Acknowledgement of Country
The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (DEMIRS) respectfully acknowledges Aboriginal peoples as being the traditional custodians of Western Australia.
We acknowledge the enduring connection Aboriginal people continue to share with the land, sea and sky through both their ancestral ties and custodianship to Country. We pay our respect to Elders both past and present, and acknowledge the value brought to our department through the collective contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Western Australia.
About the event
As part of October’s Safe Work Month, WorkSafe Western Australia (WA) welcomes you to EveryBODY matters – musculoskeletal disorder forum.
This forum is one of several events held within our overarching Safe Work Month theme for 2024:
Find out more at demirs.wa.gov.au/safeworkmonth
Today we bring together a range of industry experts to discuss topics around musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) including psychosocial factors, risk assessment, manual task management, technology, personal impacts and the treatment journey.
Welcome
Hon Simone McGurk MLA Minister for Industrial Relations
Welcome to WorkSafe’s EveryBODY matters – musculoskeletal disorder forum.
The Cook Government is committed to improving the health and safety of WA workers, and reducing musculoskeletal injuries is an important part of that commitment.
Today’s workplaces present a number of challenges to the physical and mental health of workers, and Safe Work Month brings a variety of opportunities to learn more about health and safety in your workplace.
Much positive action is being taken across the State to address the challenges, creating stronger safety understanding, behaviours and practices that support the prevention of harm.
This forum brings together a range of industry experts to discuss musculoskeletal disorders, their impact on WA workplaces and what can be done to minimise them. Please take what you learn today back to your workplaces and use it to help improve health and safety outcomes.
Welcome to today's forum, an important component of Safe Work Month.
Musculoskeletal disorders are the most common type of injury suffered by workers in WA workplaces, but most injuries are preventable if tasks are managed correctly.
Today’s forum will feature several experts in the field of musculoskeletal disorders presenting the latest knowledge and issues on the management and prevention of musculoskeletal injuries, along with a panel discussion that includes live scenarios.
Thank you all for your participation in the forum, and I trust you will find it a valuable learning experience that will help improve health and safety outcomes in your workplaces.
Sally North
WorkSafe Commissioner
Program
8.00 am Registration
9.00 am MC’s introduction
9.05 am Welcome to Country
9.10 am Welcome address
9.15 am Keynote session:
Why the delay? The urgent need for inclusion of psychosocial hazards in MSD prevention
Recent regulatory changes have increased the visibility of psychosocial hazards, but has this translated to improved prevention? We look at the evidence, progress and ongoing challenges for workplaces, and what’s next.
10.05 am Hazardous manual tasks: risk management
Significant proportion of MSD injuries are from repeated or prolonged exposure to lower levels of force causing cumulative damage. We overview effective risk management of hazardous manual tasks, detailing practical processes to control acute and cumulative risk.
Myles Pollard
Conference facilitator and conversation specialist, actor and producer
Robyn Collard
Whadjuk Ballardong Yorga Elder
Hon Matthew Swinbourn MLC
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industrial Relations
Professor Jodi Oakman
School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University
Wendy Pietrocola Consultant Ergonomist, Ergonomica
10.35 am SafeTea Morning SafeTea
11.25 am Returning to work and managing injuries
Examine WA’s workers’ compensation and injury management scheme and compare our experience with other jurisdictions. We discuss the impact of legislative change on return to work.
Chris White
Chief Executive Officer, WorkCover WA
11.45 am Personal impacts of chronic MSD injuries in mining
Look beyond statistics to consider the worker’s journey from injury to return to work for insight into how organisations can support the process. Factors include chronic pain, fatigue, mental health and wellbeing, the importance of a supportive culture, and robust systems.
12.15 pm Digging deeper: manual handling risks, technology, and engagement in mining operations
Employees are experts at their job, and often know the tools that can make their job safer. We explore how we can mine this information through consultation and the use of technology, and how to create a business case to deliver change that an employer can’t ignore.
12.45 pm MSD factors in handling patients from a health and safety representative (HSR) perspective
Consider St John Ambulance’s evolution of procedures and use of equipment and how these have influenced policies for moving people in the pre-hospital space. Look back five years, at current practice, and reach five years ahead on how HSRs plan to continue driving the downward trend in MSDs. See a live demonstration of key equipment.
1.15 pm Lunch and networking
2.15 pm Two MSD scenarios played by actors with panel discussion
Actors bring to life two work scenarios exploring the organisational and personal mindsets, attitudes and practices at play around MSD.
3.20 pm Closing remarks
3.25 pm Forum concludes
Sue Steele
Director, Red Earth Health Solutions
Greg Borman
Director and CEO, Biosymm
Rob Curtis
Paramedic and 2023 HSR of the year, St John Ambulance
Panel members:
Sally North
Jodi Oakman
Peter Nissen, Regional Inspector of Mines, WorkSafe Mines Safety
Sally North
Our speakers
Hon Matthew Swinbourn MLC
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industrial Relations
Matthew has been a dedicated and influential Member of the WA Legislative Council since 2017, representing the East Metropolitan Region. Currently serving as the Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney General, Minister for Electoral Affairs, Minister for Training and Workforce Development, and Minister for Water and Industrial Relations, Matthew plays a critical role in shaping and advancing key legislative reforms.
Before his election to Parliament, Matthew built an impressive career as a lawyer, industrial officer, and workers’ compensation officer for various unions in WA. His extensive background in employment law and industrial relations has provided him with deep insights into the needs and challenges faced by working families across the state, making him a passionate advocate for employment rights, particularly in improving work health and safety standards.
Sally is the WorkSafe Commissioner in WA. She greatly values the opportunity to make a difference to the community through WorkSafe’s education, inspections, investigations, legal and regulatory support teams and through collaboration with stakeholders.
Sally has over 20 years’ experience with WorkSafe, having previously been the Deputy WorkSafe Commissioner. She has also led a WorkSafe directorate that included specialist teams of inspectors covering human factors and ergonomics, asbestos, occupational hygiene, plant and engineering and industry groups for the public sector and related industries, and the retail and service industries.
Sally is involved in State and national committees and working groups on work health and safety, and has qualifications in chemistry, OSH, occupational hygiene and business administration.
Sally North
WorkSafe Commissioner
Keynote speaker
Professor Jodi Oakman
Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors, La Trobe University
Jodi is the leader of the Centre for Ergonomics and Human Factors at La Trobe University.
An accomplished ergonomist and human factors specialist, Jodi has transitioned from a diverse range of industry roles into academia, where she now leads research aimed at enhancing both physical and mental health in the workplace.
Her innovative translational research includes the development of the APHIRM (A Participative Hazard Identification and Risk Management) toolkit, which aids organisations in mitigating stressrelated mental health issues and musculoskeletal disorders using a participative approach.
Currently, she leads research based in systems thinking and principles of implementation science to advance work-related health and wellbeing and support sustainable working lives.
Jodi holds a Doctor of Philosophy, La Trobe University; Master of Science and Technology in Ergonomics, University of New South Wales; Bachelor of Applied Science (Physiotherapy), La Trobe University; Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and Teaching, La Trobe University; and Graduate Certificate in Implementation Science, University of California.
Wendy Pietrocola Consultant Ergonomist, Ergonomica
Wendy is a physiotherapist and certified professional ergonomist who has specialised in work health and safety since the early 1990s.
She has worked in a range of industries, including as an in-house ergonomist, a WorkSafe senior inspector, a scientific officer in human factors and ergonomics, and a consultant ergonomist.
Wendy has extensive experience in assessing manual tasks and recommending control measures, and in developing, implementing and evaluating manual task risk management systems.
She has been a human factors and ergonomics expert on a number of committees, including for the development of the Safe Work Australia Model Code of Practice: Hazardous Manual Tasks and for the development of industry-specific manual tasks risk management guidance publications.
Chris White Chief Executive Officer, WorkCover WA
Chris has more than 35 years’ experience in workers’ compensation and work health and safety policy in WA. He has held senior policy and management roles at both WorkCover WA and WorkSafe WA and holds a Master of Arts (Public Policy) from Murdoch University.
Sue Steele Director, Red Earth Health Solutions
Sue brings over 38 years of experience in remote area health and mining as a registered nurse, work health and safety professional and emergency response authority.
Her career is marked by a commitment to Indigenous health and emergency response management, culminating in her role as cofounder and director of Red Earth Health Solutions where she leads a team of professionals supporting the mining industry. Services encompass health management, clinical governance, compliance, health monitoring, workers’ compensation, injury management, medical first aid, and emergency response training.
Sue's career began in the Goldfields-Esperance region where her passion for Indigenous health was ignited, before she continued on the work health and safety path into the mining sector.
Sue is the visionary and co-founder of the Mining Emergency Response Competition (MERC) in Perth.
Greg Borman CEO, Biosymm
Greg is a physiotherapist and director and CEO of Biosymm, working in the mining sector for almost 20 years.
Greg leads the Biosymm team, consisting of more than 160 mostly allied health professionals, and with a full time staff based at almost 50 mine sites Australia-wide.
Their approach to manual task risk assessments, including worker engagement and technology, has resulted in more than 3,000 changes to businesses in the past decade, including more than 400 last financial year.
Outside of work, Greg and his wife enjoy bringing up their four active sons.
Rob Curtis
Paramedic, St John Ambulance
2023 Health and safety representative of the year
Rob is a paramedic and health and safety representative at St John WA with nine years of pre-hospital experience, which involves travelling to the scene of injury or illness and initiating treatment and interventions before the patient arrives at hospital.
Having developed a back injury through this work, Rob is passionate about reducing the incidence of such injuries among his peers.
He has championed several safety projects within St John WA, including advancing emergency driver training, developing a safety commendation program, and most recently, improving manual handling training.
He holds a Bachelor of Science (Paramedicine) from Curtin University and is currently working towards a Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety.
Rob was awarded the 2023 Health and safety representative of the year at the Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards.
Peter Nissen
Regional Inspector of Mines
WorkSafe Mines Safety, DEMIRS
Peter has been a district inspector, regional inspector and team leader in WorkSafe Mines Safety over the last seven years with DEMIRS.
He has worked in mining for 25 years starting his ‘rock’ life at Mt Whaleback while completing a degree in Environmental Health at Curtin University.
He has experience across site and corporate leadership and consultant roles, predominantly in iron ore, mine construction and minerals. As a work health and safety inspector, he focusses much of his time on occupational hygiene issues, management systems and risk management.
Outside of work, Peter is a keen DIYer, enthusiastic whisky sampler and very average drummer.
Myles Pollard Master of Ceremonies
ACT Australia and New Zealand Pty Ltd
Myles in an actor and producer known for his roles as Dr James Edmunds in Home and Away, Phelan in X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) and previously Nick Ryan in McLeod’s Daughters.
Myles was nominated for two Silver Logies in 2003-2004 for Most Popular Actor starring in McLeod’s Daughters. He was nominated for and won Best Actor at the 2014 West Australian Screen Awards for his lead role in Drift.
With a Bachelor of Arts in Education, Myles is a qualified high school English and drama teacher, graduate of the prestigious National Institute of Dramatic Art, and working film and television actor, writer, director and producer.
Myles continues to work for ACT Australia and New Zealand as an actor and facilitator. As a facilitator, he has a breadth of experience delivering leadership and safety-based workshops in mining, defence, and across government.
Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety
WorkSafe Western Australia
303 Sevenoaks Street
Whadjuk Noongar Country
CANNINGTON WA 6107
Telephone: 1300 307 877
NRS: 13 36 77
Email: safetycomms@demirs.wa.gov.au
Website: www.worksafe.wa.gov.au
