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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 13 Hansard (26 November) . . Page.. 4648 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

increasing. Interventions need to happen to not only fix the physical injury but the ongoing mental injuries that are then incurred by that initial physical incident.

There was an increase in the number of workers feeling pressured in their workplace to work above and beyond what it is they thought was doable. The impact it has on families, the stress that is being caused, is something that definitely needs to be looked at, and that is why we also need to be looking at not just how OH&S is working but broader work friendly practices, work and family friendly practices, to help workers stay happy in the workplace and be productive in the workplace.

I was particularly encouraged in this year's OH&S awards to see the Oz Help foundation win an award for their work to prevent suicide in the construction industry. Media coverage of suicides of young recruits in the military has shown the tragic consequences of workplace bullying and highlighted the importance of programs that seek to address the psychological well-being of workers regardless of whether the cause of psychological harm comes from the workplace or from outside it. With suicide one of the leading causes of death among men aged 20 to 39, and the rate increasing, this is an area that requires some prioritisation.

According to the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission, in 1999-2000 there were 346 compensated fatalities in Australia-84 occurring on the journey to or from work, and 262 from workplace activities. As not all work-related deaths result in compensation, the total number of work-related deaths is thought to be much higher. An example is the death of a pizza delivery driver that occurred in the ACT the year before last, which was not reported as a workplace death in the first instance.

The highest numbers and rates of injury occur in occupations involving physical labour, particularly among intermediate production and transport workers who are injured at the rate of 95 per 1,000 workers, or twice the average rate. For this reason, it was very encouraging to see the ACTION Authority actively participating in OH&S awards in the best community safety initiative category, the best solution category and the best design group category.

The injury rate for labourers and related workers, including cleaners as well as construction workers, is almost as high. So I was pleased to see that the Department of Disability, Housing and Community Services has addressed the safe use of cleaning products and entered their new system in the best OH&S and management system category. I hope that the system that the department came up with can be extended to school-cleaning contractors because the WorkCover review of safety in this sector exposed some very real problems with chemical safety.

Trades people are the third commonest group suffering workplace injuries. Together these three occupational groups account for 52 per cent of all work-related injuries. But the group including nurses, medical and scientific technical officers has a relatively high rate as well, and this is a group where women are strongly represented.

I think the statistics that have been put forward today illustrate that we still have a long way to go before we can say that we have a solid culture of workplace safety in the ACT. But the excellent work being done by OH&S representatives in workplaces and the work

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