EMHS commitment to occupational safety and health and injury management
EMHS is committed to ensuring the safety, health and welfare of its staff, volunteers, contractors, patients and visitors by:
- Promoting a culture that integrates safety as a core activity into all aspects of work.
- Utilising a risk management approach to identify, investigate, assess and control physical and psychological work health and safety (WHS) issues.
- Applying a continuous improvement approach to WHS, ensuring safe systems of work are in place and are monitored and evaluated.
- Supporting workers in maintaining and improving their health and wellbeing through facilitation of wellbeing programs and strategies across EMHS.
- Providing up-to-date information to all officers, managers and supervisors, workers and safety representatives on changes to the WHS legislation.
- Ensuring all workers understand their duty of care and encouraging them to take responsibility for the health, safety and wellbeing of themselves and others at work.
- Ensuring all officers (under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020) are informed, understand the health and safety hazards and risks in EMHS, and provide workers with the right resources and processes to eliminate or minimise these risks, and report any issues that occur.
- Providing information, training, instruction and supervision that is necessary to protect all workers to enable and facilitate safe work practices.
- Enabling communication, consultation and collaboration with workers and other persons to ensure that all practicable measures are undertaken to improve WHS performance.
- Promoting, training and supporting elected health and safety representatives (Safety Reps), and maintaining active and engaged WHS committees.
- Undertaking proactive hazard identification activities, including quarterly workplace hazard inspections and annual aggression risk assessments, in all EMHS services and addressing issues identified through these assessments.
- Complying with relevant legislation, standards, policies, procedures and other requirements in relation to workplace health, safety and wellbeing.
Formal mechanisms for consultation with employees on occupational safety and health matters
Consultation with employees is undertaken through site WHS committees and departmental meetings, with safety as a standing agenda item. EMHS Safety Reps have access to a WHS committee, providing a mechanism for WHS issues to be escalated and for information to be shared across the service.
WHS committees are evaluated biannually to ensure they are fulfilling their purpose and the needs of the workforce and the organisation. EMHS WHS committees:
- facilitate cooperation and consultation between the business and its workers in initiating, developing and implementing measures designed to ensure workers’ health and safety at work
- assist in developing safety and health standards, rules and procedures
- provide recommendations about the establishment, maintenance and monitoring of programs, measures and procedures in the workplace that are related to the safety and health of the employees
- consider and make recommendations about any changes to/at the workplace that could affect the safety or health of workers.
Compliance with injury management requirements of the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981, including the development of return-to-work plans
EMHS provides a systematic approach to workplace-based injury management (IM) services for all employees following work-related injury, illness or disability. EMHS fosters an environment where it is normal practice for workers to be supported to return to productive employment as soon as medically appropriate following work-related illness, injury or disability in a safe way.
The EMHS Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management System provides for:
- effective and efficient communication between all parties
- early intervention strategies and return to work processes
- clarity of policy, management practices and programs
- goals and objectives to be logically established, documented, monitored and reviewed
- regular consultation between the injured worker and employer.
EMHS actively promotes the philosophy of consultation and co-operation between the employer and employee, to ensure best practice and collaborative ways to achieve return-to-work outcomes and best practice in injury management. The early intervention approach utilised by the IM team promotes recovery at work, where this is medically appropriate and can be achieved safely. The early intervention physiotherapy program allows workers who sustain a minor musculoskeletal injury and are able to continue work in an unrestricted manner, to receive treatment in the workplace and to continue working safely while recovering.
The dedicated IM team builds and maintains positive relationships with all stakeholders, including the injured worker, their managers, treating practitioners and the Government Insurance Division (GID), with the goal to facilitate the best possible outcomes for both the injured worker and the organisation. Best practice IM strategies implemented by the team include:
- provision of return-to-work programs without delay to assist with recovery and consideration of alternative work areas where appropriate
- provision of exercise programs while on workers’ compensation to facilitate recovery and return to work
- counselling through the Employee Assistance Program provider
- IM referrals to specialist doctors to facilitate diagnosis and treatment
- monitoring and review of vocational rehabilitation, ensuring it is in line with medical evidence and best practice.
Number of workers’ compensation claims by occupational group
medical support
16 in 2020-21
nursing
107 in 2020-21
maintenance
16 in 2020-21
hotel services
69 in 2020-21
administration and clerical
19 in 2020-21
medical
3 in 2020-21
TOTAL:
230 in 2020-21
Work health and safety performance indicators
Number of fatalities
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 0 | Actual 0 |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 0 | Actual 0 |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 0 | Actual 0 |
|
LTI/D severity rate (percentage LTI/D)
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 42.72% | Actual 40.61% |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 43.92% | Actual 46.41% |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 40.77% | Actual 47.47% |
|
Percentage of injured workers returned to work within 26 weeks
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 80.0% | Actual 60.6% |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 80.0% | Actual 63.0% |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 80.0% | Actual 62.6% |
|
Lost Time Injury and Disease (LTI/D) incident rate (per 100)
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 3.15 | Actual 3.07 |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 2.90 | Actual 2.90 |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 2.90 | Actual 3.50 |
|
Percentage of injured workers returned to work within 13 weeks
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 70.0% | Actual 43.3% |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 70.0% | Actual 46.0% |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 70.0% | Actual 48.0% |
|
Percentage of managers and supervisors trained in occupational safety, health and injury management responsibilities
| Year | Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Year 2021-22 | Target 80.0% | Actual 72.3% |
|
| Year 2020-21 | Target 80.0% | Actual 73.0% |
|
| Year 2019-20 | Target 80.0% | Actual 82.6% |
|
