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New and Young Workers in Hospitality
There has been a significant increase in the number of young workers taking up employment. The proportion of young people working part time has doubled between 1983 and 2003 from 18% to 47%.
Young workers are disproportionately represented in the casual workforce. In 2004, young workers made up 21% of all employees, however this is 40% of all casual employees. Approximately 60% of young people hold casual jobs, compared with 29.8% in 1984. Between May 1994 and May 2004, the proportion of young part-time workers who were participating in study increased from 67% to 74%.
Data sources regularly show that young workers overall have a higher incidence of injury than other workers, and that young men (15 – 19 years) are a particularly at risk group. It is estimated that about 50% of young workers do not report injuries or make claims. This under-reporting may be due to fear of potential consequences of reporting, a lack of understanding about entitlements to workers’ compensation, and not recognising work-related injuries and illnesses. Additional reporting difficulties arise because the primary occupation of many young workers is often given as ‘student’.
Data on new workers is not routinely collected by each OHS jurisdiction, with the exception of Workplace Standards Tasmania. This data reflects that between 2000 and 2006, the number of injuries for new workers has fluctuated. Given the declining number of injuries being reported for all workers, the number of injuries to new workers as a proportion of injuries to all workers has grown, from 21.7% in 2000 to more than a quarter of all injuries in 2006 (25.7%) .
“Newness” and inexperience is however a risk factor in workplace injury that is present at all age levels. For example, a 45 year old worker who starts a new job, new role, or a new task that involves different work practices or using different plant or chemicals, has a higher risk of injury than his or her workmates of the same age who are not new to the particular set of workplace circumstances.
The assumption of this project is that improving the levels of awareness and understanding of duty holders, new and young workers, health and safety representatives/officers and other stakeholders in terms of managing risks to new and young workers given their particular vulnerabilities will lead to a reduction in workplace injuries and illnesses.
The primary purpose of this project is to reduce the risk of injury and illness to new and young workers by:
- Raising the awareness of duty holders regarding controlling risks to new and young workers
- Raising the awareness of new and young workers regarding their rights and responsibilities in terms of workplace health and safety
- Development of nationally consistent harmonised guidance and resources for internal and external stakeholders in the targeted industry
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Manual Tasks and Moving Objects in the Retail and Wholesale and Transport and Storage Industries
Manual tasks and moving objects is a common cause of injury across Australia in the retail, wholesale, transport and storage industries. These industries are linked by the supply chain network that is created between companies producing, distributing and selling products. Manual tasks and moving objects associated with movement of product occur throughout the supply chain and the safe collection/delivery of goods requires cooperation and exchange of information between all of those involved.
This campaign aims to reduce the incidence of manual tasks related injuries in these industries by focussing on the target sub sectors of Road Freight Forwarding and Road Freight Transport and their interface with the supply chain. The national claim rate for road freight (road freight forwarding and road freight transport) was 10.6 per 1,000 workers as compared to a claim rate of 7.0 claims per 1,000 workers for all muscular stress claims in the Retail and Wholesale and Transport and Storage industries combined.
The Manual Tasks and Moving Objects in the Retail and Wholesale and Transport and Storage Industries campaign aims to build on the work being done by WorkSafe Victoria in these industries. WorkSafe Victoria has recently undertaken research to identify the barriers impacting on the uptake of information products and controls in the road freight industry. The aim is to work with industry to develop solutions, which will overcome these barriers and improve health and safety. The preliminary findings from WorkSafe Victoria indicate that industry believes the loading and unloading of vehicles is a significant issue, which needs addressing.
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Managing Aggressive Behaviour in Healthcare
In 2001/02, the total number of workers’ compensation claims made by the health and community sector nationwide was 16,990 for the year, 11.6% of claims made by all industries for that year. The number and proportion was higher in 2005/06, with 17,590 claims (12.6 % of claims made by all industries for that year). Of all the health and community sector claims for all types of mechanisms of injury in 01/02, 6,465 claims were made relating to hospitals (not including psychiatric) (38% of health and community claims). This number and proportion was higher in 05/06, with 7,014 claims for that year (40% of health and community claims).
The number and proportion of claims owed to the mechanisms of injury related to aggressive behaviour were higher in 05/06 compared to 01/02.
The purpose of this project is to:
- assess the quality and reliability of reporting systems within designated areas of workplaces in relation to aggressive behaviour
- assess the validity of risk assessments within workplaces in relation to aggressive behaviour
- assess the level of aggressive behaviour related risk controls within workplaces and compare this level of risk control with existing standards
- evaluate where appropriate the effectiveness of past and current control initiatives
- improve the industry’s (e.g. CEOs, managers, OSH personnel and workers) and key stakeholders’ awareness and knowledge of the risks associated with aggressive behaviour through the provision of information to assist them to recognise and evaluate the risks in their industry and inform them of ways to effectively eliminate or minimise risks to people’s health, safety and welfare
- raise the awareness of best practice and the possibility of sanctions resulting from non-intervention with safety requirements.
The intention of this approach is to educate the healthcare sector through a balance of information, assistance and enforcement activity.
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Guarding of Machinery in Manufacturing (led by NSW)
Moving machine parts have the potential for causing severe workplace injuries, such as crushed fingers or hands, amputations, burns, or blindness. Safeguards are essential for protecting workers from these needless and preventable injuries. Any machine part, function, or process that may cause injury must be safeguarded. When the operation of a machine or accidental contact with it can injure the operator or others in the vicinity, the hazards must be either eliminated or controlled. The purpose of this campaign is to prevent injuries in the targeted manufacturing sub-sectors due to inadequate machine guarding by:
- Improving the rate of installation and maintenance of adequate guarding on machines
- Building the capacity of businesses in the targeted sectors to systematically identify hazards and manage the high risks associated with operating machinery
- Providing businesses with nationally consistent and practical guidance on machine guarding
- Improving jurisdictional understanding of the barriers and enablers to the effective management of risks associated with guarded machinery
The campaign will target high-risk sub-sectors within the manufacturing industry that make extensive use of machinery. Activities will be implemented from April 2007 to December 2008 and will involve an evaluation.
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Manual Handling & Slips & Trips in Hospitals (led by Tasmania)
In 2004–2005, 17,400 national claims for compensation were made by employees in the healthcare services industry, accounting for 12% of all workers compensation claims where the employee was off work for one or more weeks. The most common causes of compensated injury and disease were muscular stress due to manual handling or repetitive movement (51% of claims), falls and trips (16 % of claims) and being hit by a moving object (11% of claims).
The Safe Steps—National Hospital Intervention and Compliance Campaign, specifically aims to reduce the number of manual handling and slip and trip injuries sustained by non clinical (kitchen, laundrette and clinical sterilisation) hospital workers. It also aims to increase awareness, through the provision of information, of manual handling and slip and trip hazards in this industry sector.
As part of this campaign, which commences in April 2008, workplace health and safety inspectors will be auditing hospitals nationally focusing on the control of manual handling and slip and trip risks. Inspectors will also be able to provide practical guidance and information during these visits. At the same time, the Office of the Australian Safety and Compensation Council will be assessing the effectiveness of the audit and the provision of information through an employee survey.
The data collected during the campaign will assist in informing future directions for workplace health and safety in the healthcare services industry.
For further information on the Safe Steps Campaign, contact the Project Manager, Pamela Atkinson, on (03) 6233 7671, 0439 630 104 or Pamela.Atkinson@justice.tas.gov.au
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