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Working from homeThere are lessons to be learnt about the future of work in one of my favourite episodes of The Simpsons titled ‘King-size Homer’, from the seventh season which aired over 20 years ago.

As you may recall, Mr Burns tries to get employees at the nuclear power plant ‘in shape’ by leading a workplace exercise program. As expected, however, Homer avoids this by taking advantage of the rule that someone who weighs more than 300 pounds will be classified as disabled and can then work from home. Unsurprisingly, he manages to gain the necessary weight and a computer terminal is installed in the Simpson house to allow him to do his very safety-critical work (monitoring a nuclear reactor!) remotely.
Continue Reading The future of work: avoiding the nuclear reactor bird

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Are you getting the best advice when it comes to health and safety compliance?

When we deliver legal briefings, both in Australia and internationally, top-of-mind for Boards and Senior Executives is the health, safety and welfare of people affected by their operations. This is how it should be – so everyone breathe a collective sigh of relief (insert sigh).
When it comes to seeking commercially sound legal advice on these issues – whose advice should you be seeking?
Continue Reading A word of advice, on advice

PokemonOur colleagues in the US recently published an article on Pokémon GO, Nintendo’s augmented reality game involving scrambling around real-world locations to ‘catch’ virtual beasts with your smart phone. (There’s a sentence I’ll never write again!).

The article explains that, despite the game’s popularity, employers have cause for concern in relation to data and security…

Getting access to a service provider can be like a game of snakes and laddersPhone.

A colleague in our office has been trying to update her new bank details with a service provider. Her attempts to provide that information and resolve the issue have been challenging to say the least.

Interactions included numerous unsuccessful calls to their customer service line, navigating through complex main menu options, voice recognition failings, and the final assault, enduring the repetitive melody of some 16th century/German-born composer during lengthy wait times.
Continue Reading Are your HSE reporting processes a game of snakes and ladders?

15 Australian workers have been killed so far in 2016, and based on statistics below, an additional 175 people may die in work related incidents this year.

Workplace fatality stats

Whilst many organisations properly devote vast resources and time to managing health and safety, and have processes in place to respond in a time of crisis, many don’t have a plan for managing the people issues during a crisis.
Continue Reading Confronting the confronting questions

Seyfarth Shaw is excited to announce that Jane Hall has joined the firm as a partner from Corrs Chambers Westgarth. Jane is one of the country’s leading health and safety lawyers, with almost 20 years’ experience in the public and private sectors.

Jane has extensive experience in both litigation and advisory work and has been…

We recently attended the Health, Safety, Environment and Community Conference convened by the NSW Minerals Council. The Conference drew together participants from across the mining industry in NSW to look at what miners are facing and how they are dealing with the challenges.
Continue Reading The latest challenges in health and safety in the mining industry