Occupational safety and health and injury management
Our Executive Management Group is committed to providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work environment and acknowledges the responsibilities under the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 and the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981.
Our Audit and Risk Management Committee assumes responsibility for addressing occupational safety and health (OSH) matters; however all employees share the responsibility for workplace safety and health. Our employees are encouraged to be proactive in identifying OSH issues and a range of avenues exist for employees to report matters including through the Office Consultative Committee, the Human Resources branch, or directly with their manager or supervisor. During the year we appointed and fully trained a second OSH representative for our Office.
All new employees receive information on our OSH policies and procedures as well as instruction on their obligations and responsibilities under the OSH and injury management policies as part of the induction process. Our OSH documentation including our OSH policy, our management of Ill or Injured Workers policy, Workers Compensation Guides and our Injury Management and Return to Work Program is available on our intranet.
Our Injury Management policy outlines the steps to be taken to assist a worker to return to work following a work related injury or illness including seeking expert assistance as required to develop effective return to work plans for individuals.The focus of this policy is to achieve a safe and early return to meaningful work in accordance with the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981.
All employees are registered for online OSH and injury management training which includes two modules; one for all employees and a second one specifically for managers. Successful completion of the training is monitored and reported to the Executive Management Group, allowing us to identify specific areas where further training is required.
An internal assessment of our OSH practices in 2011 identified two areas for improvement which have since been addressed.
Table 24 shows our performance in 2013-14 against the targets set out in the Public Sector Commissioner’s Circular 2012-05.
