© Monash University 2015

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WorkSafe Victoria Health and Safety Week 2015

Health and Safety Representatives’ Conference

Health and Safety Survey - Results

For more information, contact: surveys@monash.edu or visit ohsleadindicators.org

Background

This survey is part of a large project that has been conducted by a research team at Monash University to investigate a simple, practical tool to measure leading indicators of occupational health and safety in Australian workplaces. The research has been conducted in partnership with WorkSafe Victoria via the Institute for Safety Compensation and Recovery Research, with several government and industry stakeholders. Monash's research team identified a tool that was developed at the Institute for Work and Health in Ontario Canada. The Monash research has tested and adapted the original tool for use in Australian workplaces, creating a new tool called the ‘Organizational Performance Metric - Monash University (OPM-MU)’. On October 27, 2015, attendees at a session in the WorkSafe Health and Safety Week 2015 Health and Safety Representatives’ Conference were invited to participate in a brief survey about health and safety.

The results of the HSR Conference survey are shown below. These results offer a snapshot of HSRs’ views about health and safety in their workplaces.

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Around 1000 people attended the Health and Safety Representatives’ Conference session and 639 survey responses were received, resulting in a response rate of 63.9 percent.

HSR Conference Survey Results: Profile of HSRs and their Workplaces:

Figure 1: Industries represented by the HSRs

1.32.1

0.60.8

5.19.7

3.30.5

18.21.1

30.52.1

9.21.7

3.30.20.9

8.90.6

Accommoda2onandFoodServicesAdministra2veandSupportServices

AgricultureForestryandFishingArtsandRecrea2onServices

Construc2onEduca2onandTraining

ElectricityGasWaterandWasteServicesFinancialandInsuranceServices

HealthCareandSocialAssistanceInforma2onMediaandTelecommunica2ons

ManufacturingMining

OtherServicesProfessionalScien2ficandTechnicalServices

PublicAdministra2onandSafetyRentalHiringandRealEstateServices

RetailTradeTransportPostalandWarehousing

WholesaleTrade

• 511 (80%) were Health and Safety Representatives • 25.7% worked in an organization with between 20 & 199 employees in

Australia • 70% worked in an organization with 200 or more employees in Australia • 56.4% worked in a workplace with between 20 & 199 employees in

Australia • XX% work in a metropolitan location

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HSR Conference Survey Results: Health and Safety

The OPM-MU is a measure of leading indicators of OHS.

Leading indicators of OHS can be defined as measures of the positive steps that organisations take that may prevent an OHS incident from occurring. Leading indicators can provide effective early warnings, by enabling risks or risk increases to be detected and mitigated, before an OHS incident occurs or a hazardous state is reached.

A higher score on the OPM-MU indicates that OHS leading indicators are present to a greater extent in the workplace. As the OPM-MU is a leading indicator, it does not assess the number of OHS incidents that have occurred in a workplace. Instead, the OPM-MU provides a measure of perceptions regarding the emphasis given to OHS in their workplace. Workplaces with higher scores on the OPM-MU, therefore, are perceived to be more actively engaged in practices that could reduce the likelihood of OHS incidents. Conversely, workplaces that obtain lower scores on the OPM-MU are perceived to be minimally engaged in initiatives that may reduce the potential of OHS incidents.

î The OPM-MU measures individuals’ views of the ‘safety potential’ of a workplace.

î Higher OPM-MU scores indicate that individuals are more likely to agree that their workplace has features that should lead to prevention of work-related illnesses and injuries.

î The OPM-MU could be used as an initial ‘flag’ of leading indicators of OHS in a workplace.

HSRs’ ratings of leading indicators in their workplaces, as measured by OPM-MU scores, vary across industries.

HSRs in small organizations gave lower ratings of leading indicators in their workplaces, as measured by OPM-MU scores, than did HSRS working in larger organizations. However, the ratings by HSRS of leading indicators do not vary much at all when viewed across different workplace sizes. HSRs working in regional locations gave somewhat lower ratings of leading indicators in their workplaces, as measured by OPM-MU scores, compared with HSRs working in metropolitan or rural locations.

The average (mean) score for the OPM-MU across all respondents was 25.3 out of a possible score of 40 (SD = 5.9).

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Figure 2: Average OPM-MU scores across the industries represented by the HSRs

Figure 3: Average OPM-MU scores across organization sizes represented by the HSRs

25.828.6

20.323.8

28.926.8

29.224.3

27.829.6

27.626.226.6

30.026.2

15.026.526.1

23.0

Accommoda2onandFoodServicesAdministra2veandSupportServices

AgricultureForestryandFishingArtsandRecrea2onServices

Construc2onEduca2onandTraining

ElectricityGasWaterandWasteServicesFinancialandInsuranceServices

HealthCareandSocialAssistanceInforma2onMediaandTelecommunica2ons

ManufacturingMining

OtherServicesProfessionalScien2ficandTechnicalServices

PublicAdministra2onandSafetyRentalHiringandRealEstateServices

RetailTradeTransportPostalandWarehousing

WholesaleTrade

24.7

29.2

26.927.4

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23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

1-4employees 5-19employees 20-199employees 200<

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Figure 4: Average OPM-MU scores across workplace sizes represented by the HSRs

Figure 5: Average OPM-MU scores across location (metropolitan, regional, rural) represented by the HSRs

27.48 27.4427.24 27.24

26

27

28

29

1-4employees 5-19employees 20-199employees 200<

27.4

26.2

27.8

25

26

27

28

Metropolitan Regional Rural

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Workplace Risks

The HSR Conference attendees were also asked a couple of questions about risk in their workplaces. First, HSRs rated potential health and safety risks in their workplace. Possible responses ranged from 1 (no risk at all) to 5 (high degree of risk). HSRs in small workplaces (fewer than 5 people) tended to rate the potential risks as very low compared with HSRs in larger workplaces. Second, HSRs rated the likelihood of being injured at work. Possible responses ranged from 1 (extremely unlikely) to 5 (extremely likely). On average, the potential risk was rated as slightly higher in larger workplaces.

Figure 6: How would you rate the potential health and safety risks faced by employees at your workplace?

Figure 7: Thinking about the kind of work you do, how likely is it that you will be injured at work?

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3.5

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1-4employees 5-19employees 20-199employees 200<

3.0

3.2 3.23.3

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3

4

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OHS Outcomes

HSRs were also asked about WorkSafe claims in their workplaces.

Figure 8: WorkSafe claims submitted and WorkSafe claims accepted for workplace in the past 12 months

Summary These ratings of leading indicators (as measured by the OPM-MU) show how scores on the OPM-MU can vary substantially across industries and workplaces.

The intent of this brief report is to summarise the HSR Conference Survey rather than provide specific details of the research or guidance on measuring OHS leading indicators. For more detailed information, please see the website: ohsleadindicators.org.

Note The OPM-MU is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). This means that non-commercial use of this measure is authorised on the following conditions:

î Attribution – Licensees will be required to give appropriate credit to Monash University, WorkSafe Victoria, and IWH (as creator of the original IWH-OPM).

î Non-commercial – Licensees will only be able to use the OPM-Monash University for non-commercial purposes.

î No-derivatives – If a licensee remixes, transforms or builds upon the OPM-MU the licensee will not be able to distribute that derivative of the OPM-MU.

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62

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9

56

135

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ClaimsSubmiSed ClaimsAccepted