Download National Strategy General Stakeholder

National Strategy General Stakeholder
Workshop in Perth, Western Australia
Date
Thursday
9 June 2011
Hosted by
Mr Brian Bradley
Director General, Department
Of Commerce, WA
Location
Perth
Facilitator
Rick Hodgson
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Contents
Page and Content
4. History of National Strategy
5. Safe Work Australia and the National Strategy
6. National Work Health and Safety Strategy Consultation and Development
7. Welcome
8. Workshop Introduction
9. Workshop participants profile
10. Session Scopes
11. Session 1: Group discussion on work health and safety in the next ten years
14. Session 2: Social/Economic/Emerging Issues in the workforce, business and technology
20. Session 3: Work Health & Safety Systems in safe design, supply chain, safety leadership & organisational culture
26. Session 4: Enhancing the capacity of workplaces to respond to disease, injury and psychological injury causing hazards
32. Closing Remarks
33. Evaluation Comments
Disclaimer: The views of participants expressed in this document are not necessarily the views of Safe Work Australia.
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History of National Strategy
The 10 year National Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Improvement Framework (NIF) was in
place in the 1990s providing Australia with a nationally coordinated “roadmap” for improving workplace
health and safety. The NIF signalled the commitment to OHS improvement in Australia by the
Workplace Relations Ministers’ Council (WRMC), the National Occupational Health and Safety
Commission (NOHSC) and NOHSC members. It set out to improve prevention, share knowledge,
foster partnerships and collaborations, and compare performance among the key OHS stakeholders in
Australia.
The National OHS Strategy (National Strategy) was endorsed in May 2002 with the vision of Australian
workplaces free from death, injury and disease. This was a tripartite initiative of NOHSC and
unanimously endorsed by Federal, State and Territory Ministers. The 10 year timeframe was chosen to
span political terms and provide the time to develop evidence based policies and programs. The
Workplace Relations Ministers’ noted the successes of the National Road Strategy and its associated
targets, and believed the inclusion of targets in a new document would help sharpen the national focus
and efforts to improve Australia’s OHS performance.
The National Strategy set out the basis for nationally strategic interventions that were intended to
foster sustainably safe and healthy work environments, and to reduce significantly the numbers of
people hurt or killed at work. Five national priorities and nine areas that required national action were
agreed. These collectively aimed to bring about short and long-term improvements in OHS, as well as
longer-term cultural change. Reports on progress to achieve the objectives of the National Strategy
were provided annually to WRMC.
NOHSC provided the original leadership and took carriage of the National Strategy until it was
replaced by the Australian Safety and Compensation Council in 2005.
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Safe Work Australia and the National Strategy
In 2009 Safe Work Australia – an
independent Australian Government
statutory body – was established. It has
primary responsibility for improving work
health and safety and workers’
compensation arrangements across
Australia.
Safe Work Australia represents a genuine
partnership between governments, unions
and industry working together towards the
goal of reducing death, injury and disease
in workplaces.
The current and future National Strategy
are key documents to guide the work of
Safe Work Australia and others to achieve
this goal. The current historic commitment
to work health and safety is illustrated by
the joint funding by the Commonwealth,
state and territory governments of Safe
Work Australia, facilitated through an
intergovernmental agreement signed in
July 2008.
Safe Work Australia members:
Back left to right:
Mr Mark Goodsell Australian Industry Group; Mr Brian Bradley Western Australia; Ms Michele
Patterson South Australia; Ms Michelle Baxter Commonwealth; Mr Rex Hoy Chief Executive
Officer; Mr Peter Tighe Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
Front left to right:
Ms Anne Bellamy Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr John Watson New
South Wales; Mr Tom Phillips AM Chair; Mr Michael Borowick (ACTU)
Absent: Mr Greg Tweedly Victoria; Mr Barry Leahy Queensland; Ms Liesl Centenera ACT; Mr
Roy Ormerod Tasmania; and Ms Laurene Hull Northern Territory.
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National Work Health and Safety Strategy
Consultation and Development
Safe Work Australia is now developing a new
National Work Health and Safety Strategy to
supersede the previous Strategy that expires
in mid 2012.
To inform the development process,
workshops are being held in all capital cities
and a number of regional centres. These will
seek ideas and comments from invited
participants including employers, employees,
regulators, work health and safety
professionals, academics and interested
community members.
Safe Work Australia will also continue to
consult with key stakeholders through a range
of other mechanisms including ongoing
bilateral consultations and by commissioning
topic papers from experts on selected issues.
These consultations will allow Safe Work
Australia Members to decide on priority areas,
targets and the Strategy’s duration.
Once a draft National Work Health and Safety
Strategy has been agreed by Safe Work Australia
Members this will be released for public comment
early in 2012. The comments will be analysed
and used to further inform the development of the
new Strategy.
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Welcome to participants
Mr Brian Bradley, Director General of the Department of Commerce WA, welcomes participants to
the Perth workshop.
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Workshop Introduction
Mr Rex Hoy, the Chief Executive Officer of Safe Work
Australia gave an introduction to the workshop. He
noted that the National OHS Strategy 2002-2012
provides a basis for developing sustainable, safe and
healthy work environments and for reducing the number
of people hurt or killed at work.
He noted that the current Strategy set very clear and
ambitious goals for work heath and safety, and was a
key initiative to improve Australia's work health and
safety performance from 2002–12.
He thanked participants for attending and indicated that
the workshops are an important part of the extensive
stakeholder consultation process for the development of
the New National Strategy. Mr Hoy invited participants
to stay engaged and review the development progress
reports on the new Strategy on the Safe Work Australia
website as they are released.
Mr Hoy provided data on the progress and limitations of
the current Strategy and lessons learnt.
Mr Hoy’s presentation slides are available on
the Safe Work Australia website.
Participant comments on the workshops and
new National Strategy themes can be sent to
[email protected]
He also noted the public comment period for the new
Strategy early next year and welcomed participants’
comments at that time.
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Perth Workshop Participants’ Profile
09 June 2011
Number
Academic/Specialist
7
Community based organisation
1
Company/General
7
Employer Association
6
Legislative/Legal
1
Public Policy
4
Regulator
6
Union
4
Work Health and Safety professionals
16
Total
52
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Session Scopes
To assist participants, all tables displayed scopes outlining what was meant by the key discussion topics. These
are noted below:
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Social/Economic/Emerging Issues in the Workforce, Business and Technology
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Work Health and Safety Systems – Challenges and Solutions in Safe Design and Work Systems,
the Supply Chain, and in Safety Leadership and Organisational Systems
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The Workforce: Changing worker demographics such as ageing, young workers, casualisation, contract work, shift work, and individual
needs such as literacy, disability, mental health
Business: How business is changing to meet emerging challenges and to remain viable and competitive, such as outsourcing,
subcontracting, casualisation, etc
Technology: Innovations in the workplace that have already or may have a future impact on Work Health and Safety , such as
nanotechnology, green technology, innovations in genetics, electronics and IT systems
Safe Design and Organisational Systems: the systems and principles that facilitate the elimination of hazards at the design or
modification stage of products, buildings, structures and work processes
Supply Chain: the tools or processes that influence the best safety outcomes within the supply chain that moves a product or a service
from the supplier to the customer
Safety Leadership and Organisation Culture: Safety leadership generates organisational cultures that view safety and productivity of
equal importance, validated by the attitudes, beliefs, perceptions and values of the workforce
Hazards – Enhancing the capacity of workplaces to respond to:
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Disease-Causing Hazards - includes noise, hazardous substances, chemicals and asbestos
Injury-Causing Hazards - includes work practices, manual tasks, slips trips and falls
Psychological Injury-Causing Hazards - includes the design, management and organisation of work and work systems to achieve
resilient productive and safe psychological working environments.
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Session One: What will success look like in ten years?
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•
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Zero fatalities, and reduction in injuries and diseases,
facilitated by targets and in part to be achieved by
the following activities suggested by participants:
– having more mandatory Health and Safety
Representatives, properly trained and protected
when they raise issues
– Mandatory inductions and annual refreshers
across all industries
– High quality professional work health and safety
qualifications that are nationally accredited,
recognised, actively involved in industry and
regularly refreshed, and
– More people are healthy because they go to
work, safe work is seen as an opportunity to
enhance health, and invested in as a prevention
to ill health.
Focus is on lead indicators, while recognising that lag
indicators are still useful.
Data is reliable, nationally consistent and
comparable, leading to effective and efficient data
analysis, data linkages, focused research and
evidence based policy development.
•
•
Better understanding and emphasis on
occupational diseases (statistics based
on workers’ compensation do not reflect
true occupational disease picture).
More of a focus on respiratory hazards,
with more health outcomes data, better
links with cancer registry and disability
groups, and more of a focus on silica (as
the “new asbestos”).
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Session One: What will success look like in 10 yrs?
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A convergence of values between work health and
safety, public health and community safety.
More national approaches across government and
jurisdictions - shared approaches to priority issues
and industries.
Demographic mix is taken into account (age, ethnicity
etc) and realistic and practical solutions are in place
that don’t rely on process or create “paper
mountains”.
More consultation and involvement of workers in work
health and safety issues, with respect and
responsibility a core value that heals the disconnect
between workers, professionals and management.
Safety is as important as profit, and has moved from
being a satellite to being part of business, with key
performance indicators inclusive of hidden costs.
SME sector is aware, informed and educated.
Consistently enforced known standards allow
regulators to focus on non-employee groups, sole
traders and contractors.
Government shows leadership in work health and
safety and renews the focus on long term conditions
and on safe design.
Design refocus on the people involved in the system
rather than workplaces.
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Session One: What should Safe Work Australia do to
achieve success?
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Change its name to Healthy Work Australia, highlight the
positive aspects of work, and put the health back into safety.
Penetrate, influence and integrate into the education system.
Continue to provide better national data, information and to
fund and commission research (rather than WA), all of which
are to be made accessible to industry.
Continue to act in a coordinating role between regulators.
Continue to set policy at national level in tripartite
environment.
Continue to assess international work health and safety
perspectives such as best practice, benchmarking, and bring
findings to attention of the regulators.
Capture data that already exists as it relates to occupational
exposures.
Link into Census data, self-report data, work satisfaction.
Focus on fatalities and drive them down further.
Engage with industry, instigate industry focussed strategies,
build capability in business and foster business enabling work
health and safety drivers, not just penalty approach.
Research the link between positive safety outcomes and
business success – communicate and promote it, but
balance it with consequences for poor performance.
Facilitate legislation for protection of casual workers.
Bring agriculture, fishing and forestry into line with other
sectors.
•
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Continue to provide guidance and practical information,
and update and simplify codes and guidelines so
industry can access them in easily digestible ways, and
information is “friendly” to XYZ generations.
Focus on developing better processes to identify
emerging issues – data is old.
Raise profile and communicate and promote what Safe
Work Australia is already doing with industry.
Improve implementation processes – learn lessons of
previous strategies.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in the Workforce
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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A focus on literacy and screening at recruitment ensures that cultural perspectives are understood, and safety instructions are
pictorial; and casuals, guest workers, contractors, migrants and those on 457 visas are as protected as other workers.
Individuals accept responsibility for their own and others’ safety, founded on education started early at home then in both primary and
secondary school that continues in the community and creates a seamless safety culture.
Pervasive safety culture with all involved, creating a cultural shift where there is a whole of Australia community expectation that safe
work is the norm, much like the ban on smoking in workplaces and sun protection at school.
Workplace educative processes focus on new and young workers being competent to do their jobs.
There is a common understanding of risk, and the different work ethics of the changing demographics (ageing, gen Y) are accounted
for and built into work health and safety strategies, ensuring flexibility in safe work practices, the skills and knowledge of older
workers are not lost, and both younger and older workers are trained in new technologies.
Work health and safety strategies are targeted to face the challenges of the need for transferrable safety knowledge with the following
workforce changes identified by participants:
– Transient employment, less job loyalty
– Multicultural and multilingual workers with differing safety cultures
– Fatigue associated with multiple jobs
– Fly in/Fly out workers – travel times and demands, and
– Reaching the rural and remote areas.
Safety is a cooperative process with a shared goal, and consistent messages are portrayed across workplaces and in the community.
Work is adapted to keep workers physically and psychologically healthy for both individual and industry benefits, providing a counterbalance to workers staying in workforce longer leading to potentially higher rates of degenerative disease, and higher extent of impact
of occupational disease.
Incentives are in place to retain older skilled workers.
Strong and proactive regulator input provides additional resources to support industry reach their work health and safety goals.
There is better alignment between work health and safety and other areas of legislation eg equal opportunity legislation can conflict
with pre-employment medicals and compensation laws.
A Code of Practice for shift workers is in place, regulating the maximum number of hours and dealing particularly with fatigue.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in the Workforce
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve success?
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Be proactive, not reactive, show leadership.
Educate other government departments on cost shifting.
Establish effective communication networks with key
agencies, eg unions, relevant government departments,
industry champions to collaboratively drive work health
and safety change.
Ensure that conditions of visa or card carrying guest
workers, migrants and those on 457 visas include risk
assessment requirements, and employers of these people
face conditions to comply.
Do research and disseminate concise and relevant
information, guidance, educational materials, tools and
advice that is relevant to size, capability and
understanding of organisation or person, and supports
employers to discharge their duties.
Maintain important international connections to avoid
reinventing the wheel.
Lobby big companies and industry for additional funding.
Be across and respond to emerging issues.
Lobby universities to include work health and safety
components in tertiary training courses.
Embrace health in a proactive way, eg mental health first
aid.
Create incentives for retention at work.
Educate and skill up Human Resources and workplace
relations personnel regarding mental illness.
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Make stress and bullying a priority area.
Address chronic diseases and lifestyle factors among the ageing
workforce as key emerging issues.
Measure impact of injury and illnesses in a social way.
Provide financial incentives for struggling businesses to maintain
high level of safety eg SMEs.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in Business
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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Work health and safety management
systems are integrated into the workplace.
Safety is thought of as a core function for
business.
Offshore operations are as safe as those
in Australia.
A rigorous business case for work health
and safety is established that is statistically
proven and supported.
People are job ready.
Drivers for safety are in place that do not
over-regulate, as you can’t regulate
common sense.
Alternatives to legislation reduce the
burden of compliance on business, and
only engage with compliance scenarios
when a problem is identified.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in Business
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve this?
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Actively promote that safety is cooperative and
a shared goal.
Be across emerging issues.
Work with larger industry and be aware of their
needs.
Advise and promote successful ways of
achieving injury reductions.
Define what Safe Work Australia can and cannot
do to clarify role.
Be more responsive when business is struggling
with extensive and prescriptive legal
requirements.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in Technology
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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Virtual training for driving trucks or using guns is
modified to allow humans to perform as though in a
real environment including the smell of cordite and
live rounds.
Technicians that multitask and have strategies built
in to ensure the potential hazard is under control.
Engineers are trained in safe design and the use of
technology in design.
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There is a recognition that new technologies present
both work health and safety risks and benefits and
opportunities for improvements.
Work health and safety does not restrict the
introduction of new technologies, but understands
and deals with any emerging risks of new
technologies.
The lifecycle issues and risks of technologies as they
go through the supply chain are considered and
addressed.
Information is freely available on controls and how to
manage risks.
With the growth of computer based jobs (eg, mining
increasingly IT-based) measures are actively in place
and provisions are made to keep sedentary workers
job-ready for occasional manual tasks.
Maintenance skills are retained in increasingly
computer based workplaces.
Teleconferencing and other communications and IT
advancements ensure that quality of communication
of work health and safety messages and problem
solving remains high.
SMEs are targeted with information that is
meaningful to them.
There is excellent use of research capacity to solve
industry problems.
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Session Two: Emerging Issues in Technology
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve success?
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Assess the impact of mobile technologies for the
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whole of their life cycle; they need constant
assessment for safe use at work.
Stay on top of research, and disseminate findings.
•
Provide educational materials and
support tools.
Stay across international developments
and the use of international information
on new technologies.
Research and communicate ways to
retain valued older staff.
Commission research on the newly
emerging use of remote control trucks.
Ensure that despite government focus
on the increasing use of green
technology to reduce carbon footprints,
the work health and safety message
remains consistent and is heard.
Facilitate the sharing and transference
of knowledge of new technologies from
mining to the rest of industry.
Ensure that the need for training and
skills about human factors is not
overlooked when dealing with new
technologies.
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Session Three: Safe Design & Work Systems
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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The Safety in Design package for engineering and architecture
students is implemented and is used in the classroom and the field.
Graduate engineers, geologists and designers in the resources
sector are trained in safety (for more than the current 30 minutes
per degree) to fully equip them for the accountability role they are
expected to fulfil.
Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) supplies fully compliant
equipment, and purchasers do not have to spend additional capital
to make equipment safe.
There is an emphasis on safety and design throughout the whole of
the lifecycle of the piece of plant, equipment or system – from
conception to preliminary design, to the engineering and detailed
design stage, to disposal, including the safety of the end user.
Time is taken and there is proper emphasis on checking for the
safety of the design as well as compliance with legislation at patent
evaluation, procurement, and during introduction and transition into
the workplace.
Designers have legal obligations and they comply with them.
Customers have a positive influence on designers to ensure safety
is integrated (eg Woodside).
Safe Design includes the inherent human factors issues.
Technology is tested and approved and government, and regulators
are advised by persons with industry based experience and
expertise.
The science of ergonomics includes aspects of safe design.
Where information technology is used in blue collar workplaces
(including multi-tasking and autonomous trucks) it is well evaluated.
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There is a clear and safe approval process for
importing overseas products – the duty of care is
understood and implemented by importers and
products or equipment designed overseas do not
enter Australia if they are not fit for purpose.
There is no disconnect between functionality, product
safety and work health and safety, with work health
and safety professional input and assessment at the
design stage, including assessing the maintenance
capability and reliability of the design.
There is more linkage between building regulations
and codes and work health and safety.
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Session Three: Safe Design & Work Systems
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve success?
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Coordinate and collaborate with research
and knowledge of the work health and safety
implications of new products (eg the
unintended consequences of extended
periods of sitting and sedentary activity).
Assess the impact of mobile technology over
the whole of the life cycle.
Assess the use of virtual reality for training.
Provide guidance, advice and information on
the procurement of goods.
Be involved and support Standards Australia
in their standards-making process.
Provide education material and design
checklists for design professionals.
Provide guidance on change management.
Emphasise the importance of human factors
in design.
Disseminate information to duty holders.
Coordinate how information is distributed to
industry and professional networks.
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Session Three: Supply Chain
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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The supply chain is safe, and everyone in it is aware of and
acts on their safety responsibilities.
Minnows are helped by large companies to comply with higher
safety standards rather than just have them imposed on them,
and a minimum safety standard applies to all.
Australia does not condone poor safety standards by using
cheaper options sourced from overseas.
There is a clear chain of responsibility outlining due diligence
and who is responsible for what, with evident consultation and
communication.
Safety coaches are available for participants in the supply
chain.
The road transport fatalities in the supply chain are reduced to
zero (currently transport and storage data is understated with
WA research finding 30-40% of road traffic accidents are work
related at a cost of $1 billion per annum in WA).
Sophisticated risk assessment and driver education is applied
in the transport part of the supply chain, including considering
risk to the public, fatigue, heat, mosquito born diseases and
load restraints.
The burden of meeting prescriptive regulations is eased by self
regulation.
Regulators are seen as advisors and supporters rather than
penalisers.
The fine line between rewards versus punishment is well
balanced and understood and supported by participants in the
supply chain.
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Supply chain operators budget for innovation rather
than for injuries or fatalities.
Product that is imported into the supply chain meets
AS/NZS 4801:2001.
Systems of preferred suppliers (those who meet
relevant standards) are in place.
The community understands the difficulty of stopping
a loaded truck, and motorists do not cut in front of
trucks.
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Session Three: Supply Chain
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve success?
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Conduct research to validate the
attribution of 30-40% of road traffic
accidents as work related applies
across Australia.
Apply EU technology to Australia, and
assess ISO, UK and US for examples
of good practice.
Apply leverage to lift standards of
offshore suppliers.
Provide guidance on type of risk
assessment needed for SMEs right
through to major hazard facilities.
Recognise and ensure that employers
and the community understand that
vehicles are workplaces.
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Session Three: Safety Leadership and Organisational
Culture. What will success look like?
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There is a common understanding, ownership and acceptance
of what culture and leadership means in work health and safety
context at all levels.
Safety culture is driven from the top down and leadership
occurs at all levels, is supported by personal performance
indicators, and there is no fear of reprisals.
There is alignment between messages and action. Safety is
properly resourced and embedded in how business is done.
The links between positive safety and productivity gains are
well understood, as are the hidden costs of unsafe and
unhealthy work and its impact on survivors.
Disconnects of alignment between messages and action in the
workplace are identified, and there is broad understanding of
the social and economic impact of work related injuries in the
community.
Transient workforces and contractors are also well served with
leadership, including and incorporating fly in/fly out work, 457
visas, language and culture issues, lack of resources with skill
shortages, attempts to transfer risks, questionable efficiencies
in monitoring and drawing workers away from retail.
Safety leadership is seen as part of doing business, and safety
professionals are seen as advisors, not drivers.
There is only one way – the safe way.
Exemplars in safety leadership are identified.
Mentoring takes place for company directors and directors are
supported in their roles.
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Leaders know “how to” as well as “what”, and workers are
valued as the best assets of the workplace.
Managers hold work health and safety qualifications.
There is separation of educative functions of regulators as
opposed to enforcement functions.
Workplaces aim to be better than the benchmark for their
industry.
A culture shift will have occurred to ensure that across
Australia we know what to do and how to lead in safety.
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Session Three: Safety Leadership & Organisational
Culture ̶ What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve
success?
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Provide guidance for the level of
response required to meet obligations.
Demystify safety management and
clarify what a safety management
system actually is.
Advocate to include a module on safety
in the Australian Institute of Company
Directors Emerging Director Program.
Support and educate safety
professionals to assist them to be in a
position to influence directors.
Support industry safety leaders and
provide them with resources so they can
build their profile, then penetrate
industry with safety messages.
Facilitate the development of the
Corporate Social Responsibility
Standard into a Code of Practice or
legislation.
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Session Four: Responding to Disease-Causing Hazards
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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The current over reliance on PPE is reduced and
the hierarchy of controls is reversed with
eliminations, substitution and engineering seen as
preferred controls.
Stretching, standing at desks, intentional breaks
and regular activity offset the potential for sedentary
work leading to preventable health problems.
Long latency illnesses are detected early, with
continual surveillance for the hazards that still
cause problems – stress, work style issues,
respiratory disease, noise induced hearing loss and
vibration related diseases.
The limitations of workers’ compensation data being
able to account for long-latency illnesses are fully
understood, and alternative data sets are used.
Early intervention is facilitated by the use of lead
indicators for long latency diseases such as
asbestosis, particularly in mining (lower-grade ores
containing asbestos), construction and demolition.
Long latency hazards get as much attention as
immediate hazards.
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Management deal with health as well as they
do with safety.
Australia has best practice responses to
disease causing hazards that are consistent
with international standards.
A worker identification surveillance system is
in place, that tracks workers through
workplaces and exposures.
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Session Four: Responding to Disease-Causing Hazards
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve
success?
Enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond by:
• Developing practical guidelines on designing
out hazards, exposure standards, extended
work shifts and patterns, mixed exposures,
climate change, heat stress, mosquito-borne
and other bio-hazards and diseases.
• Monitoring nanotechnology (and emerging
issues inherent in sunscreen made with
nanomaterials), mobile phones, dermatitis and
other skin diseases from penetration of
chemicals and UV exposure.
• Helping industry to understand the synergistic
effects of disease-causing hazards.
•
• Ensuring that Australian Standards are
equivalent to international standards.
•
• Gathering data, researching harmonised
standards across country.
Leading and advocating to reduce noise
which is still a major hazard.
Lobbying government to ensure that
imported products don’t contain hazards.
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Session Four: Responding to Injury-Causing Hazards
What will success look like in 10 years time?
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There are less injuries.
Safe design has removed manual handling altogether.
Standardisation of forms allows data tracking to effectively
identify trends.
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Jurisdictions embrace research findings about the
benefits of upright postures and automation of
systems and change their policies accordingly.
Positive peer pressure has led to a cultural shift
from “we have always done it this way” to “we do it
safely”.
Hazard identification processes are standardised
based on training on how to perform simple job
safety analyses (JSAs) and safe work
management systems which are made freely
available via the newly harmonised regulations.
Benchmarking and assessment tools are in place
that are sophisticated enough to meet the
challenges of the ageing workforce, cultural
differences, transient workers and workers with
pre-existing conditions.
Manual tasks are improved as a result of broader
awareness of the ergonomic impact of repetitive
work, noise and environmental issues.
Workplaces are prepared for hazards as they
emerge (eg nanotechnology).
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Session Four: Responding to Injury-Causing Hazards
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve this?
Enhance the capacity of workplaces to
respond by:
• focussing on targeting manual handling via
research, identifying causal factors and
holistic ergonomic solutions (physical and
mental health), and providing incentives
for rewarding solutions via awards
processes
• conducting surveillance for new hazards
and informing stakeholders via alerts and
multiple levels of communications
• standardising processes for data collection
• creating standardised processes for JSAs
and encouraging their use; reducing fines
in cases where JSAs have been used, and
• influencing governments to push suppliers
to be globally aware and ISO compliant,
creating a level playing field.
•
Encouraging harmonisation between
workplace relations and work health and safety
requirements, eg award conditions require
higher rates of pay when people to work at
night, but in hot climates this can be better for
work health and safety. Disincentive for
employers to implement this positive work
health and safety strategy as night work
increases costs.
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Session Four: Responding to Psychological InjuryCausing Hazards ̶ What will success look like in 10 years time?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Psychological injuries are normalised, validated, and accepted and community acceptance means they are destigmatised.
Definitions of work and non-work-related issues are clarified.
Preventative management ensures that hazards that occur upstream do not lead to psych injury, and are recognised,
talked about, and bosses listen.
Non-draconian approach to issues, there is better awareness of hazards and triggers and better dissemination of
knowledge about causes and consequences.
Workplaces are happy and more productive, efficient, fewer injuries of all types.
Work processes are not boring, people are empowered to come up with their own best solutions in consultation with
management that gives individuals control over their work routines, design, layout, timetabling, and scheduling.
Workplaces are caring, with more effective communication creating an environment of respect, responsibility and trust,
ensuring that micro stresses for vulnerable workers do not build to tipping points, or for example driver fatigue to stress
to road rage (eg chocolate rather than drugs to manage stress).
•
•
•
Both the community and the workplace provide education and support.
Boundaries between Gen Y and older generations defined and broken down.
Balance between work and lifestyle-related-pressures (eg extended use of technology isolating workers, fly
in/fly out, extended night shifts).
•
•
•
Workplaces take responsibility for providing psychological preparedness.
EAP programs are community-wide and help with home issues as well as work.
Bullying is defined and recognised as at times poor management and poor communication, but it is also clear that
feedback is not necessarily bullying depending on how feedback is given (different generations have different
expectations re feedback).
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Session Four: Responding to Psychological InjuryCausing Hazards
What should Safe Work Australia do to achieve this?
Enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond by:
• making workplace stress and bullying a priority area
over the next 5-10 years
• ensuring that regulators ask to see an organisation’s
mental health plan, and provide guidance and
templates on how to develop one
• instigating dialogue and championing alignment,
consistency and skills development between human
resources, workplace relations, Fair Work Australia
and work health and safety, as well as with industry
groups
• building networks and linkages with isolated workers •
(farmers, miners) and advising on work routine
issues, work design, eg truck routes for drivers that
are achievable
• developing kits for small and micro businesses
•
• influencing governments to provide guidelines,
education, research
•
• educating managers and supervisors to deliver
feedback well
influencing an alignment between work health
and safety and workers’ compensation,
incentives for return to work after
psychological injury
providing employers and managers with
resources to understand, recognise and
measure/manage psychological hazards, and
conducting research into the real cost of
psychological injuries.
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Closing Reflections from the Chief Executive Officer
Rex Hoy thanked Brian Bradley, Director General of the Department of Commerce WA, for opening the workshop; the facilitator Rick Hodgson,
and all the workshop participants for their attendance and contribution. He commented that there were many common strategic themes (the
educative process, age, disability and mental health) that have been raised in the workshops so far. He agreed that, as was also raised in the
Sydney workshop, the current vision of Australian workplaces free from death, injury and disease could be better worded, as it could be
incorrectly taken to mean that Australian workplaces don’t want injured workers and those with diseases back in the workforce.
He noted that the Perth participants had placed a particular focus on educating new and younger workers, and on leadership and the
importance of an organisation’s culture in promoting safety. Additionally, that while work should be safe, as well as good for us, we need to
know how to measure and quantify what we mean by that. Comments that struck a particular chord with him were the need to mentor company
directors and advocate for a course on safety in the Australian Institute of Company Directors’ emerging directors program, and the suggestion
of the need to focus on mental illness, stress, and bullying, and to work on both workplace and community acceptance of their importance.
Rex appreciated the many useful suggestions about the role of Safe Work Australia, particularly in providing information, guidance, practical
information, exposure standards, education, promotion and in raising our profile. He noted with interest the suggestion that Safe Work Australia
should change its name to Healthy Work Australia, but also pointed out that the name is in legislation so that is a difficult option. Safe Work
Australia’s role includes a number of aspects additional to health, including workers’ compensation. He noted that the suggestion that Safe
Work Australia should lobby business and industry to solicit funding was regrettably not possible, as Safe Work Australia’s role as a public
authority accountable to Parliament does not allow this approach.
Rex complimented the Perth attendees on their passion for managing the work health and safety challenges distinctive to WA, such as the
predominance of mining, remote and isolated work, communicable diseases, road safety where vehicles are the workplace, and environmental
hazards such as mosquitoes and other biological pests. He also commented on their particular focus on occupational disease, noting that it
reflected their mature approach to work health and safety issues. The focus on work health and safety training when registering a business, as
well as providing kits for small and medium businesses, was also noteworthy.
Rex went on to comment that the workshop themes such as the supply chain and safe design that had been chosen for exploration were just
some of the many that are under active consideration by Safe Work Australia members as they develop the new National Strategy. He closed
the workshop by welcoming participants’ ongoing engagement with the development of the new Strategy and said that if they would like to
provide further comments and ideas these may be sent to [email protected].
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Evaluation Outcomes
Overall, feedback from the National Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 workshop in Perth on 9 June was very positive.
Both quantitative and qualitative results were collected from 25 evaluation sheets, recording a 92% satisfaction with the venue and a
96% satisfaction with the opportunity to contribute. The length of the workshop was positive for 88% of attendees and the format by
80%. There was 86% satisfaction with the facilitator, 82% with the room set-up, and 74% for the food.
One attendee expressed their view that the best thing about the workshop was the opening remarks by Mr Hoy, but that the use of
butcher’s paper should cease while conversely others were happy with the team activity and asked for more workshops of a similar
vein, but to include more “Gen Y” representation. Another attendee found the traffic and poor public transport at the non-central
location an inconvenience, while others liked the venue, but felt that they would have added better value if they had received the
questions and topics before the day so they could prepare material.
Many of the participants found the opportunity to provide feedback and input at this critical stage of developing the new Work Health
and Safety Strategy very worthwhile, and appreciated the opportunity to be heard on OHS matters. They also found it useful to meet
people with similar interests from different industries as well as others working in this field and to explore solutions and ideas
together. Some noted that while there was good organisation on the day by Safe Work Australia staff, the groups could have been
better directed about their discussions, possibly by having a facilitator for each group. Other attendees criticised the fact that some
participants had tried to grandstand, and suggested that the current approach of the same questions for each session was leading
to people pushing their own agendas.
The fact that the results would be recorded on the Safe Work Australia website was appreciated by many as useful for reference, as
well as an opportunity to add additional input to the process of developing the Strategy. Some felt that while consultation over the
strategy was worthy, the outcomes would still have a limited impact on safety direction over the next decade, while others advised
us to place less emphasis on the Safe Work Australia role, given that the Strategy applies to a wider range of agencies. Others
noted that an implementation plan would be needed to put the strategy into action.
All of the input we have received has been noted, and is being integrated into future workshops to make improvements.
Text in italics indicates direct quotes from responders
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