Every worker deserves a safe and healthy workplace.  The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) fundamentals is focused on keeping staff safe and healthy at work. Every worker has a right to a safe and healthy working environment, no matter what.

National Safe Work Month, held annually in October, encourages all individuals and organisations to prioritise work health and safety and take preventative action to reduce the number of work-related injuries, illnesses and fatalities. National Safe Work Month is a time for employers and workers across Australia commit to creating safe and healthy workplaces. The theme for National Safe Work Month 2024 is “Safety is everyone’s business.”

OHS is essential for any business or organisation. It is a system of practices, procedures, and strategies that help employers protect workers from workplace hazards. At Northern Health, OHS fundamentals helps us to consider health and safety in everything we do and every decision we make. Our OHS systems includes, proactively managing OHS risks, genuinely consulting with workers and providing education and training on safety procedures to understand the importance of workplace safety.

The OHS & Wellbeing team got back to basics by unpacking the fundamentals of good OHS practice in our Mental Health Inpatient Unit on Ward 8.

The Northern Health OHS team and Ward 8 Senior Management team acted on concerns from staff, HSR’s and managers about stress, anxiety and burnout. Staff retention was down and sick days had gone up. The organisation has good processes for managing physical OHS risks, including worker consultation. However, the consultative forums and risk management practices could be improved to better manage psychosocial and physical hazards on the ward.

A local workplace consultative group forum consisting of Ward 8 senior management team, staff, HSR and OHS was established to unpack the fundamentals of OHS.

These are the responses from Ward 8 staff about the consultation sessions:

• “It was great to feel heard and someone was in our corner focussing on staff safety.”
• “They were helpful – moving forward being able to identify similar patterns and putting strategies in earlier works.”
• “Developing safety huddles, management plans, debriefs happening in good time since early this year.”
• “Provided a safe space to vent.”
• “Acknowledged how we felt.”

“From a management perspective it provided me with a framework to build upon,” said Alexia Sheldon, Acting Clinical Nurse Leader, Ward 8.

Pradeep Chandravathy, Clinical Nurse Educator Ward 8, said, “During the consultation sessions on Ward 8, staff had the opportunity to discuss their concerns and felt well-supported by the team. This feedback is based on input from various staff members who attended the sessions.”

Michael Sadkiewicz, HSR Ward 8, said, “Regarding the OHS consultation, there have been many changes on the ward following the meetings, including the reimplementation of safe wards and the designation of the safe ward, ‘champions,’ to head a different domain each month and fortnightly meetings of the safer for all work group.”

Casey O’Brien, Senior Psychologist People & Culture, OHS & Wellbeing, said, “In addition to the workplace factors impacting the team, we spent time empowering them to also support their individual wellbeing, especially when there were circumstances they did not have influence or control over.”

“We did this through promoting a holistic discussion about all aspects of their wellbeing, including  emotional, physical, social, spiritual and occupational. We also encouraged them to support each other by sharing strategies they use to cope with the demands of the work, and to seek professional support when needed,” Casey continued.

Let’s keep workers safe and healthy by ensuring OHS is core to how we do business at Northern Health. Safety is my business, your business, our business.

Featured image: Ward 8 staff.