< Prev Next >

Work health and safety

In 2013–14, the management and promotion of safety at work continued to be a major focus. This involved taking responsibility for the health, safety and wellbeing of workers and others impacted by business actions. This has been supported by Prevention First, a professional and comprehensive WHS management system. This included working collaboratively with contractors across the business to improve WHS management. The National WHS committee, contractor advisory group and staff advisory group have also been key forums to promote the identification and management of WHS risk.

Major WHS achievements for 2013–14 included:

establishing specific KPIs to support the monitoring of WHS performance
introducing the total recordable injury frequency rate (the total number of injuries x 200,000 / number of hours worked by all employees = injury rate) as the primary indicator
the review and subsequent redevelopment of contractor WHS management processes and
the development and implementation of e-learning WHS modules for staff and contractors.

Incident reporting

Changes in the management of WHS resulted in improvements to the system used to monitor and report on WHS performance, as well as enhancements to incident reporting.

Despite an increase in the number of incidents reported, there have been fewer staff related incidents in 2013–14 compared with the number in 2012–13. The financial year closed with a staff total recordable injury frequency rate of 16.33, an excellent outcome by industry standards.

Figure 6: All work health and safety incidents as at 30 June 2014

Figure six shows the number of work health and safety incidents as at 30 June 2014. There were 63 incidents involving employees, 36 involving contractors and five involving tenants.

A total of 114 incidents was reported in 2013–14. However, after assessment the number of confirmed WHS incidents reduced to 104.

Staff were involved in 63 incidents with 20% of these reportable to the regulator, Comcare. Contractors were involved in 36 incidents with 47% of these reportable to the regulator. Tenants were involved in five incidents with three of these reportable to the regulator.

Figure 7: Employee work health and safety incidents as at 30 June 2014

Figure seven shows the number of employee work health and safety incidents as at 30 June 2014. In 2013–14 there were 63 incidents, in 2012–13 there were 69 incidents and in 2011–12 there were 65 incidents.

Workers compensation

Seven workers compensation claims were accepted in 2013–14. Of these, two claims were for injuries sustained in previous financial years. One of the five claims was for a minor burn and the other four were musculoskeletal injuries.

WHS directions, notices and investigations

No directions, notices or investigations under the Work Health and Safety Act were conducted or given to the business in 2013–14.

Corporate lease arrangements

DHA has a presence in 22 locations across Australia. In 2013–14 DHA:

entered into lease arrangements for two new offices
negotiated three new office leases for existing locations and
exercised a further term for one office.