Speakers announced for Safety in Action Sydney

Industry speakers at Safety in Action Sydney, being held from 2-4 September at Sydney Olympic Park, will cover a variety of topics ranging from workplace bullying to driver safety and the ageing workforce.

The vice president of the Fair Work Commission, Joe Catanzariti, will start the proceedings with his progress report on dealing with bullying. The Fair Work Commission’s anti-bullying jurisdiction commenced on 1 January and the vice president will be discussing the Fair Work Commission’s role in the broader context of dealing with bullying in the workplace.

Continuing the discussion will be Nick Arvanitis, the senior project manager of beyondblue, who will talk about The Heads Up Initiative, which was developed by beyondblue in collaboration with the Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance. The initiative aims to provide practical guidance to individuals and businesses to create mentally healthy workplaces.

Arvanitis will then join a panel discussion, along with Assistant Professor at the University of Western Australia Dr Jacquie Hutchinson and partner at Norton Rose Fulbright Siobhan Flores-Walsh. The three industry leaders will propose the need for a broader definition of workplace bullying in order to adequately respond to the wide range of behaviours and situations that are reported as workplace bullying.

With the continually ageing workforce in Australia, sprains and strains constitute a higher proportion of workplace injuries in Australia. Terry Wong, general manager of Move 4 Life, will share his research findings on the strategies and practices that Australian companies are employing to combat this problem.

For many businesses, the workplace extends to the road, with fleet drivers, delivery drivers and couriers a part of the team. Dr Sharon Newnam, a researcher at Monash University, will speak on the way that safe driving behaviour is influenced by a complex system that involves characteristics of the organisation, the supervisors and individual drivers.

Another panel discussion later in the day will further develop Newnam’s ideas, when Newnam joins Matthew Jupp, client and risk services specialist for Vero Insurance, and Peter Sylvester, the head of group safety and wellbeing for NRMA, to discuss driving safely. The three experts will examine the reasons why there is no national statistic on the number of work-related road traffic injuries involving light vehicles and the resultant scarcity of light vehicle safety policies and practices in many organisations.

The building and construction industry faces many unique challenges in the health and safety sector, given its tendency towards subcontracting, working at heights and other key factors. Alena Titterton, a partner at Norton Rose Fulbright; Laurice Temple, the CEO of the National Association of Women in Construction; Michelle Farley, the director of SafetyJourney; and David Solomon, the senior WHS officer for Master Builders NSW all make up the panel for Safety in Construction. The panellists will consider and discuss the key safety issues facing the building industry and its NSW workers, identifying the best strategies to overcome and mitigate the risks involved.

CleanScene is a co-located show presented by the National Cleaning Suppliers Association. It will feature a number of exhibitors catering for cleaners, facility managers, government agencies and purchasing officers.

Presented by the Safety Institute of Australia, the three-day Safety in Action Sydney event is free to attend.

What:   Safety in Action Sydney

When:  2-4 September 2014

Where: Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park

For further information: www.safetyinaction.net.au/sydney/