Hi Renata - My employer has poorly notified staff of some major changes to our work processes without undertaking any consultation to identify risks. The changes, related to funding, place my DWG members at increased risk of violence and aggression from clients. We are fatigued and have reported this issue but have received no reply.
Thank you for your question about consultation around introducing change and failure to follow up on incidents for issue resolution.
One of the underlying principles of our OHS Act is consultation – it is essential for employers to adequately consult with employees around health and safety matters, including when introducing change.
Section 35(1)(f) of the OHS Act tells us that when your employer is proposing changes that may affect the health or safety of employees they must so far as is reasonably practicable consult with the affected employees and their HSRs. Section 35(3) goes on to tell employers what that consultation should look like –
- sharing information with employees about the matter
- giving the employees a reasonable opportunity to express their views about the matter
- taking into account those views
Section 35 Duty to Consult is one of the most frequently breached sections against which HSRs raise a PIN.
The WorkSafe Victoria publication Guide to Part 7 - Employee representation handbook for workplaces has a particularly good section at the beginning about what consultation looks and sounds like and how employers should involve HSRs to enable true consultation and representation. I recommend this publication to every employer – it should also be sitting on the table in the lunchroom for employees to browse.
I recommend that you formally request consultation on this matter – you can use our Consultation Email template. This will put your employer on notice that this must be addressed. It will also give you documented evidence that you have attempted consultation in the event that you need to raise a PIN to force resolution of this matter.
Keep a record of everything.
Consult with your DWG members and HSRs of other affected DWGs – this is a collective issue and together you and other HSRs have more power to motivate your employer to attend to the issues. Encourage discussion of these hazards and decide how the DWG members would like to see it resolved – what they want to happen and what they may be willing to settle for. This will ensure that you all present a united front in your discussion about this matter. Also, urge your DWG members to continue to report every incidence of occupational violence and aggression (OVA) to add to the body of evidence that these changes are leading to increased risks for workers (see SafetyNet article).
Consider as well that aside from the physical hazards presented by OVA exacerbated by the funding changes, the psychosocial hazards of workplace violence and aggression coupled with the psychosocial hazard of poor change management exposes employees to a higher level of risk.
