Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities

Appendix 2: Work health and safety

Information in this appendix is provided in accordance with Schedule 2, Part 4 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).

Health and safety management arrangements

During 2012–13 the department actively pursued its commitment to providing a safe and healthy workplace for all of its workers in accordance with its obligations under the WHS Act.

The department’s health and safety management arrangements outline the responsibilities of management, supervisors, employees and their representatives and provide the structural framework within which work health and safety is managed.

The departmental Health and Safety Committee met quarterly and represented the interests of all workers.

Subordinate work health and safety committees operated in Canberra and a number of other locations. The committees facilitated cooperation on WHS matters between management and workers and took an active role in the dissemination of health, safety and welfare information.

Comcare audit of the department’s safety management system

In April 2013 Comcare conducted an audit of the department’s safety management system. Using the findings of the audit report as a basis for improvement, the department is focused on revising and implementing the safety-related policies and procedures necessary to support its health and safety management arrangements.

Incident reporting

All employees are obliged to report hazards and incidents in the workplace. Paper-based reporting has been replaced with online reporting in SAP. Hazard and incident data is provided to senior management forums and to health and safety committees as a standing agenda item for their consideration.

Return to work program

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 2012–13 was to ensure legislative compliance and to promote a safe and healthy workforce. The department was involved in:

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  implementing the WHS Act through a project plan, reported to a range of forums
  
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  developing and reviewing internal policies and procedures to ensure that they are up to date and address any new or emerging hazards
  
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  supporting members of health and safety committees at all levels in their role
  
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  funding influenza vaccinations for employees
  
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  promoting the use of the Employee Assistance Program—a counselling service for employees and their immediate families provided at no cost to employees
  
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  using a panel of external providers to conduct workstation assessments for employees experiencing discomfort
  
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  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 their ability to perform in the workplace
  
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  supporting health and safety representatives and first aid officers through regular meetings
  
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  providing online instruction to staff about their obligations under the WHS Act
  
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  providing training and information necessary to properly accredit health and safety representatives under the new legislative regime.
  

Workers compensation premium

In 2012–13 the workers compensation premium rate for the department increased to 1.97 per cent. This was due to:

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  a revision of the 2011–12 premium from 1.63 to 1.47 per cent, reflecting the development of claims for injuries suffered in 2008, 2009 and 2010
  
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  an increase in the number of claims for injuries in 2012–13 compared to the 2011–12 reporting period
  
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  the early development of 2011 claims, indicating a higher estimated lifetime cost for injuries suffered in 2011 compared to 2010 trends within other agencies
  
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  an increase in the total workers compensation premium amount that Comcare needed to collect from all Commonwealth agencies.
  

To address this increase, a review of 2011–12 cases was conducted to ensure active intervention in longer-term cases and early action to reduce the number and cost of claims received during the year. In addition, the department is liaising closely with Comcare to proactively manage those cases.

Notifiable incidents

Under Schedule 1, Part 3 of the WHS Act, certain incidents must be notified to Comcare within specific time frames. The following table details the incidents that were notified in 2012–13.

Table 4: Incidents notified in 2012–13

Type of incident	Canberra workplaces	Parks Australia	Supervising Scientist Division	Australian Antarctic Division
Death of a person (WHS Act section 35(a))	–	1	–	–
Serious illness or injury (WHS Act section 36)	–	4	–	1
A dangerous incident (WHS Act section 37)	–	3	1	2

Details of notices

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.