• one being the need for accountability, without critical analysis weaknesses cannot be examined to become strengths. Those things that stand up to critisim’s are worth continuing with, those that fall down with criticism or are found to be weak, need to be examined and built up.
• Another weakness in the health and safety field is the inability to allow creative expression of thought. There are so many ideas and experiences out there that they need to be shared, not only to the safety profession but the workforce as a whole. The ideal of consultation is just that at this time with the workers and at times managers kept in the dark in regard to incidents that if allowed to be shared can be examined and future leaders in safety gain valuable experience from. But also the informed workforce can also be a far greater influence on their own and those around them, health and safety.
From those experiences being shared creative solutions to health and safety can be developed. Creative ideas can be far from the norm but serve a valuable purpose as the then allow the norm to be expanded.
But I believe health and safety is being held back by the lack of courage and confidence by the profession and the professional body as a whole to enhance the concept that Health and Safety is far bigger than is currently the paradigm and until the profession and especially the professional body the SIA radically shift the paradigm occupational health and safety will always remain considered by the majority as a small part of Human Resources, which I believe it is far more important than that.
Currently OHS is restrained in most organisation
By nearly all departments that fall under the guise
Of Human Resources, you can even add recruitment
The CEO, Board of management, shareholders
And a few other departments that restrain OHS in the
Importance stakes when it comes to priority. I have
Even seen health and safety be drawn up as a small part
Of emergency management.. Will show one day when
It’s long enough.
Sure there are some organisations that claim they see OHS more progressively and have it higher in the importance stakes. If we are really going to move health and safety into a true profession we need to change the paradigm.
First we need to understand and believe that health and safety is far bigger than it currently is.
• If we just look at the Occupational health and start to understand the scope of what that means we can see it just doesn’t mean exposure to some substance, or repetitive injury or the like but it encompasses:
o The physical – that is the exposure or repetitive injury. And even when we break down exposure we see limitless branches we can take for exaple. Exposure can be to a substance, which can also be classed as an exposure to an energy if we focuss on the physics of it all. Or it can be an exposure to fibre such as asbestos, which most of us are familiar with. It can be exposure to a impact but I don’t want to go into the science of it all. I want to focuss on the scope of what health means and that can also mean psychological again that can be an exposure if we look at it in detail and spiritual and many more aspects of the health field.
And what is occupational? Is it just what happens in the workplace or does it also include what happens outside the workplace that can effect the person in their occupation?
Then we come to safety and would could expand even further. And so because this is a blog not a funded research paper I have to leave it short of all that good research stuff and show what the paradigm of vision of a safety profession should be in my eyes.
How can this be achieved???
I haven’t all the answers that’s why we need to think out aloud together to critically analysis all thoughts and have input. But with international communication in the Safety field stifled by behavioural control advocates making too many rules and policies to stop creative thought and ideas, also political correctness gets in the way a lot.
But I do believe we first need to work hard to become recognised as a true profession and how to do that is clear to me looking at other professions and that is to prove our competence and raise the minimum level of the health and safety industry to a recognised standard.
That being a tertiary education for any member of the Safety Institute of Australia. But further for Safety to actually have the standing and the recognised competence to achieve what I believe to be it’s rightful importance in the workplace with life being the main reason we have industry. (I believe God gave us that industry to help us) We need to then recognise that life is what we need to protect. Therefore we need the Safety Institute of Australia to take the strong stand and bring health and safety into a recognised profession by:
• Members - Need to have at least a Diploma in a Occupational Health and Safety Field, not just health such as a nurse or doctor. And demonstrated 2 years experience in the field of OHS. Or a Postgraduate Diploma.
• Fellows – Need to have at least a Masters or Postgraduate Diploma and at least 10 years OHS experience. No way should Fellows be allowed to be there just on experience as they haven’t demonstrated competence in the field as would be the understood definition in the English dictionaries.
• Chartered Fellows - Should reflect the standing of what it means and be PhD in the field of OHS! Or have a masters and be working towards a PhD with demonstrated skills in leading OHS towards a truly respected profession.
And for those that say it has only been 30 years since Australia had a recognised qualification is a cop out!!! Most of those guys with there experience would have received a very easy passage through those qualifications!!! There could also be a student recognised entry to the SIA with an Ass/Student membership that allowed those without a qualification but years of experience to still be a part of the organisation and those studying in the field to also be an active part even though they haven’t the experience.
Untill the leadership of the Safety Institute of Australian stands up and shows commitment to make the safety field a profession, then it’s importance won’t be recognised as it should be.
But this won't happen becuase those that cannot be bothered are protecting their positions in the SIA at the expense of the profession and those that have the committment to gain qualifications with their experience.
To highlight this just look in the right hand side corner of this blog and you will see a brief of my qualifications and experience, It is only a brief becuase I have be provided with far more than what I can list on this blog!
But unqualified, corrupt (having husbands and wives or dads and sons running the organisation is corrupt as well as claiming you are a professional with out qualfications), slack and unprofessional people banned someone that has committed their life to Health and Safety and made the effort to prove competence.
Highlighting just how corrupt the Safety Insititute of Australia is! And this is reflected in the ever increasing death and injury rates in our workplaces. They haven't the courage or committment to get a qualification and that reflects in their lack of ability and committment to stand up for what is right and protect the workers and community.
Regards
Daniel
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