Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities Annual Report 2011-12
Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, 2012
ISSN 1441-9335
Appendices
Appendix 2—Occupational health and safety
Work health and safety
The department is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all its employees, contractors, third parties and visitors, in accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 1991 (OHS Act) and Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).
The department's Health and Safety Management Arrangements (HSMA) set out how the department should meet its commitment under the OHS Act. On 1 January 2012 the HSMA was replaced with policies and procedures to support the person conducting the business or undertaking, officers, workers, health and safety representatives and managers to comply with the WHS Act.
All employees are encouraged to report hazards and incidents in the workplace. Paper- based reporting has been replaced with online reporting via the department’s HR system. The department reports on hazard and incident data to senior management forums and to the health and safety committees.
Where incidents do occur, the department assists ill and injured employees to return to work in a safe work environment. This is in accordance with the department's fitness for duty and rehabilitation policy and guidelines.
Health and safety initiatives
The focus for 2011–12 was to ensure legislative compliance and to promote a safe and healthy workforce.
The department was involved in:
- implementation of the WHS Act through a project plan, reported to a range of forums
- developing and reviewing internal policies and procedures to ensure they are up to date and address any new or emerging hazards
- establishing policy and guidelines on the management of workplace aggression
- supporting members of health and safety committees at all levels in their role
- funding influenza vaccinations and health assessments for employees
- conducting the 10000 step challenge and the centenary walk across Antarctica to encourage greater physical activity
- providing skin cancer awareness seminars
- promoting the use of the Employee Assistance Program, a counselling service for employees and their immediate families provided at no cost to employees
- using the panel of external providers to conduct workstation assessments and/or lighting assessments for employees experiencing discomfort
- supporting ill or injured employees and their managers when a work or non-work-related injury or disease has affected a staff member's attendance at work or ability to perform in the workplace
- supporting health and safety representatives and first aid officers in their role through regular meetings
- supporting initiatives to improve health and wellbeing including access to gyms, yoga, carpool and ride to work programs
- providing online learning on the WHS Act
- implementing a new hazard and incident reporting system using the department's HR system
- improving the presence of WHS on the department’s intranet in accordance with the 2010–11 internal audit findings.
Workers compensation premium
In 2011–12 the workers compensation premium rate for the department was 1.61 per cent. This was due to:
- a revision of the 2010–11 premium from 1.73 to 1.52 per cent reflecting the development of claims for injuries suffered in 2007, 2008 and 2009
- the early development of 2010 claims indicating a higher estimated lifetime cost for injuries suffered in 2010 compared to 2009
- trends within other agencies
- the total amount that Comcare needs to collect from all agencies combined.
The department has reviewed its cases in 2011–12 ensuring active intervention in longer term cases and taking early action to reduce the number and cost of claims received during the year. The department has worked closely with Comcare to proactively manage those cases.
Notifiable incidents
Under section 68 of the OHS Act, certain incidents are notifiable to Comcare within specific time frames. The following table details the incidents that were notified in 2011–12.
| Notice type | Canberra workplaces | Parks Australia | Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) | Supervising Scientist Division (SSD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Serious personal injury | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Dangerous occurrence | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Incapacity longer than 30 working days/shifts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Under Part 3 of the WHS Act effective 1 January 2012, certain incidents are notifiable to Comcare. The following table details the incidents notified in 2011–12.
| Notice type | Canberra workplaces | Parks Australia | Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) | Supervising Scientist Division (SSD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Death | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Serious injury or illness | 1 | 4 | 3 | 0 |
| Dangerous incident | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
Details of notices
There were no provisional improvement notices issued under section 29 of the OHS Act. There were no notices issued under section 46 of the OHS Act. There were no notices issued under section 47 of the OHS Act.
There were no provisional improvement notices issued under part 5, division 7, section 90 of the WHS Act. There were no notices issued under part 10, division 1, 2 or 3 of the WHS Act.
Investigations conducted by Comcare
Comcare investigators followed up issues with multiple site visits, requests for additional information and reports at the Australian Antarctic Division Kingston depot, Tasmania, following an audit conducted at the same facility in 2009–10.
Comcare is working with Parks Australia on a consultative compliance program to improve health and safety within the Parks environment.
