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Defence Personnel Executive

Getting serious

Side story: Designing to win |

By Felix Pirie

Key OHS priorities

  1. Reduce high incidence and high severity risks to people's health.
  2. Improve prevention of occupational illness and disease.
  3. Reduce the impact of occupational injury, illness and disease.
  4. Improve Defence's capability to systematically manage OHS.
  5. Improve the quality of OHS information available to decision-makers at all levels.
  6. Improve the capacity of leaders and staff to identify and manage hazards effectively.
  7. Improve the identification, elimination and management of hazards at the design and planning stages.
  8. Strengthen the capacity of Defence to influence the OHS performance of contractors.

The Defence OHS Strategic Plan 2004-06 has hit the streets. In the December edition, we announced that the plan had been distributed to the Senior Leadership Group. The plan has now been released for use in all Defence working environments and it will assist in providing better OHS outcomes for us all.

Make no mistake - Defence is serious about OHS. The plan will enable an improvement in capability and readiness by providing a framework within which Defence aims to eliminate preventable injuries and work-related illness. This is a fundamental change in the approach to OHS management for Defence - moving away from a compliance-based approach a strategic approach.

The compliance approach emphasised legislation as the main motivator for improving OHS performance. The new strategic approach has significant benefits for Defence because it "recognises and emphasises the importance of OHS in delivering long-term Defence capability requirements," according to the acting Director-General, Occupational Health, Safety and Compensation Branch, Steve Grzeskowiak.

This first edition of the plan forms part of a longer 10 year OHS change program for Defence - and its implementation has already commenced. The current iteration of the plan sets out the key Defence priority areas for OHS improvement.

Mr Grzeskowiak says that "there is a clear link between the application of good OHS practices in organisations and organisational performance.

"The Strategic Plan is Defence's way of ensuring that our OHS performance continues to improve.

"The fact that the Defence Committee signed the Statement of Commitment for the plan re-enforces the importance of excellent excellent OHS management to all our people and to our business success."

The Defence OHS Committee (DOHSC) has endorsed a program approach to managing the implementation of the priorities in the plan. This approach is being co-ordinated by OHSC Branch, which is providing support for the progression of specific targeted projects that are endorsed by the DOHSC.

The plan provides value to all Defence workplaces. It should be used to promote discussion on OHS matters. These discussions should occur in executive-level meetings, as standing items in Branch/Section meetings, in OHS Committee meetings or even in the lunchroom.

Mr Grzeskowiak also says that 'despite the fact that the Strategic Plan is largely written in terms suitable to its whole-of- Defence purpose, it provided a basis for specific workplace discussions.

Discussions might include questions such as: which priorities are relevant to our workplace and what are we doing about them and how are we performing against the Key Performance Indicators relevant to our workplace and what can we do to improve that performance?

Felix Pirie was the communications manager for Occupational Health Safety and Compensation Branch, DPE.

For further information:
http://ohsc.defence.gov.au/Publications/ohsstrategicplan.htm, or your Group Safety Co-ordinator.

Putting safety into action

The Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) is a professional body whose members are employed in a diverse range of occupations that include safety, occupational health, occupational hygiene, ergonomics and management.

The Safety In Action Conference is an annual activity convened by the Federal Executive of the SIA in conjunction with the Victorian Worksafe Authority.

The conference is a major forum for safety professionals. The next Safety In Action Conference will be held in Melbourne from March 21 to 23, 2005.

The SIA has invited Defence to provide a full stream of presentations on day two of the conference. This is recognition of the unique challenges faced by Defence in the safety arena, and the significant achievements that it is making in OHS management.

The Defence Stream will be opened by a keynote address from Rear Admiral Brian Adams, HDPE. Presentations will include topics such as the Defence OHS Strategic Plan and the systems approach to achieving cultural OHS change, as well as the Keep Navy Safe program.

Other highlights include presentations on hazard management - an area where Defence is making great improvements -treatment rehabilitation as well as contractors and OHS in Defence.

This is a unique opportunity for Defence people to learn about the significant improvements Defence is making, as well as an opportunity to network and exchange ideas and knowledge about safety.

Other streams over the course of the conference include aviation safety, workplace culture and OHS, risk management and workplace health & safety for managers and supervisors.

For further information:
natadmin@sia.org.au.

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Designing to win

Photograph, caption follows

Creative talents: GDP Marketing team members Leigh Richards and Marie Hart with their National 2004 Graduate Recruitment award for printed lIterature and the two winning booklets. Photo by Louise Butcher, Defence magazine

By Louise Butcher

Defence personnel responsible for designing two Defence Graduate Development Program (GDP) booklets have won an award for excellence.

Leigh Richards and Marie Hart, from the GDP marketing team found out they had won the National 2004 Graduate recruitment award for printed literature after it was announced at the Australian Association of Graduate Employers Annual Conference, held recently in Melbourne.

The award was presented by the president of the National Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, Joanne Tyler. Director Leadership Development Margot Kropinski-Myers received the award on behalf of the GDP team.

Marketing manager Leigh Richards says the GDP team were delighted with the win, after finding out the good news via SMS from a GDP team member at the conference.

"This award is a really good thing that has happened out of a really busy year," she says.

This is not the first time that the GDP has been recognised for their work. Earlier this year, Head Defence Personnel Executive Rear Admiral Brian Adams presented the GDP Marketing team with certificates, recognising their outstanding contribution to the development of the new graduate program image, from concept to implementation.

Assistant marketing manager Marie Hart says for the most recent award, the team aimed to create a booklet that would give graduates information on what the GDP program is all about, how to apply for the program and how to apply for Defence public service jobs. The booklet is handed out at career workshops, universities and career information centres.

"The booklet basically goes through information about how to apply for a public service job, outlining what the different types of selection criteria are and what employers are looking for in a graduate. The other half of the booklet discusses what an assessment centre is and what types of activities you may encounter. It gives candidates hints about how to prepare for an assessment centre."

The booklet is produced every year, but never stays exactly the same, evolving to include new or changed information for graduates. The GDP marketing team produced the content for the booklet and a graphic designer from Defence Publications, Josephine Lamech, assisted in the layout and design. The booklet was entirely produced in-house with no external advice provided.

A large number of employers from both the private and public sectors also entered the competition. Entries were scrutinised for immediate and overall impact, content, clarity, attractiveness and ease of use.

Two other awards were presented at the conference. Shell Australia won both the Best Web Design Award and the Will Spensley Award for Innovation.

For further information:
www.defence.gov.au/dpe/gdp |
graduate.program@defence.gov.au
1800 020 303

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