Safer designs including ongoing WHS training, Due Diligence Training and OVA (Occupational Violence and aggression)Training are needed to combat occupational violence in various workplace settings.
"Effective reporting mechanisms "are key to vulnerable workers' safety.
"If the average person knew what teachers put up with every single day in terms of occupational violence, they would fall off their chair," State Education Minister Di Farmer said in launching the No excuse for school abuse campaign, which represents the first step of the strategy.
"Some of the stories that you hear are shocking,"
The launch and the Minister's comments closely followed the release of a Safe Work Australia report that shows the education and training industry has a particularly high serious injury rate resulting from occupational violence.
According to Farmer, the new Queensland campaign is "about drawing a line in the sand and making it clear that there is never an excuse for this type of aggressive behaviour, either in person or online, and it won't be tolerated".
"Teachers have been telling us that school environments are becoming more and more complex as they deal with things like occupational violence and aggression, student behaviour and administrative workload," she said.
The "No excuse" campaign will run through social media media and other channels, shedding light on what constitutes aggressive behaviour and clarifying that mistreating school staff is never acceptable, can be a crime and can lead to prosecution.
The campaign is the first of a raft of changes aimed at preventing violence and aggression in the education sector, with the broader strategy informed by a May workshop attended by union representatives, representatives from principal and professional associations, and departmental officers.
The other initiatives will include: building the ability of school staff to prevent and manage the impact and risks of violence; providing psychological first-aid training; working with universities to train staff in classroom behaviour management and effective behaviour interventions; making it easier to report incidents; and delivering specialised wellbeing support for affected staff.
Further initiatives will include: designing safer spaces in schools that support staff, as well as students; providing practical online resources to support school leaders and staff responding to a violent or aggressive incident; and helping schools update their emergency and security plans.
"For a variety of complex reasons in this post-COVID transition phase, my colleagues in secondary schools are dealing with increased levels of anxiety and stress from both parents and students," Brisbane State High School principal Greg Pierce said in declaring his support for the "No excuse" campaign.
"Effective reporting mechanisms" key to vulnerable workers' safety
Vulnerable workers like young or migrant staff are at greater risk of sustaining work-related injuries and illnesses, but PCBUs can reduce the risks by establishing and promoting "effective reporting mechanisms that empower workers to confidently report any concerns or incidents", according to WorkSafe ACT.
PCBUs should also: ensure training goes "beyond job-specific tasks to include a thorough understanding of WHS rights and responsibilities, as well as familiarisation with workplace facilities and processes"; and provide proper supervision, which "helps ensure work is done safely, and also creates comfortable communication channels between workers and their supervisors allowing for the easy escalation of issues" ,the Capital Territory regulator says in a safety alert.
The document focuses on the hospitality and retail sectors, and notes psychological injuries in these industries are significantly underrepresented in workers' comp data.
"While psychosocial injuries typically account for nearly 10 per cent of all workers' compensation claims across various industries, in comparison they accounted for less than one per cent of accepted claims in retail and hospitality during the 2023-24 financial year," it says.
"This discrepancy is likely to be partly due to the prevalence of vulnerable workers in these industries.
"Vulnerable workers are less likely to report WHS concerns for a number of reasons including: fear of job loss; language barriers; not wanting to draw attention to themselves' and a lack of awareness of their rights."
WorkSafe stresses that vulnerable workers "face a higher risk of work-related injury and illness and therefore require extra support".
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