The Noggin Blog

As a Safety leader, you’ve probably built a strong portfolio in the organisation. So too has your counterpart in Security. And now both of you see key safety and security priorities, like keeping employees safe at work or mitigating threats to facilities and people, reflected at the highest levels.

Safety incident reporting rates remain persistently low, despite the costs (measured in eventual safety incidents) being so high. The question for Safety teams is why, why are their safety reporting rates stuck in the doldrums?

In the last decade, Australia made serious strides to update its occupational health and safety regulations to the modern era. A pillar concept propounded by the safety policy makers who crafted the subsequent model Work Health and Safety Act: that principal duty holders (or PCBUs) have the primary responsibility for the health and safety of their workers and any other workers under their influence (e.g. contractors). 

Safety reporting rates remain stubbornly low, especially in high-risk sectors, like construction, mining, shipping, etc. Taken alone, these low reporting rates would be reason enough for concern. Remember, chronic underreporting and the devaluing of near-miss analysis don’t conduce to creating a thriving safety culture. But underreporting safety incidents have major cost implications, too. Here’s the cost of underreporting safety incidents.

Conservative estimates of safety underreporting rates show the global total around 25 percent. That’s a full quarter of workplace incidents go underreported.

In Australia, environmental health and safety risk is getting critical. On the contemporary events broadcast, A Current Affair, respiratory physician, Dr Ryan Hoy singled out the silicosis crisis, calling it “unprecedented” – even warning that silicosis was worse than asbestosis.

The reporting makes it clear: the silicosis crisis is back, and it’s particularly acute for stonemasons and other tradespeople. What happened?

We get it, deciding to digitize your manual processes and invest in safety management software is a big step. But after the decision’s made, there’ll still be a heavy lift ahead.

Risk managers in the world of hazardous operations are acutely aware of the need to implement stringent work controls: documented measures that go far beyond safe work protocols for more routine jobs. 

Nowadays, more people are working than ever before. And with the advent of remote work, those people are working from anywhere, at any time.