Jun 8 2018
Silica
View of the Maules Creek coal mine molehill seen from a distance. All that silica.
And according to last nights 7.30 Report, (“Coal miner’s death after silicosis diagnosis a warning on dangerous dust levels“) silica dust is 20 times more toxic than coal dust. This can be due to the size and shape of the particles.
Its one of the oldest industrial diseases in the world and is present where crystalline mineral dust is created when materials such as quartz, sand, stone, soil, granite, brick, cement, grout, mortar are blasted, cut or excavated.
There is a handy piece in The Conversation – “Explainer: what is silicosis and why is this old lung disease making a comeback?“
It’s not just miners who get affected by silica and victims who are diagnosed with silicosis can lose an average 11.6 years of life.
Jun 19 2018
Corporate Bullying – resources for the coal impacted community
If you are an employee, sub-contractor, consultant or member of a stakeholder group or Community Consultative Committee (CCC), there are things that you can do if you feel that you are being bullied when dealing with a company.
Everyone at the workplace has a Work Health and Safety duty. Under WHS laws, while at work, workers must take reasonable care that their behaviour does not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons.
It is important that the bullied person take action early to document the bullying and seek support. There should be company policies and procedures that explain the courses of action available in addition to the legislated protections.
The Safe Work Website says that the negative impacts of workplace bullying on the victims or witnesses “is repeated and unreasonable behaviour directed towards a worker or a group of workers that creates a risk to health and safety.”
Examples of potential unreasonable behaviour include:
This could have the following effects on the bullied person
The longer bullying continues, the more difficult it is to address and the harder it becomes to repair working relationships.
The Safe Work guide entitled “Dealing with Workplace Bullies” is a resource that persons who feel bullied should refer to. The Guide says that workplace bullying should always be reported as soon as possible. The Person Conducting the Business or Undertaking (PCBU) cannot address the problem if they do not know about it.
The Guide for Preventing and Responding to Workplace Bullying that is intended for PCBU’s clearly states that the PCBU has the primary duty under the WHS Act. Officers such as company directors must exercise due dilligence to ensure that the company is complying with the WHS Act.
The CCC Guidelines are less specific but does contain the duties of the Proponent, Code of Conduct for the Independent Chairperson and the Code of Conduct for Committee Members. The Guidelines outline the training requirements of CCC members re conflict resolution, and dispute resolution processes which should be followed.
By MCCC • Uncategorized •