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    – Section 175ZE
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Compliance

1. Rail Safety

Accreditation

The organisation demonstrated continued compliance with the requirements of the Rail Safety Act 1998 and rail safety accreditation as an owner and operator of a railway.

Safety Standards and Measures

The newly formed PTA Safety and Strategy Directorate created a business plan to address the requirements of the existing Australian Standard AS4292.1 and the 2006 replacement Standard. The report addressed the requirements of the new Standard and the implementation of the changes was submitted to the Director Rail Safety in accordance with legislative compliance.

Since the inception of the new directorate, a more integrated approach has been developed to address rail safety and OSH requirements. The objective of the above work is to ensure legislative compliance and achieve corporate governance requirements. There is a program of work that is continuing which will also embrace the legal rail reforms expected to be introduced in 2007.

Compliance Inspections and Reporting

The annual rail safety compliance audit was conducted by the Office of Rail Safety in November 2005 and a report was issued on 22 December 2005. The Rail Safety Audit found seven non-compliances and 23 observations, compared to 11 non-compliances and 23 observations the previous year. All but one 2005 non-compliances and observations were closed out at 30 June 2006. The remaining one was closed out subsequently. There were no directions issued to undertake remedial safety work as a result of a safety compliance inspection.

The PTA Annual Safety Report to the Director Rail Safety dealing with the general conduct of railway operations for the year ended June 2005 showed there were 605 notifiable occurrences reported (Category A and Category B). Notifiable occurrences are defined in the Rail Safety Regulations 1999 as Category A (serious injury, death or significant damage) or Category B (potential to cause a serious accident) and National Definitions under instructions issued on 15 December 2004.

The number of notifiable occurrences increased as a result of the change to reporting in accordance with the National Definitions which are much broader in reporting category requirement terms.

Inquiries and Inspections

There were three investigations involving Category A incidents requested by the Office of Rail Safety under Section 39(3) of the Rail Safety Act:

• Incident involving a collision between a passenger train and motor vehicle at a level crossing in East Guildford.
• Circumstances involving a motor vehicle that collided with a barrier on the Mitchell Freeway north of Erindale Road, Warwick.
• An incident involving the obstruction of a Hotham Valley Tourist Railway train.

Notifiable Occurrences

During the year there were 18 Category A and 587 Category B incidents reported, an increase on previous years. This reflected the altered requirement to report in accordance with the expanded National Definitions and an increase in rail operations.

Reporting in accordance with the National Definitions commenced on January 1, 2005. The 2005/06 figures are the first year that all reporting will be carried out in line with the new requirements.

2. Occupational Safety and Health

The strong focus on safety and health as a core value of the organisation continued during the year. As of 1 July 2005, the new Safety and Strategy Directorate was established, incorporating the safety and corporate policy functions of the organisation. One of the directorate’s first activities was to update the PTA’s Safety and Health Policy (corporate statement of intent and commitment), the cornerstone of the organisation’s commitment to safety and health, to reflect recent changes to the Occupation Safety and Health Act 1984 (OSH Act) and to incorporate an increased focus on human factor principles in safety.

The improved policy is intended to complement the organisation’s safety culture change program, by embedding the safety values of the organisation in a functional policy. The revised policy was approved by the Executive and endorsed by the Office of Rail Safety.

The directorate also ran a strategic planning day in conjunction with representatives from the safety teams within each division and identified six key focus areas which form the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Strategic Directions for the organisation over the next 12-24 months.

Safety committees continued to function effectively. Safety representatives attended a transitional training course for the changes to the OSH Act, which included Provisional Improvement Notices.

Training

Training in occupational safety and health continued to be a priority, with many managers and supervisors completing a two-day training course on their occupational safety and health responsibilities.

A series of workshops was conducted in August 2005 to inform and educate supervisors and managers on managing OSH risks with contractors. These sessions also incorporated information on recent changes to the State’s OSH Act. Ninety-five managers and supervisors from all divisions attended the workshops, engaging in a tailored case study.

A contingent of PTA’s safety and health representatives, as well as several supervisors, managers and safety coordinators, also attended the 2005 WorkSafe Forum where they heard from and questioned a panel of safety experts and presenters on issues such as the national agenda, long work hours, bullying and young workers.

The corporate safety induction, typically presented to new employees on their first day at work, was also revised. The new induction focuses on key issues relevant to all employees and is intended to be more interactive and engaging. The PTA’s Executive members were re-inducted using this new presentation in early 2006.

A level four accident/investigation course was also introduced in the year which importantly included human factor/just culture elements.

OSH Reporting System

The SiteSafe reporting system, which was launched on 1 July 2004, enables the organisation to capture reported hazards, near misses and incidents, and facilitates interrogation of data to analyse trends. A free upgrade of the system was successfully completed in April 2006, as part of the original SiteSafe contract. This upgrade affords increased functionality for both users and administrators of the system. A new NetForm for Hazard Reporting was launched in October 2005. This NetForm enables users to report hazards proactively, assess the risk, record control measures and assign and track actions to make the workplace safer.

Injury Management

In 2004/05, the PTA implemented improved workers’ compensation and injury management practices. The year saw the continued development of this area with the appointment of an Injury Management Coordinator and later the appointment of an Injury Management Assistant. A review of current policies and procedures was conducted and several areas of improvement were highlighted. The recommended improvements included more transparent systems of work, improved document control and the provision of supernumerary duties funded by the insurer to increase the amount of duties available to assist in the rehabilitation of injured workers. This subsequently improved the PTA’s ability to manage claims and ensured compliance with legislation whilst reducing overall costs.

The total number of injuries sustained by PTA employees remained steady compared with 2004/05. The lost-time injury frequency rate for the organisation for the year was 48.44 per million hours worked, compared with 49.24 for the previous year. The duration of lost-time injuries decreased from a 2004/05 average of 20.06 days to a 2005/06 average of 16.08 days.

These results suggest that the PTA’s improved workers’ compensation and injury management practices functioned to get employees back to meaningful work sooner after an injury.

Health Assessment Standards

On July 1 2004, the National Transport Commission introduced the National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers. The Standard applies to all rail safety workers as defined in the Rail Safety Act. It relates to health assessments and procedures for monitoring the health and fitness of workers to perform rail safety duties. The phase-in periods for these health assessments ended this financial year, with all Category 1 assessments requiring completion by 31 December 2005 and all Category 2 assessments by 30 June 2006. With the exception of some employees on workers’ compensation, all Category 1 and 2 health assessments were undertaken by their respective phase-in dates. Regular updates continued to be provided to all divisions to ensure the currency of safety critical health assessments was maintained.

To assist with this goal, a project is currently underway to transfer all health assessment records from the PTA’s HR system to the SiteSafe system, which will enable them to be managed more effectively using custom-made recording and reporting mechanisms. This project is scheduled for completion in the first quarter of the 2006/07 financial year.

Procedures were developed and processes were put in place to ensure that the PTA completes the relevant medicals in the allotted time frame. A Health Management Plan is in place which documents the process for managing employees who are deemed temporarily or permanently unfit for their particular risk category.

Testing for Alcohol and Other Drugs

Random and “for cause” testing of employees and contractors for alcohol and other drugs continued throughout the year as part of the organisation’s alcohol and other drugs program.

The PTA’s positive results for illicit substances continued to be below the industry average. The organisation continued to monitor trends to ensure that the alcohol and other drugs awareness sessions it provides reflect such changes, thus maintaining relevance and aiming to maximise their effect.