The Great Debate: System vs Operator

Image courtesy of artur84 / FreeDigitalPhotos.netAccidents and incidents occur in the workplace for many reasons and it is an important part of risk management for organisations to understand why these instances occur and to put in place countermeasures to ensure that they do not occur again.

There have always been multiple opinions concerning who is at fault in cases of organisation injury and illness. Do we place the blame on the systems and procedures in place, or do we blame the individual at the centre of the problem?

This workplace argument has been the focal point of investigations and cases for causal factors of organisational accidents and incidents.

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The dark shadow of work: Suicide among working age adults

Most deaths by suicide are among people of working age. Suicide is the leading cause of death for males aged 25–44 years and females aged 25–34 years. The proportion of suicides that are work-related is unclear. One Australian study found that 17% of suicides in Victoria from 2000–2007 were work-related. Applying this estimate to deaths across Australia, approximately 3,800 suicides over the decade to 2011 may be work-related.

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