The Public Sector Commission is committed to providing and maintaining a safe, healthy and respectful working environment for staff, contractors and visitors.
We recognise that work health and safety practices are essential to public sector delivery as well as the physical and psychological wellbeing of our workforce.
Workplace health and safety is everybody's responsibility, and practices can only be improved when we work together. Everyone in the workplace should feel confident about reporting matters and take steps to minimise any risks in that workplace.
In return, we demonstrate our commitment by:
- creating and maintaining a safety culture that encourages and supports our staff to follow established procedures to protect themselves and others from harm
- operating in accordance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2020, associated regulations and guidance including approved codes of practice and relevant Australian Standards
- championing healthy and safe workplaces at the senior leadership level to ensure work health, safety and wellbeing are embedded in our governance, decision making and planning
- providing and promoting resources, support and training so we can carry out our work safely and achieve safety outcomes
- providing our Work Health and Safety Committee and elected representatives with support and time to complete health and safety related tasks so reported health and safety matters are resolved in timely and practical ways
- communicating with our staff about the benefits of mentally healthy and safe workplaces; and encouraging hazard identification and reporting through education, training and awareness
- promoting National Safety Month to reinforce safety awareness, engagement and continuous improvement
- encouraging open and honest consultation and communications between managers, staff and work health and safety representatives to achieve shared understanding and timely resolution of work health and safety matters
- building a culture of reporting so:
- risks to health and safety are identified and assessed
- hazards are eliminated or risks to safety are reduced to an acceptable level
- investigations identify root causes and actions are taken to prevent recurrences
- a no blame approach is adopted during investigations
- those who provide services to us adhere to our safety procedures.
We communicate this commitment to our staff and review the statement annually so it is current, appropriate and aligned with public sector obligations and best practice.
SHARYN O’NEILL AO PSM
PUBLIC SECTOR COMMISSIONER
You can read more about the Government's vision for public sector workplace safety and health in the Workplace Safety and Health Communique
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