Speaker: WorkSafe Victoria
Psychological health & safety at work
Both the room and the zoom were packed to the rafters for this event. I think members were not only keen on the topic, but also appreciated the opportunity to interact directly with the Regulator. As one of our Cororate Members, WorkSafe Victoria is a valued partner of Central Safety Group and they were very generous is supplying 3 speakers for this event. They were Madelaine Barry, Program Officer for Psychological Health Programs; Darcy Cooper, Program Manager, WorkWell and Daniel McConville, a Psychosocial Inspector.
The elephant in the room was dealt with straight away: they know as much as we do about when the Psychological Regulations are due to see the light of day. However, they did re-assure us that the information they provided us was considered best practice and, therefore, would still be relevant once the Regulations are released.
They talked through the risk assessment approach and emphasised the need to address potential long-term impacts of this hazard in the workplace; as Madelaine said, "Yoga and a fruit bowl don't cut it!"
They acknowledged that the biggest barrier for many Employers is knowing where to start. This is where WorkSafe offers a range of practical guidance, including the WorkWell toolkit that provides a step-by-step approach. WorkSafe has also formed partnerships to run 13 projects aimed at testing their programs. Our presenters showed us a video (available in the power point) of one such initiative, dealing with shift workers in manufacturing and logistics, that was very interesting.
They concluded that these various projects did indeed validate WorkSafe's programs. Interestingly, even if a program were unsuccessful, the fact that an Employer invested in it still had a positive effect.
There was plenty of discussion after the presentation, especially in the room. Financial members can also view a number of past presentations related to this topic under Speakers in the Members Section (log in first). Just type "psychological" into the Search box.
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