Author: Kelly Somerville

January 2022

Completion of 12.1 Systems and systems thinking has been delayed and it is anticipated that the chapter will be ready for publication early 2022. Work continues on 12.6 Investigations which is funded by an Enforceable Undertaking and is authored by Geoff Dell and his team (ex of CQU Accident Forensics programs). A new chapter on […]

Two new chapters completed

Two new chapters have been completed in the last 3 months. 12.2 OHS management systems This chapter, written by Nektarios Karanikas of Queensland University of Technology, proposes a definition of OHSMS, briefly considers the historical and legislative contexts, and presents a hierarchal and inter-related structure for OHSMS elements. It also reviews the literature to comment […]

August 2021

The last 12 months have been busy for the OHS Body of Knowledge. Since October last year we have published three new chapters and updated a five chapters with a further eight active projects.   The new chapters are:   3 The Generalist OHS Professional: International and Australian perspectives  Authored by Pam Pryor, David Proven, […]

August 2021: Three projects nearing completion

As at August 2021 we have three projects nearing completion 16 Work-related Musculoskeletal disorders (anticipated publication September) 12.2 OHS management system (anticipated publication October) 12.1 Systems and systems thinking (anticipated publication November). We have two projects being funded by Enforceable Undertakings approved by WorkSafe Victoria: 12.6 Investigations, and 18.2 Fibres, dusts and fumes. Other active […]

Rules and Procedures

Documentation and excessive rules are seen to create an illusion of safety while possibly increasing risk and confusion. However, rules and procedures are important risk control strategies especially in high risk environments. The role of rules and procedures has been the subject of recent research and a topic of discussion among OHS professionals. This all […]

July, 2020

The OHS BoK continues our program of review and updating of existing chapters with six chapters under active review: 7 The Human as a biological system, 18 Biological hazards, 19 Psychosocial hazards, 21 Bullying, aggression and violence, 24 Ionising radiation and 28 Mechanical plant. In association with HFESA we are also revising 16 Biomechanical hazards […]

September 2020

This is an exciting time for the OHS Body of Knowledge as we embark on a tranche of new chapters. The OHS Body of Knowledge has three global concepts: work, health and safety. Sidney Dekker wrote a new chapter on Safety as a Global Concept last year. Our views on Health as a concept have […]

September 2020

As reported in recent months we have been working on reviewing and updating existing chapters as well as completing new chapters in the pipeline. This month we have released an updated version of 28 Mechanical Plant. Roger Lim and Tony Payne have combined their expertise to ensure this chapter addresses current challenges in plant safety […]

Recent News: July 2020

Our last News update was in April. At that time we could not have envisaged how our world would change over the next few months. As I write, Victoria, where the AIHS office is situated, returns to Stage 3 isolation and school students go back to home-based learning. During this time OHS professionals have had […]

April 2020

The last few months have been a busy time for the OHS Body of Knowledge. Back in mid-2019 we started a strategic review of all of the OHS Body of Knowledge chapters. By early April 2020 we had published updated versions of 21 chapters. Each of these chapters having been reviewed by the author and […]