Volume 4 April 2013

People and Performance Solutions We listen We ask We deliver

Q&A
The 7 April 2013 is World Health Day, and the theme for this year hypertension. Q: Can hypertension or high blood pressure be prevented? A: Hypertension is Silent killer. It because often there outward symptoms problem. often termed a is named this are no obvious that there is a
th

Health and Safety News Review

The Practice of Vigilance

Therefore, the goal should be to prevent hypertension, which can be aided through leading a healthy lifestyle of exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, not smoking and limiting alcohol consumption.

HR Divisions message remembrance

of

Insurance and probability goes hand in hand. WorkCover is income protection insurance for all employees who suffers from a work related This month marks another year in history of remembering the deeds injury and condition. that have been done by men to Accidents and probability also goes hand in hand. Every job has inherent hazards and risks. Risks and hazards are all around us. There is a probability that a hazard and risk can turn into an incident. One only hopes that the incident does not cause major injury or worse, a fatality. We have moved to a new office. Where we installed three internet lines. One of the lines is for our website and web base, one line is dedicated for our VOIP, and the last line is owned by the co tenant. At the outset we have been having problems with our internet connection that has been disrupting our emails and web based CRM.
protect their Country. In this period we remember the people who have suffered. Although sometimes it feels that we are facing insurmountable challenges in our business and Companies, know that we are not alone. HR Division will as always be available if you need a solution for your business health or safety.
PO Box 4060 Balwyn East Victoria 3103 Tel: (03) 9948 2401 Fax: (03) 8677 1863 AC Corp Pry Ltd ATF MFT info@hrdivision.com.au www.hrdivision.com.au

People and Performance Solutions

Continued from first page There have been several IT technicians who have temporarily fixed the problem. We have changed several computer settings and computer hardware, yet the problem returns. Our most recent IT technician stated that he has been in the industry for over 17 years and he has not encountered such a problem. He said that statistically, the problem occurring is 1 in 24 million!!!!!! Unbelievable! There have been several high level specialist technicians at Telstra who had to be involved problem. in fixing our what you are doing even though you have performed the task for many years. Too often, I have heard from workers who have injured themselves I have been doing this for years and this has never happened before I just dont know how it happened! Despite talents, gifts and polished skills we all still require PRACTICE. With practice of vigilance it further enhances our level of awareness of our skills and potential issues, and this is how we and our workplaces can further improve.

Despite Telstras high level of Risk Management an incident that is 1 in a 24 million probability can still occur. Our simple lesson is just practice vigilance and to have a disaster plan recovery contingency. This will mitigate magnitude to incident. My advice is PRACTICE vigilance in addition to practicing what you already know. That is in your practice always have an alert mind with

The responsibility for safety accountability

Source: Safety Institute of Australia Ltd, Dec 2012, How to improve safety accountability; and
Stephen Covey, 2004, The 8th Habit, from effectiveness to greatness.

As defined by Stephen Covey in the 8th Habit, from Effectiveness to Greatness, Leadership is communicating to people their worth and potential so clearly that they come to see it in themselves. Using this great definition lets talk about improving safety accountability of individuals for themselves, their colleagues and the public.

Emphasising personal worth and linking this to promoting safety behaviours is without a doubt a winwin situation. Therefore, building leaders that elevate safety and responsibility for safety behaviours is essential.
It is through leadership that we can impart the greatest change in each other to drive a more consultative and less enforcement driven approach to safety in the workplace. That is, leadership in the workforce can foster a positive safety mindset that individuals will embrace and so go that extra mile to be accountable for safety in their workplace and their home life. Leadership can generate the enthusiasm in the workplace to think about what can be done to anchor safety in the processes of how things are done at work, and leaders can focus on what can be done to improve safety, rather than on any negative occurrences resulting from a shortfall of safety behaviours. 2

The workplace practical joke

It is not unheard of to hear people complain that Australia has become a nanny state. The amount of red tape that is in place is allegedly contributing to a stifling of business innovation and growth. In turn, this means that there has been a call for greater personal responsibility of ones actions. This emphasis on personal accountability can be seen in individual prosecution cases where individuals have been penalized for their contribution to unsafe behaviours in their workplace. With the increase in social media, there has been a rise in reported cases of online incidents that have detrimentally affected health and wellbeing of workers. Individual accountability for online behavior must also be reinforced.

There is currently no legislation under the Harmonised Workplace Health and Safety Laws for a common definition of cyber bullying. None the less, it is a serious issue. There have been cases of cyber stalking or offending jokes overseas that have resulted in
Prosecutions

prosecutions of the offender. This may set precedence to how Australia deals with online pranks that are harmful to health and safety. No matter what the medium used in a prank individuals need to think through the consequences of their actions.

WA: Skylarking without proper consideration of the possible consequences cost one worker a fine of $8,000 plus more than $1,000 in costs after he threw wet cement from a second floor construction site down a lift shaft catching another worker in the left eye. NSW: A construction site work was subject to a pre-wedding incident involving being hit in the groin, tied up, being pelted with eggs and then a fire was lit at his feet. This case showed that it is not only the instigator of a workplace prank who can be penalized for breach of work health and safety obligations. Colleagues of the victim were found guilty of failing their duty to intervene, protest or otherwise, to prevent the alleged practical joke. VIC: A labourer fired a nail gun which he mistook to be disconnected at an apprentice. The result of this was that a 38mm long nail was shot into the apprentices arm. The perpetrator has been fined $3000 to be paid in monthly installments. International: Publishers of offending jokes in social media that are of bad taste have also faced serious consequences. In the UK a Facebook user was jailed for posting jokes on his page that were considered unfashionable and unpopular.

Is high blood pressure a global problem?

Source: Australian Government, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2012; World Health Organisation, World health statistics 2012 report; With the exception of subSaharan Africa across the world death from malnutrition has dropped. While there has reportedly been a decline in the proportion of people with high blood pressure and/or receiving treatment since the 1980s, the product of eating too much remains a concern as a health risk. An individuals death is not caused by a single factor, but rather a number of interrelated factors. However, one factor that is prevalent among the cause of death is being obese. Obesity has risen from the tenth most important risk factor for death in 1990 to the sixth. There has been over an 80% increase in people dying from having a body mass index equal to or greater than 30 kg/m2. Being overweight increases the risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and some common cancers. Being overweight is also a major cause of high blood pressure or hypertension. In a 1999-2000 Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study it was suggested that around 3.7 million Australians over the age of 25 years had high blood pressure or were on treatment for that condition. According to the World Health Organisation in the Western pacific region (WPR) over 25% of the population have high blood pressure. As per the World health statistics 2012 report the Americas (AMR), South-East Asia region (SEAR), European region (EUR) and Eastern Mediterranean region (EMR) also were found to have an adult population with high blood pressure falling between 20-30% as of 2008. It was only the African region (AFR) that fell outside of this percentage, with more than a third of their adult population having high blood pressure. This difference in rate of high blood pressure recorded in the Africa region may be attributed to less access to medications for treatment in blood pressure. For instance, as per data from a 2004-05 study of general practice activity in Australia, it was suggested that high blood pressure is the most common problem managed by general practitioners.

Figure: World Health Report 2012, Percentage of adults aged 25 years and over with high blood pressure by WHO region, 1980 and 2008