C9 Workplace health and safety

The Directorate is dedicated to improving workplace health and safety across schools and the central office. The Workplace Health and Safety and Injury Management Improvement Strategy 2009-2012 (the Strategy) provides a planned, documented and quantifiable approach for injury prevention and management. The Strategy was a requirement under the ACTPS Workplace Health Strategic Plan 2008-2012 and was due to be reviewed. The review was in line with the implementation on 1 January 2012 of the ACT Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and the new one service approach to injury prevention and management implemented on 10 April 2012. The review of the strategy was anticipated for completion in August 2012. The Strategy will continue to provide the basis for improved injury prevention and early intervention performance against the new Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set out in the ACTPS Worker's Compensation and Work Saftey Improvement Plan (the Plan).

The Plan is designed as a holistic approach to improving the health and return to work outcomes of ACTPS injured workers. The Plan outlines a one service approach with the co-location of injury management services for whole of government and joint responsibilities for the Directorate and Shared Services in improving outcomes against KPIs. These KPIs will form the basis of reporting for the 2012-13 reporting period.

The Implementation of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 on 1 January 2012 and the associated changes to regulations and codes of practice led to a comprehensive review of the Directorate's safety management system and workplace health and safety policy and procedures. New initiatives were developed including site based risk registers to support the role of 'Officer' with their due diligence obligation and to assist the Directorate in achieving legislative compliance.

Investigations

The Directorate works in close partnership with WorkSafe ACT in responding immediately to any issue relating to safety on our sites. In the reporting period, the Directorate had three Prohibition Notices (P643, P644 and P646). These notices were issued in relation to non-compliance under the Work Safety Act 2008 for asbestos related risks. Notices P643 and P644 were issued in October 2011 and related to an asbestos risk in a transportable building at Jervis Bay School. P643 was issued on Monday 17 October 2011 and resolved immediately. On 27 October 2011, a further notice was issued on the transportable building, the Directorate isolated the building immediately. The owner of the structure (the Australian Government) removed the structure in April 2012. Notice P646 was issued on 4 November 2011 in relation to asbestos management processes undertaken during maintenance works. This notice was withdrawn after further consultation evidenced an appropriate system for the management of this risk.

The Directorate had one Improvement Notice (AD11/001) issued on 20 September 2011 in relation to bullying and harassment. This notice was incorrectly issued and was withdrawn.

A total of 484 staff Accident/Incident Reports were received during 2011-12, a decrease from the previous year's figure of 533. There were 11 staff notifiable incidents reported under section 38 of the ACT Work Safety Act 2008 and one under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011.

The Directorate received 964 student Accident/Incident Reports and 31 third party Accident/Incident Reports. This was an increase from the previous reporting period, which recorded a figure of 986 (this number is inclusive of both student and third party reports). All student and third party reports are notifiable under section 38 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and were reported to WorkSafe ACT.

Worker consultation arrangements and health and safety representatives

As required under the ACT Work Health and Safety Act 2011, the Directorate consulted with employees regarding Worker Consultation Units. A total of 85 Worker Consultation Units were formed during 2011-12. The Directorate had 88 health and safety representatives and 54 deputy health and safety representatives undertaking their responsibilities. To support the health and safety representatives, training was delivered to over 66 newly elected health and safety representatives in March and May 2012. Quarterly network meetings for representatives were conducted in August and November 2011 and March and June 2012. These contact points ensured up-to-date health and safety information was disseminated throughout the Directorate.

Injury Prevention and Management Policy Committee

The Injury Prevention and Management Policy Committee is the key consultative committee for the Directorate's workplace health and safety matters. The Committee has overseen the development of new and existing health and safety initiatives such as:

• Safety and Wellbeing Core Principle Commitment Statement
• risk register development
• bin lifter project
• contractor arrangements review
• Building Service Officer (BSO) duties risk register and standard operating procedures
• manual handling project in specialist schools
• Workplace Health and Safety Training Calendar
• Workplace Health and Safety Reference Manual
• policy and procedure review.

Injury prevention and management programs

In 2011-12, a range of programs were implemented throughout the Directorate to ensure the safety and welfare of staff including:

• ongoing implementation of the Strategy
• transition to the new 'one service' approach to injury management outlined in the Plan
• development of the Directorate's Workplace Health and Safety Reference Manual and ongoing Index review to improve access to workplace health and safety information
• participation in the Shared Services Health and Safety Manual Handling Project which delivered targeted training to specialist schools in manual handling, risk assessment and procedures
• continuation of the Employee Assistance Program which is an independent, confidential, short term, solutions-focused counselling service for staff and their immediate families. The service offers counselling assistance for both work and non-work related matters. The average utilisation rate during 2011-12 was 6.74 percent. This has decreased from the 2010-11 period (7.85 percent). This utilisation rate included staff attendance at Employee Assist and Trauma Assist services
• delivery of the Flu vaccinations program to over 2,424 employees and HEP A/B to over 32 targeted employee groups including BSOs, First Aid officers, early childhood staff and learning support assistants
• ongoing Respectful Workplaces training to assist in the management and reduction of the risk of psychological injury for employees. Training commenced in March 2012 and was delivered to over 400 staff in leadership positions and various employee groups, including business managers and BSOs
• development of the BSOs Duties Risk Register and Standard Operating Procedures to assist them in managing risks associated with daily tasks
• Site Specific Risk Register development to raise awareness of local risk and assist with the application of appropriate management controls.

Box C9.1: Melrose High School - a MindMatters school

Injury prevention and management targets

The Directorate worked towards improving workplace health and safety performance through the:

• completion of stage 2 action outlined in the Strategy
• review of the Strategy in line with the Work Health and  Safety Act 2011 and the KPIs outlined in the Plan
• transition to the new one service approach to the provision of injury management services.

The Directorate has continued to address and maintain the timeliness of reporting. These include appropriate referrals to return to work coordinators, Preferred Provider Panel and the Redeployment Network Panel.

The 2011-12 insurance premium rate for the Directorate was 2.79 percent. This was a slight deterioration compared with the 2010-11 result (2.75 percent) but compares favourably with the whole of government result of a 13.4 percent increase for the same period. There was a decrease in the number of claims reported with 123 claims accepted for compensation. The early intervention focus adopted by the Directorate saw a sustained improvement in meeting the performance for targets on the number of workplace injuries reaching five days incapacity and average time lost (average number of weeks off for workers' compensation per 1,000 employees). The Directorate is required to report on its performance against these national improvement targets, which also form part of the ACT Public Service Workplace Health Strategic Plan 2008-2012.

Target 1: Reduce the number of claims reaching five days incapacity by 40 percent over the period 2002 to 2012

Table C9.1: The number of new claims reaching five days incapacity and rate per 1,000 employees, 2001-02 to 2011-12

Source: Human Resources Branch

Target 2: Eliminate all fatalities due to workplace injuries by 2012
No fatalities occurred due to workplace injuries during the reporting period.

Target 3: Reduce the average lost time rate by 40 percent over the period 2002 to 2012

Table C9.2: The number of weeks of incapacity and rate per 1,000 employees, 2001-02 to 2011-12

Source: Human Resources Branch

For more information contact:
Director
Human Resources
(02) 6205 9202