Labor Council of NSW Annual Report 2002 | |
Mary Yaager, Workers Compensation and Occupational
Health and Safety
Coordinator
| Mary Yaager |
|  |
| Workers Compensation and Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator |
Mary retained her responsibilities for the coordination and development of
Labor Council’s policies on:
- Workers compensation
- Rehabilitation
- Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
- Youth Occupational Health and Safety
In addition to this,
Mary also retained the responsibility for coordinating organising campaigns in
Rural and Regional areas.
Development of Training Packages
The Labor Council received
government funding through the WorkCover Legislative
Assist Funding Program to assist unions to educate their delegates and
members on the recent reforms to workers compensation and occupational health
and safety. Mary developed a number of generic and comprehensive training
modules on workers compensation for unions to adapt and roll out in their
specific industry. The six separate modules were:
- What is workers compensation?
- Who and how workers are covered by compensation?
- Easy guide to benefits
- Easy guide to other entitlements, including rights to reinstatement
- Dispute resolution
- Easy guide to injury management.
In addition, Mary also
developed a separate condensed component of all of the above modules for unions
to use as a lunch and learn module.
Similarly through the WorkCover Legislative
Assist Funding Program Mary developed a number of comprehensive generic
training modules on occupational health and safety for unions to adapt to their
specific industry. The five separate modules were:
- Easy guide to the OHS Act 2000
- Easy Guide to the OHS Regulation 2001
- Risk Management
- Consultation
- Powers of authorised representatives of unions and
associations
In addition, Mary also developed a separate
component, which focused on how to use occupational health and safety as an
organising tool in the workplace.
Train the Trainer and Organising Around OHS
Workshops
After the training modules were developed and approved by WorkCover, Mary conducted a number
of Train the Trainer seminars for all union organisers.
Mary, with Labor Council Officers, Mark Morey,
Susan Sheather, Michael Gadiel and Rivet Media carried out a number of
‘Organising Around OHS’ workshops throughout the year for union
organisers and their delegates. Mary conducted these workshops in Orange,
Newcastle, Wollongong, Parkes, Tamworth, Wagga Wagga, Penrith, as well as
Sydney. Mary identified the potential for a number of hot OHS issues arising
out of these workshops and is working with a number of unions to pursue
organising opportunities.
OHS and Workers Compensation Booklets
Mary produced an easy guide for union representatives on workers compensation
and occupational health and safety in a pocket sized booklet.
The booklet
contains information on:
- How to make a claim
- Return to work rights and obligations
- What benefits an injured worker is entitled to
- Employers obligations on the Duty To Consult
- OHS Representatives and Committees
- Risk Assessments – identifying, assessing and controlling
- Employer’s and employees obligations
“Hands up for Safety” Leaflet
As from September the 1st 2002, under the new OHS laws workplaces
can elect individual safety representatives. The new OHS Regulation 2001
provides powers to unions to be part of the process and also to conduct the
election of these representatives. Mary therefore designed a leaflet for the
union organisers to use in their individual campaigns for recruiting members or
delegates to become OHS representatives.
Nurses OHS Campaign – “Let’s Care
for Ourselves too!”
After running an OHS Workshop in the Mid West of the State, Mary quickly
recognised the potential for an OHS campaign with the Nurses.
Labor Council Officers, Mark Morey and
Tara De Boehmler (Rivet Media) worked with Mary in conjunction with the Nurses Association to conduct OHS
campaign workshops for delegates in the Mid West Health in September 2002. This
involved delegates from all of the different hospitals and nursing homes in the
region. A number of workshops were held which involved the delegates developing
the campaign strategy and materials i.e. leaflets, surveys, flyers, petitions
and the campaign slogans. It also provided them with skills for dealing with the
media i.e. preparing media releases and a media strategy for the campaign. The
purpose was to build delegate structures and their confidence in organising and
campaigning.
During the workshops the delegates developed:
- The Campaign slogan “Lets care for ourselves too”.
- The Campaign strategy - to hold a weeklong OHS awareness week under the
slogan.
- A plan to get all nurses, patients and visitors to wear a badge in support
of the campaign.
- Material to be handed out to members about the campaign and asking them to
attend a workshop.
- A leaflet to be handed out to all patients during the campaign.
- A survey of the top five OHS issues in the individuals workplace.
- A media strategy for the whole week so that all the areas in the region were
covered.
The campaign was held in the week commencing the
21st of October and was a great success. The delegates ran the whole
campaign and the media coverage was sensational.
As a follow up Mary,
with other Labor Council Officers and our media unit, will compile a Campaign
Manual for unions to modify. The manual will include a collection of campaign
material, which has been developed by unions in campaigns.
Future OHS Campaigns
The feedback form the delegates was so positive that the Labor Council, with the Health Industry
Unions will run a number of OHS Campaigns throughout a number of different
regions in 2003.
Mary will also be working with other unions to identify
organising opportunities around OHS.
UnionSafe Logo
The Labor Council made a decision
that all occupational health and safety material should be branded with an
easily recognisable and marketable logo. Mary conducted a number of focus
groups comprising of union members and delegates to develop ideas for slogans.
The focus groups came up with a number of different slogans and these were then
tested with other focus groups, and the slogan developed by an MEU delegate “UNIONSAFE:
KNOW UNION, KNOW SAFETY, KNOW
LIVING” was overwhelmingly supported over any of the other
slogans.
The UnionSafe slogan was officially launched in September and
now all of the Labor Council’s OHS materials are using the
logo.
UnionSafe Website
As part of a WorkCover grant project, Labor Council has reconstructed our
occupational health and safety internet site, which sits alongside
LaborNET.
The reconstructed site now known as the UnionSafe website has been designed to
make delegates’ and union organisers’ job easier. The site caters
for workplace safety reps, OHS committee representatives, union officials and
trade union educators. In addition it has a special section for teachers and
students.
The site was built around the different jobs that go into
making a workplace safer and is designed to be like a web-based office. The
website really caters for regional based unionists allowing them to have quick
access to information and also the ability to download and distribute this vital
information.
UnionSafe Conference – 22nd November
2002
Mary organised the previously reported first ever Labor Council Safety
Conference for union delegates held in Penrith on the 22nd November
2002.
At the conference Mary arranged for the Minister for Industrial
Relations to present safety achievement awards to workplace delegates in
recognition of their contributions to safety in their workplace.
The
Secretary also officially launched the new OHS Website and the Resource Kit for
union delegates.
The highlight of the conference was when the delegates
gave their own accounts of how they had improved workplace safety, which gave
enormous encouragement and motivation to other delegates.
All of the
feedback from the conference was very positive with delegates requesting it
become an annual event and highlighting that it is a great opportunity for them
to network, share experiences and ideas and be provided with resources and
information to make their jobs easier.
Policies
The following policies were launched and distributed at the OHS conference at
Penrith. Feedback was requested from the delegates who attended and they will be
revised after the consultation and comment periods.
Bullying
Mary and other Labor Council Officers, Amanda Tattersall, Alison Peters &
Susan Sheather in conjunction with a number of unions and the Workers Health
Centre produced a number of fact sheets on workplace bullying.
The fact
sheets cover
- Definitions of workplace violence
- The effects
- What workers and unions can do
- How to prevent bullying in the workplace
- Cultural diversity
- Checklist for assessing bullying in the workplace.
Return to Work Program - Regulation
The Government reviewed the Regulation and the WorkCover Guidelines covering return
to work programs. Mary was successful in getting all of the issues, which were
raised by the unions addressed in the Regulation and Guidelines. The Regulation
and Guidelines clearly acknowledge the role of the union in this process and
that unions and employees must be consulted over return to work
program.
Mary, with the assistance of the Labor Council’s Workers
Compensation Committee has developed a model return to work policy
for unions and their delegates to use in negotiations with employer’s
regarding the return to work program. A number of affiliates have used the
policy in their negotiations and it has also been used to resolve disputes in
the Commission.
Drugs and Alcohol
Mary revised the Labor Councils
Guidelines on Alcohol and other Drugs in the workplace. The guidelines were
revised and turned into a number of user-friendly fact sheets on policy
principles. Each of the fact sheets can be used in developing individual
workplace policies and procedures.
Labor Council will also develop a
number of model policies for unions to adopt and modify. The Labor
Council’s Policy Guidelines have been referred to in a number of
industrial disputes.
‘Easy Guide to the Law’ Hazard Fact
Sheets
Mary with the assistance of our media unit, WorkCover and the Department of
Health has produced a number of easy guide fact sheets on the law on hazards and
also an A of Z of hazards. These are available on the UnionSafe website.
YouthSafe Resource Kit for TAFE
Mary in consultation with the Teachers Federation and the Independent
Education Union has produced an additional draft Occupational Health and Safety
Resource Kit for teachers to use. This will be piloted by delegates from the Teachers Federation and the IEU throughout 2003.
« Previous
| Highlights | Contents | Next »
Print version | Download PDF
|
About Unions NSW
