Replying to LO28611 --
I am a member of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists.
This professional institute is quite progressive, however since the OHS
law changed from prescriptive to performance based legislation, it is
quite noticeable that many members seem reluctant to move outside their
'comfort zone'.
This may be due to the fact that as professional Occupational Hygienists
are used to dealing with management in various industries by 'giving them
what they want' rather than need.
Simply introducing the concept of risk management seems to create a
problem, as the popular mindset hasn't changed much from the old
compliance/minimalist approach.
Although the incidence of workplace deaths has dramatically reduced in
Victoria these last six months, it hasn't had much to do with the efforts
of the AIOH.
In my opinion most professional societies are conservative, not interested
in change management. Most of the change in Australian industry seems to
have been brought about by the creative approach of Standards Australia
International, the primary standardisation authority. I have personally
contributed to a number of their standards relating to operational risk.
The standards have been used as the basis for the new performance based
legislation.
Best Regards,
Alan Cotterell
--"Alan Cotterell" <acotrel@cnl.com.au>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <Richard@Karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>
"Learning-org" and the format of our message identifiers (LO1234, etc.) are trademarks of Richard Karash.