DIMIA Annual Report 2001-02
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY
The department's management and employee responsibilities under the Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employment) Act 1991
(OH&S Act) are contained in the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) Policy and Agreement. A review of this document commenced in 2001-02 and is expected to be finalised with staff associations and formally endorsed early in 2002-03.
All other departmental OH&S policies have been scheduled for review during the 2002 calendar year as part of their release on the department's new Intranet system.
OH&S COMMITTEES
The department has OH&S Committees operating in Central Office and all State and Territory offices.
Key OH&S issues are referred to the peak committee, the National Committee on Occupational Health and Safety. This Committee met three times during 2001-02.
HEALTH AND SAFETY REPRESENTATIVES
Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) were maintained for Designated Work Groups.
Elections for vacant HSR and deputy HSR positions were conducted by the Community and Public Sector Union in consultation with the department on an ongoing basis as vacancies occurred.
HSRs continued to be active in their workplaces and the HSR network met on a regular basis, providing a consultative mechanism in addition to the OH&S committees established under the
Occupational Health and Safety (Commonwealth Employees) Act 1991.
HEALTH, SAFETY AND WELFARE AT WORK OF EMPLOYEES
Measures were taken during the year to ensure the health, safety and welfare at work of employees and contractors.
These included the continued promotion of health and safety through the provision of advice, work-station assessments and training.
David Caple & Associates provided a report based on an assessment of occupational health and safety risks at the Woomera IRPC and made recommendations for improvement.
The majority of recommendations related to improvements in the building infrastructure. These have been addressed by the department when reviewing the centre's operations.
The annual influenza vaccination program was conducted in Central Office and Regional Offices to reduce staff absenteeism.
A further test conducted in May 2002 on the Telstra and Optus communications installation at the department's Central Office in Belconnen confirmed that the level of electro-magnetic emissions remained well below the agreed standard.
Incidents
There were 27 incidents reported to Comcare under section 68 of the (the OH&S Act). Of these, eight involved serious personal injury and 19 were dangerous occurrences.
Investigations
Comcare carried out one investigation under section 41 of the OH&S Act. This was an audit of the effectiveness of the department's health and safety management systems as part of Comcare's Planned Investigation Program.
Comcare audited four locations- the Adelaide, Perth and Southport offices and the ACT regional office- against Safety Map initial Level One criteria.
A number of recommendations were made for improvement.
These included the need to promote and measure the consistent application of DIMIA's OH&S risk management system - particularly with higher risk activities encountered in compliance and task force activities - and the need to increase OH&S training for managers and staff.
An action plan has been developed to ensure the department meets the audit recommendations.
COMMONWEALTH DISABILITY STRATEGY
In the context of the reporting framework for the Commonwealth Disability Strategy, the department undertakes the roles of policy adviser, purchaser, provider and employer.
Those of policy adviser, provider and employer have been examined for the purposes of this report.
Policy adviser role
Consultation on the repeal of section 17 of the Australian Citizenship Act 1948 (which provided for loss of Australian citizenship on acquisition of another citizenship), undertaken principally during June to August 2001, provided an opportunity for the community to present its views to the government on this issue.
A discussion paper titled Loss of Australian Citizenship on Acquisition of Another Citizenship was released in June 2001 and distributed widely, both in Australia and overseas, including through the internet.
The discussion paper elicited nearly 1,000 responses from Australian citizens both in Australia and overseas. Disability groups were not specifically targeted for input.
However, the broadly-based publicity and wide availability of the discussion paper means that all groups in the community had the opportunity to make their views known.
The Living in Harmony initiative encourages all Australians to celebrate diversity and promote respect for our individual differences.
One project sought direct participation of the local disability community in a summit to discuss and identify differences and common ground between people with disabilities from all cultural backgrounds.
Provider role
The department's Client Service Charter addresses accessibility issues for people with disabilities by advising clients that we will take into account any special needs they identify.
The Charter's associated complaints handling mechanism embraces all clients, and complaints are analysed for quality improvement and assurance purposes. This includes identification of systemic issues relating to disability.
In 2001-02, the department did not receive any complaints through the Charter's complaints handling mechanism that were expressly disability related.
While six complainants identified themselves as being disabled, none of these complaints was specifically related to the client's identified disability.
To promote client access to departmental information, a national contact card has been developed.
The card contains the contact number and website details for Immigration, Citizenship and the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS), and has been translated into four main community languages, Vietnamese, Arabic, Serbian and Chinese.
The contact card has also been redesigned to cater for the department's visually impaired clients, through use of a black and white layout incorporating larger font sizes and by including overlay Braille type.
Immigration detention facilities provide detainees with disabilities with special care and assistance and, as required, develop individual case management plans.
Individual case management plans have been developed for all child detainees with a disability.
As much as possible, services in detention facilities are tailored to suit the individual's health, educational and recreational needs (for example, special programs may be developed for people with disabilities, such as the recent introduction of Riding for the Disabled classes for some child detainees with a disability).
Specific health problems are usually referred to the local hospital or a General Practitioner, and specialist medical services are provided as required.
Where possible and appropriate, detainees with a disability are provided with lodgings that specifically accommodate their physical needs.
To the extent possible, the department is taking steps to ensure that new detention facilities and infrastructure development at existing detention facilities take account of the needs of detainees with physical disabilities.
For example, the construction of the Baxter IRPC includes accommodation for people with disabilities in two compounds, the new education facilities at Woomera have taken into account the needs of people with disabilities and refurbishment planned at the Port Hedland IRPC and Villawood IDC includes provision for persons with disabilities.reak for their carers.
Employer role
The department has a range of employment policies including the Workplace Diversity Plan and the Workplace Behaviour Strategy which promote a recognition of diversity issues, and which provide a mechanism for staff to resolve any problems in the workplace resulting from diversity issues.
The department's Workplace Diversity Plan is to be reviewed.
No requests have been made for reviews of actions this year in matters linked to disability.
The department moved this year into new office premises in Sydney and Perth and proceeded with work on refurbishment of some Central Office buildings as well as a replacement for the Central Office.
Disabled access was considered in all this work.
In one totally refurbished Central Office building, audible announcement of floors was installed in the lifts to assist the visually impaired; and powered doors to assist with disabled entry were provided on the entry level floor.
The new office in Perth has, in addition to standard services that cater for wheel chair access:
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aluminium tactile floor studs at the top and bottom of all public stairs and escalators for the visually impaired
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a high percentage of sit down counters.