CSG Monthly Meetings
Speakers: Rohan Sykes, Phoenix Workplace Safety
Rohan Sykes was a healthy, active young family man when he suffered an horrific workplace injury that caused severe burns to 35% of his body. He was seriously injured by exposure to radiant heat from molten glass, despite wearing full PPE and following procedures. Read more...
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the June Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Claire Nivarovich, Director Mental Health Programs, WorkSafe Victoria
Work-related mental injury is the second most common cause of workers' compensation claims in Australia, and accounts for around 13% of workers' compensation claims in Victoria.
What can employers do to prevent mental injury in their workplace? Where can they best direct their efforts?
Claire Nivarovich, Director Mental Health Programs, WorkSafe Victoria, spoke about this topic in a lunchtime presentation on 14 May. Read more...
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the May Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Michael Carley, Manager, Safety and Risk at Villa Maria Catholic Homes.
The challenges of safety in the aged care & disability sectors. The aged care and disability sectors are among the fastest growing sectors in Australia. Employment in this area has exploded, growing 36% in the past five years – three times the rate of growth across all other occupations. The particular OHS challenges for these industries will be discussed by Michael Carley, Safety and Risk, Villa Maria Catholic Homes, on Tuesday, 9 July at the Central Safety Group lunchtime meeting. Michael will talk about the common hazards and risks in safety management in these sectors. He will also discuss current trends, gaps and recommended solutions. Read more...
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the July Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Kristen Richardson, Wellbeing and Safety Business Partner Team Leader, ANZ.
Staff safety and difficult customer interactions
Many businesses have seen an upsurge in staff impacted by difficult customer interactions that may place them at risk of a physical or psychosocial illness.
This has particularly been the case in the banking industry and is varied across customer contact, whether it is face-to-face or telephone interactions.
ANZ Bank has a strategy in place to keep their staff safe from this risk and this will be presented by Kristen Richardson, Wellbeing and Safety Business Partner Team Leader at ANZ, at a lunchtime presentation on 9 April.
The strategy looks at all aspects of staff safety – physical, psychosocial and most importantly the leadership culture shift required to enable this strategy to be successful. This strategy has been developed using external consultancy expertise and research across other industries. Read more...
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the April Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Richard Greenwood, RG Chemical Safety.
Combustible dust can be a hidden chemical hazard in workshops, factories, storage facilities and many other places. Because it’s not classified as a hazardous substance or as dangerous goods, it is often ignored in workplace procedures and risk control. The significance of this will be discussed by chemical hazards expert Richard Greenwood in a lunchtime presentation to Central Safety Group on 12 March.
The consequences of not recognising the presence of combustible dust were dramatically demonstrated recently when two workers doing routine maintenance were seriously injured in a workplace explosion in Victoria. The result was an Enforceable Undertaking for the company involved, including preparation of basic workplace training materials and a video for awareness of the hazard. Richard will talk about this case as part of its compliance with WorkSafe’s Enforceable Undertaking.
He will explain how fine combustible dusts are likely to form and potentially explode when disturbed in an enclosed space. He will also discuss how to detect and manage risks associated with this... Read More
.The presentation will be followed by a brief Annual General Meeting of CSG, to which all Financial Members are invited to attend.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the March Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Rachel McGregor and Ebonie Martello, Safety People
Key job market trends in safety in Australia will be the subject of a presentation at the Central Safety Group’s first meeting for 2019 on 12 February. OHS recruitment specialists Rachel McGregor and Ebonie Martello of Safety People will give a presentation followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
They will talk about:
.The presentation will be followed by a brief Annual General Meeting of CSG, to which all Financial Members are invited to attend.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the February Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Greg Splatt.
Throughout Australia there is unprecedented growth in all areas of construction – commercial, civil and residential. This boom has created issues relating to knowledge, skills and competencies needed at all levels of the construction workforce.
The issue of safety in this climate will be discussed by Greg Splatt, a construction safety manager and trainer, in a lunchtime presentation for Central safety Group on 13 November.
Greg says many people are coming into the industry with the promise of long-term work, long hours and good pay packets. But without the necessary industry experiences and know-how, what risk do they present on job sites? Challenges with safety understanding and experience can also exist at supervisor and manager level.
Greg will also speak about his experiences with the unique OHS challenges during extensive construction rebuilds after major events such as cyclones and bushfires.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the November Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Dr Ross Donohue, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Business and Economics, Monash University.
There has been surprisingly little research done on how inspectors assess health and safety in workplaces. Although the inspectors’ task is grounded in rules and regulations, there are few standardised measures to assist them.
Dr Ross Donohue, our speaker on 9 October, has been doing ground breaking work on this.
As a result Ross has developed a 7-item generic OHS metric checklist as a standardised tool to assist inspectors and has conducted research to validate this measure in a study undertaken with WorkSafe Victoria.
Ross also sees the need for developing measures and training to assist OHS inspectors to assess psychosocial risk.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the October Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Professor David Caple - OHS consultant and Adjunct Professor, Centre for Ergonomics & Human Factors, La Trobe University.
Many organisations have invested in sit-stand desks in response to experts’ claims about the benefits, ranging from reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes to solving back pain.
Professor David Caple will discuss the latest knowledge on the effectiveness of sit-stand desks and issues surrounding their use on 11 September in a lunchtime talk to the Central Safety Group.
David is presenting two papers on this topic at the International Ergonomics Association Congress in Florence, Italy in August. He will be part of a group of 16 presenters from around the world sharing the latest research relating to sit to stand desks.
There can be confusion about how much to use these desks while working, and whether a certain duration or pattern of standing should be prescribed. “In some places they are using them very well, but in other places employees and their managers are unclear about how to benefit from them. As a result, you’ll sometimes find people feeling guilty for not using them,” says David. “A lot of factors can affect how successful these desks are in the workplace. This includes things like the change management process, job design, employee education and work culture.”
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the September Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
John Naughton.
Contractor management is one of the most challenging areas of safety risk management. Contractor management systems can be onerous and complicated, leaving gaps when it comes to covering business and compliance requirements.
John Naughton and his team tackled this problem and transformed contractor management while he was Director of HSE at a major food company, and he will share his experiences at a lunchtime talk to Central Safety Group on Wednesday 15 August.
He will describe the journey from a manual spreadsheet-based contractor management system to an easy to manage, efficient and flexible system embracing modern technology. This change also brought crucial new dimensions and features to the company’s system for managing contractors, and significantly, reduced administrative time and costs.
.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the August Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Les Cameron, WorkSafe Inspector, WorkSafe Victoria.
Things have been happening at WorkSafe Victoria, including the relocation this year of its head office along with several hundred roles from Melbourne CBD to Geelong.
This and other current changes, projects and priorities at WorkSafe will be outlined by seasoned WorkSafe Inspector Les Cameron in a lunchtime presentation on 10 July.
Les will also have something to say about his work on the front line, discussing incidents and some new intervention programs now being tested.
Questions, comments and discussion will be welcome during the session.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the July Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Barry Naismith.
What do the latest data and developments tell us about the current state of OHS in Victoria? Barry Naismith, who has done a keen-eyed independent analysis, will share his conclusions at the Central Safety Group lunch meeting on 12 June.
Barry was a consultant with the Victorian WorkCover Authority (now WorkSafe) for 14 years. Since then he has produced a number of independent reports into the operations and performance of WorkSafe Victoria.
He has just concluded his latest report, based on 2017, and will discuss his findings and spell out some trends and predictions that are likely to be of interest to those working in OHS in Victoria.
To quote leading blogger Kevin Jones, “This level of analysis and interpretation is rarely available outside of formal academic research, and Naismith provides the all-important social and political context from which much academic occupational health and safety (OHS) research shies.”
Questions, opinions and comments from the audience will be welcome.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the June Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Jason Hensel, Senior Safety Advisor - Zoos Victoria.
Injuries and fatalities from contact between people and animals are known to be a high risk in zoos worldwide.
At Zoos Victoria a special program for working with dangerous animals is being supported by Jason Hensel, Senior Advisor, Health and Safety, who will give a presentation on this subject to Central Safety Group on 8 May.
Jason will discuss how he has drawn on safety programs from a number of industries to develop effective and consistent controls for the safe keeping of all animals likely to endanger human life, known as Category 1 Animals (CAT 1).
Melbourne Zoo has 20 species of animal that fall into this category – ranging from the big cats to gorillas, hippopotamuses and African wild dogs. Jason has been working on risk assessments and safety systems for each of these, taking into account physical, mechanical, animal behaviour and human factors.
This initiative is part of Zoos Victoria’s aim to become a world leader in zoo safety. Zoos around the world put a sharp spotlight on safety following incidents such as a child falling into a gorilla exhibit at Cincinnati Zoo and the death of a keeper at New Zealand’s Hamilton Zoo
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the May Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
Conor Healy, Manager, Work Health & Safety - Jetstar Australia New Zealand.
Manual handling injuries are some of the most common and costly injuries in the workplace.
An account of how Jetstar Airways reduced these injuries by 40% will be shared by Conor Healy, Manager, Work Health and Safety, Jetstar Australia New Zealand in a lunchtime presentation on 10 April.
Baggage handlers, cabin crews and engineering workshop teams all do a lot of manual handling at Jetstar, which now has 7,000 employees and is one of the world’s fastest growing airlines.
Conor developed a multi-pronged program to reduce manual handling injuries and the risk of musculoskeletal disorders for employees working in body stressing environments. In two years he has found that the program has already made a significant difference.
He will discuss the program and what the airline is doing to continue to gain improvements in this area.
About the Speaker
Conor Healy has been Manager, Work Health and Safety, Jetstar Australia New Zealand for three years. His background includes significant experience in areas ranging from transport with London Underground, defence with BAE Systems to logistics with Toll and working with aerospace organisations. He is a graduate of the University of Westminster in the UK and has attained an MBA in Strategy.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the April Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
