A record number of South Australian Councils have received ‘Outstanding Achievement’ Awards for work accident prevention under the Local Government Association Workers Compensation Scheme. Seven Councils were recognised by the Scheme for achieving the top Level 3 rating from the State’s WorkCover Safety Audits.
Councillor John Ross, Chairman of the LGA Workers Compensation Scheme, said that the result was outstanding with all Councils audited achieving the top result.
“This is even more amazing in light of the fact that only two South Australian Councils had achieved a Level 3 rating prior to this year,” he said.
Among the Councils to receive the accolades were the Town of Gawler and the Rural City of Murray Bridge. Occupational Health and Safety Representative at Murray Bridge, Joy Creaser, first joined Council in 1989 in a quite different role as a receptionist.
As a First Aid Officer with St John’s Operation Branch, she brought a personal interest in the area of health and safety to Council.
Together with a supportive CEO, Ken Coventry, Departmental Manager, Maxine Gray, and enthusiastic staff they have looked at the whole area of health and safety in the workplace to address potential hazards. She said the effort to create a safer environment had the support of a marvellous group of workers.
“Once people could see what was happening it had a cumulative effect,” Joy said. “It became a whole staff effort to get everything going.”
It has also established a useful interchange of ideas between indoor and depot staff.
“When you work in an environment everyday, it is easy to overlook a number of hazards simply because you are used to accommodating them,” Joy said. “Now with a fresh awareness of potential problems, depot staff visiting Council offices have been able to point out potential hazards that office staff had not noticed and vice versa.”
The change in workplace culture regarding health and safety has seen a significant decline in the number of incidents occurring, fewer work days being lost and fewer people on workers compensation. The $10,000 which Murray Bridge received as part of its award is to be used to help maintain its Level 3 standard.
“It is imperative we keep up the standard,” Joy said. “We have decided to spend it on items we would otherwise have not been able to afford and in areas which have benefits for everyone.”
Gawler too has decided to use its award to further the interests of Occupational Health and Safety in the workplace. Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator, Greta Sincock, said that a lot of effort has been put in this year.
Through improved training, induction procedures, handling of hazardous substances, regular safety meetings, inspections and general awareness of occupational health and safety resulting in a safer workplace, there has been a dramatic fall in the incident rate at Council. There has also been a commensurate increase in productivity and decreased costs associated with lost time.
“The change has been brought about with enthusiastic cooperation from all staff and support from
Management,” Greta said. “Once a culture of safety awareness was established everyone recognised the benefits to be gained.”
Other Councils to achieve the top Level 3 rating were District Council of Victor Harbor, and the Cities of Mount Gambier, Happy Valley now part of Onkaparinga, Port Adelaide Enfield and Unley. Manager of the Workers Compensation Scheme, Wayne Potter, said that having an industry scheme gave an added incentive to everyone working for Councils to make an effort towards workplace safety. This year, a further nine Councils will be audited by WorkCover.
For further information contact Wayne Potter, Scheme Manager, Workers Compensation Scheme, telephone (08) 8223 6444.
