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National Strategy General Stakeholder

Workshop in Bendigo, VICDate Tuesday 6

September 2011Hosted by Greg Tweedly,

Chief Executive Officer, Victorian WorkCover Authority

Location Bendigo Facilitator Professor David Caple

VIC

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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: Enhancing the capacity of workplaces to respond to disease, injury and psychological injury causing hazards

26. Session 4: Work Health & Safety Systems in safe design, skills and training, safety leadership & organisational culture

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.

Safe Work Australia and the National Strategy

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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.

National Work Health and Safety Strategy Consultation and Development

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Safe Work Australia is now developing a new National Work Health and Safety Strategy to supersede the previous Strategy that expires in June 2012.

To inform the development process, workshops have been held in all capital cities and a number of regional centres. These have sought 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.

Welcome to participants

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Greg Tweedly, Chief Executive Officer, Victorian WorkCover Authority, welcomes participants to the Bendigo workshop.

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Workshop IntroductionMr Drew Wagner, Branch Manager, 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 Wagner 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 Wagner provided data on the progress and limitations of the current Strategy and lessons learnt.

He also noted the public comment period for the new Strategy early next year and welcomed participants’ comments then.

Mr Wagner’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 nationalstrategy@safeworkaustralia.gov.au

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Bendigo Workshop Participants’ Profile

6 September 2011 Number

Academic/Specialist 1

Company/General 2

Community based organisation 1

Employer Association 5

Public Policy 2

Regulator 7

Work Health and Safety professionals 5

Total 23

Session Scopes

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To assist participants, all tables displayed scopes outlining what was meant by the key discussion topics. These are noted below:

• Social/Economic/Emerging Issues in the Workforce, Business and Technology – 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

• Hazards – Enhancing the capacity of workplaces to respond to:– 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.

• Work Health and Safety Systems – Challenges and Solutions in Safe Design and Work Systems, Skills and Training, and in Safety Leadership and Organisational Culture

– 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

– Skills & Training: the skills and training that employers and workers need to deliver safe workplaces. – 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

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Session One: What will success look like in ten years?

• Work health and safety practices are applied not because of regulatory impositions, but because not to apply them is socially unacceptable.

• There is a generational shift, with proactive leadership, ownership of work health and safety problems, and more creative and sustainable solutions found.

• More innovation is evident, and leaders apply the solutions that other safety disciplines have learned.

• The general public understand that productivity is based on good work health and safety.

• Work health and safety is integrated into the education system.• Work health and safety is a pre-requisite to starting business.• We have moved beyond what we have done in the past, and

there is greater insight into how Australians can work safely. • The work health and safety link to sustainability is clear. • Safety is practised from the bottom up, not just the top down.• Statistics are better recorded and better managed.• We are responsive to emerging issues and new technologies. • People recognise that work health and safety is much more

than just a hard hat and a fluoro vest. • Safety is not just practiced at work, but also in households and

in everyday actions.• Designers build in safety from the start rather than add it on

later.

•Increased skills and training has allowed the younger generation to develop a confidence and a body of knowledge that allows them to, at times and when necessary, mentor older workers and even to (for example) correct misuse of machinery or suggest adjustments to ingrained poor habits.

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Session One: How do we get there?

• Increase the awareness of employers, employees, GP’s, farmers and the community by holding field days.• Put safety into the “head space” of CEO’s, particularly on construction sites, by putting it into their KPI’s. • Conduct industry specific work health and safety training, also specifically for managers and supervisors. • Require mandatory annual reporting of work health and safety performance.• Harness the new laws on due diligence to increase awareness of managers and directors.• Broaden the role of the regulator to include more of a systems approach.• Get other organisations involved, eg country women's association; involve families so wife and kids can

apply safety leverage. • Educate people in being fit for work and on healthy work styles, ensure proper induction once they start.• Provide incentives on Insurance, so if you are making changes at work you can benefit.• Address the underlining issues of why we do what we do.

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Session Two: Emerging Issues in the WorkforceWhat will success look like in 10 years time?

• Better education and training for the young and the old.

• Improved induction processes. • Improved design of equipment for the

changing workforce thereby reducing injuries for the aging workforce

• Less workplace injuries, lower rates of absenteeism.

• We are aware of the big picture in demographics, including understanding our precarious position (that we live on the driest continent in the driest land and it’s getting drier, so we engage with and address issues such as sustainability).

• Gaps in fundamental skills and specific job skills are addressed for non English speaking background workers.

• Despite the ageing workforce there is enhanced skills amongst older workers.

• The challenge of outsourcing work off shore has been met with increased skills and increased vigilance in ensuring imports meet mandated safety standards.

Session Two: Emerging Issues in the Workforce How do we get there?

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• Improve consultation. • Ensure that clinical practitioners

are better educated and equipped for the job.

• Improve change management processes and organisational structures.

• Provide training to farmers and workers in plain English.

• Encourage all staff to achieve better results.

• Improve the processes for labour hire by training employers.

• Ensure that good standards of work health and safety are set as a prerequisite for starting up a business.

• Engage the community by holding field days to increase the awareness of GP’s, employers, farmers etc.

Session Two: Emerging Issues in BusinessWhat will success look like in 10 years time?

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• There is a level playing field for business with harmonised regulations applied consistently and prudently.

• Competitive tendering ensures higher levels of safety awareness.

• Profits and competitive practices are safe and meet public expectations.

• Employers have a direct relationship with their contractors rather than having the contractor in control of sub contractors.

• Procedures are streamlined, simplified, and there is less paperwork.

Session Two: Emerging Issues in BusinessHow do we get there?

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• Focus on what motivates business, then use that knowledge to reward compliance with regulations.• Create new networks.• Configure a working visa for international workers coming in from overseas.• Monitor businesses that move offshore.• Develop and improve our understanding of market forces and how businesses operate, and harness the

principles to improve work health and safety.

Session Two: Emerging Issues in TechnologyWhat will success look like in 10 years time?

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• Technology has improved workplaces.

• The managers of home based workers recognise and use technological advances to ensure that work health and safety is managed well.

• The good and bad sides of new technology, eg, remotely controlled contract drivers, are recognised and well managed.

• Technology is used appropriately, and with prudent use it enhances the hierarchy of control.

• Success is focussed on outputs.

• Email access is 24/7, and the potential for issues of fatigue to arise from that have been addressed with a good work life balance being maintained.

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Session Two: Emerging Issues in TechnologyHow do we get there?

• Develop IT applications for work health and safety professionals to get the message to Gen X and Y.

• Harness Sci-Fi innovators to improve work health and safety by 2022.

• Create a computer system that logs you out automatically when you have done more than 7.5 hours of work.

• Get the kids to teach us how to use technology.

• Visit home based employees and do work place assessments to ensure they are safe in their work place.

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Session Three: Responding to Disease-CausingHazards – What will success look like in 10 years time?

• Reduced industrial deafness and occupational infectious diseases.• All types of disease arising from all exposures are recognised and identified, such as noise, asbestos,

infectious pathogens and telecommunication devices. • Other data sources than claims are utilised, or if not available are created, which has led to more research

and introduced better control measures.

Session Three: Responding to Disease-Causing Hazards – How do we get there?

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Enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond by:• measuring the effects of disease, and ensuring the Strategy addresses new diseases • gathering statistics and evidence of injuries/disease for future planning• providing staff with appropriate PPE and safe systems of work to reduce/eliminate disease exposure • challenging assumption of disease, and planning for work health and safety in new products • educating health care professionals in work health and safety techniques, and • offering staff immunisation programs to prevent infectious disease.

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Session Three: Responding to Injury-Causing Hazards

What will success look like in 10 years time?

• We focus on reporting near misses and collate data nationally.

• The risk analysis process is simplified, thereby creating easy tools in plain English.

• Work health and safety is demystified, and practical pragmatic tools and processes are provided.

• Terminology is consistent and accessible.

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Session Three: Responding to Injury-Causing Hazards How do we get there?

Enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond by: • encouraging the use of Safe Work Australia as a knowledge repository, and using that knowledge to

improve consistency and promote harmonisation• educating managers• implementing safety systems and making sure the systems that are in place are reputable, and• simplifying the assessment process so employers and employees are more inclined to report injuries.

Session Three: Responding to Psychological Injury- Causing Hazards 5 What will success look like in 10 years?

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• Skills and competencies match jobs.• Management offers support and training,

and provides effective leadership and communication with their employees.

• Managers work under key performance indicators that stipulate the provision of a harmonious and respectful work environment.

• The way of thinking about work has changed, and the workplace is now a more social environment that enhances productivity.

• Information and data is available on psychological Injuries.

• Employers strive to identify the underlying causes of a psychological injury.

• Managers are better educated and skilled in getting psychologically injured workers back to work.

Session Three: Responding to Psychological Injury-Causing Hazards – How do we get there?

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Enhance the capacity of workplaces to respond by:• ensuring they give employees more control over their work• ensuring managers consult with workers and involve them in decision making that effects them• building relationships with workers and caring for them, especially in small businesses, and• having systems in place to assist employees/employers who are seeking counselling or assistance.

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Session Four: Safe Design & Work SystemsWhat will success look like in 10 years time?

• Products are designed that take the needs of end users into consideration.• Designers are adequately skilled. • Products are designed with safety, quality and efficiency in mind. • Designers learn from users via a feedback system. • Designers are trust-worthy and provide straightforward information and guidance about the safety features

of their designs. • Designers learn and draw on information from workers at the grass roots level to improve their designs.

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Session Four: Safe Design & Work SystemsHow do we get there?

• Introduce key performance indicators that stipulate designers provide products that meet safety and environmental regulations, as well as considering efficiency.

• Consult with workers to understand their design needs.

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Session Four: Skills & Training What will success look like in 10 years time?

• Safety is embedded in the community, schools and all education forms. • Skills and training are specific to the core needs of industry, and are industry specific. • The success of training is measured by improvements in the workplace.• Mentoring programs have been created and are utilised to enhance skills. • People have the skills to do their job properly and well, including for example, being

trained in safety legislation, consultation and hazard management.

Session Four: Skills & Training - How do we get there?

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• Source training from reputable providers, and recognise that there are methods other than class work to enhance competencies.

• Educate Gen X and Y in school and make safety a part of their curriculum.

• Recognise that training increases the value of employees to the organisation and for themselves, while assessing the effectiveness of training and the cost of ineffective training.

• Provide good training that recognises the higher costs and skills shortage in rural areas.

Session Four: Safety Leadership and Organisational Culture – What will success look like in 10 years time?

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• Australian businesses have agreed on a core set of values of how we should relate to each other, and this has been embedded into everything we do in a systematic and action based way.

• Respect is integrated as a core value within all organisations at all levels, and there is a recognition that everyone in the workplace has the capacity to engage positively and productively.

• Work health and safety is integrated into every business and not seen as an additional item.• Where needed a work health and safety provider acts as a leadership coach or a technical advisor.

Session Four: Safety Leadership & Organisational Culture 5 How do we get there?

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• Encourage people to care for each other both inside and outside of work.• Keep the workplace simple.• Recognise and respect difference in workers such as multicultural, cross-cultural, gender, age,

literacy, religion etc., and ensure that communication systems within organisations meet these needs.

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Closing Reflections from Safe Work Australia

Drew Wagner thanked Greg Tweedly, Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian WorkCover Authority, for opening the workshop; the facilitator David Caple, and all the workshop participants for their attendance and contribution. He outlined how the Bendigo workshop fits into the overall development of the new National Work Health and Safety Strategy.

Drew commented on the concerns he kept hearing over the day about ensuring our risk perception was accurate. He complimented the group on the hard work they did to identify where we might be in 10 years time, and noted that there seemed to be a real interest in making sure we get the right mix between education and regulation. At the same time he reflected on hearing about the need for integration of education and awareness raising, particularly in relation to wellbeing programs. Cultural change was raised frequently, and significantly there was a marked emphasis on how we work in Australia. Drew commented that this resonated with Safe Work Australia tri-partite members, who have also been discussing cultural and behavioral issues and potential changes.

He went on to outline the main areas Safe Work Australia needs to focus on when developing the strategy, including legislation, data, contractors, the self employed, and the health and wellbeing of workers. He suggested that we might need to use a ‘Think Tank’ approach to make forward projections of where we might be in 20 years time.

Drew urged the participants to stay engaged with the development process as the journey has only just begun. A draft strategy is hoped to be available for public comment in January-February 2012 and he urged everyone to look at it and comment on it. Safe Work Australia plans to launch the completed strategy later in 2012.

Drew closed the workshop by assuring the participants that the matters that had been chosen for exploration today were just some of the many that are under active consideration by Safe Work Australia members as they develop the new National Strategy. He stressed that Safe Work Australia welcomes participants’ ongoing engagement with the development of the new Strategy, and invited any further comments and ideas to the National Strategy post box - nationalstrategy@safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

Evaluation Outcomes

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Overall, the feedback from the National Work Health and Safety Strategy 2012-2022 workshop which was held in Bendigo on 6 September was very positive.

Both quantitative and qualitative results were collected from 21 evaluation sheets, which reported 100% satisfaction for the length of the day, the opportunity to contribute, the venue and the facilitator. The food, room set-up, and format of the day reported between 90 and 95% satisfaction each.

Some participants commented on how well designed the workshops were, and how engaged they felt in the process. Others felt that there was a need for more diverse workgroups, that the topics were a bit too broad, and they needed more time to get all of their ideas on the record in time.  There was in particular a call from the audience to see more people in small business participate in the workshops.

Some very positive comments were expressed around participants’ appreciation of the opportunity to contribute and provide feedback and input at this critical stage of developing the new Work Health and Safety Strategy. Some wanted more healthy food for morning and afternoon tea, and others commented that they thought the workshops would confirm what Safe Work Australia already knows – and that the hard part will be in making it happen.

All input has been noted and participants will be able to access the record of the day on the website.

Text in italics indicates direct quotes from responders