For Occupational Health and Safety Managers, 2010 promises to be a tough year, with legislative changes and new technologies creating a demanding environment for Risk Managers.
At the recent Safety in Action conference held in Melbourne last month, ComOps conducted a survey of more than 170 OHS and Risk Managers, CEOs and other senior executives to find out the top OH&S issues facing Australian businesses this year. More than 80 percent of respondents highlighted a need for proactive risk management and a consistent reporting system to ensure businesses made good decisions in the field of risk management. These two issues came out just ahead of fatigue management, nominated by 78 percent of respondents as being of high or critical importance to businesses.
77 percent of respondents are concerned about the impact of new OH&S national harmonisation laws, and 76 percent remain concerned about meeting their current environmental laws and obligations. Four out of five respondents will consider providing mobility tools including PDAs to increase off-site safety and risk management as a medium priority for this year.
The Sales Director of ComOps, Moshe Woods, points out “What is most striking about the survey is that no one single issue was considered unimportant by more than 20 percent of respondents. In other words, all these issues are of fundamental consequence to OHS&S and Risk Managers”.
