IEU HSR training acts on tough workplace realities
The IEU’s Health and Safety training is one of the most important elements of the union’s commitment to member wellbeing.
On the final day of the IEU’s five-day HSR course at union headquarters, member Tony is role-playing, let’s not mince words, a prick of a boss. He’s sitting opposite a fellow member who is playing the role of an HSR Rep who wants action after a staff member was assaulted by a student – sadly, an all too common occurrence in our schools.
Tony is shrugging and crossing his arms and saying, ‘Things happen! Kids aren’t perfect, they’re not always angels… what’s the big deal?’ He’s saying that the female teacher should undertake training in how to control a class. He’s saying that the violent student didn’t hit a male teacher.
As IEU HSR trainer Emma Morrissey says, ‘Tony’s not actually overplaying it!’
‘This is how it really happens quite often.’
'Boss' Tony (right) plays it tough!
The Reps agree. Everyone there has dealt with or heard about a boss who is ‘dismissive, aggressive or belligerent’ when faced with their legal responsibilities to reduce risks to the health and safety of staff. That’s why HSR training is so crucial. These dramatic roleplaying case studies are drawn from real life. Knowledgeable, empowered, prepared HSRs are crucial to identifying health and safety issues in workplaces.
Janine Southern, the HSR at Rivercrest College, Clyde North, says the IEU HSR training was invaluable because it was relevant, unlike similar courses which mix people from disparate occupations and often feature scenarios based on building sites.
‘This has not only been extremely well presented, it’s also tailored to the school setting and so people are sharing and supporting something that’s industry specific; that’s been absolutely brilliant. To see what other schools are dealing with and bounce around ideas about what our schools are doing about these situations… it’s just been a really good eye opener…’
Janine says she hadn’t known how much power an HSR possesses and that she was legally entitled to five days of training in the role. She now knows that HSRs are not responsible for fixing the issue; their role is to ‘bring up the issue and track it. It’s up to the employer to fix it’.
Trainees also workshopped scenarios featuring parental aggression towards staff and a case of heat stroke at a school without adequate air conditioning.
After each case study, Emma reminded participants to keep the goal of their meeting – usually the reduction of risks to staff wellbeing – front of mind when meeting with employers. And she urged them not to get sidetracked by emotion or inflammatory comments. With ‘bosses’ like the antagonistic character Tony portrayed that was a major challenge!
She said if discussions were going in circles, then a strategy was to reproduce the time-honoured hazard circle and literally place it on the table in front of the employer.
Its simple message never loses force: Identify Hazards – Assess Risks – Control Risks – Review Control Measures. Consultation at every stage. Emma suggested that if Reps were daunted by meetings with employers they should rehearse their opening lines, so they felt prepared at the outset of the proceedings. She reminded them to tell staff to report hazards to their HSR, not their principal.
It was all practical, essential advice, repeated and tested throughout the course. It was training that will save workers from harm; play-acting addressing very real dangers. Union solidarity in action.
The next five-day IEU HSR course runs from October 30. Book at the training page of our website: www.ieuvictas.org.au/ ieu-training-events-conferences