Professor David Caple
Details coming soon
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 11 September 2023. When booking, please ensure you select the September Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.
Dr Marilyn Hubner
Some recent research findings in OHS and their relevance in the workplace will be discussed by Dr Marilyn Hubner in a presentation to Central Safety Group on Tuesday, 14 November.
Marilyn is Manager of OHS Body of Knowledge (OHS BoK) with the Australian Institute of Health & Safety (AIHS), which publishes collective knowledge that should be shared by generalist OHS professionals.
A leading professional in safety education and training, Marilyn promotes the importance of safety professionals being engaged in evidence-based research and applying it in their workplace programs.
Her talk will be followed by questions and discussion.
Note: OHS BoK has recently released Chapter 39.1: The OHS professional as a ‘critical consumer’ of research.
About the speaker:
Dr Marilyn Hubner has been developing and delivering safety training programs for over 20 years, and was appointed OHS Body of Knowledge Manager with the AIHS in January 2023.
Marilyn’s background includes Managing Director of Buildup Research, and eight years as National Research and Training Support Co-ordinator for the National Safety Council of Australia (NSCA). She has also been an Awards Judge with NSCA for the past 11 years.
Marilyn’s PhD thesis, completed in 2016 from Victoria University, is titled “Constructing Safety Training: Foundations of Attitudes and Perceptions of the Construction Site Supervisor”.
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 13 November 2023. When booking, please ensure you select the November Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.
Amy Lynes
Retail workers are currently confronted by a trend of rising bad behaviour from customers, manifest as frustration, anti-social behaviour and aggression, which is affecting employees’ workplace safety and wellbeing.
This issue will be discussed in a presentation on 11 July by Amy Lynes, Senior Workplace Relations Consultant with the National Retail Association (NRA).....read more
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 May 2023. When booking, please ensure you select the July Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.
Site Visit: Victorian Tunnelling Centre
Numbers limited -book early to secure your place.
Site Visit -Victorian Tunnelling Centre
The Victorian Tunnelling Centre (VTC) at Holmesglen Institute’s Drummond Street campus in Chadstone offers specialist training to workers in the construction and operation of a variety of tunnels including rail, road, and utilities tunnels.....read more
Note: RSVP by close of business Friday 9 June 2023. When booking, please ensure you select the June Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.
We have been very pleased to welcome WorkSafe Victoria as a Corporate Member this year and now to have one of their HSR Support Officers, Mike Craig, present to us. The feeling was clearly mutual, because Mike sent a thank you note to the organisers and attendees saying "[There was] some lovely feedback from the participants and some great questions from the audience at the end. Please pass along my thanks to all and sundry."
It is clearly a topic of great interest to our membership, as there was a big turnout for this presentation. It was particulalry timely for some of those present, because they had either just conducted HSR training in their workplace or were about to do so. In fact, it was great to see some HSRs from Amsterdam Polytechnic in the audience.
Mike sees HSRs as WorkSafe's eyes and ears on the ground, and so it is a three-way partnership between HSRs, the employer and the regulator. He outlined the powers of HSRs, both what they can do and what they can't do. It is important to point out that they are not a replacement for a safety professional. He made the analogy with First Aiders, who are not required to do more than they are trained to do, but are a first port of call prior to the arrival of paramedics.
One of Mike's key messages about his role as an HSR support officer is that his main purpose is to support consultation in workplaces. Indeed, with consultation and representation being principles of health and safety protection under the Act, HSRs and Health & Safety Committees are vital links in the safety chain.
Mike also mentioned a range of supports available to HSRs from WorkSafe, including a monthly newsletter to which he encourages HSRs subscribe.
Mike's talk stimulated quite a bit of discussion, which is included in the video recording.
Financial members may be interested to read a report from Professor David Caple's presentation in August 2012 What additional support can WorkSafe provide for Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs)? (log in first) to gain an historical perspective and see what progress has been made since David's review.
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Mike Craig
Health And Safety Representatives (HSRs), elected to represent their fellow employees, along with workplace Health and Safety Committees can make an important difference to workplace safety culture and outcomes.
Mike Craig, Health and Safety Representative Support Officer with WorkSafe Victoria, will discuss how Safety Managers can assist in making these workplace safety roles and relationships as productive and constructive as possible in a lunchtime CSG presentation on 9 May....read more
Note: RSVP by close of business Monday 8 May 2023. When booking, please ensure you select the May Event from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP.
There are so many people to thank for the past and continuing success of Central Safety Group after more than 60 years of existence: an impressive roll call of volunteers who have run the group; expert speakers who have shared their knowledge freely; and loyal members who have supported us.
All of this was celebrated last October at our special lunch at Parliament House Victoria. I think the joyous atmosphere that day was enhanced by the fact that it was the first time we had all seen each other in person for more than two years. The networking side to CSG was on show and embraced enthusiastically -some of those connections have borne fruit already. Helen O'Keefe offered the use of her Board Room for our monthly events now that we have moved to a hybrid format -it is a great venue and Helen's generous sponsorship means that we are able to use it free of charge. Several people also offered to be presenters / source speakers / host site visits and we have already had a couple of those speakers this year -more to come.
We were honoured to have Dr Narelle Beer, Executive Director of Health and Safety, WorkSafe Victoria attend and give the keynote address. We welcomed Narelle's commitment on behalf of WorkSafe Victoria to maintain ties with our group, which has been put into practice with WorkSafe Victoria becoming one of three Corporate Members that have joined CSG in 2023.
There were many other highlights of the day, including David Caple AM as MC, and Barry Naismith from OHS Intros giving a fascinating overview of the history of OHS in Victoria. Our longest-serving president, Ollie Matthews, was honoured for his 22 years of service to the group (1998-2022). He had flown in from South Australia for the day, interrupting a holiday in SA & NT!
A scrapbook was handed around with documents and photos gathered over the years, which are forming part of a history being written by our Membership Co-ordinator. If you have any memories or achival material you would like to contribute to this project, please conatct Marina via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
I asked our current President, Nan Austin, for her reflections on the event and the future of CSG. She said: "Emerging from the Covid-19 pandemic, the CSG Committee confidently proceeded with plans to celebrate our 60 years of monthly discussions on workplace safety with a luncheon at the Victorian Parliament House Dining Room in October 2022. This event was all the more poignant with the recent closure of the Western Safety Group as the only other Victorian regional industrial safety group established under the Department of Labour still operating. Our history is displayed in our formal bank account name as the Central District Industrial Safety Group. I thank all our members, speakers and especially committee members who have supported CSG over these years. We are now planning a strategic review to ensure our continued relevance in the fast evolving sphere of workplace safety. We look forward to your contributions to this activity and our ongoing monthly events. We also welcome your reflections on our past, present and future."
For those who missed it, or others who would like to re-live this special occasion, we have produced a memorable package. There were a few technical challenges on the day, including our original plan for filming the speakers. However, our wonderful secretary Heather Turner saved the day by filming it with her phone and, while it will not be nominated for an Academy Award, it certainly captures the atmosphere well.
Financial members can view it here (log in first)
It was a packed event in May including many first-time attendees, all of us eager to hear Claire Nivarovich. We were rewarded with a very interesting and practical presentation.
WorkSafe statistics show that only 54% of workers have returned to work 6 months after mental injury; by 2 years, 38% still have not returned to work. They also show that mental injury claims have been increasing steadily across all workplaces over the last 4 years.
As a result WorkSafe has been targeting initiatives to assist vulnerable workers and employers. These range from reducing the time to asses claims and creating videos and guidance notes to developing an online toolkit: Workwell Toolkit
Claire guided us through the toolkit, showing us how a dashboard can be tailored to the user and how to access a wealth of information. There are resources to deal with a wide range of situations; these include ways to implement prevention practices in your workplace. Claire's unit did a road test of the kit to ensure it offers practical and easily accessible advice.
Claire ended her talk with a call to action to those present: they are keen to receive feedback from employers, so give the toolkit a go!
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We had something special in July. The group enjoyed hearing a WorkSafe Inspector’s-eye view from speaker Les Cameron, who has worked in that role for over 20 years.
Les also gave a run-down on some current priorities and events happening at WorkSafe Victoria, including this year’s relocation of its Amsterdam CBD head office with several hundred roles to Geelong.
Of particular interest to the audience was Les’s account of some of the problems he’d inspected, where lack of attention to small details had led to major incidents. In other examples, he showed how careless practices or ignoring the rules had put sites in serious danger. He also talked about some WorkSafe intervention programs currently being tested.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide the presentation from this meeting. If you want to make sure you don't miss out on any of our great speakers, put the second Tuesday of the month in your calendar and come along to our meetings.
View Other Presentations from 2018
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Les Cameron, WorkSafe Inspector, WorkSafe Victoria.
Things have been happening at WorkSafe Victoria, including the relocation this year of its head office along with several hundred roles from Amsterdam CBD to Geelong.
This and other current changes, projects and priorities at WorkSafe will be outlined by seasoned WorkSafe Inspector Les Cameron in a lunchtime presentation on 10 July.
Les will also have something to say about his work on the front line, discussing incidents and some new intervention programs now being tested.
Questions, comments and discussion will be welcome during the session.
Note: When booking for the Event, please ensure you select the July Meeting from the dropdown list (shaded orange), to RSVP to this meeting.
