In 2018–19, we continued our commitment to provide safe and healthy workplaces for all staff and others involved in the delivery of our services at all our workplaces. We sought to enlist the support and cooperation of all staff to minimise and control hazards as far as practicable.
Our occupational safety and health, and workers’ compensation and injury management policies outlined roles and responsibilities of line managers, including the requirement to identify and manage hazards and risks in workplaces.
Occupational safety and health
We continued to adhere to the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 and Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996. Our Occupational Safety and Health policy and procedures were reviewed and released with changes to further assist our site managers to implement effective occupational safety and health management systems. Our updated Statement of Intent and Commitment to Occupational Safety and Health, ratified by the Director General, was required to be displayed in all our workplaces.
Occupational safety and health training is available online to all managers and principals with ongoing support provided by our occupational safety and health consultants. In 2018–19, 154 principals completed occupational safety and health training, which is mandatory for all newly appointed principals.
To ensure there were opportunities for formal consultation on occupational safety and health matters between management and staff, we encouraged worksites to elect safety and health representatives and establish safety and health committees.
During the year, 136 elected safety and health representatives attended introductory training for safety and health representatives and a further 28 safety and health representatives attended refresher training.
We consulted with key stakeholders (including RiskCover, WorkSafe, the State School Teachers’ Union of WA, United Voice and Principals’ Federation of Western Australia) and sought feedback from principals and line managers to develop and implement our safety and health initiatives.
In September 2018, online psychological investigation and risk assessment training was delivered for the first time, which has since been completed by 679 staff. The training was developed to support principals and managers to investigate psychosocial injuries and mitigate the risk of staff being injured.
Training in four-wheel driving and recovery was provided to 104 staff required to drive these vehicles in regional and remote communities.
An updated version of our hazardous substance management system was implemented in schools. We also provided online training in managing hazardous substances to 972 staff.
Training was provided in asbestos awareness to 650 staff and manual task training to 815 staff.
PeopleSense (by Altius), our employee assistance program provider, offered confidential intervention counselling services to staff and immediate family members for work-related and personal matters that may impact work performance. During 2018–19, 3,229 staff or members of their families accessed support services (2,609 in 2017–18), an increase of 620 people. The program also offered an advisory service for managers dealing with difficult and complex staff matters. In 2018–19, there were 69 contacts to the Manager Assist program (91 in 2017–18).
In 2018–19, 27 schools were provided with mediation facilitation services (53 schools in 2017–18). A total of 67 staff (34 in 2017–18) were trained in the use of mediation strategies.
Workers’ compensation and injury management
Our Injury Management and Workers’ Compensation policy outlined processes developed in accordance with the requirements of the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981. This included the requirement for written return‑to‑work programs to be developed when injured staff returned to work with medical restrictions on their hours or duties.
All staff with workers’ compensation claims who had at least three days off work were advised of support available to assist recovery and return to work.
Our lost time injury severity rate (Table 19) decreased by 2.44 points from 29.88 in 2017–18 to 27.44 in 2018–19.
In 2018–19 we assisted 302 staff (302 in 2017–18) who experienced difficulties remaining at work or returning to work due to injury, illness and disease unrelated to work.
Occupational Physicians from Ability OPN worked with our injury management consultants to provide line managers with clarification of medical conditions of referred staff and guidance on managing risks to prevent further exacerbation of their injury or illness. They undertook 599 fitness for work assessments with 299 staff during 2018–19. Fifty-five per cent of the assessments related to staff with mental health concerns.
Workers’ compensation claims data were used to develop injury prevention packages and risk assessment checklists for a systematic approach to managing occupational safety and health.
In 2018–19, there were 1,788 workers’ compensation claims lodged (1,812 in 2017–18). There were 584 claims for being hit by a moving object (569 in 2017–18), 468 claims for slips, trips and falls (527 in 2017–18), 426 claims for body stressing injuries (434 in 2017–18) and 120 claims for mental stress (114 in 2017–18).
We continued to collaborate with RiskCover to manage workers’ compensation claims following the implementation of a service level agreement in 2016.
Table 19: Occupational safety and health performance indicators 2016–17 to 2018–19
(a) As published in agencies’ 2016–17 final/annual reports.
(b) From 2017–18, the new Department of Education was formed which included staff from the School Curriculum and Standards Authority and former Department of Education, Department of Education Services, and Country High School Hostels Authority.
(c) As defined by Public Sector Commissioner’s Circular 2018-03 Code of Practice: Occupational Safety and Health in the Western Australian public sector.
(d) Number of incidents resulting in lost time per 100 full-time equivalent staff.
(e) Number of incidents resulting in lost time classified as severe per 100 incidents resulting in lost time.
(f) The figure is based on current principals who have ever completed the training by 30 June 2019 and uses a different methodology from previous years.