Conference to explore the duty to consult

The Safety In Action Conference, to be held in Melbourne, Australia, has devoted a special interest stream to explore the new duty to consult under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act.

The new duty to consult under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act came into effect this year (2006), but just how will it be played out in the workplace? The Safety In Action Conference, to be held from 16 - 18 May 2006 in Melbourne, Australia, has devoted a special interest stream to explore just that.

Among the conference's 100 local and international speakers are WorkSafe's John Merritt and Heather Baker-Goldsmith, who will detail the regulator's approach.

In the lead up to the conference, we spoke to both of them and, to provide a hands-on perspective, the management and staff of Bulla Dairy Foods.

"Across the western world, it's no longer enough to simply enforce laws.

In order to get broad change, the community must have confidence in the regulator's work," Mr Merritt said.

"Employers and unions are aware that WorkSafe has approached the introduction of the new Act in a very constructive way.

Likewise with the new requirement to consult we're trying to educate the community so that it understands the law, but also that there is value in doing it.

To promote the changes, WorkSafe has run a high profile marketing campaign that includes direct mail, road shows and television advertisements and will run free daily lunchtime seminars at Safety In Action.

Regular surveys of 1000 Victorians at a time conducted by the regulator to track its performance will gauge the effectiveness of the consultation education campaign.

"It's early days yet, but we're surveying employers and workers to see how well they're talking to each other about health and safety," Mr Merritt said.

"I'll present the results of research on consultation levels and WorkSafe's own performance at the Safety In Action Conference." WorkSafe acting director, strategy and program division, Heather Baker-Goldsmith, said that although consultation was already widespread, its inclusion in the new Act was important.

"The value of consultation is generally not recognised and the requirement under the Act will not only make it broader but entrench it further in workplace cultures," she said.

"Most people agree that consultation is part of good business practice but want to know how the consultation provision will affect them.

In practice, it's not as onerous as people might think." Ms Baker Goldsmith said WorkSafe inspectors would take a common-sense approach to the enforcement of consultation duties.

"If something goes wrong and a hazard needs to be dealt with immediately, clearly you need to act to solve the problem first and then go back and consult with people later," she said.

"Similarly, the Act imposes an obligation to consult with directly affected employees but there is no expectation that you are going to be able to speak with people while they're on annual leave." Not all workplaces waited for the Act to come into force before making consultation part of their safety management.

Colac's Regal Cream Products (trading as Bulla Dairy Foods) considers consultation "paramount" to its operations, according to OHS manager Joanne Blurton.

"We consult because it makes good business sense," Ms Blurton said.

"We believe everybody should be treated as a reasonable employee and, if you make people part of the process when you're introducing changes, everything works more smoothly." "Most good ideas come from the people operating the equipment, not from management, and the ideas that help us get the best from our factories need to be nurtured." Bulla health and safety representatives Mick Morrissy and Mark Lugg agree.

"To me, consultation is key," Mr Morrissy said.

"When you involve people, more eyes get to see the problem and you get a better result.

Everyone's ideas are looked at seriously and discussed at meetings, and then we go back and let them know the outcome.

It's important to make people feel good about it or no more ideas will come." Both felt the attitude of management was critical to the success of consultation.

"It works because Bulla's management is willing to give you information, point you in the right direction and help you get things done," Mr Lugg said.

"Joanne is the driving force behind it," Mr Morrissy added.

"She's very approachable and that's what you need.

You don't want a 'traffic cop' doing the job." Ms Blurton said that while Bulla's safety culture was very strong, some managers did have reservations about the impact of consultation requirements.

"One of our managers voiced concerns about dealing with all the ideas but it's about managing everyone's expectations and putting systems in place to deal with it and yes, we're still working on some of those.

It's harder to consult with people on night shift, for example, but we've learned the importance of having several methods of consultation to suit different areas," she said.

Bulla has regular health and safety committee meetings, promotes one on one discussions between management and machine operators, holds short 'down tools' meetings, circulates regular newsletters and bulletins, and allocates health and safety representatives blocks of time to consult with workers.

Bulla also sent its team of 22 health and safety representatives to the Safety In Action and Materials and Manual Handling trade show last year.

"Taking the reps to Safety In Action last year proved to be a great way to get staff involved," Ms Blurton said.

"I can't begin to tell you how much ownership they've taken since they came back from the show.

I could talk all day about the impact it had - just giving people the opportunity to get out of the workplace and investigate solutions for themselves." Extending the philosophy of consultation even further, Bulla Dairy Foods invites other Colac businesses to discuss safety, which Ms Blurton says has led to valuable cross pollination of ideas.

The last word on consultation though, belongs to Bulla's health and safety representatives.

Consultation means people are more satisfied and do the job better," Mr Lugg said.

" "If people are listened to, they're happy to do the right thing," Mr Morrissy added.

"We've got a lot of long term staff here because people like working at Bulla and the ones who leave for greener pastures are often back very quickly.

You might be able to get another dollar per hour somewhere else but you might have your leg cut off too." The dedicated consultation stream at the Safety In Action Conference will examine how best to leverage input from across the workplace, compliance with the new Act, and case studies on its impacts on productivity and safety.

The Safety In Action Conference will be held from Tuesday 16 to Thursday 18 May 2006 at the Melbourne Convention Centre, while its partner trade show runs concurrently at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre, Australia.

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