WhyWork Podcast

Warning - this trailer mentions fatal incidents.Season 06 Trailer 04: A teaser on the exploration of the entertainment industry and issues of principal contractors managing subcontractors - it all blows up when there is a fatality.

Season 06 Trailer 03: Awww. Stay Louder... Flashback Season 05 E12: Awww. Stay Louder and moving on to the the bulls and the cows... Moooo...

Season 06 Episode 02: An uppy or a downyWARNING: This episode includes discussion about the fatality of a child.“Are you an ‘Uppy’ or a ‘Downy’?” asks Alan.“We have reached the lowest watermark on the show here,” says TrajceAlan is entertained by Sara’s social media post about universal in public facilities. “Are we living for design or are we designed for living?” queries Trajce.“Exactly!” exclaims Sara, “Design shapes behaviours.”Alan introduces the idea of prosecution of designers. Trajce pontificates on causational chains of responsibilities. Sara recalls a media-reported incident of a badminton racquet malfunction and splintering that allegedly caused the fatality of a child. She advocates for human factors approaches when integrating technologies in work systems.

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: BONUS: "What are your designing for? For what and for whom are you designing? What is your design objective?" Sara prompts, while Trajce expresses his frustration with workplace investigative approaches. He argues that workplace investigators clamour to use an on-trend investigative tool without understanding its scope, merits, or alignment with the industry and geographical jurisdiction. "If you're going to play cricket, make sure that you're on the cricket pitch, and not the football oval." he analogises.

Season 06 Trailer 02: We're back, we're going to bust it up, swimming upstream - tales of Mafia ties, crime & misconduct, bullying, the right to disconnect, complex investigations.

Season 06 Trailer: We're back, fresh from tour - welcome to the system.

WARNING: FATALITIES ARE DISCUSSEDWhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: BONUS: Behind the laughing clowns. "Things can go awry," Trajce explains, "fun, risk, recreation, and entertainment... these are not often used in the same sentence, but they should. Behind the laughing clowns are serious items of fixed and mobile plant." The prosecutor in Trajce warns us all that recreational pursuits can have deadly consequences. For more on this topic, listen to: S02 E02: It's Hollywood and it's a gas, S02 E02: Reality TV and me, S03 E05: Whakaari - The smouldering dragon, S03 E06: Cha-cha-cha thrill rides, S03 E07: Intentional design and submersibles, S05 E07: We've gone Barney, and S05 E12: Awww, Stay. Louder. Bang!

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Bonus: Sara praises Trajce's use of empathy maps to dissect victim impact statements and case law. She's certain that her design-thinking arguments are influencing his work. Alan is a little confused and cannot stop giggling: it's a hoot for Owl-inn....

Warning: This episode discusses workplace fatalities and complex injuriesSeason 06 Episode 01 is a special release extended episode, recorded live on stage at the Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar 2024 sponsored by the New South Wales Resources Regulator (NSW MESS 2024).The WhyWork Podcast rabble rousers, Alan Girle, Trajce Cvetkovski, and Sara Pazell wrestle with the idea of good design strategy in mining. “Section 22,” prompts Alan, referring to the Australian Work Health and Safety Act sections 22, 23, 24, 25(4) – “…give adequate information, including any conditions necessary to ensure safe use of the plant.” Sara seeks statements from members of the audience in this live recording at the NSW Mechanical Engineering Safety Seminar 2024 on some recent design-related system failures in mining with mobile plant. The team debate these issues, including recent case law. Alan shares his ideas on the consequences of being placed under investigation. The team consider the sections of the law pertaining to design provisions and pit them against what is reasonable and practicable. Listen to Trajce get excited over his latest jurisprudential project on “proximate causation.” The podcasters discuss the risk of under-design in systems and the ‘over-design’ in some technologies with plenty of bling that might not solve the intended problems. “Don’t overcook the chook!” exclaims Trajce.“Is it fail safe or safe-to-fail design strategy?” asks Alan. The team explore these differences in philosophy, use cases, and design approaches. They consider a holistic approach to design thinking: the context; the environment; the task; the machinery; the operator; the work system; the job design; the management; the governance and regulations; and the people, pedestrians or other vehicle and plant operators, around the machinery that might act in unpredictable ways. Sara advises the team on her strategy to prompt this deep thinking in organisations when adopting new technologies or constructing new environments by asking three simple questions, “Is there a way?” “Can you play?” and “Can you stay?” She waxes lyrical about the enduring impact of good design and her passion to help organisations get this right if they want to achieve resilience, productivity, and sustain their desirable health and safety outcomes.This episode presents ideas on:Design thinking and design strategy in miningCase review on mining equipment and system designInvestigating design-related equipment and system flawsSystem design and resilience, closing the communication loop on design-related realities to cause ongoing improvementsNote:The WhyWhork Podcast sends a special shout out to Dr Martin Stirling of HILTI Australia for his useful explanations on being a “value engineer” and “co-operation”, Japanese style, in his conversations with Trajce. We love your work!

WARNING: SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS INFERREDWhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Bonus: "The festive season is upon us," Alan cautions, "make sure that if you are shimmyin' on the dance floor, the person you're shimmyin' with wants to shimmy with you as much as you do!" This Wisdom Shot broaches the all-too-common and uncomfortable scenario of the mix of alcohol and workplace festive parties. For more on this topic, listen to past episodes: S05 E04: Office spirits: Culture & Controversy, S05 E05: Shimmyin' on the dance floor, S02 E07: 4 Men and Women 2: Nightstalker fright night, and S01 E01: Bubbles of Trouble.

Season 05 Bonus Episode 14Risk versus reward, reliability versus resilience: Trajce, Alan, and Sara explore these tensions. Trajce wants to talk about investigations and the sex industry, while Sara and Alan poke at Trajce’s sensitivities to Harvard Business Law style jargon. Alan, however, also wants to talk about sex trades with a throwback to Season 05 Episode 13: Wiggle it, just a little bit. He distracts Sara when she advocates for studying success (in addition to failures and faults) and the need to communicate simply when it comes to workplace investigation findings. She expands on ideas about high-reliability organisation (HRO) precepts by using her design lens.“Why is everyone using a sledgehammer to crack open a macadamia?” asks Trajce, when he considers the industry practice of adopting an on-trend accident investigation tool, "just because…" Alan asks about investigations in brothels and he wants a simple answer, though Trajce and Sara manage to frustrate him with their lawyer-like speak with “it depends” and other such "definite maybes."

Season 05 Episode 13 - We're getting jiggly.Warning: Adult content and humour.“We’ve got vibration, we’ve got noise, we’re getting jiggly here,” chimes Trajce. Sara describes the X, Y, Z axes of vibration measures. She tells a story of how she’s been attributed a certain type of ass-jiggling nick name.Alan live-records his demonstration of simulated tractor operation trial while testing the Whole Body Vibration mobile phone application developed by Professor Robin Burgess Limerick of the University of Queensland Sustainable Minerals Institute. The crew recognise Margarita Mandic of the Sunshine Coast in this episode also. Trajce tries to sneak away with whole body vibration testing homework until Alan threatens to grab his arse. His live-recording demonstration proves that he tests with red-hot injury risk.

WARNING – This episode presents content on workplace fatalities – listener discretion is advised.With a word play on cosmetics branding, Trajce frames the scenario explained by Sara: A naturally curious 14 y/o, an electric display vehicle, a shopping centre, and the make up counter. “This is like a red bull, a caged beast,” Trajce makes the analogy, “An ‘Awww. Stay. Louder!’“ moment, much to Alan's pained laughter.“No monkeying about,” leads Alan, as Sara describes another news story about work in the zoo when a worker gets caught inside the enclosure of a silver back gorilla, Elmo. Sara talks about communication and human-information processing using visual storyboarding to improve work practice, a design strategy that differs from convention risk and compliance measures.

Season 05 Episode 11: German WorkWarning: This episode discusses Anti-Semitic work behaviours.“Is ‘German work’ a standard of work?” Trajce asks as he recounts a story on a manager who berates his Aussie teams, “’You’re F’n stupid!’ “ the manager tells his staff.Even mid-employment dispute, this manager showed no contrition. “He believed that he was forced to speak in this manner,” Trajce elaborates, “because the culture of work in Australia was far too lazy and lackadaisical for him.”Sara shares a story of a New York firm with whom she was once associated. In this firm, the manager tried to compel an Australian team member to sign their proposed work contract, “It’s not like I am making them wear concrete shoes and putting a gun to their head!” the New York representative lamented. “I don’t think that is going to work in Australia…,” Sara sweetly acknowledges..Alan encourages the team to “unplug from it all’,” remembering life at age 22…

Season 05 Episode 10: Stubble stash and mug matsTo fit or not to fit?This episode discusses a WhyWork Podcast subscriber’s concern on managing the scenario when a bearded worker must wear a mask for their health protections at work. “Get better equipment,” is not the easiest mandate in this complex situation, says Count van Count, aka Trajce. He is expressive while displaying his well-groomed goatee. Alan agrees, recounting reasons why some people find this an emotive issue: cultural, religious, or industrial events.Sara confirms that Alan and Trajce often speak on the complexity of real-world events that can trigger reviews on employment; industrial; civil, and work health, and safety laws. She recalls the story, ‘The Best of Enemies,’ made into a movie, about the relationship between the American Civil Rights Activist, Ann Atwater, and the Klu Klux Klan member, C.P. Ellis. In this story, a lawyer navigated complex community race relations using a mediation process called a ‘charrette.’ The lawyer skilfully implemented this process, the characters achieved consensus and, surprisingly, formed a lifelong friendship thereafter.The crew, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, continue to debate the need to articulate purpose and context before determining solutions in work design. Trajce likens this to incident investigation and event analysis methods versus chasing any on-trend tool that might not suit organisational purpose.

Season 05 Episode 09: A prism party and colour cascadeWARNING: This episode presents topics on workplace fatalities and suicide - Listener discretion is advised.Sara announces the publication of a new book of which she is a co-editor, “Healthcare Insights: The voice of the consumer, the practitioner, and the work design strategist.” “The intent,” she explains, “is to empathise and to understand situations from many points of view. It’s like holding a crystal to the sky, and seeing different colours refract when you spin it around,” says Sara. Trace concurs, “Storytelling and narratives are prisms to view a different world.” Tracie elaborates on his contribution to a chapter in another book in the Workplace Insights series on Good Work Design, using empathy maps to articulate victim impact statement. “That’s golden,” Sara exclaims, “That’s from working with me! I love that a past state prosecutor is using empathy maps in storytelling.” Trajce recalls, “We used empathy maps in our safety conference presentation on distributed work emerging from the pandemic”. Alan retorts, “I remember that conference. I think there was some trivialisation of alcohol at that event!”Alan and Trajce reflect on their careers in work health and safety law, and on some critical cases. “The downside of workplace criminal law,” Alan deducts, “is that everyone suffers.” Trajce adds, “This is unintentional crime.” Sara shares a subscriber’s, Craig McDonald’s, concerns about causational chains of responsibility, especially when governments constrain capital expenditure in transport infrastructure. Conversely, the podcast crew debate the notion of spurious injury claims and the weaponisation of alleged psychosocial harm.Full disclosure: gremlins invaded the studio ghost in the machine, faculty cables during recording caselaw discussion, we know, we know, but the content was too good to omit. Enjoy!

Season 05 Episode 08: Smooth Criminal: The sociology of industrial crimeWARNING: This episode discusses fatalities in the workplace. Listener discretion is advised.In this episode, Alan broaches the topic of industrial manslaughter by describing a case involving a forklift operation fatal incident in a stonemasonry company in New South Wales. This prompts Trajce to reflect on a case where a prosecuted employer ritualistically honoured the anniversary of the death of their worker by paying for an ode of remembrance in the bereavement section of the local newspaper to acknowledge how much the apprentice was missed.“This shows how these events take a huge emotional toll on all parties involved in a fatal incident,” explain Trajce, “These are not crimes rationalising a standard criminological lens. These are crimes involving unintentional harm. It fascinates me because of the sociology of crime – the industrial criminal who commits crimes unintentionally.“These deterrents, the fees, no matter the cost, will never cure the hurt. In the court of public opinion, it will never be enough,” Alan empathises.Sara dreams of a world that balances the punishment with reward to motivate people to exhibit desired social behaviours. "It's basic neuroscience," she says.

Season 05 Episode 07: Trajce raises the issue of the Barnaby Bother. It was a Boisterous Barnaby Bumble… Alan explains the alcohol-infused ‘Barnaby bumble’: It made national news, all around Australia, and it was highly embarrassing to anyone involved. Trajce reminds the crew that Zahi Steggall, Member of Parliament New South Wales, SW MP, has implored, “We must do something about alcohol use in parliament.”We cannot trivialise this. Yet, alcohol consumption is culturally indoctrinated in Australia. Trajce announces his publication on trivialisation of risk in the workplace. Alcohol-related activity is one of the 6 typologies found in Reality TV, a reflection on daily life. “It’s trivialisation dissonance,” he says, “The media industry code of practice that advocated for protections from occupational psychosocial exposures during production has been removed at the same time that this material arose in general workplace guidance materials,” “It's not good for popular culture TV viewing without it,” says Alan.For the subscribers, look out for Trajce’s ‘booky-book’, as Sara labels it, on the trivialisation of risk and hazard exposures in the workplace.“It’s the little things that matter,” Trajce notes.For more on alcohol consumption at work, listen to Season 05 Episode 04: Office Spirits: Culture & Controversy and Season 05 Episode 01: Bubbles of Trouble.

WhyWork Podcast subscriber Anna Linning asks, “How are different organisations managing the phenomena of digital and instant communication modes in their business - Teams, social media, intranets, and the like?” “Doctor, doctor, give me a call,” Alan chimes, reflecting on Anna’s work in an Australian occupational medical practice.The team debate the Fair Work Amendment Bill 2023 on the right to disconnect because of the issue raised by Anna: the communication impact on mental and emotional load. “I’m finding major problems with this amendment,” scoffs Sara, “Have we returned to that Caucasian, male, privileged work convention?” Alan replies, “… this is one-way legislation.” Trajce adds, “… you must go straight to the source. Don’t go to Dr. Google,” he advises, “The devil is in the details, it says ‘must’,” but it says “unless the reason is for an emergency, OR a genuine welfare matter, OR compensated. The ‘etcetera’ is important.” “Disconnect is analogous to Stop. It’s a stop sign,” Trajce announces, “It’s vexed, Anna, it is vexed. It begs answers on these questions:· What does contact mean?· Is the allowance reasonable?· What constitutes an emergency?Trajce, Alan, and Sara concur on one aspect, “For a little amendment, we’re going to get a lot of traction out of this…” they chime.For more on the ‘Right to Disconnect,’ listen to Season 05 Episode 03: Grab the Pilates socks – It’s our right to disconnect. For more on the Emoji and GIF hieroglyphics in workplace communication, listen to Season 04 Episode 01: The GIF gal and the Emoji man.

WARNING: This episode references suicide and sexual matters.The WhyWork crew debate the contest of being forthright in social relations. Trajce reveals a case of a young, drunken lawyer determined to approach a colleague on the dancefloor at a work party. The courts deemed his behaviour to be highly inappropriate and sexualised. This sounds like Season 01 and Episode 01, ‘Bubbles of Trouble.’ “It’s rather sudsy, ” Alan reflects. “It’s the ‘A’ word,” says Trajce, “the Aaa-lcohol that subjects a young person to a new state of vulnerability. This is a common theme.” “Ten Bundies and Coke might erode a few boundaries,” he rationalises, and he exclaims, “There are consequences of shimmying on the dance floor!” “Do we need a specific memo on this? Really? A team of lawyers reverted to shimmying as their defense strategy?” begs Sara.“When you think of discomfort, you think of WhyWork!” badgers Trajce to the laughter of Alan and Sara. “Go the edge,” urges Sara. “Go the edge! I love taking Trajce to the point of when he blushes to our banter,” she teases. Alan urges management teams to learn from the real-world scenarios of work. “Sex and sexual urges are a ‘thing’ when working with people. Organisations must consider this in their risk assessments,” Sara advises. Trajce recalls a matter in school education involving a confronting mix of Midori and marijuana.Sara sends a shout out to The University of Queensland’s Professor Hugh Possingham. She gives her thanks for his teachings on sustainability, transparent decision making, ecosystems, sociopolitical forces influencing ethics, and multiple points of view.

Sara laments the damage to her little toe that got no roast beef, “… and it was on my birthday!” she punctuates the story. No, she hadn't been drinking...The team debate the idea of drinking at work, particularly when it is distributed. Sara describes a case when a teacher concluded his remote video call with his employer by drinking from a cask of wine. When disputed, the parties agreed on the facts that this violated workplace agreements and code of conduct.Alan slurps his lemon soda in the background as Sara and Trajce debate the ideas and optics on drinking at work when work occurs anywhere and cultural appreciations sway the judgement on these matters. “Easy fix - turn the camera off,” says Alan, the defense lawyer.Sara announces, “Strong is the new skinny,” when reflecting on The Tradies underwear ad with the Honey Badger Cummins and Winter Olympian Danielle Scott and Women’s Sevens Rugby star Charlotte Caslick. Alan explains the ad, "They are in their underwear, boogying on film, hair blown by a leaf blower." Trajce challenges the idea on a participatory approach to run focus groups in the workplace to determine team member comfort or reactions to new policies, procedures, and material that is ‘on the edge.’

“These lawyer boys are like Teflon,” Sara labels, “You see? There you go again– deflection! That is deflection number 02 this morning,” she accuses Alan.After discussing Alan’s adventures, soaring above the lush, grassy, green, open paddocks of Tasmania and Trajce’s newfound love of the Reformer and his Pilates socks, the team venture into workplace discourse.Trajce asks, “If I ask you about your right to disconnect, what does it mean to you?” Alan, Trajce, and Sara debate the amendments to the Fair Work Legislation 2009 on the right to disconnect. The team focus their discussions on the service professions, like teaching, policing, and healthcare workers.“The law exists because the system is failing. The court is a last resort,” says TC, “We must need this prompt, this mandate to design work better since we, as a society, are not resolving this.” “You know the Christian biblical story described in the Old Testament about how God gave His people Ten Commandments, yet others were thrown away? My verdict: throw this one away.” Sara ponders ideas on alternative design strategies and cultural expectations of work. She recalls the ‘roving classroom’ design strategy modelled in the United States. She is befuddled on why Western Society did not better capitalise on the rich opportunities afforded by the pandemic upheavals to evolve and re-design quality education combined with good work models.

Season 05 Episode 02: More than just paper airplanes: The projectiles impacting our teachers"I have injury statistics on teachers," inivites Sara, "Tell me how is it that they are struck by flying objects? Hit by projectiles!" That question leads to confessions by the boys as they recall their school days. Sara remembers her Italian language teacher who used to throw chalk at students. "It's the reverse now!" exclaims Trajce.Sara challenges the team to consider the enduring impact of good design, starting with the environment for a lasting effect on those using the space; positively, if well designed. Alan connects with this idea. Trajce links the teaching woes to past discussions on the stressors faced by teachers, explored in in S02 E13: An upstanding citizen with salmon in his pocket. The team can’t help but travel south in their conversation, recalling the story of a teacher caught on film, after hours, in the most inconvenient way.

Season 05 Episode 01: Citizen Control."Consultation - meh! Peh!" complains Sara, with disdain. "There is a lot of corporate hazing and gaslighting," reflects Trajce. This episode was prompted by the presentation by Dr Elise Crawford of Central Queensland University. Elise spoke on her reesarch of worker particpation in their work design during the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia Queensland seminar last year. Sara elaborates on the tiered scales of organisational citizenship which can fall into the categories of 'non participation,' 'tokenism,' and 'degrees of citizen power.' Alarmingly, 'consultation,' falls into the category of 'tokenism.' Alan reminds us that this is a workplace obligation in the work health and safety legislation ."It's a sham!" exclaims Trajce. He trails, "This sounds like another 'C-word' in our lexicon of work vocabulary..."

WhyWork Season 05 Ready for Take Off, Coming Soon

There's more: The English legal profession, "Trajce, you're always on top of this," says Alan. Consultation, Teachers. Lawyers. All of it is on the table. We're back. Educate your mind because the system will keep you blind.

Honey, we're home. Season 05 is coming to you soon. Kitchen benches and silicosis. It's a thing. Work design versus interior design. Home renovations and engineered stone. Yah, let's do this. "Testing, testing, testing, hi there." "It's an intro, guys". Educate your mind.

Honey, we're home... Season 05. Educate your mind because the system can be blind. Create a new path. We're back. Teachers. signage, personal protective equipment, controversy, systematic design, and more giggles. Let's just call it like it is. Caught on film.

Season 04 Episode 13: Alan, Trajce, and Sara discuss the casualised work phenomenon introduced in a rampant way during the pandemic, causing the management of distributed work and the advent of remote video call meetings.Trajce discloses one of his secret nicknames, The Count von Count from Sesame Street, which is met by Alan and Sara’s appreciative laughter who cannot 'unsee' Trajce as The Count.Sara shares a junk food gem, passed to her by a past workmate and friend, Dr Brent Oldenburg, the chocolate M&M covered movie popcorn!Alan discusses the confrontation, the unfriendly and alarming case of arrest, and the strength of force that can be shown by police during their arrests of crime suspects – “a dangerous scenario for all involved,” explains Alan. He tells a story of the arrest of a sole parent in front of her child after her failure to pay for petrol. “Haven’t we all done that or nearly done that?” asks Sara.In this episode, a special visit is made by loyal subscriber, Carmen Mitchell, as she delivers her magic artwork charcoal and white pen drawings of the Stag, the Owl, and the Rascal (Otter), to celebrate the team’s spirit animals, discussed in Season 02 Episode 14: Spirit Animals.

“Never smile at a crocodile,” chimes Alan. This episode speaks on working with critters; the first, a case of two soldiers attacked by a crocodile in Far North Queensland. Comcare charged the Australian Department of Defense for breaching federal work and safety laws for failing to maintain a safe system of work, training, and policy implementation. “You’ve obviously seen an alligator or two in your travels across America, Sara,” Trajce suggests. The boys start chest-thumping their machismo argument that the salty crocodile of Australia is bigger and tougher than the American alligator counterpart, “A nibbler,” admonishes Trajce, “I’d like to see them arm wrestle and see who rolls better.”The team continue to debate on work, tourism, and the intersection of animals that bite. “What is just good lawyering versus rational judgments?” Sara demands answers. Alan returns to the case discussed in Season 02 and Episode 07: Men and Women 2: Nightstalker Fright Night and recent judgments, and Sara explains real-world creative that leverage human nature and accommodate commercial toileting habits.

Season 04 Episode 11: The things we do for fun.WARNING: This episode discusses fatalitiesAlan reflects on the prosecutions and a pending coronial inquest on the fatalities of the six Tasmanian children (and three injured children) while playing in jumping castles during their school fair. “The judgement on the facts is pending,” Alan explained, “and there are no industrial manslaughter judgements in Tasmania.”  The team grapples with the loss of innocent lives and the relaxed approaches to risk management when we embrace recreational fun versus work activities. “You are ready to have fun, you are expecting to have fun, and you are not expecting to die,” Trajce explicates, “crocodiles attack people, islands erupt, and jumping castles fly away.” The team reference the Queensland Amusement Devices Code of Practice 2023 .Sara shifts the discussion on workplace protections to people, culture, and design by introducing the '9 Levels on Human Readiness' to adopt new technologies and to manage the business transformation. “These considerations provide rationale yet again on the need for human factors professionals to be embedded in organisations and champion work strategy and systems design.” Sara implores.

Season 04 Episode 10: Prosecuting ‘nicely’WARNING: Suicide is discussed in this episode.Alan introduces a model of prosecution adopted by the National Heavy Vehicle Regulator that provides guidance to industry and focuses on the most important prosecutorial issues. Alan and Trajce dream of dismantling ideological boundaries so that business and industry can return to the fundamental questions on, “What is our purpose?" In this way, creative solutions can be found to solve age-old problems. Sara is excited by what she sees as the favourable view of design in this light and her influence on the way that the boys think. She reiterates her desire to advance three pillars in work design: workplace protections, people and culture, and design (For more on this, watch Sara's presentation at HFESA 2023)“Hey mum, hey dad,” sidles Trajce, “are we becoming though leaders?” Sara exclaims, “I’m just an agitator, a rabble-rouser - I am never satisfied!” while Alan heartedly agrees with her proclamation. “If we raise thought-provoking material, and we generate strong reactions from among our listeners,” says Trajce, “we are the ‘agent provocateur’.”Thank you to subscriber Craig McDonald for raising considerations in the Rail Industry. These concerns included queries about government control on capital expenditures. In these cases, Craig wondered with whom responsibility lies when considering safe design, design impact, and the causal chain of responsibility.

CAUTION: This episode speaks on near miss harm of a child.Season 04 Episode 09: This episode speaks about the first pillar of work design, workplace protections, and the sociopolitical influences of worker empowerment. Thank you to subscriber, David Denoux, who shared his story on construction work and safety concerns.“If something goes wrong, terribly wrong, it will change your life,” warns Alan, “just say 'no' and walk away.” Sara reminds Alan and Trajce that sometimes a worker may not feel empowered or privileged to walk away or to speak up, hinting at the second pillar in work design: people and culture. Trajce empathises with the workers needing to put food on the table. The reflections mirror some of the concerns raised in Season 04 Episode 08: The archaic adage of deserving a good spanking.Sara introduces a third pillar of work design, ‘design’, and speaks on good work design versus designing good work, and 'the accidental designer' versus 'the intentional designer.' The team pay tribute to the WhyWork Podcast’s principal sponsor, ViVA health at work, and the design movers and shakers that influence much of her team's work: Katre Bailey, graphic design of 45 Degrees Studio; Michael Grima, industrial design of qDesign; David Denoux, a user-experience and service designer; Tyde Rabbit, video production; and David Hall, the remarkable dance-party purveyor of fun, and Melbourne’s Guru Dudu Disko Duk Duk.

Season 04 Episode 08: The archiac adage of deserving a good spankingWARNING: This episode shares a story on workplace sexual harassment: listener discretion is advised.This episode covers two main topics. The first, thanks to our subscriber Andrew Nicholls, a design and technology teacher and researcher, who informed us of his advocacy for the provision of personal protective equipment to school technology and design staff. Alan reminds us of the case against a university because of levies charged to nursing students for their fit testing of respiratory protective equipment before they undertook their hospital placements. Trajce sites Section 273 of the Australian Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Person not to levy workers) arguing that a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking ‘must not impose a levy or charge on a worker for anything done or provided." He also sites Section 19, arguing that a workplace must care for ‘others.’Second, the argument for care makes Alan come unstuck (as much as Alan ever comes undone), and Trajce and Sara are aghast as Alan explains the case he found in the Royal Australian Navy court martial records. The case involved a 57-year-old male supervising Lieutenant Commander and a 25-year-old female Junior Officer. While mentoring the junior, the 'improvement coaching' involved an age-old punishment practice of spanking the junior. “Shut-up, stop-stop-stop!” Trajce and Sara protest. “This is a slippery slope,” Trajce reflects and concludes, “If this story gripped me, it would grip a nation.” This episode is a fascinating segue to Season 04 Episode 07: ‘Every Sunday I Eat A Pie’, Mate: The power intent of a hierarchy of controls.

Season 04 Episode 07: This episode stemmed from conversations with Dylan Matthews of the BHP FutureFit Academy on the seemingly innocent and instructive applications of the Hierarchy of Controls (HOC) in safety management: elimination, substitution, isolation, engineering, administrative controls, and personal protective equipment (ESIEAP – ‘Every Sunday I Eat A Pie’). Trajce is fired up by this topic as he recalls the 17th Century philosophy of Thomas Hobbes on jurisprudence, governance, liberalism, and utilitarianism. “A hierarchy of control is not intended to be as rigid as it implies with an unyielding iron cage of the law constraining work strategy. ‘Hierarchy’ is more politically forceful than ‘design,’ and that can create alarm in the workplace. To punctuate this idea, Trajce transforms into the Wizard of Oz with his threats and warnings. Alan interjects, “Trajce, am I mistaken?” he asks, “Wasn’t the Wizard determined to be a fraud?”Sara pontificates on what she views as three pillars of work design: workplace protections, people and culture, and design, and she is anguished by the lack of attention by organisations and industries on the design pillar. She argues that human factors mediates these pillars in work strategy and must be deeply embedded in operations, with human factors professionals empowered by executive-level, decision-making authority. She elaborates on the ‘enduring impact’ (EI) of good work design introduced in Season 04 Episode 05: To live is to be anxious, especially in the toxic workplace. (Note: The EMESRT Vehicle Interaction working groups have done remarkable work on determining their classification of the '9 Layers of Control Effectiveness', an inspiration for Sara's thought on the enduring impact of design interventions).

WARNING: A fatality and suicide are discussed in this episode.Season 04 Episode 06: “We’re all human,” Alan explains, “even during our methane messaging,” as he details the news story of U.S. Biden administration’s climate envoy, John Kerry, delivering a passionate speech on climate change in the most awkward exchange that was captured on film. The idea of ‘messaging’ led to the trio’s, Alan, Trajce, and Sara’s, expansion on the WhyWork Podcast’s vocabulary After Alan introduces topics on mining, Sara recalls her visit to the Mackay Resources Center of Excellence (RCOE) with Karen Sanders of Real Serious Games (RSG) to explore the centre's physical model of an underground mine. Alan suggests another case of interest: the WorkSafe VIC charge against the Victorian Building Authority. In this case, an inspector was issued a redundancy, an alleged cause of the inspector’s anguish before their suicide. Alan asks about a more graceful transition plan for loyal and long-term employees and Sara describes ‘lifecycle ergonomics’ coupled with internal customer journey mapping as a corollary to customer journey mapping: an organisational approach to the ‘multi-player’ user experiences. She uses a yoga analogy to consider the worker transition because “the exit part is the part that we usually get wrong,” she explains. Trajce agrees and contends that people just want to feel valued, “Love is the message, and the message is love,” he says, from ‘The Message is Love’ song by Arthur Baker.

WARNING: Suicide is mentioned in this episode.Season 04 Episode 05: Trajce introduces the idea of psychosocial factors causing work-related mental health disorders and psychological injury in a case in Victoria that led to the reguator's prosecution of a government agency. Alan explains that the injured person in this case committed suicide and even though this loss of life was not directly related to the workplace dynamics, the prosecution fine was significant. "This case," Alan recalls, "demonstrates that the public sector is not immune to prosecution."Trajce speaks on Brodie’s law, Victorian anti-bullying June 2011 legislation that made serious workplace bullying a criminal offence, punishable by up to 10 years in jail. The courts instituted this law after the tragic suicide of a young woman, Brodie Panlock, who was subjected to relentless bullying at work.Sara introduces the idea of the ‘Enduring Impact’ of good design, the new ‘EI’, instead of ‘Emotional Intelligence’, she discusses the ‘Enduring Impact’ of design strategy. She urges workplaces to synthesise codes of practices and ISO standards on hazard types in an integrated whole-of-person and work system design practice. This approach compels businesses to consider who is most vulnerable in the workplace and what circumstances cause vulnerability among workers, especially when “To live is to be anxious” she theorises.This episode aligns well with Season 01 Episode 05: Kozarov and the need for purpose.Tip: Here are resources on recovery-oriented language.

Season 04 Episode 04: "It's time to put the lid on dust," Trajce advances. Engineered stone, silica exposure - this has been in the media of late. The trio, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, discuss who is vulnerable to these exposures and why. Trajce argues that the regulators must not demonise one hazard exposure. Rather, pragmatism is needed to determine the safety of work.Alan argues the case that even when a business adheres to the workplace adivsory exposure standards for respirable dust, it does not matter when evaluated by a regulator. Trajce reminds us that dust is everywhere across many industries.Sara begs the question, "Are you an intentional designer or an accidental designer?" She argues that there is a cost to making decisions that impact on workers and systems when the trade-offs are not considered. Sara stipulates that just because a person makes work-related decisions, it does not make them strategic or intentional. Many times, work design is accidental.Sara pays tribute to a friend and mentor, Ms Peg Pinard of San Luis Obispo County, California. In her ode to Peg, she reflects on the concerns about engineered stones and the smoking ordinances instituted and pioneered by this Californian City and the County.

Season 04 Episode 03: Sara provokes thought on rites of passage by asking, “What are we holding on to in work and education simply because of a social construct established by rites of passage?” and, “Are the rites of passage of old still useful now?” Sara challenges the notion of adhering to rites of passage versus embracing transformative, generative work or education system re-design. She provides healthcare examples and asks how work designers effectively elicit knowledge to inform their design. She wonders how facilitators masterfully transfer that knowledge to those who need that information. She questions, also, whether those with the power to make changes will redesign the conventions of work to provide a better user experience.Trajce reflects on the way that the WhyWork Podcast considers caselaw and the realities of life, or “the non-vanilla spice of life that challenges conventions.” Historically, the legal institutions prohibited women from practicing law, for example. “Hell,” Sara complains, “Australian establishments did not allow women in pubs not too long ago!” The trio, Alan, Trajce, and Sara, dissect rites of passage in social systems that diminish a population group, reflect power disparity, and can cause humility among people with diminished power. They call for the compelling need for organisations and educators to identify and absolve the rites of passage that cause harm and to protect workers and students from the occupational psychosocial hazard exposures with consequences of trauma.

Season 04 Episode 02: Sara speaks about a WooFA (WFA) experience while walking her dog mid-work break when a bulldog muscled its way up a drive and launched into an attack on her dog. The boys, Alan and Trajce, discuss employer liabilities, and Sara reminds the boys that businesses like Joanna Clough’s, “The Dog Safe Workplace”, were established to help address and train businesses for these instances.The reflections continue to cross over in healthcare and other WooFA (WFA) experiences. Sara regales a tale of her presentation of neurological symptoms that caused her emergency room admission during a workday. The flaws in the healthcare system were evident and the patient experience was a struggle, even for an assertive self-advocate, like Sara. “A good person will fail in a bad system,” Sara recounts the quote attribute to W. Edwards Demming. While the governors and managers of healthcare systems must make improvements, these instances also mirror the employer’s needs to ensure that they navigate the complexities of emergency management in distributed, WooFA (WFA) work situations.(Disclaimer: When Sara speaks on caregiving duties at home, she meant the affordances of work from home that are compromised when the caring duties become excessive - those qualifiers can be missed in fluent, non-scripted recordings).This episode marries well with Season 01 Episode 03: Pets and airfryers.

Season 04 Episode 01: “I’m a GIF gal and you are Emoji men,” says Sara. “Is it the eggplant emoji?” she teases. Trajce rolls his eyes and, in his exasperation, argues that it takes 3 seconds for the conversation to devolve among our trio. “I wouldn’t know,” he says, “it is just a nightshade fruit to me.”Trajce limits his hieroglyphics lexicon of an emoji library to four: the smiley face, the cappuccino, a beer stein, and a glass of red wine. “In vino veritas… in wine, there is truth,” he shares the Latin phrase attributed to Pliny the Elder. “The impact of emoji communication depends on the context,” Alan evaluates. Trajce explains a legal case when a worker communicated with another worker by using a zipper-mouth emoji face, and the recipient perceived this as defamatory. Emojipedia (yes, emojipedia) may define the emojis, but Alan argues that perception matters most.This episode asks: What is your emoji lexicon in communication style and range, to whom do you send emojis, why, and in what context? What is your method of effective visual storytelling in your organisation, what design strategy compels that method, and is this done in an inclusive way?Sara shares statistics, like, “Every day, in modern-day communication, 900 million emojis are sent unaccompanied by text on Facebook messaging.”For other episodes on employee perception and occupational psychosocial consequences, listen to Season 01 Episode 11: I may not like you - But that's okay and on the social media digital footprint, listen to Season 02 Episode 10: Name and shame: Where is the filter?

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: Bonus: Sara expounds on the expansive idea of design to energise at work versus design that focuses solely on fatigue management. She encourages organisations and decision makers to shift their narrow focus on the industrial management of shift work to a broad perspective on what motivates a workforce and what drains a workforce (what to prop, and what to mitigate) when addressing work performance. This is a Bonus episode that complements Season 03 Epsidode 11: A case of the missing Brussels sprouts and Season 01 Episode 08: Tired workers are deadly weapons.

Season 04 faux pas, goofin' around, misdirections, and giggles. Listen to the backdrop of the recordings, a medley of the mix-ups and more of the conversation mash. We're getting ready for Season 04, are you? Share the podcast with your friends, add your 5-star rating to our show on your streaming service - 2024, we're ready to roll.

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: "There is an element of risk because that is what people of chasing," Alan reflects when considering the way that the courts are confronted by applying conventional law to the design of sport and recreation when it crosses over to the workplace. "We do it for the thrill of it," agrees Sara. A BONUS to the Season 03 Episode 06: Cha-cha-cha thrill rides.

WhyWork Season 04: Here we go again. Sex is a primal driver and we dig around and bring it all to the surface. Sara primes the boys and jolts them into recalling the blitz of conversations in the season recordings. This is a patchwork of our background chats so listeners will hear us debate and antognise each other, as mates, while we reflect on the purpose of the podcast, the fabulous subscriber support this year, and our national award nomination. Trajce argues that we have transcended and our message is the 'non-message,' but we have a mission to prompt better thinking. Alan foggily recalls some of these ideas and the cases that he brought forward during the season recordings.

Season 04 will release in the New Year and, boy, is it chokkas mate, full of fun, with many contributions spurned by the request of the WhyWork dedicated subscribers. We are loving this debate on work design and case law examination - join us, share the podcast with your friends, and submit your 5-star rating on the podcast streaming service when you listen to our show - it all helps! We are grateful as we conclude three seasons, year one, thank you!

BONUS: "Do you have a fire extinguisher and fire blanket at home?" Sara asks. "I do indeed!" exclaims Trajce, while he elaborates on his family's home fire drills. Alan remarks that it all can seem incredulous, yet makes sense if we are in a working landscape of distributed work and the safety provisions must be adhered in any space, any place, any time. This 'WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot' complements Season 03 Episode 12: Duck and cover, go low!

BONUS: WhyNOT care for our nurses when they constitute the caring profession to support our communities? "We must evaluate the needs of our frontline workers," urges Trajce. This is a bonus track to complement Season 03 Episode 04: Nurses - the heartbeat of healthcare.

BONUS: WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: "Our primal urges matter," Trajce agitates. Sex happens, and it happens among those in a working relationship. "We must expect the unexpected," Alan warns. We are reminded about these power relations in Season 3 Episode 09: A pervasive culture of masculinity.

In this WhyNOT kernel of wisdom, Alan reminds us that no matter our level of agreement with our colleagues, showing a little respect maintains the harmony and provides a more supportive workplace in which people can tolerate diverse ideas. Season 03 Episode 01: Do not carve another man's turkey, Season 02 Episode 09: Quid pro quo, and Season 02 Episode 10: Name and Shame, describe the circumstances when workers do not show respect for their colleagues.