OHS REPS @ WORK

Rest/meal breaks are mainly specified in awards or Enterprise Agreements - but not necessarily in individual agreements.

The issue of meal or rest breaks, while it has obvious OHS implications, is not specifically covered in OHS legislation, but under the 'industrial' system.  This means checking the award or Enterprise Agreement. 

If workers are working under individual contracts, or Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), they may not even be covered at all!  Under the previous IR laws (introduced by the Howard Liberal government), employers could ask workers to 'agree' to sign agreements that did not provide for meal or other forms of breaks.  While the current Labour Government has has changed the law (now the Fair Work Australia Act) there is a transition period which means that for some time these AWA's remain in force. Nevertheless, the government has released the new ' Australian Fair Pay and Condition Standard' - check this facstsheet [pdf] for more information.

In most awards, workers are required to work for five hours before receiving a properly scheduled meal break. However, under occupational health and safety laws, the employer must provide a healthy and safe workplace, and this includes safe systems of work. There are many cases where expecting workers to work for five hours without a break is unreasonable and a risk to their health and safety.  Workers under AWAs could be even more at risk.  Workers should refuse to sign any agreement that does not provide for set meal breaks AT LEAST after five hours of work.

Rest breaks are an effective way to control certain workplace health and safety risks and can also increase productivity. Employers should provide workers with either adequate rest breaks or rest periods to control risks and to relieve fatigue.

Rest breaks or rest periods are important for:

• Heavy manual work
• Tasks needing concentration and attention to detail
• Highly repetitive and/or monotonous work

As well as rest breaks (that is periods of time where there is no work-related activity, meaning the worker is able to rest all parts of the body), the employer should consider systems of work that allow for changes of activity and provide task variety, reducing the onset of physical and mental fatigue. Job rotation, often implemented to reduce the risks of prolonged repetitive movements, is an example of such a system of work. It is important that the selection of tasks in job rotation should allow for a change in postures and movements and the resting of muscles. WorkSafe Victoria has issued a Guidance Note  Job rotation doesn't eliminate manual handling risk which explains that simply rotating jobs is not effective unless certain conditions are met.

How should rest breaks be scheduled?

The scheduling of rest breaks depends on the individual worker (age, health, gender, physical capacity, whether they are experienced in the job, or returning from a long break), the nature of the task, and the physical work environment.

It has been shown that having several short breaks is more effective in terms of productivity than allowing one long rest break - even when the total rest time was the same. Advice from the Queensland Government Workplace Health and Safety Division advises that while two coffee breaks and lunch rest schedule is adequate for most jobs, there are some exceptions. These include:

For work requiring physical exertion, more frequent rest breaks will help cut down fatigue and reduced productivity. If workers are unfit, or are returning from a long break (eg annual leave) they will usually need more frequent and longer rest breaks than fit workers.

For work requiring continuous monitoring or inspection, more frequent rests are required to avoid reduction in proficiency. Continuous monitoring without breaks for periods of only two hours has been shown to lead to a 20% reduction in efficiency and increases in human error.

For work in hot or cold conditions, increased rest periods should be scheduled to avoid the effects of heat or cold.

For highly repetitive and monotonous work, frequent rest periods are required. This will not only prevent boredom and reduce the potential for human error, but will also reduce muscle fatigue caused from long periods in sustained postures.

For keyboard or data-entry work, it is recommended that keyboard operators adopt a ten minute change of activity break after 50 minutes of continuous keying. This could be alternative work such as photocopying or filing.

Tasks requiring high levels of concentration such as problem solving and complex mental tasks will need more frequent rest breaks to minimise human error and fatigue.

Rest periods should be taken when workers are showing signs of fatigue and reduced performance.