Australian workers rate among the best dressed in the world with safety clothing and ancillary items; but when it comes to striding out, they have a habit of falling over!

The global imperative for companies to operate in a socially responsible manner is driving the interest in sustainable production. Here, a key area that can influence success is safety. Marcia Walker, Program Manager, Rockwell Automation and Dan Hornbeck, Safety Market Development Manager, take a closer look.

Drug and alcohol testing is one of the most contentious issues in the workplace - detection versus impairment, employees’ rights versus employers’ responsibilities, ensuring worker safety versus dictating workers’ lifestyles, just to name a few of the issues. Despite the polarised views that often exist towards drugs and alcohol in the workplace and testing for them, there are important practical issues that must be understood and addressed to ensure the workplace is safe and fair.

Safety In Action 2010, in conjunction with Melbourne Materials Handling, promises to be a valuable event for all safety professionals and anyone else involved in all aspects of safety and materials handling.

Safety and profitability can and should coexist in every company, even in industries like mining and construction, where hazards are a daily issue for workers and production schedules are critical to management. For safety and profitability to successfully coexist, it is essential for the people who employ workers in these fields to understand that an outstanding safety record is directly linked to the company’s bottom line.

Commenting on a study of human vibration, Noise and Vibration Measurement Systems warns of the serious occupational dangers of vibrations in the workplace.

Return-to-work expert Dr Mary Wyatt has voiced concerns to SafeWork Australia that workers comp harmonisation may impede the process of injured workers returning to work.

Late last year, Energy Safe Victoria (ESV) issued a ‘Safety Alert’ to warn the community of the importance of installing safety switches in premises and ensuring that all electrical equipment is in good condition and not damaged in any way. It was issued following the death of a man in the state’s east, whose body was found in his garage still clutching a damaged extension-lead socket. He would have been saved if a safety switch had been installed on the power circuit.

As the harmonisation of OHS legislation progresses, Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has issued an update on its progress.

Research by the US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board has identified the need for more effective hazard assessments and use of combustible gas monitoring to save the lives of workers engaged in hot-work.

This year has brought with it many interesting challenges: the global financial crisis and, just recently, the outbreak of Swine Flu. In spite of all these things happening, we still have the ongoing challenge to ensure people enjoy that basic human right of being safe at work.

Commercial vehicles are the workhorses of Australian industry and therefore the acknowledged ‘workplaces’ of many drivers. These vehicles all carry a very precious cargo - humans. While the safety standards of roads and vehicles in general have improved in recent years, more needs to be done to provide a safer ‘workplace’ for the thousands of workers whose job is ‘on the road’.

Occupational health and safety has come a long way in the eyes of company and corporate management. Far from being considered just another cost that takes away from the bottom line - the way many companies may have viewed it in the past - it is now being considered ‘sexy’, especially by investors.

Communication has always been considered a vital tool in emergency and first-response situations to ensure the safety of operatives and to enable them to carry out their important functions. The same is true in industrial safety because the common thread between first-response and industrial safety situations is that they are all mission critical.

Every organisation wants long-term growth and profit. A company’s long-term success - what the Australian Institute of Management calls ‘corporate endurance’ - recognises the critical necessity of ‘people’ performance. Therefore, a company has a vested interest in looking after the safety and wellbeing of its people. People drive business performance - up or down. People are a company’s key competitive advantage or disadvantage.