CSG Monthly Meetings
Managing the healthcare challenge of COVID-19.
When the Covid-19 crisis arrived, organisations everywhere were hit with a massive task without warning and precedent. The healthcare industry faced significant challenges in managing and implementing new and complex requirements.
Alison Hunt-Sturman, Group Manager, WHS, at Mercy Health Australia, presented a compelling account of what happened across the healthcare industry as well as within her organisation. Mercy Health manages four public hospitals, 30 aged care homes, in-patient and outpatient mental health services, and home care services around Australia.
“We are serving some of the most vulnerable members of the community. We couldn’t just shut down,” said Alison. In addition to the many thousands of clients in its care, Mercy Health has a workforce of 9,000 people.
There was a great deal for Alison's team and other sections to care about, learn, plan, organise and manage carefully to ensure everything was kept functioning safely, all the while dealing with the impact of the unknowns. Alison discussed the issues they faced, how it affected their operations and people, and how they responded.
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 9 August 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the August Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Dr Kate Branford, Senior Human Factors Specialist, V/Line.
Human Factors issues constitute a significant source of risk in many industries. Human error contributes to an estimated 60-80% of incidents, while other Human Factors issues also play a part in a large proportion of incidents.
Understanding human error, how it contributes to safety incidents and how it can be managed, was the subject of a zoom talk by Dr Kate Branford on 8 June, 2021. Read more...
Note: Full video of this meeting now available from the 'View Presentation' button below. Available for a limited time to members only.
View presentation video package
Gavin Kenny, Manager SHEQ-Service Delivery, Melbourne Water.
Melbourne Water shared how technology has improved its safety systems and performance in a zoom presentation to Central Safety Group on Tuesday, 11 May. Gavin Kenny, Manager SHEQ - Service Delivery at Melbourne Water, has introduced a number of digital technology improvements to safety processes there.
Melbourne Water is a statutory body which supplies high-quality water, provides reliable sewerage services, integrates drainage systems to prevent flooding and enhances waterways and land for Melbourne and its surrounds. Gavin spoke about the changes involved, how they were introduced and the resulting efficiency gains. Read more...
Note: Full video of this meeting now available from the 'View Presentation' button below. Available to members only.
View presentation video package
COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective
Topic: COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective
The COVID-19 crisis brought some major challenges to unions affiliated with the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), their members and workers. These challenges, along with lessons learned and solutions, will be discussed by Dominic Melling, Lead Organiser of the OHS Team at the VTHC in a zoom presentation at midday on Tuesday, 13 July.
Dominic’s talk will cover essential workers who reported to their usual workplaces throughout the lockdowns as well as people working from home. He will review the structural problems that facilitated the spread of COVID-19 and the Union’s role in advising Health and Safety Representatives and members. Using case studies from high risk industries, he will discuss what happened when OHS structures and procedures failed and what lessons can be learned from these failures.
The presentation will outline VTHC initiatives to support HSRs and workers, and Unions’ lobbying efforts that led to changes in Government policy designed to protect workers and the community and to eliminate the spread of COVID-19.
About the speaker:
Dominic Melling has been the Lead Organiser of the OHS Team at the Victorian Trades Hall Council since January 2020. In this role he works with affiliated unions in their collective efforts to campaign for safer workplaces and better conditions for workers. Recent examples of campaigns include the introduction of industrial manslaughter as an offence; exposure standards to crystalline silica and the introduction of psychological health regulation.
Dominic also assists WorkSafe Victoria by liaising with relevant VTHC affiliates in relation to health and safety and workers’ compensation matters.
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Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 12 July 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the July Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
David Trembearth, Safety Business Partner, People and Product Safety, Coles.
Details coming soon.
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 12 April 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the April Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Hospital safety during the pandemic
When the Covid-19 crisis exploded just over a year ago, the demand for special safety measures in our hospitals was massive, sudden and urgent. Christina Rennick, General Manager Health, Safety and Wellbeing at Melbourne’s St Vincent’s Hospital, will do a presentation via Zoom at 11 am on 9 March about how her workplace responded.
The hospital has a big and complex structure, a workforce of 7,000, and a large number of patients and visitors to protect. Beyond implementing large-scale basic requirements for Covid protection, the safety team had to develop new rules and systems, learn from experience and adapt. This has been ongoing as knowledge of the coronavirus unfolds and the situation in the community changes.
Christina will talk not only about physical safety measures, but also the need to monitor and manage the wellbeing of people in the hospital system during this time. Read more
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 February 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the March Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
CSG AGM
Central Safety Group Annual General Meeting. Members welcome to attend.
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 February 2021. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the February Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
What Covid-19 means for workplace safety
2020 – what a year! Central Safety Group is wrapping it up with the subject that has had such an impact on our lives and work these past eight months.
Join Professor David Caple when he discusses Covid-19 and workplace safety via zoom on Tuesday 8 December at midday. David has been working on Covid-related projects with the healthcare and government sectors during the crisis..... Read More
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 7 December. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the December Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Web safety – are you taking risks?
Cyber crime is at an all-time high with so many people working from home and shopping online. Most of us could do a lot to improve our cyber security.
You can receive top advice on this and have your questions answered by Michel Connory of CyberCertified, one of Australia’s leading voices in cyber security, in a midday zoom presentation on Tuesday 17 November.
Michael’s session will be interactive and viewers will receive plenty of tips they can utilise.
This is part of a series of zoom presentations by Central Safety Group while in-person meetings are suspended.... Read More
Note: Financial members do not need to RSVP. Others are required to RSVP and pay by close of business Monday 16 November. When booking for this Event, please ensure you select the November Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Customer Abuse: The Reject Shop’s Frontline Solutions
Venue: Venue: DXC Technology, Level 19 (Board Room 1), 360 Collins Street, Melbourne
(between Queen & Elizabeth Streets).
Customer abuse is a growing problem in the retail industry that can take a heavy toll on workers’ confidence and wellbeing. </ br> Of the Reject Shop’s 6,000 team members, a majority are part-time and 60% are under the age of 25. This means many are inexperienced and particularly vulnerable when faced with customer aggression.</ br> Kenn Rogers, Safety Team Leader of the Reject Shop, will give a lunchtime presentation on 10 March 2020... Read More
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the March Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Safety Shake-up Across The Tasman
Venue: DXC Technology, Level 19 (Board Room 1), 360 Collins Street, Melbourne
(Between Queen & Elizabeth Street).
Nan Austin.
The death of 28 miners in an underground explosion at New Zealand’s Pike River Coal Mine nine years ago led to anger, accusations and the call for a major inquiry into the country’s safety laws. The result was a major re-engineering of New Zealand’s safety systems with the introduction of the new Health and Safety Work Act in 2016.
Nan Austin will give a first-hand account of the safety reforms in New Zealand, and how the new system is working out, at Central Safety Group's lunchtime meeting on 12 November... Read More
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the November Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Rebuilding Safety Culture - a case study
Venue: Venue: Room B411 – Level 4, CAE building, 253 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
(Between Swanston & Elizabeth Streets).
Safety culture: pulling it all together – a case study When employee morale, trust and job satisfaction plummet in the wake of major changes, how do you restore a strong safety culture? Mary Kikas faced that exact challenge when asked to help the Health and Safety team of a utilities company that had undergone a significant change management process and redundancies. br> She will outline what happened in a presentation to the Central Safety Group at its first lunchtime meeting for the year on Tuesday 11 February 2020.... Read More
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the February Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
When Workplace Changes Outpace OHS Standards
Venue: DXC Technology, Level 19 (Board Room 2), 360 Collins Street, Melbourne
(Between Queen & Elizabeth Street).
Professor David Caple, OHS Consultant and Adjunct Professor, Centre for Ergonimics & Human Factors, LaTrobe University.
More and more jobs today require working on mobile devices including laptops, Surface Pros and tablets. Some workplaces ‘dock’ these with monitors and keyboards and others are being used as the primary input device. When it comes to assessing ergonomic risks linked to this, compliance is measured by long-established OHS Codes and Australian Standards.
But how relevant and effective are the current Standards for white collar workplaces where agile work is changing the way we work? Professor David Caple will discuss this issue in a lunchtime presentation to Central Safety Group on 10 September... Read More
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the September Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Dr Tracey Sletten, Research Fellow at CRC for Alertness, Safety and Productivity & Monash University.
Details coming soon
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the August Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.