The Barriers that Need to be Overcome to Improve the Health and Safety of Australian Workplaces

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The Barriers that Need to be Overcome to Improve
the Health and Safety of Australian Workplaces

• .

International Network of Safety and Health
Practitioner Organisations
EurOSHM Phil Lovelock, B.App.Sci. (OHE),
M.App.Sci. (OH), Grad. Dip. Risk Management,
Grad. Cert. Mgmt. CFSIA, CFIOSH, Professional
Member ASSE.SIA Representative and President,
INSHPO
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Intro to INSHPO?

• International Network of Safety and Health
  Practitioner Organisations (INSHPO)
• What is it?
• What does it do?
• What is its purpose?
• The INSHPO goal for OHS Professionals
• The SIA as an INSHPO Member

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Current INSHPO Members

• KISA South Korea
• KOSHA South Korea
• NACOT Russia
• NEBOSH UK
• NZISM New Zealand
• SIA Australia
• SISO Singapore
• BCSP - USA

• AIAS Italy
• ASSE USA
• COSHA China
• CSSE Canada
• IFAP Australia
• IOSH UK
• IOSHM Mauritius
• BCRSP - Canada

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What are the barriers that need to be overcome to
improve the health and safety of Australian
workplaces?
The AIM and SIA Business of Safety Survey 2011
asked
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The Survey

• Conducted in February 2011 was the second in the
  series.
• The first survey was conducted in 2010.
• Results of the survey presented at Safety In
  Action in Melbourne earlier this year.
• All survey questions were mandatory and
  incomplete surveys were not used in the survey
  analysis.
• 3,141 responses were used for comparison.
• Businesses survey varied from 1 4 employees to
  5001 or more.

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Survey Results

• Key findings
• In many Australian organisations, top level
  management and specialist safety personnel are in
  significant disagreement when it comes to
  evaluating performance and priorities on
  workplace health and safety.
• A great number of occupational health and safety
  personnel have been insufficiently trained in the
  management and leadership disciplines necessary
  to drive improvements on workplace health and
  safety.

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Findings a significant concern

• The findings are a significant concern for both
  the AIM and the SIA.
• The provision of a safe and healthy workplace
  should be the most important priority for every
  employer.
• Organisations cannot hope to attract, develop and
  retain the key personnel needed to boost its
  profits and its performance if its workplace
  health and safety is second rate.

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The first survey question

• In your view, what level of priority does your
  organisation place on health and safety in the
  workplace?
• The responses were disappointing in that 77 of
  CEOs and Board members said that health and
  safety is a very high priority while only 38 of
  OHS personnel agreed.
• CEOs and Board members were more confident in
  2011 about the priority levels of health and
  safety than they were in 2010.
• OHS personnel were less confident about the
  priority of health and safety in their
  organisations than they were in 2010.

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32 questions general results

• The disagreement between top level management and
  OHS personnel continued
• 50 of CEOs said they strongly agreed their
  organisation had a strongly entrenched OHS
  culture only 18 of OHS personnel agreed.
• When asked if top level management walked the
  talk when it comes to OHS, 88 of CEOs and 70
  of senior managers said yes only 47 of OHS
  personnel agreed.

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How can this gap exist? How can we address the
huge difference?

• The answer lies in the contrasting skill sets of
  top level management and OHS specialists.
• Only 41 of OHS personnel have participated in
  management/leadership training.
• Training needed includes
• Leading innovation and change
• Strategic planning and
• Managing people and performance.

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Addressing the difference 2

• To continue to improve workplace health and
  safety outcomes in Australia, organisations
• Will need to truly integrate OHS into their
  management framework
• Must ensure the technical skill sets of OHS
  specialists are matched with appropriate
  management and leadership capabilities and
• This approach should allow for top level OHS
  managers to be seated at the executive decision
  making table.

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Action by INSHPO

• As President of INSHPO, one of my goals for 2012
  is to have all INSHPO members distribute the
  AIM/SIA annual Business of Safety Survey to
  Business owners, CEOs Senior managers and OHS
  personnel of organisations in their respective
  countries.
• This will give us all a truly international
  perspective on the links between health and
  safety in workplaces and corporate performance
  around the world.
• It will also give us new perspectives on how to
  overcome the barriers that exist wherever we live
  and work.
• References The Business Safety Survey, 2010 and
  the Business of Safety Survey, 2011. Both can be
  downloaded from www.sia.org.au.
• Thankyou any questions?