PM&C is committed to promoting the health, safety and wellbeing of our workforce, providing a safe working environment and eliminating or minimising work health and safety risks.
The Secretary signed our Workplace Health and Safety Commitment statement on 15 October 2018. The statement reaffirms the executive’s commitment to working with staff to build a safe and healthy workplace that values inclusion and sustains a healthy, capable workforce.
Strengthening our work health and safety (WHS) management systems remains a key focus for us. A number of initiatives were undertaken throughout 2018–19 to support this. For example, in consultation with staff, we:
- implemented a new WHS case management system for incident and hazard reporting, management escalation and risk assessment, and tracking corrective actions
- conducted PM&C’s first Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey to capture feedback and views on health and safety and to identify priority focus areas for 2019
- consulted on revised and new WHS policies and procedures
- developed a WHS dashboard that provides oversight of safety performance and the opportunity for proactive safety management
- rolled out mandatory WHS staff training
- integrated WHS awareness training into the new starter induction program and delivered officer education for new SES members through face-to-face delivery of due diligence training
- delivered campaigns to increase staff awareness of and participation in workplace safety and various wellbeing initiatives, including National Safe Work Month and Mental Health Awareness Week
- launched Mental Health Guru, an online staff training program which aims to increase mental health knowledge, decrease stigma and promote help-seeking behaviour for anxiety and depression
- established a community site on ShareHub to improve communication with health and safety representatives and workers through our workgroups.
On 13 September 2018, Comcare issued PM&C with an improvement notice to address psychosocial risks identified during previous inspections. PM&C responded in line with mandatory requirements on 12 October 2018. All directions were complied with.
A total of four incidents were mandatorily notified to Comcare in 2018–19. These included one incident of a serious injury or illness and three dangerous incidents.