Appendix J – Occupational health and safety

Work was completed during the year to review the Department’s occupational health and safety (OH&S) policies, as part of the Workplace Injury Prevention and Management Strategy. Further work was also undertaken to analyse the nature of DVA’s workers’ compensation claims and to devise new strategies to assist in establishing lower rates and severity of injuries and associated costs. The initiatives will be undertaken throughout 2006-07.

Activities undertaken during 2005-06 aimed at providing a safe and healthy workplace and preventing workplace injury included:

initiating an inaugural human resources practitioners conference about compensation and OH&S;
establishing an internal compensation case managers network;
providing influenza vaccinations;
providing hepatitis vaccinations for first aid officers;
providing free, confidential counselling for staff and their families through the Employee Assistance Program; and
undertaking health promotion activities, including,
- The Staff Wellness program in Western Australia, which incorporates a monthly calendar of healthy activities. Each month carries a new event which staff are encouraged to participate; and.
- The Health and Well-being Month program in New South Wales, which incorporates an exercise program, lunchtime walks, health assessments and various seminars.

Performance measure: Our workplace—occupational health and safety

A total of 45 new workers compensation claims were lodged in 2005-06. The total cost of these claims was $142 274 as at 30 June 2006. This represents a decrease of approximately 53 per cent on the cost of new claims for 2004-05, which was $270 603 as at 30 June 2005. This change is largely due to the number of workers’ compensation claims that were less than $2 000 (53 per cent of the total number of claims) and were active for a short period.

DVA’s workers compensation insurance premium for 2005-06 was $3.5 million, including GST, compared to $2.6 million, including GST, in 2004-05. This was primarily because of the agency’s claim frequency, average claim costs and overall claim trends. The Department is putting in place strategies to reduce its Comcare premium.