WhyWork Podcast

Season 06 Episode 09: IRL? In Real Life? Software solutions and AI in work design Trajce struggles with the ideas of ‘flow efficiency,’ likening this to urine tract functioning. Sorry, Anna Linning - a subscriber who asked about ‘flow’… Alan connects the idea to Flo’s scones, Flo Bjelke-Petersen’s famous pumpkin scones. Sara brings the boys back around to discuss psychological flow, theories from...

Season 06 Episode 08: The sentinel gateway - keeper of the path ahead WARNING: This episode discusses a workplace fatality - listener discretion is advised. Alan shares an industrial safety law case involving the disrepair of a gate, which prompts Trajce to reflect on his early-career prosecution of an industrial gate failure, leading to the news headline, “Fallen gate crushes mum.” The team remar...

Season 06 Episode 07 - We revisit the right to disconnect. Trajce provokes conversation on the Fair Work Amendment (Right to Disconnect) Bill 2023 among the team again. Sara asks, “Why did we throw legislation at this? I want to know - how did they develop their problem statements? Is this legislation really hitting the mark? Are there system designs to protect workers versus needing to rely on le...

Season 06 Episode 06: Scope creep and Snag-arees WARNING: This episode includes sexual inferences. “The power of the beep is getting to Trajce’s head,” says Alan. “This is a very serious podcast,” Trajce protests. The cause for the bleep is revealed: “Oh my gosh,” Sara says through laughter, “There is a ‘snag, drag, and bag’ phrase online describing people pulling fish out of the ocean, a ‘snag dr...

Season 06 Episode 05: I spy with my little eye Sara introduces the topics of ‘design for crime’ and surveillance systems with predictive analytics generated by artificial intelligence. Alan speaks about his experiences with intelligent surveillance systems and their ability to see, feel, hear, and determine responses. Alan explains that business must establish their purpose and context when using...

Season 06 Episode 04: A bonza boom & crash: Decommissioning with dignity Trajce and Sara compliment Alan’s dress sense - smooth, Italian, Mafioso, modelled after a Kappa soccer sports brand, while Sara reflects on her ‘rugby mum’ look for the day. Trajce teases Sara with her unlaced shoes in contemporary gangsta-fashion, primed for larceny. “It’s a sport and leather vibe,” says Trajce. Trajce...

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: BONUS. Respectful workplaces contrast with those in which managers demand working to unrealistic standards. Trajce cautions, "Attitudes like this could be construed as belittling, bullying, and harassment." For more on this topic, listen to S05 E11: German work .

Season 06 Trailer 06: An uppy or a downy - potty talk prep - WhaAAT? We've reached the lowest watermark - prelude.

WhyNOT? A Wisdom Shot: BONUS. Alan explains that work health and safety law penalties are deterrants. Often, executives and officers are not intentional criminals, and yet criminal law applies to breaches of workplace health and safety obligations. Alan elaborates, "It's extremely rare that an employer has wanted an employee to be injured or consciously thought about causing injury, but the penalt...

Season 06 Episode 03: Roger rabbit, reconciling responsibilities: Who’s job is it anyway? WARNING: This episode discusses road safety fatal hazard exposures and construction failures. “A cream bun goes a long way for you,” Alan teases Trajce when Trajce admits that he could never prosecute a baker. Alan describes a work health and safety legal case when a football club grandstand roof collapsed du...

Season 06 Trailer 05: A teaser about road construction discussions. WhyWork?

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 downy WARNING: 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 Trajce Alan 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!” e...

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...

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 DISCUSSED WhyNOT? 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 conseq...

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 injuries Season 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 str...

WARNING: SEXUAL HARASSMENT IS INFERRED WhyNOT? 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,...

Season 05 Bonus Episode 14 Risk 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...

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 Who...

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...

Season 05 Episode 11: German Work Warning: 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 elabo...