Welcome to our first newsletter for 2024.  I hope you all had a chance to take some time off over the summer and enjoy time with family and friends.  I spent a lovely, very cold, white Christmas in Finland with my family.  

Richard and I were both back to work in mid-January, refreshed to update all three of our publications ready for the new year. Not only do we update the references and typos, we also include any further insight we have gained over the last 12 months into the various due diligence topics covered by the publications.

We’ve been reflecting how, interestingly, the different risk management domains seem to have ideas which are fashionable for a while and then fade. Richard’s latest blog (detailed below) outlines the various paradigms that are regularly used to manage risk, as well as some of the pros and cons. 

We have also observed an increase in the number of safety prosecutions over the last five or so years. This could reflect the fact that the 2010s saw the criminalisation of safety risk under the model WHS legislation.

Our legal system tests post-event if there were insufficient, inadequate or failed precautions for reasonably foreseeable safety concerns. This is a retrospective design review that employs the laws-of-man rather than a pre-event scientific design process that utilises the laws-of-nature, which is tasked to the engineers.

I also recently worked through Safe Work Australia’s new interactive SWMS guidance tool for high-risk construction hazards. The WHS legislation requires SWMS be developed for a defined set of high-risk construction activities. There are 18 risks defined for all states, except Victoria and ACT where there are 19. From a good practice and due diligence view point, we would suggest that if the 19^th issue (activities involving a tunnel) is relevant to your organisation, then a SWMS for this is also created.  

From R2A’s viewpoint this is a guidance document intended to get organisations thinking about critical safety issues – issues that can kill or maim and putting in controls that eliminate or reduce these so far as is reasonably practicable.  However, there may be other potential issues that can kill and maim which should also be considered. R2A prefer the use of threat barrier diagrams that identify the hazard and the controls (precautions and mitigations) that must be in place to manage the issue.  R2A have used these for a number of jobs to replace and/or complement SWMS.

R2A continues our long running education relationship with Engineering Education Australia. Details of our March workshops are detailed below.  The public courses are remaining on-line, at this stage, however, we have seen a return to face-to-face learning for a number of clients running in-house courses.

We have just wrapped our second season of our podcast and are planning a third season to commence in March.  Thank you to all who listen each week and for the suggestions for future podcasts. Keep them coming.

I hope it has been a great start for you all and if you have any questions relating to engineering due diligence, please get in touch with Richard or I – we are always happy to chat. Email admin@r2a.com.au or call 1300 772 333.

 Until next time,

Gaye Francis
R2A Partner

Registrations are open and available for the below workshops being run in partnership with EEA. All courses are currently delivered online.

Rail Safety National Law & OHS Legislation - Obligations for Engineers & Designers

• Thursday 7 March, 1:00pm – 4:15pm (AEDT)

Audience: This course suits engineers across all disciplines, especially engineers involved in the rail industry. Other relevant roles include: Designers and Project Managers.

Further information and registration via EEA: https://eea.org.au/courses/rail-safety-national-law-and-ohs-legislation-obligations-engineers-and-designers

Criminal Manslaughter – How Not To Do it

• Wednesday 20 March, 9:00am – 1:00pm (AEDT)

Audience: This course suits engineers and design professionals, and is particularly valuable for board members, senior decision-makers and technical advisers.

Further information and registration via EEA: https://eea.org.au/courses/criminal-manslaughter-how-not-do-it

Engineering Due Diligence

• Wednesday 15 & Thursday 16 May (two half days), 1:00pm – 5:00pm (AEST)

Audience: This course is a more detailed course for Engineers. It's also suitable for risk and compliance staff of technology-based organisations.

For further information and registration via EEA: https://eea.org.au/courses/engineering-due-diligence

In January we released the final episodes of Season 2 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance. 

• Has WHS Legislation & Risk Management Standards stopped people thinking?

• Nuclear Power Safety - How The Finnish Get It Right Before They Proceed.

• De-engineering of Technical Roles and Engineering Education & Philosophy.      

We thank everyone who has tuned in and listened to our first 20 episodes. It’s also great to be receiving feedback and topic ideas.

The podcast is available on all major platforms including Apple, Spotify, Google, Amazon. Also, don’t forget to subscribe and give us a rating to help us spread the word.

If you'd prefer watching the recordings, head to our YouTube channel.

In this new article, R2A co-director Richard Robinson revisits the continuing debate of ALARP versus SFAIRP  and why the ALARP approach using target levels of risk became, by statute, quite unsupportable with relation to WHS/OHS legislation in Australia.

In episode 8 of Risk! Engineers Talk Governance, Richard and Gaye discuss the importance of safety culture for women's personal protective equipment (PPE) in the workplace. They highlight the importance of organisations prioritising the safety of women onsite and that from a WHS/OHS legislation perspective the objective is to achieve the highest level of protection. 

With this, when organisations ask: “Is this reasonably practicable?” their answer should be “Why not?” not “Why would we?” 

A topic dear to Gaye’s heart, she also shares her experience of encountering ill-fitting and uncomfortable PPE during her consulting career, which led her to advocate for better-fitting PPE for women and founding Apto PPE, a women's and maternity fit-for-purpose, safety workwear business.  

For more information on Apto PPE head to www.aptoppe.com.au.

If you'd like chat with Gaye about the women’s and maternity range, made 100% in Australia, email gaye.francis@aptoppe.com.au.