,” said Nguyen, who will be speaking about the latest trends and innovations in technology and health at the upcoming AIHS National Health and Safety Conference, held from 30 May to 1 June 2023 at the Brisbane Convention Centre (for more information, please see the end of the article).

Technology, productivity, and health

Nguyen travels the world to discover what is happening in science and technology. He also designs life-changing technologies to transform the lives of people with disabilities and the elderly through his role as founder of Psykinetic, a social business committed to bringing positive, sustainable, and life-altering change.

“We’re at an interesting point in time because we’re facing all these different types of disruptive technologies,” said Nguyen, who observed that, in the past, it was normal to face a singular disruptive technology maybe once every decade. “Now we’re hit with many of them all at once, and artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important driver of this,” he said. AI has been around for many years (it was coined in 1956), and Nguyen said that, historically, there have always been concerns about AI taking jobs. “There have been rises and falls over the decades, and if you were to go back and look through decades of news articles, they would always say we are on the verge of losing our jobs to automation of some sort,” he said.

everything else that comes out can help serve to improve AI. And, AI can help improve all those other technologies as well.”

There are a number of other important technologies, including extended reality, which includes the spectrum of virtual reality to augmented reality, according to Nguyen, who said these are not just a fad and are no longer just for entertainment. “Training is going to be a really important one for the likes of virtual reality. You do it once, you do it well, and you scale it. And people can go into these realistic scenarios – and that part’s really important. Virtual reality can trick the brain, even temporarily, into believing it’s in a different environment doing something different,” he said.

Another important technology trend is quantum computing. “As soon as we wrap our heads around digital transformation, it’s going to be like, ‘okay, let’s leave that there; we’re moving on to quantum’. High levels of computing power are coming, and they will help serve new designs utilising the likes of virtual worlds and artificial intelligence and biomedical technology, for example,” said Nguyen, who added that these kinds of technologies are also converging – which means they are less siloed and will all help serve each other and work together in a type of unified ecosystem in the future.

Application of technologies in occupational settings

“But now, we are in a different space since about 2015, when we started seeing the democratisation of technology. Artificial intelligence is important because it’s the technology to rule all technologies;

These new and emerging technologies have myriad occupational applications. From testing out new training ideas and product designs through virtual reality to using AI to improve the effectiveness of self-service chatbots, technology is playing an increasingly important and diverse role in organisational settings. Nguyen gave the example of not-for-profit care providers (specialising in intellectual disability and aged care) who were interested in using technology to predict if an elderly person is going to have a fall or create harm (either to themselves or others) in a care setting.

“I asked a number of people: if you have an expert carer watching one person, day in

“That allowed us to generate a lot of data to assist in training an artificial intelligence system to recognise what risk factors it should look for”

Technology expert Jordan Nguyen says AI is is the technology to rule all technologies

and day out, would they be able to tell? Yes, because there’s obviously some precursors that can be picked up on to determine whether a person might be about to suffer an injury or potentially harm someone else, depending on what sort of setting we’re looking at in care,” he said.

“Now, to take this further and build a system that could potentially predict these incidents, we designed this in virtual reality within a very short space of time. Firstly, we built the equivalent of a multi-milliondollar facility in a day. This was a virtual space with virtual cameras and virtual variable light settings and camera angles. We added digital avatars that looked quite real in the space, and they were able to go through the motions and different actions that we’re looking for in terms of incident precursors. That allowed us to generate a lot of data to assist in training an artificial intelligence system to recognise what risk factors it should look for.”

This allowed care workers to experience real-world settings in virtual environments and get a feel for potential risks without having to experience them in the physical world. “We were also in the midst of

COVID, so we couldn’t actually go into the care homes for which we were designing solutions. We just used photos for plans and then built a very lifelike virtual version of those care environments,” said Nguyen.

Another example he gave was with an ambulance authority organisation that wanted to explore how technology could be used to improve training outcomes for paramedics with limited access to scarce resources in the form of real ambulances. “So how do we train people in an efficient way without actually gaining access to the physical resources that are in use? This was another great use case for virtual reality. You build a virtual model of an ambulance environment with virtual models of equipment that need to be utilised and tested. And then, you can create a training simulation that you can put the person into, and that person feels like it’s real. So instead of learning the theory, they can get ‘hands-on’ practice with a virtual version of the machines and equipment they’d be using. So they have effectively gotten as close to a real-life situation as possible. And that scales. You can put that into as many $400 headsets as you want,” he said.

Data and privacy

Regarding the latest developments in technology – especially artificial intelligence – Nguyen said quality data is critical. Health and medical data are necessary for fitness tracking apps, for example, and he said there are potential privacy concerns about the use of this data. “Other countries are a bit more open with their data, and users make the decisions as to what they want and what they don’t want. I have interviewed the founders of companies in the health technology space in the US and different parts of Asia, but we here in Australia tend to be pretty closed off when it comes to the use of our data,” he said.

He gave the example of artificial intelligence with simulations in a form known as “digital twinning”. A digital twin is a digital replica of virtually anything, from a piece of machinery, robot or production line, to a specific place, company, person, or even a planet. “Now, in this particular case, if you create a digital twin of yourself, and your digital twin is represented in an app, you need to send it as much data as possible. And

that data can be your health data, your fitness tracker data, or you can even get your DNA sequenced and send that across. You can connect your social media and send everything, from the sort of food you’re eating to the places you’re going, the people you’re hanging out with, or the exercise that you get every day,” he said. “All these things can help create a very accurate model of you. That model can then be connected with the data of many, many other people, and this is what artificial intelligence is very good at.”

The main type of artificial intelligence most people deal with in their day-to-day life is called machine learning. This type of technology is very good at finding patterns and differences in data. “So if we’re

looking at the patterns of your data versus the patterns of many other people’s data, it can start to provide you with insights into your health, the future of your health, and maybe predispositions you might have,” he said.

Nguyen recalled meeting the founder of a company who had set up his own digital twin, which provided him with insights into his health. The insights gained from his digital twin informed him that he had a 90 per cent predisposition to diabetes (even though he had no family history) –but, importantly, it also provided him with an exercise and diet regime to help him avoid diabetes in the future. “If you think about us moving from this space of being reactive, which we often are because of

the rapid rate of change, to being proactive and utilising data and technology, then it can form some pretty interesting insights into our health,” he said.

OHS and the application of technology

There are many benefits for the OHS function when it comes to technological developments and applications, according to Nguyen. “If you look across the board at what happens in OHS, every aspect of work and workflows can be improved through different types of tools and technologies. This is particularly the case when it comes to automation, and not to automate you out of a job, but instead to make your job easier through

improving efficiencies in reporting and documentation through to the implementation of different types of safety strategies,” he said.

With different kinds of work, from office-based roles to factory and production line-based jobs, Nguyen said there is a fine (yet distinct) line between technology being used for positive impact versus the use of technology that risks being somewhat of a “big brother”.

In building technology solutions

that involve a connection between humans and artificial intelligence, for example, he said it is important to work with all stakeholders to make sure they understand the implications of applications and how the solution might be impacted by certain design inclusions (and exclusions). “That allows us to build a rule base of ethics of what we want to do,” said Nguyen, who gave the example of aged care in which CCTV is used for recording.

There are potential benefits to using CCTV in the aged care sector. However, homes are often sensitive surrounding the potential use of CCTV and what is being recorded. “You still want the benefits from a camera being able to detect what’s happening in that environment, in case a person falls and hurts themselves, for example. Video can be recorded, but artificial intelligence is able to detect potential incidents and let carers know if something has occurred,” he said.

In this way, privacy can be respected, but technology can provide significant OHS benefits, according to Nguyen, who gave the example of similar technology being used in factories. “We can see it being used in a space where you need to monitor a factory, for example, to make sure it is kept safe or to see if a person injures themselves, and no one else is around. How do they let someone know of that injury? The same for the technologies that facilitate autonomous monitoring, particularly when there’s a lack of staff – the reality is you don’t want people to watch every single camera feed constantly. You need a system that can detect if a person is doing their role in a way that might be dangerous or hazardous to their health or if they have indeed hurt themselves. Those sorts of things can be detected instantly, and managers can be notified,” he said.

Many different technology solutions are “incredibly useful” in this space, and Nguyen said such technologies are usable and scalable, particularly if they employ artificial intelligence. “It is going to have an increasingly significant impact in the workplace, but I think it always comes back to what challenges we want solved,” he said. “What problems do we want to see improvements made for? And how can we continually move towards having greater levels of positive impact, which is ultimately about improving quality of life? “How can we improve the workplace and improve everyone’s experience within it? These are the kind of questions we need to be asking,” he said. n

Nguyen will be presenting a keynote speech at the upcoming AIHS National Health and Safety Conference, which will be held from 30 May to 1 June 2023 at the Brisbane Convention Centre. This year’s conference theme is “Influence for Impact”, and will feature a range of speakers who will examine different aspects of the theme. For more information, please call (03) 8336 1995, email events@aihs.org.au or visit the event website.

“You need a system that can detect if a person is doing their role in a way that might be dangerous or hazardous to their health, or if they have indeed hurt themselves”

Martin Ralph: leading by example in mining industry safety

Martin Ralph won Inspector of the Year at the Australian Workplace Health & Safety Awards for outstanding levels of professionalism, collaboration, ethics, and service

Ralph was the managing director of the Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention (IFAP), a position he held from February 1993 to October 2016. It was during this time that Ralph first worked with the then Safety Institute of Australia (now the Australian Institute of Health and Safety (AIHS)). Ralph is currently a Fellow of the Institute and previously worked as a Special Inspector of Mines (radiation and ventilation) for the Department of Mines and Energy Western Australia from 1985 to 1992.

During this time, he was part of a small project team that drove best practice in radiation protection in the mineral sands industry. Outcomes included a significant decrease in radiation exposure to workers; an establishment of baseline environmental radiation parameters; critical group assessment; environmental radiation rehabilitation; and the radiation analysis of land before being released for sale to the public.

Ralph’s current role is Regional Inspector of Mines (Perth), Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS), Western Australia. He has been in this role from February 2017 to the present. He actively contributes to the implementation of the Western Australian Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations, enacted on 31 March 2022. His involvement is primarily in two key areas. He leads the statutory positions project team, which he established, and then evaluates applicants against criteria for specific roles that are accountable for important health and safety functions in the mining industry. The project included establishing a learning management system to host online legal examinations and to identify the work health and safety risk management units of competency

as required under the legislation. Ralph is the focal point for consultation with industry key stakeholders, Registered Training Organisations, and internal staff members. He manages a wide and varied workload while being able to contribute to issues as diverse as gendered violence, exposure to silica, assessment of competency in high-risk work, and accident investigations.

Ralph is an internationally recognised chartered radiation professional, one of a handful in the country. He leads two teams of inspectors and is the subject matter specialist for radiation protection concerning worker and environmental exposure to naturally occurring radioactive materials. He co-authored the naturally occurring radioactive materials regulations in the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations. Ralph also assists other agencies in reviewing project proposals that encounter naturally occurring radioactive materials.

Bringing research and industry together

Dr Janis Jansz’s work at the Western Australian School of Mines: Minerals, Energy, and Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Science & Engineering at Curtin University, includes supervising research students. One research study was titled ‘Exposure to Diesel Particulates and their Health Effects on Employees in a Metalliferous Mine in Western Australia.’ When this research was completed, Dr Jansz sent a copy to the Western Australian mining regulator. “Martin was an inspector who acted on the findings of this research. He chaired the committee that researched the physical properties and potential health effects of nano-diesel particulate matter in the underground mining sector and established a time-

weighted-average exposure standard that was included in the mine safety legislative framework. The outcome of this has been to improve occupational health for underground miners,” said Dr Jansz.

In another example, Dr Jansz said a PhD student was working on research titled ‘The Influence of Safety and Health Representatives in the Western Australian Mining Industries.’ As this research was supported by the Resources Safety Division of the Department of Mines and Petroleum, a copy of this report was sent to Resources Safety. “Martin was instrumental in sharing the findings of this research with the Western Australian mining industry through roadshows, and all recommendations of this report were acted upon to improve the support that health and safety representatives received and to enable them to work effectively,” said Dr Jansz.

Ralph also shared the PhD research findings of another student for research titled ‘An Evaluation of Driverless Haul Truck Incidents on a Mine Site: A Mixed Methodology.’ “This has improved the safety of workers where autonomous equipment is used,” said Dr Jansz, who gave the example of another PhD student that Ralph has helped. A student is conducting PhD research titled ‘Risk Assessment as a Tool for Mobile Plant Operators for Sustainable Development: Lessons from the Western Australian Mining Industry.’ Dr Jansz said Ralph was instrumental in helping the student

Martin Ralph, Regional Inspector of Mines (Perth), Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DMIRS), Western Australia, said the state’s mining industry is poised to become a world-leading provider of critical minerals for the global renewable energy sector

to obtain access to the Resources Safety notifiable incident database to determine the causes of mobile plant accidents in the Western Australian mining industry over a 10-year period as part of her research work to develop risk management strategies to decrease the number of mobile plant accidents and employee deaths.

“Martin is always there to help students, people in the mining industry, safety and health professionals, and members of the public. When new knowledge is generated through research, he is sharing and acting on this knowledge to benefit the industry and its people. He has a strong educational background and uses his communication skills to improve workplace safety and health,” said Jansz.

Research and academic contributions

In relation to naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), Western Australia has embarked upon the critical minerals strategy, which has significantly increased the number of mining operations that encounter naturally occurring radioactive materials. Ralph has strengthened the regulatory framework for compliance by the industry via the inclusion of naturally occurring radioactive materials management obligations in the Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations and has led the development of the local cohort of Radiation Safety Officers by translating international radiation protection standards, such as the NORM-V Guideline (for which he was lead author) for use in Western Australia. To share his knowledge, he has published a number of articles in international peer-reviewed technical journals that analyse radiation doses to Western Australian mine workers and has identified gaps in the monitoring and evaluation of worker radiation exposures.

Ralph has led two mine safety ‘roadshow’ events that engaged nearly 1800 mine workers in discussing a wide range of issues faced by the state’s

mining industry, ranging from traffic management, the role of health and safety representatives, effective supervision, and developing psychologically safe workplaces. “He applied a unique questioning technique and collected data from these forums that was published by an Edith Cowan University PhD student (with others) in Safety Science as Fatality risk management: Applying Quinlan Ten Pathways in Western Australia’s mining industry,” said Dr Jansz.

Ralph also served as a member of the team recruited to review the National Work Health and Safety Qualifications included in the Business Services (BSB) Training Package and authored the Units of Competency on working with and controlling exposures to hazardous chemicals in the workplace.

He has written the OHS Body of Knowledge chapters on Ionising Radiation and Non-Ionising Radiation, describing technical knowledge to enable generalist OHS professionals to understand these hazards, their role in identifying and managing the hazards, and when and how to work with specialist advisors.

“Pam Pryor has written that the Australian Institute of Health and Safety and the OHS Body of Knowledge are appreciative of his ongoing commitment and support to this highly technical area,”

said Dr Jansz.

From May 2017 to December 2019, Ralph was a Member of the Project Team reviewing the Work Health and Safety qualifications for PwC Skills for Australia, and from April 2017 to December 2022, Ralph was a Member of the Industry Reference Committee for the development of the Metalliferous Mining training package. The Industry Reference Committee (IRC) provides a conduit for industry feedback to the government on industry trends and for the promotion of Vocational Education and Training (VET) to employers. “As a member of this committee, Martin has improved the education provided to people who would like to work in the metalliferous mining industry,” said Dr Jansz.

Community participation and involvement

Ralph actively contributes to the Society for Radiological Protection and the AIHS. While with IFAP, he served on the Board of Management and rose to the position of President of the International Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organisations (INSHPO). This organisation is the global voice of the workplace safety and health community.

IFAP was the first organisation outside the foundation trilogy (American Society

“Martin is always there to help students, people in the mining industry, safety and health professionals, and members of the public”

of Safety Engineers, Canadian Society of Safety Engineering, and the Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, UK) to join the INSHPO movement. INSHPO now has over 20 incorporated not-for-profit members and represents tens of thousands of safety professionals worldwide. Ralph served seven years on the executive committee, culminating in holding the position of President for two years (the maximum time allowed). He is a member of and contributes to the activities of the following community groups: Behaviour-based Safety (BBS) Group; Safety OHS EHS HSE OSHA OSH, Quality, Security, Jobs International Group; Health Physics Society; RTO Best Practice Network, and the Silica Dust Professionals.

Positive WHS outcome contributions

In addition to the positive work health and safety outcomes described under reasons for nomination, Ralph has developed a regulatory approach that has a shorthand name called S.45 (a reference to a provision in the recently replaced Western Australian Mines Safety and Inspection Act) in which he uses his regulatory authority to summons the executive leadership and board of director representatives to discuss perceived shortcomings in their organisation’s

safety and health performance. The mechanism calls for direct and sometimes blunt conversations with those directly accountable for the underperformance.

The strategy has been successful on each occasion he has used it – but the best example is where it led to an independent review of the methods by which risks were communicated between executive leadership and site-based decision makers, said Dr Jansz. “In the initial meeting, the CEO of the organisation refused to acknowledge the level of responsibility of his position, but by the meeting’s end, he acknowledged his role in the underperformance and admitted to not living up to his organisational values. When the findings of the independent review were tabled, he admitted his astonishment at the findings and publicly apologised to the meeting for his failings.” Over the ensuing six months, a major organisational change occurred. While the operation is by no means a stellar performer, Dr Jansz said the improvements in the profile of safety, and the site culture, are tangible.

Professional development

Ralph is an avid reader and to keep upto-date with workplace health and safety, he reads several books on this topic each year. When a subject piques his interest,

he tries to engage with the author via email and exchange ideas. He has found that many authors he approaches are grateful for the opportunity to delve deeply into their works and share different experiences.

As an inspector, Ralph has responsibilities for radiation safety in the Western Australian mining industry. “To keep up-to-date with this area of workplace safety and health, and to generate new knowledge, Martin has submitted his PhD thesis through Edith Cowan University, in which he evaluated exposure to radiation in Western Australian mine workers, and researched a method to remove radioactive contamination from the internal walls of disused mining equipment. There are literally hundreds of thousands of tonnes of contaminated mining steelwork in Western Australia,” said Dr Jansz, who added that in recognition of the importance of this work, Ralph has been awarded a 3-year scholarship, commencing in 2022, by the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia (MRIWA) to join the prestigious MRIWA educational program that supports minerals research for the benefit of all Australians.

Dr Jansz said this scholarship would enable Ralph to continually grow his knowledge and improve his work, as it includes a mentor and networking opportunities with leading innovators operating in the minerals industries. “Martin is anticipating that the findings of his PhD will benefit the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, the wider mining industry, and the communities that exist in proximity to mining operations,” said Dr Jansz.

Reflecting upon receipt of the prestigious Inspector of the Year award, Ralph emphasised that he considers this a reward for the two teams he is privileged to lead. “The Mines Safety Directorate is replete with professionals who genuinely care about the health and safety of the state’s mining workforce. The Western Australian mining industry is dynamic and expanding into new sectors and is poised to become a world-leading provider of critical minerals for the global renewable energy sector,” he said.

“But the expansion brings with it the risks of inexperienced workers entering the industry and new sources of risk to health and safety. The professionalism and dedication of the Mines Safety inspectors keep the industry attuned to the emerging risks and how to best manage them.”

Strengthening OHS links in the chain of responsibility

Chain of Responsibility has emerged as an issue of significant importance for the OHS profession in the heavy vehicle industry, writes Craig Donaldson

The road freight industry is one of the most dangerous in Australia. With approximately 200 heavy vehicle-related fatalities per year, road transport was identified as a national priority under the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 due to the high number and rate of fatalities in this industry.

In the road transport industry, for example, fatalities rates are high at 15.6 per 100,000 workers (with no improvement in recent years) according to Safe Work Australia’s priority industry snapshot of the sector. Furthermore, serious workers’ compensation claims rates are also high, with 11 serious claims per million hours worked; however, this has fallen by 36 per cent since 2011-12.

There are many OHS-related issues associated with operating heavy vehicles nationally, and these issues are a strong focus for industry operators as well as regulators, government, and other key stakeholders. Two key safety issues from the perspective of the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator (NHVR) are driver fatigue and the roadworthiness of vehicles (particularly brake systems), according to Belinda Hughes, director of prosecutions and statutory compliance

for the NHVR. “Fatigue can be addressed through proper maintenance schedules, including electronic work diaries and fatigue management plans. As for brakes, a well-maintained system is essential. The NHVR recommends using a daily pre-start checklist, such as the NHVR’s daily safety checklist, before each trip,” she said. From an industry perspective, Hughes said the road conditions throughout Australia following the recent floods and their impact on transport fleets are also

NHVR director of prosecutions and statutory compliance, Belinda Hughes, said the regulator prioritises education in order to educate industry, drivers, and other stakeholders

Holding Redlich partner, Nathan Cecil, said that good chain of responsibility practices usually increase business productivity and performance

major safety concerns. This has meant that companies are having to adjust their vehicle inspection times to suit the rapidly changing road conditions. Hughes said another ongoing concern for the industry has been the lack of experienced drivers to drive the ever-growing fleet of heavy vehicles on our roads.

Nathan Cecil, a partner in Holding Redlich’s national transport, shipping, and logistics team, said a key safety issue from both regulator and industry perspectives is that the on-road safety of heavy vehicles, their drivers, and their loads is an off-road issue. “Vehicles, drivers, and loads rarely magically become unsafe in between departing their origin and arriving at their destination;

they are more often unsafe before they even start and at least before they leave,” explained Cecil, who is also a director of Trucksafe and sat on the National Transport Commission’s heavy vehicle accreditation review working group.

“So, this means that off-road business practices around awareness and training, organising transport, site operations, scheduling, business pressures, and the failure to implement safety checks and balances are the real root cause of these on-road safety incidents. Many of these off-road business practices are controlled or influenced by businesses that use transport services but don’t own or operate heavy vehicles.”

This also means that these on-road problems are also at least partly the responsibility of off-road parties, who might not ordinarily consider that they have a role to play in on-road safety, according to Cecil, and it is only when businesses right along the supply chain take this understanding onboard that there is a real and effective chain of responsibility safety management and safety outcomes.

The national heavy vehicle regulator (NHVR) enforcement regime

The NHVR’s enforcement regime is focused on promoting safety through self-regulation and education, according

“Vehicles, drivers, and loads rarely magically become unsafe in between departing their origin and arriving at their destination; they are more often unsafe before they even start and at least before they leave”

to Hughes. “However, when we are required to, we will prosecute to ensure compliance with the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL),” she said.

“As we continue to grow as an organisation, we are increasing our focus on alternatives to prosecution, such as Enforceable Undertakings (EUs). We also utilise education-based penalties such as Supervisory Intervention Orders. We want to drive safety outcomes to effectively manage risks within the community and believe that through obtaining orders that require education and training, we can achieve that.”

industry themselves, not the regulator,” said Hughes.

The most recent EU that the NHVR entered into was with an individual who also committed a mass and load breach. The heavy vehicle was found to be over the permitted mass on the rear axle. “As part of the terms of the EU, the offender agreed to the installation of a rear axle gauge to determine when the load on the heavy vehicle is at its limit. In addition, they agreed to engage in educational courses for mass management of a heavy vehicle and, upon completion of the course, develop a Mass Limit Guide to be distributed to industry,” said Hughes.

“Both EUs prove that a priority for any organisation should always be safety. Inevitably, each of these matters resulting in an EU was the result of insufficient safety systems within the organisation and, as a result, led to offences being committed,” she said.

This enforcement regime complements the NHVR’s informing and educating approach to promote public safety. Hughes said that prosecution is the last resort and is used to assist in securing compliance. “We prioritise education so that we can educate industry, drivers, and stakeholders to improve safety, productivity, and efficiency outcomes across the heavy vehicle transport sector,” she said.

Heavy vehicle enforceable undertakings

For example, the NHVR recently entered into an EU with a company that had committed a mass and load breach of the HVNL. The EU required the company to incorporate the legal requirements for mass and loading of heavy vehicles in an educational session for those in the industry (toolbox talk). A key component that the NHVR looks at before entering into an EU is the community benefit. “This can involve educational and training sessions for different parties in the chain of responsibility who were not aware of their role or responsibilities within the chain. This approach is used to improve safety within the industry through communication that comes from companies and businesses within the

“It is reassuring to hear positive feedback from organisations about the training undertaken and systems implemented as part of an EU. We recently reviewed a detailed chain of responsibility management system that was implemented by a Victorian regional council that overhauled its day-to-day operations to ensure compliance in a positive manner. The staff of that council have received extensive training on the system and have notably benefited from it due to their increase in safety knowledge.”

Cecil highlighted another EU involving a truck driver’s death in November 2018. Following an NHVR investigation into its safety policies and procedures, Lindsay Transport Group was charged with three Category 2 offences under the HVNL. As an alternative to prosecution, Lindsay proposed an enforceable undertaking that committed $750,000 over a two-year period in an effort to mitigate future risks to driver safety, according to Cecil.

The undertaking included the development of a web-based driver training platform aimed at educating industry members on key risks in the industry, a third-party review of Lindsay’s sleep management practices and procedures, delivery of a training program on topics such as fitness for work, break scheduling, and managing driver fatigue issues, a media campaign to raise awareness of driver health issues, and a donation to a medical research institute working on heavy vehicle driver medicals.

Another EU Cecil pointed out involved a heavy vehicle combination operated by Downer EDI Works. It was

intercepted and found to be 120.2 per cent in excess of its gross vehicle mass limit. Downer was charged with a severe risk mass breach. The NHVR accepted an undertaking from Downer to spend approximately $275,000 in employing a compliance manager and undertaking a comprehensive chain of responsibility knowledge review, reviewing driver training programs, updating its HVNL safety and compliance document suite, and contributing to the cost of the development of a new chapter of the OHS Body of Knowledge on Chain of Responsibility, he explained.

“Importantly, enforceable undertakings are not available for Category 1 offences (those involving reckless harm) and the NHVR has made it clear that it will only consider an enforceable undertaking proposal where the total cost proposed is significantly in excess of the reasonably expected court penalty,” he said.

The first thing to note about these EUs is that the organisations involved are large, sophisticated corporate organisations, Cecil said. “But, based on the measures proposed by each organisation, they identified substantial shortcomings in their overall approach to the identification and management of chain of responsibility risks. So, no business, no matter how large or

“The NHVR has made it clear that it will only consider an enforceable undertaking proposal where the total cost proposed is significantly in excess of the reasonably expected court penalty”

sophisticated it thinks it is, is likely to be doing everything effectively and safely,” he said.

The second thing to note is the areas for improvement identified, and Cecil said both seemed to identify driver and worker training as a critical shortcoming, highlighting that safety is less a paper problem and more of a people problem. “Regardless of what’s written on paper, if it is not being properly implemented on the ground by people, you can’t ensure safe outcomes. I also surmise that each business could improve its routine and adhoc checks and balances practices – given that these significant safety incidents were not successfully detected before the truck left the site,” he said.

Skills training for heavy vehicle operators

Peter Anderson, CEO of the Victorian Transport Association (VTA), said that from an operator and industry perspective, skills training of drivers and other transport industry supply chain workers is the “absolute key” to unlocking a safer working regime. From an OHS perspective, Anderson added, it is one of the major root causes significantly impacting the industry.

“Well-trained employees are safer and more productive, reducing workplace

risk and producing safer outcomes for themselves, their colleagues, and the community. We can have the safest road transport infrastructure and supporting regulatory systems in the world, along with some of the safest heavy vehicle designs equipped with the latest technologies. However, unless we have drivers that are skilled and trained to their highest potential, it’s all for naught,” he said.

The heavy vehicle licencing system in place throughout much of Australia is, according to Anderson, regrettably producing drivers that have not had the necessary skills training to qualify them for what the VTA and other employer representatives feel is sufficient. “Victorian truck drivers generally have not received professional training and have had to learn ‘on the job’, with this experiential learning slowly making them safer,” he said.

“For example, under the Victorian licencing system, you can obtain a rigid heavy vehicle licence after approximately just five hours of training, paying a fee, and sitting a test. Twelve months later, with no professional instruction or experience, you can sit another short test to be licenced to drive an even larger heavy vehicle.”

Anderson said this is fraught with

risk, and the VTA is advocating for the government to rectify a dangerous and unacceptable situation. The outcome will result in lasting reform which will ensure better-trained truck drivers, improve road safety, and help save lives and reduce incidents, explained Anderson: “for this, we need minimum training standards for drivers to be licenced. This can only happen through genuine reform because the issue does not sit with the registration and licencing bureaucracy,” he said.

The skills training model that the VTA is advocating is based largely upon a proven Canadian system that was introduced after a catastrophic road accident there in 2018 that killed 16 young people. This model would see a minimum of eight days of practical instruction ‘behind the wheel’ and in a classroom before a heavy vehicle driver could be licenced. “It delivers saferisk drivers. The additional time provided also ensures that the participants cover the other key areas such as fatigue management; low restraint; distraction, and other key topics covered under chain of responsibility,” said Anderson.

Furthermore, better skills training also attracts a new and younger cohort of workers to the industry, helping to address the labour shortages, according to Anderson. “With the appropriate skills and training, being young should not

disqualify someone from being a heavy vehicle driver straight out of school, provided they demonstrate the right attitude, maturity, and competency behind the wheel,” he said.

“OHS workers have a massive role to play in upskilling and training today’s heavy vehicle drivers. It is incumbent upon industry organisations to employ drivers that demonstrate their transport skills competency through effective and ‘fit for purpose’ training, noting that experience alone does not necessarily make a driver safe.”

Three steps to reducing heavy vehicle chain of responsibility risks

There are a number of important ways heavy vehicle industry operators can improve heavy vehicle safety and reduce chain of responsibility risks, according to Nathan Cecil, a partner in Holding Redlich’s national transport, shipping and logistics team. “First, you have to get people thinking about chain of responsibility the right way,” he said. “It is no longer a ‘transport’ or ‘operational’ issue; it is a safety and governance issue. Chain of responsibility stands exactly even with WHS/OHS. So, if a business is not investing the same focus and resources on chain of responsibility as it is WHS, then it is likely failing in its duties under the HVNL.”

Second, Cecil said it is essential to highlight that chain of responsibility is not just about compliance. Most importantly, he affirmed it is about the safety of real people within and outside the business. “It is also important to highlight that it is about productivity and performance,” he said. “Good chain of responsibility practices usually increase business productivity and performance. Think less injury, less damage to vehicles and goods, less supply chain delays, greater reliability, and enhanced customer relations.”

Thirdly, when working with external stakeholders, Cecil said it is important to explain that “you aren’t bringing a problem to them; you’re bringing a solution”. When raising chain of responsibility with them, it is not to seek to shift responsibility and burden them. “They already have their own primary chain of responsibility obligations. What you’re trying to do is work together to help each other meet them. A burden shared is a burden halved. This is also a great ‘value add’ tool to help deepen your stakeholder relations,” said Cecil.

How OHS can work with supply chain leaders and stakeholders

For OHS professionals, Cecil said the enforceable undertaking regime is a “treat”. While an organisation must commit to spending significantly in excess of what it would be penalised in court, the money spent is actually productive. “Instead of lining government coffers, the money is used to fix or enhance the chain of responsibility risk management practices of the business and contribute to real-world safer outcomes,” he said.

Hughes noted that the role of a prosecution cannot take away the importance of education and prevention, and this is where OHS can assist in educating the industry on their safety duties and responsibilities. “Ensuring that all parties in the chain of responsibility are aware of their duties and liability for those duties is progress to assist in mitigating those risks,” she said.

OHS can also work with supply chain leaders and other stakeholders by discussing the safety management systems they have in place and reviewing them to ensure they meet their current business model. Hughes said these systems should also be assessed against those outlined in the Master Industry Code of Practice (a guide to national standards and procedures for all heavy vehicle operators and supply chain parties to be safe and compliant), available on the NHVR website.

Heavy vehicle safety at Primary Connect

In 2020, Woolworths’ internal supply chain function was rebranded to Primary Connect and now operates as an endto-end service provider for Woolworths Group retail businesses in addition to more than 1000 external partners such as Ingham’s, Kimberly-Clark, Marley Spoon, and Diageo. Primary Connect runs the largest and most distributed retail supply chain network in Australia, incorporating a national distribution network consisting of road, rail, and ocean transport services and 3PL (third-party logistics) storage services.

“Woolworths and Primary Connect, as part of Woolworths Group, take our obligations to ensure heavy vehicle safety very seriously,” said Kym FarquharsonJones, chain of responsibility lead at Primary Connect.

Its commitment to chain of responsibility through resources such as its ‘chain of responsibility guidebook’, customer guide, and carrier guide are promoted to carrier partners. “We also

encourage everyone to work together and share responsibility for driver and road safety,” said Farquharson-Jones.

“As part of our improvement opportunities, we look at advice provided by each state’s safety regulator and the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator to ensure we continue to meet the highest standards of safety across our network.” Recent regulatory advice provided by the NHVR includes managing the risks of time slot booking, non-compliant vehicles arriving at premises, and fitness for duty topics. Farquharson-Jones said these advice notices are reviewed by Primary Connect subject matter experts against the existing controls outlined in its safety management system, and updates are made as required.

“We have found the key to any of the general advice is to make it relevant to the particular audience across all environments within our group. The benefit is in providing bespoke actions for our international buying team and our store teams, for example, as the environment, risk profile, the way the risk manifests, and the transport activities conducted by each party are completely different,” said Farquharson-Jones.

Woolworths also has dedicated transport safety professionals that guide and coach across the business to help support network-wide, including team members, customers, third-party logistics, transport, and retail partners. Farquharson-Jones said some recent initiatives include the identification and centralisation of material risk controls, and a one-network approach, regardless of the vehicle size, for implementing best practice processes. “While the Heavy Vehicle National Law Chain of Responsibility legislation does not yet contemplate vehicles under 4.5 tonne, we want to take the same approach for an online delivery truck as for road trains where it makes sense,” she said. n

Cecil, Farquharson-Jones, and Victoria Transport Association’s Greg Cain sit on the OHS Body of Knowledge’s chain of responsibility technical panel. A new chapter on chain of responsibility will be published later this year.

“OHS workers have a massive role to play in upskilling and training today’s heavy vehicle drivers”

Columbia Professor Diane Vaughan is a renowned sociologist best known for her landmark analysis of the Challenger space shuttle disaster. This massive book comprising 681 pages, is a historical ethnography of the US Air Traffic Control (ATC) National Airspace System (NAS) from its earliest beginnings late in the 19th century. Intensive observational and interview fieldwork was undertaken by Vaughan in several ATC settings in 2000-01 before and after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and then again in 2017, with the final paragraph of the book completed in November 2020. My copy was delivered as soon as it was published, but finding the time to read it properly has been a challenge.

The term ‘dead reckoning’ (p558) “is about foresight: predicting the positions of objects in space and time by deduction, without the benefit of observation and direct evidence … Interpretive work is [air traffic] controllers’ fine-tuned ability to give meaning to what they see, hear, and experience that is grounded in and grounds ethnocognition and boundary work. … ethnocognition is a cultural system of knowledge comprised of shared ways of thinking, being, and doing that transforms controllers, enabling them to coordinate effectively both in the room and across physical and social space. These are systemwide and specific to their profession

Dead Reckoning: Air Traffic Control, System Effects, and Risk

Author: Diane Vaughan

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 2021

RRP: $57.95

ISBN: 9780226826578

– an occupational habitus.” Vaughan’s sympathetic outsider immersion in this habitus leads to a deeply appreciative attitude to the roles, training, skills, and competencies of air traffic controllers in the NAS whose contribution (p561) “to the resilience, reliability and redundancy of the system is essential. It rests on their embodied cultural system of knowledge to negotiate the intersection of standardization, interpretative work, and improvisation.” They operate with multiple contested system boundaries.

systems made vulnerable by historical actions taken by powerful actors external to the system … Even in those safety-conscious systems known as high-reliability organizations, the efforts of administrative leaders in the system can have negative workplace consequences because of organizational complexity: changing one part of the system can have unanticipated consequences for other parts. Many such changes are subtle and impossible to predict”.

The impact of politics and financial constraints on system change and risk is illustrated at several points, including the 1981 sacking of air traffic controllers during the Reagan administration and responding to 9/11. Technological change is a further theme that impacts systemic risk, as shown by the FAA’s ‘NextGen’ ATC project since 2007, in which the initial introduction of long overdue technology was not proactively matched by obtaining and addressing the necessary enduring human elements of air traffic controller expertise during design and implementation.

but Vaughan knows better.

Vaughan sees particular parallels between the US ATC NAS case and (pp573-4) other complex organisational systems, such as with professionals in health care, education, and the criminal justice system. More broadly, she (p8) considers that “the relevance of the case extends to concerns about technology as the medium of transnational connection in a global society and the future of work in an age when competition drives a need for greater speed, accuracy, and efficiency through automation. Complex organizational systems are dynamic, processual, and unpredictable, so in spite of planning, outcomes are fraught with unanticipated consequences, both positive and negative. This book shows that the old and the new do not readily mesh…”.

Vaughan’s layered approach goes well beyond the ATC organisation and its actors in considering the safety record of an error-reducing high-reliability organisation (p10) with “insight into how a complex socio-technical system gets things (mostly) right”. She sees a gap in writing about modernisation projects (p572) “in organizational

Vaughan’s scholarship has generally been exceptional, and this book reflects the deep learning and insights, with associated detailed referencing, of a long and illustrious career. In the past, Vaughan has acknowledged her debt to British sociologist Barry Turner and his 1978 book Man-made Disasters, which is again cited here (pp567-8) concerning ‘failures of foresight’. However, further pioneering concepts by Turner, such as ‘incubation’ and the impact of organisational cultures on accidents, are unacknowledged (e.g., pp9-10). Other well-known safety writers have been much worse in acknowledging Turner,

Vaughan also suggests (pp566-7) that “Dead reckoning is not restricted to air traffic controllers, but the process can be understood more broadly as a social physics that applies to individuals and a variety of organizational forms, large and small, from nation-states to families. … We can think of all organizational systems as engaged in dead reckoning, preoccupied with anticipating their own future position in social space and time in relation to other organizations by deduction, without the benefit of direct observation or direct evidence.”

Overall, this book is a magnificent achievement, the richness of which will repay study on many levels. However, reading it is not for the fainthearted. n

Reviewed by: Kym Bills, FAIHS (Life), Visiting Research Fellow, University of Adelaide & AIHS Branch Chair SA

“This book is a magnificent achievement, the richness of which will repay study on many levels. However, reading it is not for the fainthearted”