We have sent out several thousand copies of George’s EBooks and they are being picked up as essential reading for several educational and professional institutions. However, George and I are a tad concerned about the comments we are getting in the request emails. A very large proportion are requesting these books due to being “thrown in the deep end” of a new safety role and have “no idea where to start”. I can relate, having had the same experience 20 years ago. Not only is this “unpleasant” for the individual but pretty damning for the safety industry and people who depend upon their skills and expertise.!
See The Quest for Accreditation of Safety in Australia
Competency of OHS Personnel
By the late George Robotham
I have had about 4 decades of experience in field, corporate, consultant and project OHS roles. I constantly come across situations that stretch my competency to handle, these are mainly the people issues. During my time in safety I have found the majority of practitioners are very dedicated, try very hard but some lack competency in some areas, sometimes in broader management skills as opposed to safety technical skills. Of course a small number of the people I have worked with have been cretins, a disgrace to the safety business and frankly a waste of space.
Readers of the Riskex safety blog will know I have produced 5 safety e books in the last 4 months or so. The first is Guidance for the beginning OHS professional, the second Broader management skills for the OHS professional, the third What It Means To Be an OHS Professional, the fourth is Lessons I have learnt about management, safety, life and people and the fifth is My Defining, Best and Most Challenging Events in Safety. SEE THEM ALL HERE
Many people all over the world have requested copies but the level of competence of some Australian respondents has concerned me. Guidance for the beginning OHS professional has been particularly popular, I have responded to a few thousand requests for copies and noted comments from those requesting copies.
Many of the people requesting copies have just been starting out in safety and expressed their frustration, lack of good guidance and their lack of competence in being able to do their job. One person said” I have just recently inherited the WHS role here and have no clue what I’m doing” Based on comments received it would appear there are a number of inexperienced OHS people struggling in their role. As far as I am concerned this is not a great reflection on how Australia manages OHS.
The reaction to my e books has been overwhelmingly positive with many people saying they have learn more from them from some of their formal learning. Whilst such comments are great for my ego I have to say I do not think there is anything particularly special about the books, to a large extent I have simply commented on my experiences in safety and what I have learnt in the process. The fact that my books have got such a good reaction says to me there is a gap in provision of resources elsewhere.
I have not worked with many OHS graduates but well remember one that I gave a relatively simple job to. He stuffed the job up beyond belief and annoyed everyone with his holier than thou, I am a mighty graduate approach that it made it difficult for me to retrieve the situation. Others have question how practically useful graduates from OHS education are.
The Safety Institute of Australia is to be commended for beginning the process of development of the OHS Body of Knowledge, this is in its infancy and much more work is required.