Work Health Safety incidents at Council have increased.
And there was “strong reporting” of near misses and notifications through the safety hotline, council’s Audit, Risk and Management Committee was told at its December meeting.
“An increase in incidents with 20 Lost Time Injuries year to date, 7 being in the last month which is higher than last few years,” the minutes state.
“Injuries are largely muscular skeletal, so (sic) are investigating in engaging an external provider to target high risk areas and provide functional strategies to help, particularly with the aging workforce,” the minutes continued.
The committee was told ageing workforce made up 30-40 per cent of Work Health Regulation Safety (WHS) claims so long term controls were worth investing in.
The report was not made publicly available with the committee citing that it contained information that was confidential and unsuitable for publication.
However, future reports to the Committee will include a table to show ‘accidents by cause’.
From council’s annual report, workforce workforce management strategies to support the attraction and retention of youth is behind schedule.
“Structural realignment, redundancies and the current financial position has challenged the completion of this action,” the council said in its annual report.
“Youth employment remains a priority for Council and will see the reintroduction of the trainee and apprentice program in 2023.”
Council put on hold in the last financial year a plan to implement strategies which were meant to assist in understanding the needs of Council’s ageing workforce.
Council said in June last year that the plan would be “rescheduled to a later date” but it doesn’t appear in this year’s plan.
A plan to track and report on return on investment of employee training was also delayed due to “limited financial resources”.
Employee costs make up about 31 per cent of Council’s budgeted costs this financial year – about $180m from the overall operating costs of $588m.
About 56% of Councils workforce is over the age of 45 years.
People aged between 16 and 25 represent only 1.8 % of permanent employees.
Council has spent less than budgeted on staff so far this year, admitting that it is competing for talent, particularly in professional and specialist roles.
What were once elements of attraction in terms of living and working locally, are no longer as significant.
The world of remote working has created and presented alternative options for prospective applicants, Council said in its operational plan for this year.
