The Good, Bad & Ugly of George’s 38 Year OHS Career
By the late George Robotham
You are likely to learn more from reading this excellent reflection than you will ever learn at Safety University. Enjoy:
I normally aim to produce succinct documentation and I have broken my own rule with this 40 page paper. To a certain extent it is a mini book rather than a paper. I cover my 38 year safety career in 40 pages so you could say it is succinct at a year to a page.
To a certain extent this is a critically reflective journal of my practical life in OHS.I must admit to thinking only the really dedicated will bother to read it and some may find it a bit self opinionated. In a few cases I frankly discuss the stuff ups I made.
Some may find some of the things I say a bit controversial.
I have done a bit of book learning over the years but I have to say where I have learnt the most is through practical experience. I have a strong aversion to many of the published academic papers I see.
It has taken me a lot of hard work and time to learn the things I have about OHS, my aim in writing this material is that others, but particularly those starting out in OHS, do not have to go through the protracted learning curve I did. I do not think I have got it all right and hope my efforts promote some discussion that we can all learn from.
The bad and ugly has 21 topics. Included in these are- Safety training, safety committees, L.T.I.F.R., accident ratio studies.
The good, routine has 14 topics. Included in this are-Supervisor safety training, job safety analysis, leadership, internal standards of OHS excellence.
The good, things they do not teach you at safety officer school has 24 topics. Included in these are- Critical incident recall, force field analysis, the perfect OHS professional, access to earthmoving equipment.
I am under no delusions I am an expert at OHS (Or, according to my wife an expert on anything) One of the ways I learn is to engage in discussion with other OHS people, so if I have not made points clearly enough or disagree please let me know.