OH&S

 
today was my first day back at work. all i have to say is if i have to drag the dog out of bed to go for a walk, its too early to be up and expected to be functional. fortunately most of the morning at work involved sitting (although i was expected to listen as well).
we had a woman come in to talk about OH&S. generally a pretty boring topic. at least she tried to make it as relavent as possible to us (she works in child care so knows exacty what we do and practically how we can actually limit the risks. much nicer than people who just sit in an office handing down rules that can't really be applied practically in the workplace.
she said a few things that were quite shocking. in the last few years OH&S has been reviewed in hospitals and aged care facilities. there are actually hospitals that have signs up saying "we are a 'no lift' hospital" meaning they will not physically lift a patient even if that patient is in danger. they will get other people to assist them in lifting. in theory that sounds good but if a patient is falling, they can actually risk losing their job if they grab the patient to try to prevent the fall. they are required to let the patient fall and then their duty of care begins. that seems completely ethically wrong! i think by taking a job in that industry you should be aware that there are risks and yes, you could possibly injure yourself by trying to help someone but i think that needs to be a risk you're willing to take. and if you keep fit outside of work (i.e. regular exercise) you should be able to minimise chances that you will accidently strain something by a sudden jerk or awkward movement.
in the next few years they will be reviewing the child care field and probably trying to put into place similar laws/rules. seems a bit rediculous. the woman who talked to us today said she's worked in a centre that had some stairs and she has actually injured her back when a 2 year old started to fall down the stairs and she reached out and grabed them to stop the fall. with new rules she could be told that she just has to watch the 2 year old fall down the stairs (agaist all human instincts) and then her duty of care begins after the fall. bit rediculous.