Is there only one way to keep workers safe?

Workers wear hardhats, but given the greater exposure to the sun, many have wide brim tinted visors and neck shades. Brightly coloured safety garments are seen everywhere. Fluorescent green or orange and contrasting blue polo shirts, fleece, and jackets are common on, and, off the jobsite. Delivery drivers, traffic patrol, baggage handlers — even cyclists — can be seen wearing these distinctive (from a North American perspective), high-visibility garments. It's not that wearing hi-viz garments in jobs other than construction or traffic control is unheard of in North America, it's just that wearing of this type of apparel outside the usual job sites is more common in Brisbane.

 

I'm not certain if Australians generally have a richer “safety culture” than North Americans. Overall, the workers' compensation injury and fatality rates appear lower than most North American jurisdictions, although true “apples to apples” comparisons are, in my view, absent from the published, peer-reviewed literature.Perhaps an experience I had at the convention centre might be an indicator of something different in the way Aussies manage risk. Before several of the banquets I attended, a server came to our table and instructed us on safety procedures in the event of an emergency. That was something I've experienced occasionally at events in many countries. The server also explained a safety rule about always wearing shoes because of the risk posed by errant shards from occasionally broken glassware. I've attended a lot of conferences and this was an entirely new caution to me. It was a perfectly logical and important rule when you think about it, but (to be honest) I had never thought of broken glass as a risk in a carpeted banquet hall.  And this in a brand new, spotless facility: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Grey Street.

I mention these examples to illustrate a point. Regardless of our national context, employers, workers, and OH&S regulators face similar workplace safety and health challenges. Each jurisdiction has developed solutions to manage risks to workers and other persons in the workplace. Not all solutions are the same. Sure, exit signs are ubiquitous, but the green and white graphic signs in Australia seemed just as clear to me as the red and black text-based exit signs we see in North America.

I'm not sure you could say any given solution is the only right way to protect workers, nor am I saying that you can simply transplant a standard from one jurisdiction to another.  What I'm saying is that the diversity among developed western societies creates an opportunity for OH&S professionals to consider solutions others have implemented. Another important reason for building relationships across our jurisdictions.

 

About Terry Bogyo:

Terry is the Director of Corporate Planning and Development for WorkSafeBC. His current responsibilities include environmental scanning, strategic planning and inter-jurisdictional comparisons.

Terry says of himself: I am a student of workers' compensation systems. Many years ago I discovered two things about this area. First, workers' comp and OH&S are of vital importance to people. Protecting, caring for and providing compensation to workers are important, noble and morally responsible endeavors. The second thing I learned was that no matter how much I knew about workers' comp/OH&S, there was always so much more to learn. This is an endlessly challenging area of study. My purpose, therefore, is not to lecture, but to reflect on the ideas and issues that are topical in this area... and to invite others to share in a learning experience. By adding your knowledge and insights, others with similar interests can participate in the discovery and study of this important domain.

His blog is "Workers' Compensation Perspectives".