Wodonga Council has rolled out a suite of training and courses for staff focusing on preventative measures to reduce injury and risk in the workplace.
With a recognition of the importance of employee health and wellbeing, the program addresses not only physical health but also mental and emotional wellbeing.
Previous staff started the program more than two years ago with a Worksafe grant which laid the groundwork for the program to continue and subsequently build and grow.
Team Leader Health, Safety and Wellbeing Lachlan Coates said the initiative not only boosted employee morale and job satisfaction but also had a positive impact on overall productivity and team cohesion.
He said targeted programs were identified through data analysis using incident reporting and investigation to identify hot spots and trends.
A range of delivery methods were used including face-to-face and online sessions, interactive sessions, demonstrations and self-paced learning.
The programs included addressing regulatory updates with all staff undergoing varying levels of OHS awareness and management training, emergency management and mental health training.
However, the exciting development was the organisational-wide support for multiple programs aimed at supporting staff’s work-life balance.
This included the engagement of specialist providers to deliver sessions on healthy lifestyles.
Nutritionists presented women’s and men’s sessions, physiotherapists delivered spinal health and movement sessions and staff had the opportunity to sign up to the Fitness Passport program.
The regulatory and preventative areas converged with targeted assessment and training of high-risk manual handling tasks followed by the development of new Safe Work Method Statements which was delivered in conjunction with a workplace physiotherapist.
“The programs, which have had great uptake from staff, have been aimed at preventing physical and mental injury before it happens and we see this reflected positively in our workplace data,” Mr Coates said.
