Upcoming events – Spring 2023
Learn more about upcoming events and workshops that LGIS are taking part in.
The eight-week challenge, which concluded on 10 September 2023, saw participation from 59 members and over 800 participants. From walking, running, cycling, weight training and team sports, participants took part in various forms of physical activity to improve their day-to-day fitness and covered a total combined distance of 302, 976kms.
Fitness for work is an ongoing challenge for many local governments as they manage an ageing workforce with increasing chronic issues such as obesity, heart disease, and mental illness. This activity challenge was designed to encourage behavioural change to improve overall wellbeing.
We partnered with one of our preferred wellbeing providers, Health by Design, to provide all our members and their staff access to this fun and interactive physical activity challenge.
Learn more about upcoming events and workshops that LGIS are taking part in.
Western Australia is home to 129 public aquatic facilities and thousands more school, hotel/motel and back yard pools. While many know of the risks within these facilities such as lack of patron supervision, inappropriate use of shallow water and issues associated with slips, trips and falls – non-compliance with equipotential bonding (earthing) requirements can present a relatively unknown or hidden risk.
Medicinal cannabis is a therapy that has generated increased national attention over the past two years.
Congratulations to the team at Shire of Mount Marshall for winning the challenge, kudos to your teamwork and dedication!
Here is what some of our participating members had to say about our activity challenge.
“The great thing about this challenge is it takes any kind of physical activity we do throughout the day and lets us apply it to our travels/kms. Everyone on the team is very active in different ways, from doing swimming or running or gym workouts so we can be a great team while still being individuals and doing the kind of exercise we love and are good at.”
“But it has encouraged us to keep focused on what we are doing and given extra motivation to keep moving even on those days when you don’t always feel like it but feel better for it after you’re done.”
“My contribution has been consistently focused on cycling. I commute to work daily and cycle in my free time. The commute to work is accessible and safe for riders of all abilities. I use the bike path along the train line and detour through Karrakatta to reach Smyth Road. The City’s end of trip facilities are great, however there is an opportunity for enclosed/locked bike storage should more employees choose this method of travel.”
“For me, I attend group fitness classes, the gym and swimming. The challenge has improved my wellbeing awareness.” – Workplace Health and Safety Officer at City of Nedlands
Overall, most staff members are using this opportunity to commute to work via active transport. The city has great facilities to support that, change rooms, showers and iron. We have acquired 12 bike racks and will place them over the 5 main departments (admin, depot, libraries, arts centre, and aged and childcare facilities. This will support staff that wish to cycle to work.” – City of Nedlands
“The team at the Shire of Mt Marshall are delighted to take home the win for the Great West Aussie Adventure. With all staff members invited to participate, we saw a range of employees sign up for the challenge. From members of our administration team right through to our caravan park caretaker and Shire librarian. It was a lot of fun to be involved in a WA Local Government collaboration, while moving our bodies and having fun along the way. We remained motivated by keeping each other accountable for our daily activities. Our caravan park caretaker, Meldy took on the captain role and continued to encourage the team to keep moving and to remember to log our activities.”
This what the individual staff at the City said about the challenge –
“I am doing this because I am recovering from cancer treatment and, after spending almost 17 months stuck in the house, I get outside as much as I can. I enjoy hiking, walking and swimming (mainly in the ocean).”
“I am participating in the challenge since it is an easy and flexible way to get involved in wellness initiatives offered by the City of Gosnells. There’s no set time or location which makes this easier than a lot of other sessions – my work hours fall outside office hours so I often can’t attend.”
“I am adding my regular daily exercise to the challenge portal. The main activity I’ve got listed is walking. I add a small amount of time to cover my physical activity during work hours, but most is my evening gym sessions.”
“This is an additional motivator to stay active during the winter months when it is a bit harder to drag myself out of the house.”
“I love participating in challenges as they motivate me to move more”
“These challenges bring people together and are great for team building, in addition to the health benefits they offer.”
For more information on LGIS health and wellbeing strategies, please get in touch with our WorkCare services manager, James Larkin at [email protected]
The City of Gosnells enjoys providing staff health and wellbeing-related challenges and recently completed one which involved more than 70 staff members. The City provides staff a range of other wellness activities including lunch time wellness walks, free fitness sessions (Tuesday afternoon from 5:15pm), free yoga sessions (lunch time yoga and meditation) and recent health information workshops (breast cancer, prostate, heart health, and stroke). The City is committed to supporting staff health and wellbeing”
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 first quarter of 2023/24 has been a busy one for your Scheme; our member services team has been out on the road visiting members, and I’ve enjoyed the opportunity to continue to meet members and discuss the issues that matter to you.
In 2022/23 LGIS received over 2,300 claims and paid out over $43.8 million. It’s a similar story most years with LGIS handling more than 2,000 claims across property, liability, workers’ compensation, motor and volunteer bushfire fighter protection.
An outside worker in his early 40s sustained a significant workplace injury to his lower back at a local government owned/ operated facility while trying to assist a ratepayer who had attended the facility.
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.
