KEEPING THE WORKFORCE SAFE AT THEIR DESKS

WorkSafe saw fit to file a charge against the Ministry of Social Development following the Ashburton Work and Income shootings last September.

After the killings, the Ministry of Social Development  was charged under section 6 of the Health and Safety in Employment Act.  It is alleged that the Ministry failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of its employees while at work.

I was only made aware of this rather absurd turn of events earlier today but apparently the charge was laid in the Wellington District Court shortly after the incident.

Russell John Tully has been accused of murdering Work and Income front-counter workers Peggy Noble, and Susan Cleveland, on 1^st September, 2014.  He is also accused of attempting to murder two other staff members - Lindy Curtis and Kim Adams, who were both injured.   His other transgressions on the day in question are theft, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition and setting a man trap.   Clearly a man with a large chip on his shoulder!

The Public Service Association has said that the move shows the importance that must be placed on health and safety in the workplace.

"WorkSafe have the statutory right to make independent decisions regarding prosecution and they won't have made this lightly," PSA national secretary Richard Wagstaff has been said to pronounce.

He added it was crucial that the state sector learned "every lesson possible" to ensure tragic events like the Ashburton shootings did not happen again.

"An increased focus on health and safety across the wider state sector is the most important change that must come from this tragedy.   Everybody has the right to go to work knowing they'll return safely home at the end of the day."

Fine sentiments indeed and none of us would argue with Mr. Wagstaff on this matter.   I do wonder, however, exactly how he thinks this particular episode could have been avoided. 

WHAT measures should have been put in place to prevent someone with homicidal intent walking in off the street and committing mayhem?   One can only speculate. It all sounds a bit daft to me.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF PROMOTION

The rather breathtakingly beautiful person on my left was describing her current career aspirations.  She knew the importance of networking which is something I have yet to master.   Later my friend at the end of the table told me that this dazzling vision of loveliness was over forty years old but quite honestly if she’d told me she was eighteen I would have believed her.

The husband later pointed out as comfortingly as was possible, that she owed her appearance to  her rather stunning mother and so it was in the genes.   One thing is certain, when I was just over forty I looked rather more careworn, but then I was at that stage finding the day to day grind of three children, two of whom were being determinedly home schooled, difficult to keep up with.  To add to the dilemma there was the challenge of the reassuring husband, then working long days in South Auckland and definitely expecting a hot meal every single evening.  How I envied those other home schoolers, those possessed of  house husbands who changed the baby and at times did the cooking and certainly did not turn their noses up at an occasional plate of baked beans on toast for dinner.   Conversely, mine was definitely of the meat, two veg and gravy variety and in those days I had not yet discovered frozen mashed potato.   No, I have my end of the table friend, at that time very busy herself being a TV personality, to thank for frozen mash.  I should also give credit where it is due and acknowledge her for the introduction to microwaved sticky date puddings which the consoling one is now inordinately fond of.   Those puddings are capable of bringing a tear to his eye especially when teamed with instant custard.  

But I must not get distracted because this post concerns self  promotion rather than food.  Strange though it may seem to some, although I try hard, promotion in any of its infinite varieties does not come easily to me.   This might of course have something to do with the crisis of confidence that invariably follows those emails from acquaintances and former friends advising that they wish me to cease sending them information about my latest books.   Negative responses can be hurtful; the repercussions  can last for days and even result in the rather dark contemplation of endless baked bean dinners.

My frozen mash friend urged me to `watch and learn’ and I did so with whole hearted admiration as the exquisite and exasperatingly charming one surfed the table collecting email addresses whilst unashamedly acquainting us with her  many strengths and sharing her objectives for the future.

`I think it would help if I looked more like her,’ I ventured, observing the manner in which the males in our group and those on adjacent tables seemed transfixed by her every word.

My frozen mash friend was clearly losing interest `What utter crap!’  she said.

PERENNIAL PROBLEMS WITH PUBLISHING

I am still bemused by what I read, and what I am told by others, of the relatively new self-publishing arm of  Penguin Random House.   It certainly appears to be true that these reputable publishers have either bought out or amalgamated with  a company called Author Solutions and they, if what one reads in on-line complaints is to be believed, sit decidedly at the other end of the publishing spectrum .  The latter have practiced under a number of differing identities and are essentially engaged in what until recently was called `Vanity Publishing’ though that particular idiom is now almost as politically incorrect as terms like Gollywogs and Dagos.  We just don’t talk like that anymore as you well know and in this day and age one hesitates even to observe that someone is blind and struggles instead with `visually challenged’;   after all,  even the Deaf Association now calls itself the Hearing Association.     So I can only imagine that the Vanity Publishing arm of Penguin Random House will have to re-brand as Supported Publishing or Aided Publishing. 

Either way it is strange that there has been very little comment on this unsettling development in the Trade Press or even the Traditional Press and I only came across it very recently by accident.

I must be totally honest and say I found it hard to believe though it does explain the odd skulking into the market of some recent Random House publications – shiny new books that though they receive splendid reviews then become strangely absent from many retailer’s shelves.

When Milk Came Frozen Home......

Well winter has certainly made an appearance here in Auckland and already The Greens are calling for Government assistance for those families struggling to heat their homes, one of the prime reasons being to prevent children becoming sick.  And a worthy reason it is because none of us likes to contemplate chilly children becoming sicker and sicker.  In fact Ms Turei goes further and says that no child should be expected to go through the winter in a cold, damp home that parents cannot afford to heat. 

I do so wish she had initiated a public brainstorming session on this issue.  I could have acquainted her with the systems in place when I was growing up all those years ago in North Kent where winters could be quite cold.  It was no fun at all waking up to find ice on the windows and a stretch of snow six inches thick between you and the outside lavvy, but there you go;  you donned your coat and off you trekked.    Oh yes indeed, icicles certainly hung by the wall and while Dick the shepherd attended to his nails, milk really did come frozen home in the bottle in the bad old days.  I know for sure about the latter because it was my job to collect it from the doorstep.

But I digress because what I really wanted to share with Ms Turei is how we managed to keep warm at least some of the time.    It was a thing called `A Fire’ and you used screwed up paper and logs of wood to get it going.   While you were waiting for the flames to warm the room because sometimes it took a while I have to admit, you piled on an extra layer, usually in the form of a novel garment called `A Jumper’.  It was made of wool and each year before winter set in your mother knitted you a new one and the old one was handed down to a younger sibling.

Oh, and before I go, because I’m sure by now I might be in danger of generating boredom, if you were cold in bed (and often you were), you piled your winter coat on top of the blankets (no duvets around in those days) and you had a rubber gadget called `A Hot Water Bottle’ which you filled of course with – yes, hot water!  

I’m not joking – the above measures actually seemed to work!

New Book by Jennifer Barraclough

I have just finished reading Jennifer Barraclough’s latest book Wellbeing For Writers and I found it not only easy to read but very informative.  Having read a number of this author’s books over recent years I must admit I envy her ability to write on so many different levels.  Jennifer turns her attention from textbooks in psychiatry to compelling fiction effortlessly whilst also compiling primers and briefings of a nature that any writer will find not only practical but also emotionally worthwhile.   This one is most timely for those with either a book in mind or in the throes of completion.   Jennifer explores the many hitches, glitches and teething problems that writers experience on a daily level whilst also providing well timed boosts of emotional support to lift the spirits.  It’s almost as if she is there at your elbow talking good sense.  But I’m not going to tell you any more because you can read it for yourself and you can find it at both Smashwords and Amazon.   Wellbeing for Writers