The relationship between staff and management at the Women’s Trauma Recovery Centre (WTRC) in the Illawarra has been broken over serious safety concerns, with staff saying they were ignored when they raised serious physical and psychological safety risks.
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The WTRC was designed to be a blueprint for supporting women in their journey to escape and heal from family, domestic and sexual violence, but less than a month after the centre officially opened to the public in regional New South Wales, SafeWork NSW has issued three improvement notices against the centre for exposing staff to psychosocial hazards.
WorkSafe NSW found that management failed to provide adequate information, training and instruction to workers on the risks associated with vicarious trauma and also subjected staff to excessive workloads, poor job clarity and poor working relationships.
Multiple safety concerns had been raised by staff in the months leading up to the official opening, with seven of its 10 client-facing staff leaving, stating that they were concerned that if they felt unsafe in the workplace, the women who were seeking help there would also be unsafe.
Physical hazards were also a concern with inadequate procedures around the duress alarm protocol and conflicting advice about the possibility of perpetrators coming to the centre - “It’s not a matter of if a perpetrator comes, it’s a matter of when.”
Staff felt that there was no support from upper management and were concerned that requests for vicarious trauma training and issues around physical security had not been responded to adequately by management.
"It's like having a big, dangerous piece of equipment in your workplace and saying, 'We'll just worry about that when someone hurts themselves'."
Former staff have formalised their concerns about the alleged governance issues in a letter to the federal Department of Health and Aged Care, calling for an immediate change of senior leadership and an independent administrator to oversee implemented changes.
Management has maintained the centre is safe for staff and clients and says it has not breached its funding agreement.
Read more - Domestic violence recovery centre exposed staff to psychological injury, SafeWork NSW says - ABC News