The success of this most recent School can be attributed in no small part to the contribution of Trevor Dohnt (pictured above) and marks an extremely fitting culmination to the dedication and enthusiasm he has demonstrated during his three year tenure as VMS Chair.  In that time, Trevor has demonstrated a unique understanding of the needs of the Students and has displayed tremendous dedication to achieving the goals set by the VMS Committee.

Among the many contributions which Trevor has made to the Venue Management School during his time as Chair, the most outstanding and beneficial would be the introduction of a brand new initiative involving TAFE NSW.  The result is that the Students are now afforded the opportunity to graduate with a TAFE recognised Diploma in Venues and Events.  This will have a huge influence on the future of the School in terms of its offerings; however more importantly will profit our Students immensely throughout their careers.

While Trevor has contributed greatly over the last three years, Trevor himself will be the first to acknowledge that he has received tremendous support from the other elected Committee Members.   In 2011 these included Tim Worton, Chris Farrell, Anthony Duffy, Julie McLoughlin, Craig Lovett and Dean Hassall, along with myself and Steve Hevern in our respective roles of VMA President and Chairman of the VMA Education committee.  The VMA thanks all of these individuals for the invaluable time that they have dedicated to the Venue Management School this past year.

In order to ensure that we are constantly evolving and that our Students’ needs continue to be met, the Venue Management Association devised a rotation strategy for VMS Committee Members.   Consequently, it is with much gratitude that the VMA recognises departing Committee members, Craig Lovett and Chris Farrell, for their invaluable contributions that have attributed to the ongoing success and vision of the VMS.  Both Craig and Chris have been outstanding supporters of the VMS and the feedback we receive from their Students and colleagues is a testament to their professionalism, experience and passion for the Industry.

The VMA welcomes Meg Walker and Wayne Middleton to their positions on the VMS Committee in 2012. Meg and Wayne are both VMS Instructors and have already proved themselves to be popular among students.  They are seasoned professionals who will not only enhance the vast industry experiences of the Committee, but will no doubt also bring new prospective to tailoring educational requirements for the Venue Management Industry.

As Trevor Dohnt moves on from his role as VMS Chair, the VMA is delighted that he will continue to assist the VMS Committee moving forward for a further 12 months and we once again express our sincere appreciation to Trevor for his outstanding contribution and his continued enthusiasm that has made the VMS the success it is today.

Anthony Duffy now replaces Trevor Dohnt as incoming Chair of the VMS.  Anthony has also proved to be an extremely popular Instructor, a passionate VMA ambassador and a dedicated VMS Committee member.  Anthony will continue to ensure that the Committee’s vision and objectives are achieved in order to ensure that our VMS Students receive all of the resources and tools that they require to be successful in their chosen professions.

The VMS Committee are already looking forward to and planning the upcoming 19th Venue Management School which will be held from 11-16 November 2012.  For further information or to enrol in VMS 2012 please contact Maria Lamari on (07) 3870 4777 or via email to maria@vma.org.au.
Regards,

Brian Morris CFE – VMA President

http://www.safetyculture.com.au/ijsa/

“Bullying

If someone is being bullied because of a personal characteristic protected by equal opportunity law, it is a form of discrimination. Bullying can take many forms, including jokes, teasing, nicknames, emails, pictures, text messages, social isolation or ignoring people, or unfair work practices. Under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010, this behaviour does not have to be repeated to be discrimination – it may be a one-off event.

Behaviours that may constitute bullying include:

• sarcasm and other forms of demeaning language
• threats, abuse or shouting
• coercion
• isolation
• inappropriate blaming
• ganging up
• constant unconstructive criticism
• deliberately withholding information or equipment
  that a person needs to do their job or access their entitlements
• unreasonable refusal of requests for leave,
  training or other workplace benefits.”

What do you think????

Can you answer YES to all of these statements, or do they leave you feeling a little nervous?  If nervous, you may benefit from the services of OHS&HR Management Systems Pty Ltd

1. Management understands our Health and Safety related compliance requirements
2. We would be happy for WorkSafe to inspect our workplace
3. We know our major risks and have controls in place to eliminate or minimise injury
4. We have a Health and Safety policy
5. We have Health and Safety procedures that cover incident reporting and investigation and hazard identification, assessment and control
6. We know what to do if there is a serious incident, and are aware of WorkSafe fines if reporting is not undertaken.
7. We formally consult with employees regarding Health and Safety
8. Our staff (and contractors) are aware of and comply with our Health and Safety policy and procedures
9. We have a policy about unacceptable workplace behaviours (bullying, harassment, discrimination) and our staff are well aware of what is not appropriate and how to deal with unacceptable workplace behaviours if they occur
10. We have emergency management plans for our workplaces, we hold practice drills in order to be best prepared to safety evacuate persons should an emergency (ie fire) occur

Are you ready for the new harmonised OHS legislation that come in to place on 1 January 2012? Here is my top ten list of changes that these laws will bring:

1. The Model Act provides a framework, each State will have their own legislation which mirrors this framework.

2. Fines increased to 3 million for a corporation per offence

3. Individuals can be fined $600,000 or 5 year jail term

4. The Act places obligations on PCBUs (person conducting a business or undertaking) rather than employers. Small businesses and volunteer organisations are not exempt.

5. Company officers have well defined due diligence requirements.

6. Company officers have a ‘positive duty’ to prevent risk to health and safety.

7. Using definition of ‘worker’ rather than ‘employee’ encompasses clearer obligations to contractors

8. Volunteers will be protected under the Act.

9. Consultation will be required with all ‘workers’ not just employees.

10. Clients, customers and visitors at a workplace have responsibilities.

One of the best ways to get involved in Safe Work Australia Week is by becoming a Safe Work Australia Week Safety Ambassador.

Safety Ambassadors are working Australians who have a passion for health and safety and are dedicated to making workplaces safer. In previous years Safety Ambassadors have included Ministers, CEOs, health and safety representatives, managers and employees from a wide range of industries.

Click here for more information

What’s new?

All businesses  must demonstrate pro-active strategies to  eliminate sexual harassment, discrimination and victimisation. Along with this
new  ’positive duty” , ‘direct’ and  ‘indirect’ discrimination have been redefined.

All businesses need to review current EEO policies  and procedures, as they now have a positive duty to ensure their workplaces are  free from discrimination. Small business employers are no longer exempt .

Positive duty: The Act introduces a positive duty upon employers to eliminate discrimination  in workplaces. This positive duty means  that employers must  be proactive when managing their compliance to  the Act. The proof of this compliance is required  to be via an action plan.

Direct and indirect
discrimination: Previously,  an employee had to demonstrate a comparison to  prove discrimination , this is no longer required, paving the way for an easier  claims process, with less evidence needed. Another good reason for employers to  be proactive with their strategies.

Direct discrimination occurs if a person  ”treats, or proposes to treat, a person  with a protected attribute unfavourably because of that attribute”. The  previous act included “  where persons without that attribute are or would be treated more favourably  in the same or similar circumstances” This comparison is no longer required.

Indirect  Discrimination occurs if an employer “imposes, or proposes to impose, a  requirement, condition or practice that has, or is likely to have, the effect  of disadvantaging people with a protected attribute, and that is not reasonable”.  Again comparison is no longer required.

The word proposes  is also new to both definitions.

What does this mean  for your business ?

You need to develop an action plan which may  include, developing or reviewing policies and procedures, surveying your staff,  providing awareness training etc.

Why is it that testing is not given any focus! I agree that consultation and education are important, but I also believe that testing is an important part of the jigsaw, especially when driving and heavy machinery are part of workplace activities. In my experience, it is very difficult to get a testing procedure off the ground. The literature available does not help,  testing never seems to be encouraged. Has anyone seen a good article that tells you the good side of testing, and how to implement it. Or do you have any comments on this topic?

At last, some help for Fair Work Australia! Drug and Alcohol Testing in teh workplace may become a little easier not that it is clear that it does not need to be supported by a statement in a collective agreement

Wagstaff Piling Pty Ltd; Thiess Pty Ltd v Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union [2011] FWAFB 6892

Fair Work Australia has confirmed the importance of  employers requiring drug and alcohol testing for their workers by finding that a collective agreement that did not allow for drug and alcohol testing could not prohibit the employer from requiring testing.

“The silence of an industrial agreement on the issue of drug and alcohol testing or other safety initiatives does not limit an
employer’s capacity to issue lawful and reasonable directions to employees including to submit to drug and alcohol testing. Rather, whether the instruction is lawful and reasonable will depend on all the surrounding circumstances including whether the employee has agreed to submit to such testing (for example, in his or her contract of employment or in a separate declaration).” Tamvakologos, Michael  Partner, Saeedi, Shamim  Senior Associate, George Carla  Lawyer Blake Dawson and Waldren

For full article see http://www.blakedawson.com/Templates/Publications/x_publication_content_page.aspx?id=63923

Another recent case:

Sacking for failed alcohol test ‘harsh and unfair’ : tribunal

Date: 2/11/2011

Link for info:  http://www.vecci.org.au/news/Pages/Sacking_for_failed_alcohol_test_harsh_and_unfair-tribunal.aspx?utm_source=Informz&utm_medium=eDM&utm_campaign=eDM

The common Safety Leadership strategies appear to be:

[1] Encouraging people to take personal responsibility for safety by setting expectations for each layer (Senior, Middle, Front-line management, and employees) linked to clear goals. These should be created at a dedicated session where the CEO outlines his/her vision and senior managers determine how to translate that into concrete actions. It is important to ensure the strategies and interventions adopted are aligned to their strategic intent and do not just boil down to a simple signing of the safety policy. A reinforcement strategy is for all board members to hold a weekly conference call where plant managers are required to discuss incidents occurring in the previous week, root cause analysis results, corrective actions, best practices, etc. At plant/operation levels, morning meetings should be held to discuss any and all pressing safety issues. Effectiveness assessments are held with 360 reviews of managers, an organizational wide safety climate survey and further diagnostics around organizational systems.

[2] Putting a robust Risk or Safety management system in place encompassing (but not limited to) preventive maintenance, operation procedures, inspections, permit to work systems, safety talks, Safety committees, risk assessments, near miss reporting, training, management of change, risk management plans, etc. In terms of effectiveness, the monitoring focus is primarily on incident rates (lagging indicators), safety surveys, and Gap Analyses via Internal Audit functions (leading Indicators).

[3] Education & Awareness: Providing safety leadership training so that safety leadership becomes a corporate value. Effectiveness assessment of the training strategy revolves around employees visibly observing the leadership commitment to a safe workplace, and leaders in the organization being more knowledgeable on safety with line management accepting safety responsibilities. However, a comment was made that realistically education is not effective for more than a few days post course. This implies that some type of monitoring system is required to ensure attendees are held accountable for demonstrating the behaviors taught (leading Indicator).

[4] Encouraging the management team (from the most senior down) to exhibit visible leadership commitment to a safe workplace. This visible demonstration appears to take the form of chairing of safety meetings, ownership of the SMS (i.e. conducting risk assessments, investigating accidents), involvement in quarterly reviews & training, two-way dialogues about safety, going around site, looking around and talking with people. Effectiveness is assessed by monitoring the number and quality of managerial observations / conversations (leading Indicator). Again, this implies that some type of robust, but easily accessible tracking system is required to monitor the outcomes of the observations and discussions.

Benefits of an OHSMS

• helping create safer work environments
• reducing injuries and injury-related costs – by pre-empting injuries, employers save money on medical expenses, the injured employee’s wages, insurance claim excesses, replacement labour and increased workers’ compensation insurance premiums
• improving business opportunities – many companies have preferentia
• l purchasing policies that favour purchasing products or services from companies with an OHSMS
• providing measurable systems that can verify OHS performance
• demonstrating you are meeting legal requirements
• meet moral requirements as leaders – how would you feel if there was a workplace death, and you hadn’t been doing everything possible to prevent incidents?
• enhancing the organisation’s reputation
• worlds best practice and benchmarking

Research shows that there are clear links between good OHS management systems and long-term business efficiency.

ABS – 2000 – 2006

Sedentary v High Risk Industries

Decrease in incidents – those forced to implement OHS system (High Risk)

Increase in incidents – sedentary occupations

Avoid Penalties against the OHS Act
Penalties for breaches of the Occupational Health & Safety Act 2004 were substantially increased. The maximum penalties are now $943,290* for companies and $188,658* for individuals.

26(1) Person who manages or controls a workplace failing to ensure the workplace is safe. $188,658 – individual $943,290 – body corporate Indictable offence triable summarily

WHAT IS REQUIRED AND HOW WILL IT LOOK

Commitment form all levels and functions, especially senior management

Enable achievement of the highest levels of OHS Performance

• Sets out OHS policy and objectives
• Establishes, assesses and reviews the effectiveness of procedures
• Achieves conformance with the OHS policy and objectives
• Demonstrates conformance to others

OHS Policy

OHS Plan

IMPLEMENTATION

Measurement and Evaluation

Review

Continuous Improvement

HOW WILL OHS&HR MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS HELP?

Gap Analysis

Developing and Implementation Plan

Allocating and auditing against responsibilities

Building on / refining current system

Training / Meetings / Tracking the Plan / culture building activities

Preparing documentation for audits

WHAT WILL CHANGE

Policy is there, procedures are there –

Do they cover all areas required by AS 4801?

• A plan – Set targets / allocated responsibilities
• Measuring success PPIs
• Audits – Internal / External
• Procedural implementation
• Are they implemented?
• Are people working under procedures, if not why not
• Do they know what they are
• Are they practical
• Ultimately: Cultural change – like seatbelts

WHAT SHOULD THE CULTURE LOOK LIKE?

The change in culture that we want to bring about will be defined by;

Reporting Culture –
where staff and contactors seek to report unsafe conditions, near misses and any concerns they have about safety.
encourage to report the good with the bad.
Just Culture –
where people promote safety rather than allocating blame or punishment for reporting errors (incidents / near misses / safety breaches)
Learning Culture –
a Learning Culture will allow people to understand and comfortably question safety procedures and requirements
Think Safety Culture -
The first thought before starting a new task – is this safe, what do we need to do to make this safe, we are not starting until it is
All in this together Culture -
Everyone cares for each others safety and understands the role they play. Top to bottom.
Leading by Example Culture -
Critical leaders are identified, OHS competencies known and measured, practice what they preach

HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE

18 months – 2 years for AS4801

Milestone half way – SafetyMAP Initial Level?