2021 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards
Andrew Klein – Master of Ceremonies:
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 2021 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards. I’ll pause for you to applaud; I’ll just assume you are.
Good afternoon. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Andrew Klein. It is genuinely my pleasure to be your MC for the presentation of the 2021 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards. Before we begin, on behalf of Comcare, I would like to acknowledge the lands on which we are all virtually meeting, and the Traditional Custodians of those lands and their elders past, present and emerging.
Now, as some of you may well be aware, these awards, in a normal world, are normally presented in conjunction with the Comcare National Conference. However, in light of the recent events, and the postponement of the conference, Comcare made the decision to meet virtually today. And we genuinely thank you for joining us, wherever you may be: at home, online, in your homes, in your offices, in your gardens, wherever you are.
During the presentation, be sure to use the online tools on the right side of your screen to leave your congratulatory messages to the finalists and winners. We would love you to engage with them. There is also a live support and help section at the top (points left) right-hand corner – (points right) or is it there? I can never tell – of the screen, if you require it.
This afternoon, we’ll be presenting awards across four different categories, but, before we commence with the presentation of the awards, I’d first like to formally introduce Comcare’s Chief Executive Officer, Sue Weston, to officially welcome you. Please put your hands together for Sue.
Sue Weston – Chief Executive Officer, Comcare:
Thank you, Andrew. Welcome to the 2021 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards. I too would like to begin by acknowledging the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we are all virtually meeting, and pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
Thank you for joining us online today. We had planned to celebrate the awards as part of the Comcare National Conference. However, with our decision to postpone the conference until next year, and with the travel situation across Australia still remaining unpredictable, we had to come up with a way to celebrate the incredible achievements of our award finalists. Although we’re presenting the awards virtually today, we still plan to recognise all the award winners in person at the 2022 Comcare National Conference.
It’s important that we celebrate and reward leadership and innovation across our scheme. Achievements like the ones we’re showcasing today can inspire others to prevent and reduce injury and harm in the workplace. The awards also highlight the diversity of the Comcare scheme, that covers some 400,000 workers and 200 employers across a very broad range of occupational types and skill profiles. The award committee’s chair will discuss this diversity in more detail shortly.
The award categories reflect work to prevent and minimise harm, and return employees to work and good health, with categories covering prevention, early intervention, recovery and return to work, and of course individuals’ contribution. Responses to the COVID-19 pandemic were understandably a feature of this year’s nominations and finalists.
These included the Australian Tax Office’s effort to keep their staff safe through initiatives such as an in-house track and trace function to manage COVID-19 risks, and providing enhanced mental health supports; the Department of Health’s initiatives to ensure home-based work was performed safely; and the newly formed Department of Education, Skills and Employment’s internal program to engage staff in an ongoing dialogue about their mental health and wellbeing, to prevent harm.
One of this year’s finalists is the ABC, for developing an innovative toolkit to help its staff manage risks and hazards in their field work. This wasn’t an easy task, particularly when you consider that journalists and content makers sometimes face unknown hazards and unexpectedly changing environments, as well as the obvious time pressures. The SCAN4SAFETY toolkit uses strategies including online and mobile-friendly training aids to prevent physical and psychosocial harms in the broadcast media workplace settings.
The Department of Defence’s Science and Technology Group has delivered significant improvements to its systems for the dangerous but necessary work to extract explosive material from ordnance. Through automating many of these hazardous processes, Defence has been able to minimise the use of personnel in the operational environment, and in doing so reduce many of the risks involved in this critical work.
Australia Post’s WorkReady early intervention program has been recognised this year. In particular, the organisation has made significant efforts to promote recovery at work, through raising awareness amongst medical practitioners about suitable duties across different injury types. More than 2000 employees were able to recover at work last year without any time away from the workplace.
These are just some of the initiatives that demonstrate the opportunity exists to make significant improvements in enabling safe and healthy work across our scheme.
Thank you to everyone who nominated, and congratulations to the finalists. The entries show a great commitment, at both the organisational and individual levels. I hope you enjoy the presentation.
Andrew Klein:
And thank you very much, Sue, for that warm welcome. Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to introduce Natalie Bekis, general manager of strategic partnerships and engagement at Comcare, and the chair of this year’s award steering committee. Natalie will provide an insight into the quality of this year’s submissions, before we kick off the award presentation. Please welcome Natalie.
Natalie Bekis – General Manager, Strategic Partnerships and Engagement, Comcare, Chair of the Award Steering Committee:
Thank you, Andrew, and good afternoon, everyone. These prestigious awards recognise and reward excellence in workplace health and safety, recovery at and return to work, achieved by employers and individuals operating across Comcare’s scheme. I would like to thank everyone who submitted a nomination. We greatly appreciate your time and effort in completing the nomination process, and for your continued work in your organisations to achieve healthy and safe environments.
We look forward to showcasing the finalist and winners not only today, but across Comcare’s communication channels in the future. Sue mentioned the diversity across the Comcare scheme, and that is evident amongst the finalist, with entries from organisations including the Department of Defence; the Australian Taxation Office; Australia Post; the ABC; the Department of Education, Skills and Employment; the Department of Health; the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation.
It’s also good to see some providers as finalists, including ACT Government’s claims management provider, EML, as well as companies that deliver rehabilitation management services in the scheme, in APM WorkCare, Hearing Australia, and Rehab Management. The finalists all highlight outstanding success in creating a safer workplace together, under the Comcare National Conference theme, which will continue as the theme for the rescheduled conference in 2022. We will be announcing a date for the conference in the coming months.
The award finalists reflect activities above and beyond in the criteria of collaboration with employees, management and other relevant stakeholders; innovation; and setting a new standard for best practice, that can be implemented across other organisations or industries.
I would personally like to thank all members of the four award category judging panels, who had the difficult task of short-listing the nominations down to the 15 finalists. Many hours were spent interviewing nominees before recommendations on the winners and other award places were presented to the award steering committee. The panel consisted of Comcare executive; Comcare subject matter experts; and external representatives from the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission, and other government agencies. Their time and expertise during the award process is greatly appreciated.
It is great to see such innovation and positive initiatives across the scheme, particularly during these unprecedented times. I encourage you and your organisation to submit nominations in the future awards. We could be celebrating you at the next presentation. Thank you again for joining us today, and without further ado, let’s go back to the MC, who will get the award presentation under way.
Andrew Klein:
And thank you very much, Natalie. Now for the most anticipated part of today’s presentation: the awards. Let’s get started with the formalities and the first presentation of the Prevention Award.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Prevention Award recognises work undertaken to ensure workplaces provide a healthy and safe environment for employees by addressing the physical and/or psychosocial risk factors to prevent an incident from occurring.
Now, the finalists in this category have been recognised for their demonstrated collaboration with employees, with management, and other relevant stakeholders in setting a new best practice standard in prevention and for their innovative approach to developing, implementing and promoting the prevention of physical harm, psychological injury, and/or psychosocial hazards.
Now, in 2021, we actually have six award finalists in this category, and the nominees are:
Department of Health, with their entry entitled Virtual Workstation Assessments.
At the commencement of the COVID-19 outbreak, the Department of Health faced significant change, when all their employees were directed to work from home. Now, when it was realised that not all employees had a dedicated work space, or equipment available to work safely, the virtual workstation assessment was introduced. The assessment involves employees taking selfies at their workstation, capturing arm, wrist, feet and leg placement.
The pictures are then assessed, via text, by an occupational therapist, who provides endorsement for the setup or suggestions, including adjustments using objects that could be reasonably found in homes. A dedicated intranet site relating to COVID-19 was also created, providing regular updates and guidance materials, senior executive messaging, and a suite of videos to assist employees to set up a safe workplace remotely.
The first video introduced the concept of working safely at a dining table, kitchen bench, or a sit-stand workstation (the ironing board). Since implementation, no incidents or hazards have been reported from employees working remotely, and the program has received positive feedback from staff due to its simplicity in navigation, timeliness, and ability to be accessed safely from home during the pandemic.
Department of Defence, with their entry entitled Advanced Ordnance Technologies.
The Advanced Ordnance Technologies, or AOT, process includes the demilitarisation of explosive ordnance across the conventional ordnance spectrum, to ensure the safety of Defence personnel. An element of this process is the safe removal of explosive material from an ordnance component, such as a warhead, while preserving the rest of the ordnance for research applications, conventionally achieved through manual application of high-pressure water and/or steam to extract the explosive hazard.
This exceedingly labour-intensive manual process posed several risks to an onsite team, including fatigue, heat stress, exposure to hazardous energetic materials, and high-pressure fluid systems. This process was usually conducted by a large team at a remote open-air site, involving extensive personal protective equipment, decontamination processing, and an onsite medical team.
Through a critical engineering multi-stage design process, AOT committed to significantly automating the hazardous removal process, eliminating personnel from the operation environment as much as possible. The new technology developed allows operators to control, monitor and execute commands through a graphical user interface, within the safety of a remote control hut. The innovative robotic system uses imported high-fidelity computer-aided design models to manage the environment, including the water pressure.
The solution is a world-leading technological capability in the field of explosive ordnance extraction. It’s significantly reduced workplace hazards, while extending the working lives of long-term employees with considerable corporate knowledge and experience.
Department of Education, Skills and Employment, with their entry entitled Empowering Our People to Prevent Harm During COVID-19.
The Department of Education, Skills and Employment took a lead role in the Government’s response to COVID-19, working collaboratively to support Australians in their time of need, and, as a newly formed department, they needed to proactively prevent their employees from associated psychosocial risk factors. The Courage, Connect, Care internal campaign was designed in collaboration with senior management, and implemented as a creative method of engaging staff in ongoing dialogue about their mental health and wellbeing.
Courage reminds staff to recognise, fear, uncertainty and anxiety are natural responses, and there are practical things we can do to build resilience. Connect prompts staff to connect with colleagues, family and friends during times of isolation, and to find new ways of communicating. And Care reminds staff to reflect, maintain perspective, and care: care for yourself, and to care for and be supportive of others.
The campaign included virtual meetings, emails, videos, mobile text alerts, cascaded communication approaches, office signage, and intranet communication, to ensure a truly integrated approach. The campaign kept staff connected when working from home and remotely from their teams, with more than 90% of staff confirming their satisfaction through regular pulse surveys.
Australian Taxation Office, with their entry COVID-19 – ATO’s Response to Ensuring a Safer Workplace.
As a large and diverse agency, faced with the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the ATO had to act quickly when safely transitioning staff to work from home in just three weeks. There was an immediate need to scale up IT systems, strengthen manager and staff capability in working virtually, and build flexibility to cater for local government restrictions for those continuing to operate in the office.
A COVID response committee and working group, consisting of senior leadership, WHS staff, property services and communications, was established to ensure a rapid, comprehensive and coordinated response. A number of creative strategies, digital solutions, new delivery platforms and re-engineered traditional delivery methods were rolled out, including an in-house digital COVID-19 track and trace function; the Keeping Connected morale-boosting communication campaign; a series of education and support webinars; streamlined virtual onboarding and induction; ATO’s site transition plans; and access to external mental health specialists, through a dedicated support portal.
The ATO had 14,500 staff working safely and productively from home, with fewer work-related incidents reported. A total of 3470 COVID-19 notifications were proactively managed, and higher than ever staff engagement was achieved.
Department of Defence, with their entry entitled Amphibious Combat and Sealift Systems Program Office.
The Navy’s LHD Landing Craft, or LLC, had an infamous reputation for creating excess exhaust when the main engines were started. Routine exposure to this hazard has prompted the release of numerous safety incident reports, highlighting the hazard and the effect on the dive air supporting compressors.
This hazard has also been the subject of public complaints in Sydney Harbour, impacting the Navy’s reputation as a responsible maritime user. The program office commenced wide consultation with key stakeholders in order to resolve this issue and implement a solution. The trial was carried out with industry support to assess the effectiveness of pre-heaters.
This approach was innovative. It targeted and identified a need to reduce diesel fume emissions, with the intent to deliver a measurable outcome and reduce diesel emissions, including a significant reduction in visual pollution. The trial was completed in two phases, and the results showed the volume of exhaust on startup was reduced by up to 60%, and the time to reach normal operating temperatures significantly reduced. After the trial was completed, this initiative set a new standard for best practice to prevent exposure of personnel to diesel exhaust.
ABC, with their entry titled SCAN4SAFETY Situational Awareness Tool.
ABC’s activities take staff across Australia and throughout the world to unique situations, sometimes with unknown hazards and an often changing environment. An analysis of the ABC’s incident statistics showed the organisation’s field work was not conducive to document-reliant approaches to risk assessment.
A significant proportion of worker injuries were caused by site-specific hazards, situations that could not be specifically identified before arrival, and time pressures inherent in the nature of the work. Workers needed to take stock of their situation upon arrival on site, and identify and recognise potential hazards.
The ABC’s approach needed to be fast, palatable and effective, where a habit or routine could be integrated into existing processes that did not require a physical checklist. The ABC WHS team consulted widely with workers, WHS committees and management to develop a suitable approach: the mnemonic SCAN4SAFETY. The toolkit was developed to support manager toolbox talks, comprising of a short video, manager prompts, and worker aids, such as vehicle stickers and flash cards.
Developed entirely in-house, the toolkit has since been rolled out across 59 locations in Australia and 11 overseas, with a very positive initial response and uptake of the program.
I am excited to announce that in 2021, we actually have two winners of the Prevention Award, and they are:
Defence Science and Technology Group, with their entry Advanced Ordnance Technologies; and
Australian Tax Office, with their entry COVID-19 – ATO’s Response to Ensuring a Safer Workplace.
Congratulations to both organisations. Let’s first hear from the Defence Science and Technology Group.
Shane Dew – Leader Advanced Ordnance Technologies, Defence Science and Technology Group:
Thank you for the award and the recognition in the prevention category. I would like to thank the team members that have developed this capability and processed it through to operational completion this year. The team undertook heavy and arduous work, in full protective clothing, in a remote location, under extreme temperatures and conditions. This has resulted in the development of this AOT capability that has taken that process from 16 hours down to less than eight hours, and now has removed all personnel from the hazardous and arduous work.
This capability has now seen an efficiency of 400% in processing time. This has seen the advancement in technological areas that could actually assist in other hazardous area environments, such as the fuel and mining industry.
Once again, I would like to say thank you to Comcare for this award.
Andrew Klein:
Congratulations again to Defence. And now let’s hear from our joint winner, the Australian Taxation Office.
Brad Chapman – Deputy Commissioner ATO People, Australian Taxation Office:
Thanks so much for honouring us with this important award. It’s hard to imagine that it was over a year ago now that we issued that first staff communiqué outlining to our people the steps we were taking to ensure that they had a safe and healthy work environment in which to work. And that’s been critical to ensuring that they, too, are then positioned to support the community in this time of particular crisis. We are truly humbled to see the lengths that different organisations went to, and the fact that we’ve been recognised as the winner of this category.
Janine Bristow – Chief Financial Officer, Australian Taxation Office:
This award goes to all of the people behind the scenes who help keep staff safe, informed and connected through all of this, so the ATO could deliver on our core business of supporting the community. They truly showed our cultural traits in action, united and connected, to work as one team, to deliver the right outcomes for our people and community. On behalf of the team, I thank you again for this great recognition.
Andrew Klein:
Thank you, ATO.
Comcare would also like to award commendations to the ABC and the Department of Education, Skills and Employment, and would like to congratulate the Department of Defence and the Department of Health on being finalists in this category.
Let’s continue now to our next award presentation for the Early Intervention Award. This award recognises the work undertaken to proactively support employees following an incident, in order to manage and prevent further harm.
Now, the finalists in this category have been recognised in their demonstrated collaboration with employees, management and other relevant stakeholders to develop, implement and promote early intervention initiatives, and for identifying target needs and delivering measurable outcomes.
The nominations set a new standard for best practice, and provide shared learning opportunities across the industry.
Now, this year, there are three finalists in this category, and those nominees are:
Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, with their entry entitled SuperYou.
In 2018, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation’s EAP statistics showed a higher usage rate, and that their annual health assessment results showed that staff were suffering from generally poor health overall, with a high mental health risk, due largely to increased volumes of work and exposure to distressing content. In response to the findings, CSC implemented their SuperYou program, designed to provide a safe and healthy workplace and global best practice health initiatives.
SuperYou focuses on the individual, with five pillars that impact the person: physical, occupational, emotional, social and intellectual. SuperYou provides access to support and training programs designed to identify risks, with a focus on prevention, healthy workplace culture, and reducing stigma around physical and psychological injury and illness. SuperYou also focuses on maintaining excellent customer service, to demonstrate a direct link between healthy staff and value for CSC members.
Staff have access to sessions with psychologists and a dedicated peer support officer networking group. The online program is available 24/7, which has supported the transition to a virtual workspace due to COVID-19. The program also received three national AIA Vitality awards throughout its first year.
Australia Post, with their entry entitled Early Intervention – Injury Management.
Australia Post has seen a significant shift in physical work requirements as the business has evolved from letters to parcels, and transitioned to using electric delivery vehicles and processing machinery and equipment. Now, after introducing a new medical services provider to support its early intervention program, Australia Post was challenged with ensuring medical service providers understood the evolving specific work employees performed, and the suitable duties available to facilitate recovery at and return to work.
A series of 16 short videos were developed to promote doctors’ awareness of the typical physical demands of tasks and the range of suitable duties available across all job roles. This enabled doctors to make informed decisions on capacity for work.
These videos are accessible through an online platform, enabling access regardless of location or time. Consultation and collaboratin was undertaken with HSRs, unions, WHS officers, and operational teams during the development process, as well as workplace rehabilitation providers, injured employees, facility managers, and injury management team members. Results have seen 85% of injured employees recovering at work without time away from the workplace.
Rehab Management, with their entry titled CheckInToday.
With mental health issues increasing globally, Rehab Management were concerned that even the most resilient individuals were being impacted by heightened stress and anxiety and increased workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Rehab Management introduced the digital CheckInToday screening process as a standard component of an initial needs assessment for all APS employees.
The program uses positive psychological principles, and has a holistic approach to both physical and mental injury claims. The participant completes a digital wellbeing screen. Results are then triaged, and a tailored wellness coaching program is developed. And unlike many other screening tools, there is no diagnostic cut off. The tool also helps someone with an existing psychological injury to identify and address additional barriers, and significantly increases the likelihood of a safe, sustainable return to work.
The tool improves mental health outcomes and psychosocial issues, including isolation and uncertainty, through linking workers with community resources. It also promotes health benefits of work and social connectedness, and the health coaching function assists with exercise and with diet. After completing the early intervention program, 100% of employees showed improvements based on their updated wellbeing score.
And the winner of the Early Intervention Award is Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation, with their entry SuperYou. Congratulations to CSC. Let’s hear from them now.
Catharine Armitage – Head of People, Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation:
Thank you. On behalf of CSC, I am delighted that Comcare has selected us as the recipient of the Early Intervention Award. Health and wellbeing is something that we want included in everything we do at CSC. It’s not a standalone initiative. Our SuperYou program was designed with staff and how best to provide a safe and healthy workplace. A great place to work is a healthy place to work, and our program focuses on the five key pillars that impact an individual’s health: physical, occupational, emotional, social and intellectual.
We’ve been really pleased to see the benefits that the SuperYou program is providing for our staff, so that they can continue to deliver for our customers.
And once again, we’d like to thank Comcare for their recognition on this very important initiative. Personally I would like to thank my very hardworking and diligent work health and safety team, headed up by Belinda Wells. I also acknowledge the work that the health and safety committee has undertaken this year, and thank you to our CSC staff, management and board for their support of the SuperYou program.
Andrew Klein:
Great effort, CSC. Congratulations once again. Now, Comcare would also like to award a high commendation to both Rehab Management and Australia Post for their entries. So congratulations to you both.
Now, ladies and gentlemen, it is time to present the award for Recovery at and Return to Work. This award recognises excellence in recovery at and return to work programs and systems for ill or injured employees.
The finalists in this category have been recognised for their demonstrated collaboration with employees, with management and other relevant stakeholders in order to develop, implement and promote recovery at and return to work, and for setting new standards for best practice which other organisations and industries can demonstrably learn from.
In 2021, there are three award finalists in this category. And those nominees are:
Hearing Australia, with their entry entitled Nadja Popadic. Nadja Popadic is a work health and safety advisor, who has significantly improved Hearing Australia’s return to work outcomes and claims performance, using best practice and holistic injury management. Nadja inherited several longstanding and complex worker’s compensation claims, and in a short time coordinated the successful return to work or redeployment of five of those claims, with three returning to pre-injury duties within twelve weeks.
Nadja immediately establishes rapport with her clients; coordinates injury management, workplace assessments; and collaborates with Comcare, with GPs and occupational physicians to identify immediate barriers to return to work. Nadja also proactively looks at work practice modifications, including ergonomic equipment; and mediation to ensure her claimants reach resolve.
Nadja has gone on to develop guidance materials on managing claims, formalising a best practice approach across Hearing Australia, leading to her being nominated for Best New Employee Award in 2018.
Employers Mutual Limited, with their entry entitled ACTG and EML Claims Model.
In 2019, Employers Mutual Limited partnered with the ACT Government to support their self-insurance program, tailoring a claims model for their 25,000 employees. EML engaged key stakeholders including employees, employers, injured workers and union groups, to adapt claims processes and to ensure that every worker was contacted and supported through the move to EML, as well as providing an opportunity for sharing feedback.
The EML and ACTG case managers work in a partnership approach to create the best experience for the injured worker, including a joint training calendar, and regularly connect as a team, with a focus to deliver fast, fair and effective decisions.
A key feature of EML’s early intervention approach is the preliminary treatment program, which enables fast early access to treatment, reduced waiting times on initial claim decision, aimed to best support the recovery journey.
EML and ACTG have had a successful first year of partnership, with a significant increase in sustainable return to work outcomes.
Australia Post, with their entry entitled Early Matched Care at Australia Post.
Australia Post’s examination of rehabilitation cases with long recovery duration revealed an emerging trend of injured workers developing secondary psychosocial risk factors. As a result, the Early Matched Care program was established to provide a range of dedicated support services in the first weeks of an injury, prior to escalation into a prolonged absence from work.
The program is an evidence-based model of intervention, which involved a twelve-month controlled trial of early identification and intervention for injured workers, in consultation with the University of Sydney. Each participant was screened using the Örebro musculoskeletal pain screening questionnaire, and workers were offered up to six sessions with an EAP practitioner.
Additional services were allocated, based on the individual’s need, to support recovery, including mediation, work conditioning programs, dietetics, and home help services. Participants in the intervention group returned to pre-injury hours 51 days quicker than average.
The program promotes the health benefits of work, and the ability to provide operational relief in reduced lost time, and care for the overall recovery and wellbeing of injured workers.
And the winner of the Recovery at and Return to Work Award is Australia Post, with their entry Early Matched Care at Australia Post. Congratulations to Australia Post. Let’s hear from them now.
Michael Halloran – General Manager Injury Management, Australia Post:
Thank you to Comcare for coordinating the awards. The Early Matched Care program at Australia Post is an exciting initiative, and I am pleased to accept this award on behalf of the Australia Post group. The program has exceeded our expectations, and we’re busily implementing it across our group. This is also a program that can be applied in both small and large companies, so will have quite wide application.
To progress the program involved several groups, and a lot of hard work. And I’d like to thank Professor Nicholas and the Sydney Uni team whom we partnered with; our rehabilitation team, who expertly applied the program; our injured colleagues, who took a leap of faith to work with us on this new initiative, and who are reaping the benefits; and our program leads, Melanie Jansen and Lauren Morgan. The collaborative effort of these teams has brought together an exciting initiative that can be widely applied, and we are very excited by the benefits that this will bring to employees in their recovery from injury.
Thank you.
Andrew Klein:
Well done, Australia Post. Now, Comcare would also like to congratulate Hearing Australia and EML on being finalists in this category.
Our final award presentation for today is the Individual Contribution Award. This award recognises individuals whose contributions have made an exceptional difference to their workplace, exceeding their normal work duties.
he finalists in this category have demonstrated high-level engagement and collaboration with colleagues, with supervisors, managers and stakeholders when addressing health and safety or recovery at and return to work issues. The nominees go above and beyond the expectations of their role, demonstrating outstanding commitment, effecting short- and long-term outcomes for their organisations, and present a fresh approach to work health and safety.
Now, this year there are three finalists in this category. And the nominees are:
May Webster, from APM WorkCare.
May is a devoted rehabilitation counsellor and provisional psychologist, sought after to manage highly complex and challenging cases, as she uses innovation and possibility thinking with stakeholders to generate positive outcomes.
May’s clients regularly face return to work barriers, including addiction control, psychosocial concerns, and changes to work duties. She works collaboratively with psychologists, with community services and EAP to help her clients adapt and to overcome, and in doing so has received positive feedback from her clients within the APS.
May worked above and beyond with a particular client to complete exposure exercises, and developed and implemented structured training to support the client in successfully learning a new service delivery plan, despite their anxiety, ADHD and reservations. A full and successful return to work was completed to pre-injury hours and duties.
May delivers nationwide training and development programs for junior consultants, mentoring students, and works collaboratively with two local universities on a professional Masters panel.
May is transparent, and uses a human connection approach to her clients to help achieve their goals, allowing her to continue providing exceptional services during COVID-19, and help clients adapt to changing environments.
Angus Becsi, from Australia Post.
Inspired by a personal safety incident, Angus successfully transformed employee engagement, and implemented a positive safety culture across the Perth mail and parcel centres, which were seeing high numbers of manual handling injuries.
He embarked on a complete overhaul of management and supervisor roles, embedding accountability for safety management and performance as core to leadership responsibilities at all levels. Angus identified three critical pillars of focus to drive improvement: leadership and engagement; critical risk; and manual handling.
He implemented assessment and development centres; defined leadership expectations; created a manual handling program, which included the appointment of onsite exercise physiologists; and introduced regular assessment of employee feedback. Overall, injuries resulting in an accepted worker’s compensation claim were significantly reduced in Angus’s first year in this role, and staff engagement surveys showed high improvement.
Angus was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award in 2020, and the assessment centres and leadership program are now being rolled out nationally to over 90 Australia Post sites.
Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Deacon, from Department of Defence.
In 2018, Andrew was posted to the ADF Defence Response Unit, the operational interface and information source dealing with reports of historic abuse by members of the ADF.
As the work involved evaluation of highly sensitive material causing psychological stresses, Andrew identified that members of the unit were at high risk of vicarious trauma and heightened mental health issues, and assessed that there was an urgent need to manage this risk. Andrew developed the mental health safety framework, specifically targeting vicarious trauma, and reducing mental health stigma by engaging broadly with external organisations in order to better inform senior management on managing it within the workplace.
The framework encompasses annual endurance training, counselling, and a system for safer exposure management through active visible workplace practices. This includes rotation of duties within the unit, enforced breaks, no-alone protocols, self-care planning, and physical fitness and wellness activities.
It is a simple, person-centric framework, which actively manages the risk of vicarious trauma at both the unit and individual level. And the methodology has since been adopted by two other Federal Government departments.
And the winner of the Individual Contribution Award is Angus Becsi, from Australia Post. Congratulations, Angus. Let’s hear from Angus now.
Angus Becsi – Head of Operations WA, Australia Post:
Thanks so much for the honour of getting this award. Just to be recognised as a finalist is really good, and I appreciate it. Thanks to Comcare, and to the panellists that actually interviewed me and heard a bit about my story, and about my role in Australia Post.
Thanks to the senior leadership team in Australia Post: Rod Moore, Rod Barnes, Sue Davies, Shane Plant. And lastly, thanks to my team and the amazing work that they do that has helped me to make our process safer, and the people that work in and around me safer. So thank you very much.
Andrew Klein:
And well done, Angus. Comcare would also like to award a high commendation to May Webster, and congratulates Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Deacon on being a finalist. Thank you to all three finalists for your continued dedication to improving work health and safety in your workplace.
Now, that brings us to the end of our presentation today for the 2021 Comcare National Work Health and Safety Awards. Head to Comcare’s conference website – that’s comcare.gov.au/conference – to read further details on each of the finalists, and to be kept up to date about next year’s conference.
On behalf of Comcare, I would like to congratulate all of our winners, and our finalists, once again, and thank each of the organisations for their commitment to workplace health and safety. It has been my great pleasure to be your MC this afternoon, and I wish you all a great evening.