Safety Essentials - Spring 2010
Message from our CEO: Leading on health and safety
It was a pleasure to meet many of you at the recent Comcare National Conference. The conference was a great opportunity for us to come together and recognise some of the health programs and inspirational leadership that exist in the Comcare community. We heard from some of the world’s leading experts on workplace health and rehabilitation. These included Rhonda Galbally, Chair of the Victorian Disability Council and Avril Henry, Management Consultant, John McGrath AM, Deputy Chairman, beyondblue. Australian of the Year, Patrick McGorry, highlighted the need for early intervention to support and treat mental illness. We honoured inspirational leaders in the Comcare community—Bruce Hansen from the Department of Defence, Jo Oliver from Centrelink and Jacinta McCauley from Border Express—with awards for their commitment to the health and wellbeing of their work colleagues. We were also fortunate to hear from one of our injured workers, Martin McCabe. He spoke about the challenges he faced returning to work after a significant car accident. Martin’s story showed true determination and his story inspires us to improve our support to injured workers. In this edition of Safety Essentials we launch a new campaign, Healthy@Work Happy@Home, as part of health and safety month. On our website you will find resources and strategies you can use to take a lead role in managing the health and wellbeing of your workplace. In this edition you’ll also meet the new members of our leadership team and read some of the feedback from our recent conference. I look forward to sharing our new strategic focus with you in the coming weeks. There are exciting times ahead for the Comcare community—through collaboration and insight, we can make a difference. Paul O'Connor |
Comcare's new leadership team is ready for a stronger futureComcare has a new leadership team to support its new strategic focus and help build a stronger Comcare scheme and organisation. The new team includes Marilia Mendes, General Counsel, Gaby Medley-Brown, Chief Operating Officer, and Bruce Watson, Chief Actuary. |
Healthy@Work, Happy@Home
To highlight the important issue of health, safety and wellbeing, Comcare has launched the Healthy@Work, Happy@Home campaign. The campaign is running throughout October as part of work health and safety month. More workplaces are recognising how important of health, safety and wellbeing are to the productivity and sustainability of their organisation. The campaign website encourages agencies to use the available resources, participate in events, and profile health and wellbeing initiatives while exploring three key areas—'My work', 'My health' and 'My self'. Comcare is hosting a forum with Medibank Health Solutions and the Australian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) from 9.00 am – 1.30 pm on Tuesday 26 October as part of our Healthy@Work, Happy@Home campaign. This forum will bring together employers, healthcare professionals and other partners to build on the growing evidence that the workplace has a role in promoting health and wellbeing. Comcare employees have participated in this campaign through several activities including health assessments, seminars and walks. These activities help to build emotional resilience and prevent the health issues that can be associated with sedentary occupations. They also promote having fun and getting involved in the positive culture of the workplace. For more information check out the Healthy@Work, Happy@Home website. |
2010 Comcare National Conference wrap-up
More than 550 delegates met at the National Convention Centre in September for Comcare’s annual conference. The three-day event gave delegates the opportunity to hear from leading industry experts, as well as many personal stories of courage, challenge and change. The conference theme of improve, include and inspire workplace wellbeing was broken into sub-themes including the injured worker, social inclusion and organisational wellbeing. Several contemporary issues were examined including improving work health and safety, injury management for workers suffering a mental illness and wellbeing strategies for Australian workers. Comcare CEO, Paul O’Connor, presented on our strategic objectives and outlined Comcare’s citizen-centric approach. The conference was also designed to raise awareness and recognise the importance of organisational health and effective people management as critical success factors in managing employees with injury or illness. A number of keynote speakers addressed this issue in their presentations including Rhonda Galbally AO, Chair of the Victorian Disability Council and Management Consultant, Avril Henry. Mental illness was a major focus of the conference. Professor Patrick McGorry, 2010 Australian of the Year, presented a strong message of using early intervention, mental health first-aid and peer support to minimise the stigma associated with mental illness. Three social events ran in conjunction with the conference—the welcome drinks at Kings Hall, Old Parliament House included the debut performance of the ComChoir, the SRCC Safety Awards were held at the Great Hall in Parliament House, and the Great Safety Debate concluded the 2010 conference on an entertaining high. Delegates are now able to download presentations and images from all the networking events through the Comcare website. The 2011 Comcare National conference will be held in Melbourne on 12–14 September 2011. Details will be available early in the new year. |
2010 SRCC Safety Awards winners announced
A liquid nitrogen filling station designed and implemented by CSIRO Livestock industries won the award for Best Solution to an Identified Workplace Health and Safety Issue. Individual awards were presented to Bruce Hansen of the Department of Defence, Jo Oliver from Centrelink and Jacinta McCauley from Border Express for their excellence in contributing to the health, safety, rehabilitation and return to work of their colleagues. |
Update on the harmonisation of work health and safety laws
Currently all states and territories are responsible for developing and enforcing their own work health and safety laws. Although similar, there are many differences in the enforcement and detail of the laws for each state and territory which can be confusing for organisations operating in multiple locations across Australia. At the recent Comcare conference, Safe Work Australia provided an update on the development of the model work health and safety laws. The laws will include a model Work Health and Safety Act, regulations and codes of practice that will be adopted by all regulators across Australia. The draft regulations and codes of practice will be released in late 2010 for public comment and feedback. Commonwealth, state and territory regulators are working together to develop common approaches for implementing, managing and enforcing the new laws. This will ensure consistency across Australia and make workplace health and safety simpler for all employers and workers. Comcare’s dedicated project team, Project Harmony, is busy planning forums, workshops and seminars to educate and support our jurisdiction and internal Comcare employees. The project team is also working with 37 work health and safety regulators on harmony projects overseen by the Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities. Each project is focusing on a wide range of activities that will influence the way in which Comcare inspectors administer the new work health and safety laws. Project examples include development of: • common principles, protocols and procedures for inspection work You can find more information on the harmonisation of work health and safety laws on the Comcare website. |
Health and wellbeing snapshots
Throughout October 2010 Comcare are offering the first 30 organisations the opportunity to register for one FREE health and wellbeing snapshot session. Session 1—Influencing safety culture through leadership For more information email the Learning and Development Solutions team. |
PIEF education programs
Four programs will be delivered by Deakin University in partnership with its corporate education arm—DeakinPrime, who will manage the marketing, promotion and reporting to employers and the PIEF board. Deakin Business School will support PIEF in developing and maintaining the specialised content of units in these programs. Senior executives from PIEF member organisations also make a significant contribution to these units as guest presenters. Since March 2007 PIEF member organisations have sponsored 85 senior managers in the completing 648 postgraduate units. |
Publications update
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The 2010 SRCC Safety Award winners were announced on Thursday 23 September at a gala dinner event in the Great Hall, Parliament House.
All work health and safety regulators have started preparing for the new harmonised work health and safety laws which come into effect on 1 January 2012. Moving towards harmonised work health and safety laws aims to deliver the same work health and safety protection for all Australians. 
Comcare recently launched health and wellbeing snapshot sessions. Each session is tailored to specific areas of injury prevention and management and provides practical steps and intervention strategies. 
The Personal Injury Education Foundation (PIEF) has engaged Deakin University to develop a suite of unique postgraduate programs. These programs are being developed to address a growing need for better education in the insurance industry for employees at a range of levels.