Events

Tuesday 13 July: Central Safety Group 
COVID-19 response in Victoria: A union perspective. 
Guest speaker, VTHC OHS Unit Lead Dominic Melling 

The COVID-19 crisis brought some major challenges to unions affiliated with the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC), our members and workers. These challenges, along with lessons learned and solutions, will be discussed by Dominic Melling, Lead Organiser of the OHS Team at the VTHC in a zoom presentation at midday on Tuesday, 13 July.

Dominic’s talk will cover essential workers who reported to their usual workplaces throughout the lockdowns as well as people working from home.  He will review the structural problems that facilitated the spread of COVID-19 and the Unions' role in advising Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) and members. 

This is part of a series of zoom presentations by Central Safety Group while in-person meetings are suspended.

When: 12:00-1:00pm, Tuesday, 8 June, 2021
How: Online via Zoom. Financial members will automatically be emailed the Zoom meeting link. (N.B. A video recording of the session will be available on the website exclusively for financial members.) 
Cost: Financial members* free. Others $10 [Individual membership fee for 2020: $75] *If unsure of your membership status, contact: [email protected]   Book online now

HSR Initial & Refresher training

Most HSRs attend the five day Initial training course - it's extremely important that they do in order to understand their rights and powers as HSRs, and also the duties of employers and others. (Check this page for the 5 day training courses)

However, many do not then enrol in the subsequent 'Refresher' courses. All HSRs are entitled, and should, attend 'Refresher Training' each year subsequent to completing the five day initial training. 

Section 67 of the OHS Act 2004 entitles all OHS and Deputy Reps who have completed a 5 day initial training course to attend a one day refresher training course each year to keep their knowledge of OHS law and practice up-to-date.  It's important to take this right up, as the Refresher training provides an opportunity to catch up with new legislation and material, meet with other HSRs, and further hone skills. 

The refresher course covers:

  • Session 1 - covers legislative update on the Victorian OHS 2004 Act, OHS Regulations 2007, WorkSafe compliance codes and guides.
  • Session 2 - covers consultation, communication, problem solving.
  • Sessions 3 & 4 - covers hazard identification and control with either manual handling, work related stress, incident investigation or hazard mapping.

Details:

Course hours: 9am - 5pm
Course length: 1 day
Course fee: Metro: $330.00 incl. GST Regional: $350.00 incl. GST 

Upcoming 2021 dates and locations:

  • 15 July – HSR Refresher Training: Work-related gendered violence including sexual harassment (Carlton)
  • 29 July – HSR Refresher Training (Carlton)
  • 30 July – HSR Refresher Training (Ballarat)
  • 18 August – HSR Refresher Training: Education AEU (Abbotsford)
  • 19 August – HSR Refresher Training (Carlton) 
  • 9 September– Gendered Violence & Sexual harassment: Education (Abbotsford)
  • 21 September  – HSR Refresher Training (Geelong)

Read more about the Work-related gendered violence course here: Knowledge is power in fight against gendered violence.  

Also scheduled is a new five day initial training course at the AEU in Abbotsford which is Early Childhood specific:  August 25-27 & 2,3 September 2 & 3

Go to this link to enrol in a five day initial or a refresher course. Remember to then notify your employer at least 14 days' of the course.

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