Heath and Safety - A Matter of Life and Death

CSIRO has had some major OH&S wake up calls over the past few years. "Analysis" looks at how health and safety reps help to improve the OHS culture in CSIRO and how well the organisation is tackling its safety challenges. December 2003

The Griffith story

Given the alarm about the national water crisis it seems crazy that the future of a CSIRO facility devoted largely to working on sustainable irrigation, could be in limbo. But this was the situation facing the Griffith Land and Water site a few years ago. The fume cupboards were unsafe, highly flammable chemicals were dangerously stored and staff were regularly exposed to fumes from organophosphates. There were cracks in the walls you could put your hands through and no distilled water outlets in laboratories. PhD students had their candidatures interrupted.

Staff are now happily housed in a new building, according to Sharyn Zyrna, Griffith health and safety representative (HSR), but this may never have happened without the involvement of the Staff Association. "Most people think we got the new building because of the death of our colleague in Geelong, they don't know much about what the union did," says Sharyn, who took over the union elected HSR role this year from a non-union HSR.

"Without us jumping up and down, nothing would have happened," says Dr Clive Kirkby, union delegate at the time of the building crisis.

At the end of 2000, everyone thought that work on a new facility would start, so one building was decommissioned and staff were moved into another in cramped and unsafe conditions. But the funding for the new building was not approved straight away by CEO Geoff Garrett, who at the time was not convinced of the need for new "bricks and mortar". The union sought a meeting with the CEO and raised the matter again with Dr Garrett, who ordered an independent review. After this review and the death of Set Van Nguyen at AAHL, the new building was finally given the go ahead.

“Allowing longstanding breaches of OHS standards at Griffith may come back to haunt CSIRO”, says Sandy Ross, Staff Association secretary. "There were many young women on term contracts and in casual positions working in the building during the period when chemicals weren't being properly stored and the fume cupboards weren't safe. Many have gone elsewhere now, but I often wonder whether they will have normal pregnancies and healthy children."

The wake-up call

2001 was a big year for OH&S in CSIRO. Following hot on the heels of the Shaw Report into OH&S culture in CSIRO, and while hundreds of staff worked in an unsafe environment at one of the oldest CSIRO sites at Griffith, a major revamp of occupational health, safety and environment (OHSE) services took place across the Organisation. Then to cap off a busy 12 months, technical officer Set Van Nguyen died after entering an oxygen-depleted air locked room at the Australian Animal Health Laboratories (AAHL) in Geelong.

The death triggered two major reviews and intense scrutiny from Comcare, who have made sweeping recommendations for the entire organisation.

Health and safety reps

In an organisation as geographically and scientifically diverse as CSIRO, occupational health and safety is bound to be a complex matter. Reducing risk in an office environment is one thing, but CSIRO staff work in diverse settings, on land, in the air and at sea and with substances that are invisible but dangerous. So HSRs have to be well trained and highly motivated.

Merle Thomas, convenor of the CSIRO SA OHS sub-committee sees big moves to improve OHS performance. "The whole organisation is quite committed to getting it right, but the big thing that needs to change is the culture. Set's death was a catalyst to tighten up the processes," says Merle.  Changing the culture is one thing, she adds, but enforcing change is also important. "I would like see more enforcement," she says.

This is where Health and Safety Reps swing into action. Wherever there are active, well trained and vigilant HSRs, working effectively with OHSE officers, the OHS environment is a much safer one. 

Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs) that are endorsed by the union are far better placed to be effective workplace advocates, says April Byrne, Qld Staff Association organiser and convenor of the union's OH&S committee.

"Union HSRs work much better than non-union ones, because they can talk to delegates and members and be truly representative. The union also supports them with information about how to handle problems as they arise, which forms to use and how to resolve the issue/s. Non-union HSRs operate in isolation and if they come up with a harrowing problem, they are often not confident about how to handle it."

Kevin Kennedy, who is a Staff Association representative on the national corporate OHS committee goes even further. "Non union HSRs are ineffective," he says. "They need the support of the union."

The OH&S industry has evolved to keep pace with legislative and human resource trends, and so each CSIRO division has had to work hard to ensure it is providing a safe and healthy environment for its workforce.

Another problem facing CSIRO is the buck passing that can happen in divisions when money has to be spent on a particular site. This is particularly apparent at sites where several divisions are housed.  Kevin Kennedy, who has been a Staff Association Health and Safety Representative at the Western Australian Floreat Park site for 10 years, knows about this first hand.

"Often management recognise there is a problem but then there are arguments about who is going to pay for it. There was a new standard released about fume cupboards and work had to be done, but is it corporate property's responsibility or is it a divisional responsibility to pay for it? It's like a ping-pong match. Then nothing gets done for a long time."

Recently Kevin, who is a technical officer with site engineering services, issued a PIN (Provisional Improvement Notice) about roof safety for anyone working on plant and equipment. The four-storey Floreat site is around 40 years old and there is no fencing to guard against falls. "Sometimes people have to work close to the edge and although the likelihood of someone falling is low, if it happened the consequences would be severe," he says. The problem has been acknowledged, but it hasn't been fixed yet. "I just have to niggle away at this," Kevin added.

He believes that some Divisions are much better are setting high standards for others to follow than others. "Minerals have been the flagbearers for OHS in CSIRO," says Kevin.

Kevin’s contribution as a HSR has been exemplary. But April Byrne says “Being a HSR need not be onerous. The more people who have a go as a HSR and get the training, the better staff awareness and overall OH&S culture will be.