Workplace Safety heads discuss OHS management

Australian and New Zealand Workplace Safety Authorities met in Adelaide on 11 March 2008 to discuss the progress of a range of initiatives to further occupational health and safety management in Australian workplaces.

This meeting was organised to coincide with the International Association of Labour Inspection (IALI) conference. Members were delighted to be involved with this conference, which reinforced the principles and strategies used to build the foundations for strong and effective labour inspection across the world in partnership with government and industry.

The Heads of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) brings together senior executives from Australian Commonwealth, state and territory workplace safety authorities to progress national consistency, harmonisation and best practice in occupational health and safety.

The campaign project plans for the 2008/09 priorities are: National Action Plan for High Risk Plant, Violence in Healthcare, New & Young Workers in Hospitality and Manual Tasks in Retail, Wholesale, Transport and Storage Sectors. These are currently being prepared and will be available on the HWSA website once endorsed.

HWSA members received updates on HWSA's current campaigns and projects including the Prevention of Falls in Construction, which commenced its field intervention phase in February and will continue through to the end of March, with plans for approximately 900 site inspections across Australia. The Guarding of Machinery in Manufacturing project will include a national pre-intervention survey in March 2008 to obtain baseline measures of awareness, knowledge and skills. More details about these and other campaigns will be available on the HWSA website in the near future.

WorkCover NSW acting CEO John Watson said that the new HWSA website (www.hwsa.org.au) is now live and provides information about the activities of HWSA including copies of completed national campaign reports, updates on current campaigns and information relating to OHS inspectors.

HWSA members discussed and supported a number of issues relating to harmonising construction induction cards under the National Code of Practice for Induction for Construction Work.

The HWSA National Workplace Inspector Training & Development Reference Group reported to HWSA members that all jurisdictions are now involved in the delivery of training to enable inspectors to achieve nationally recognised qualifications with a focus on the diploma of Government (Workplace Inspection) and diploma of Government (Investigation).

"The meeting received information on the Manual Handling in the Manufacturing Industry national safety campaign. This campaign has now been successfully completed and the campaign final report will be available on the HWSA website shortly," Watson said.

WorkCover NSW
www.workcover.nsw.gov.au

HWSA
www.hwsa.org.au