Senior OSH Consultant
Katherine provides professional occupational safety and health advice and support to LGIS
members. Support includes, but not limited to, safety inductions and training, workplace
inspections, OSH system audits, incident investigations, risk assessments, coordination of
the LGSAG Committee, and further advice and support on a range of safety matters.
One area that can cause some confusion is workers’ clothing choices and the debate over whether workers should wear longs (long sleeved shirts and long pants) or shorts (short-sleeved shirts and short pants).
The long and the short of it is – when it comes to protecting the skin from the harmful effects of the sun – the best option is usually longs. Longs can also provide a barrier to protect workers against negative impacts such as insect, reptile and animal bites, as well as abrasions, cuts and projectiles that could damage the skin.
A simple visual check can confirm that workers are adequately protected when performing their work tasks as longs provide consistent all day blocking of UV rays compared to sunscreen. Advancements in clothing material quality and technologies also means that workers are actually able to stay cooler and ultimately more comfortable when performing work tasks in hot environments compared to the use of sunscreen only.
For sunscreen to be effective workers must monitor its application, have the discipline to apply it throughout the day and be trained in the correct application. Sunscreen application should still be used when clothing cover cannot be provided, however it is a harder method of skin protection control.
In 2017, a former member of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) was successful in their workers compensation claim when diagnosed with skin cancer. A skin cancer clinician found that the repeated short bursts of sunburn the worker sustained whilst taking part in exercises within the Northern Territory, was a contributing factor.
The City of Kalgoorlie-Boulder took strong steps forward in supporting the mental wellbeing of its workforce by expanding the one-day RU OK? Day initiative into a week of presentations, workshops and activities to help staff develop skills and techniques to improve their mental resilience.
When it comes to sun protection things are a little more complicated than SLIP, SLOP, SLAP, SLIDE, SEEK for outdoor workers.
With summer on its way, it’s important to focus on appropriate personal protective equipment
to shield workers from the harmful effects of UV rays while maintaining wearer comfort.
In order for a similar workers’ compensation claim to be made against a local government, the worker would have to prove that:
If a local government still provides PPE that includes shorts and short-sleeved shirts and wants to better safeguard their workers with longs and prevent harm to health, consideration should be given, but not limited to:
Such practices will better enable the transition to longs and longs to be as smooth as possible, provide better protection to workers safety and health and prevent future workers compensation claims.
Each month we take your questions to one of our LGIS team members to answer.
If you want to submit a question for next issue, email us at [email protected].
The answer will be different for every person, but local government is always at the heart of what turns a group of people into a community. It’s the gathering places of open spaces, playgrounds and sports facilities; it’s the library, community and recreation centres.
More than 140,000 people turned out for the pinnacle event of Perth Festival earlier this year. Fans lined Canning Highway to mark 40 years since AC/DC’s front man Bon Scott was laid to rest at Fremantle Cemetery.
Great Eastern Wheatbelt RRC Chris Gilmour tells a story about a local grader operator who had a near miss with a small child. “The (grader) driver was a grandfather and it really shook him up,” he said.
LGIS is the unifying name for the dedicated suite of risk financing and management services for WA local governments, established by the WA Local Government Association in conjunction with JLT Public Sector (part of the Marsh group of companies). LGIS is managed by JLT Public Sector (ABN 69 009 098 864 AFS Licence 226827).
Risk Matters, via this website, is designed to keep members, their staff and elected members informed on topical risk management and insurance issues and LGIS programs and services.
