The self employed are 3 times more  likely to be fatally injured at work according to a 2014 Safe Work Australia study released today. The study explored work-related traumatic injury fatalities in 2013. This kind of information is really important for people to take note of especially if you are self employed or work in one of the high risk categories. The study found that self employed workers tend to work past the average retirement age of employees and work in higher risk environments like farming, transport, and construction. Some further questions need to be considered for the self-employed including are the self-employed more likely to: 

• Take more risks in general
  
• Take more risk under pressure / or be under more pressure
  
• Be less exposed to safe work practices (incl. team based safety approaches)
  
• Have less access to safe work practices and fit for purpose equipment

If you are self employed or employ the self employed these factors need to be considered and managed so all workers can have access to the same level of safety in their workplaces. Granted self employed workers generally with have access to minimal capital so some interventions / risk mitigations will be less fancy. As a self employed worker myself it would be great to see more/more available government education and intervention provided for these workers. 

Many people seem confused by the concept of change management, it seems that many companies have treated change management as a bolt-on or additional system to risk management. In reality change management is a subset of risk management.

I don't under estimate that the management of change is significantly important, however I do believe it is an aspect of risk management, that in some respects we have tried to over-complicate! We have all heard that change is the only constant, change is inevitable. Likewise risk is inherent (def: existing in something as a permanent, essential, or characteristic attribute) and shall always exist its just how we manage and control the risk. Change is just like any other risk that needs to be managed in a daily task, or business.

Just as pre-start risk assessments help us manage risks, the extension of these systems to encourage employees to consider changing environments in their tasks are just as important. Many incidents occur as a result of unexpected or non identified change. Likewise many companies succeed or fail due to their inability to manage change. How does your workplace manage change and changing environments.