Safety for Support Workers: Part 1

OVA is a matter for everyone to understand and report but in particular for frontline support workers who work with NDIS participants and provide mental health support in community programs.

Awareness of, education about and the importance of reporting Occupational Violence and Aggression (OVA) has been a concerted focus for ermha365.
Our work on OVA reduction was recognised in a big way in October 2025 at the Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards with our OVA taskforce named Team of the Year.

Our guest for this episode is Clare Hutton, ermha365's Manager Work, Health and safety and Emergency response to explain more about what we've been doing about OVA and why. 

More info:

Incident-reporting education critical to WHS outcomes (OHS Alert, 2 December, 2025 and republished by ermha365 with permission.)

Workplace violence and aggression - why training is crucial (Podcast episode)

Australian Work Health and Safety Award Winners 2025 

ermha365 provides mental health and disability support for people in Victoria and the Northern Territory. Find out more about our services at our website.

Helplines (Australia):
Lifeline  13 11 14
QLIFE 1800 184 527
13 YARN 13 92 76
Suicide Callback Service 1300 659 467

ermha365 acknowledges that our work in the community takes place on the Traditional Lands of many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and therefore respectfully recognise their Elders, past and present, and the ongoing Custodianship of the Land and Water by all Members of these Communities.

We recognise people with lived experience who contribute to GET REAL podcast, and those who love, support and care for them. We recognise their strength, courage and unique perspective as a vital contribution so that we can learn, grow and achieve better outcomes together.

Transcript

Acknowledgement And Opening

Speaker 0:00

Get Real is recorded on the unceded lands of the Bunurong and Wurudjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation. We acknowledge and pay our respects to their elders, past and present. We also acknowledge that the first peoples of Australia are the first storytellers, the first artists, and the first creators of culture, and we celebrate their enduring connections to country, knowledge, and stories.

Speaker 1 0:28

Welcome to Get Real, Talking Mental Health and Disability, brought to you by the team at ermha365.

Speaker 3 0:36

We recognize people with lived experience of mental ill health and disability as well as their families and carers. We recognise their strength, courage, and unique perspective as a vital contribution to this podcast so we can learn, grow, and achieve better outcomes together.

Defining OVA And Where It Happens

Emily Webb 0:56

Thanks for joining us for our first episode of 2026. I'm Emily Webb.

Speaker 4 1:03

We are discussing health and safety in this episode, particularly for support workers, around the issue of OVA, occupational violence and aggression. I'm going to be saying the words workplace, health, safety and support a lot in this intro, so stick with me. Awareness of, education about, and the importance of reporting OVA has been a concerted focus for Irma 365, led by a committee of our staff from various areas of the organisation. OVA is a matter for everyone to understand and report, in particular for frontline workers. Our work in this space was recognised in a big way in October 2025. The OVA Task Force, as it's known, was named Team of the Year at the Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards. Our guest for this episode is Claire Hutton, ermha 365's Manager Work, Health and Safety and Emergency Response. And she's here with us to explain more about what we've been doing and why. So I'm here with Claire Hutton. We're very lucky to have her time. She's got a very busy role looking after the health and safety of our organization. So, Claire, broadly, what is occupational violence and aggression and where does it happen?

SIL Work And Complex Client Needs

Clare Hutton 2:29

Thanks, Emily. It's great to be here today as well. So thank you for asking me in. Occupational violence and aggression is when a person is abused or threatened or they're assaulted in any circumstances relating to their work. And it can happen anywhere where people are working. So it can happen in an office or out on the road or anything that's considered a workplace. So for us, that includes

Speaker 2 2:55

some of our clients' properties and homes.

Speaker 4 2:58

What kind of work do we do at Irma 365? And broadly, we are part of a bigger group that does a lot of NDIS work and other types of support services. So can you explain what you mean when we're saying that we're going into people's homes and supporting them? For listeners who may not be sort of across the breadth of what is actually encompassed in disability services?

Speaker 2 3:25

Some of our clients are supported independent living, and our staff go in and work in their homes. Now, some of those can be just for short term, for short periods of time. And for others, that can be two to one or one-to-one support, which means that over a 24-hour period, you either have one person or two people supporting that client. Those clients within our business are really high complex needs, which means that they can have multiple mental health issues or diagnoses. All of our clients are basically one-on-one, as in they don't share with anyone else, that they can't actually live with another person. So we often have just that one or two staff members supporting that client for 24 hours at a time.

Why OVA Became A Priority

Speaker 4 4:19

I think it'd be a whole other episode to talk about some of the changes happening to the NDIS and you know how many people can share a house and what that means when you are supporting very complex psychosocial NDIS participants. But yeah, I think we could do that for another day. Also, congratulations on the award for ermha 365's Occupational Violence and Aggression OVA Task Force. We'll talk more about this, but firstly, what was happening from a health and safety perspective that prompted this really big focus on occupational violence and aggression at ermha 365? Started a few years ago now.

Speaker 2 4:59

Yes, Emily, absolutely. Well, I came across from a different health and safety background. I hadn't worked in this sector previously, but I'd certainly seen a lot of high-risk work, which was managed quite successfully with eliminating risks and implementing controls and having good procedures and training in place. So what we were seeing in our business here was a level of physical aggression, but also properties that just did not appear to be fit for purpose. So staff were having to climb out of windows to get away from clients. So those sort of incidents in what I would have thought was quite a low-risk business compared to other businesses that I had worked in. So we started to really hone in on the incident reporting. Irma had introduced an online reporting system, which was great, and staff were quite good at using it and reporting all of the client incidents. But the staff reporting for some of these incidents just didn't appear to be happening. So we would often see the case of a client incident where it actually said that they physically touched or assaulted a staff member or they were verbally aggressive to them, but that wasn't being reported as a staff incident. So it was flying under the radar. So we knew that there were incidents happening that weren't being reported. So we started off with that being our key focus.

Speaker 4 6:30

And so you explained a little bit before, but the environment for workers delivering supported independent living, known in the sector of SIL, is quite unique, isn't it? Can you describe the challenges beyond what you've already described?

Speaker 2 6:45

A lot of the SIL properties were just residential houses with normal bedrooms, a normal bathroom, and yet a staff member was having to sleep and work in one of those rooms. So that would just be a general bedroom like you would find in any residential house, often a little bit older because of the price and rental costs, etc. So they didn't necessarily have like a secure solid core door, a good lock on the bedroom door, secondary exit, access to their own bathroom or toilet. So they would often have to come out into the main living area to access a toilet. They could be stuck in a room for quite a long time. If a client was having a behaviour of concern and were really heightened, it might not be safe for that staff member to come out and go to the toilet. So they were dealing with just really uncomfortable situations as well as the physical risks. So those staff rooms were often small and often still are, and yet had to be an office and they had to have a bed for sleeping in, and to be suitable for those staff members, which often wasn't the case. Over time, there's been some big improvements in the quality of the housing that we've been able to access for some of our clients because there has been a change and a real focus on building suitable housing for disability.

SDA Robust Housing And Safety

Speaker 4 8:21

It's all tied in with the kind of funding that is approved on the NDIS. And as you said, there's specialist disability accommodation, which is housing that is built to meet the needs of the NDIS participant and workers. So that includes, I guess, robust housing, which for many of the people that we support at Irma 365, that means that you know it it is less likely, I guess, to be damaged. Can you explain a little bit more about I guess the legislative changes, the standards for SDA housing?

Speaker 2 9:01

The the standard for SDA housing and the one that we use the most frequently is the robust standard, which means that it's built with more solid features. So the walls can't easily be punched through. Doors are more solid, and the likelihood of a client actually damaging the property is reduced. On top of that, the room that's allocated for a staff member generally these days actually has its own toilet bathroom, which is fantastic, and also a secondary exit, so they can get out of the house if they need to without the client blocking their exit to the place. So what you've got to understand is the physical strength that some of our clients can display when they're having behaviours of concern, they can break down doors, they can punch holes in walls and expose all the electrical wiring, they can create an awful lot of damage in a home. They can pull out ovens, pull off doors off of ovens, pull over fridges, which has to be fixed and paid for. And that certainly doesn't all come back to us. But often some of that costing does come back to us where it affects their funding and the amount of money that they have available within their package.

Speaker 4 10:22

And you know, when we're talking about complex clients of the type that Irma 365 is actually quite specialist in doing, and our staff are really, really good. They've got really great skills in positive behaviour management support. I mean, it's also a case of the safety for the client themselves, isn't it? Because we know that some of the behaviours of concern that are expressed are a form of communication. And we are working with people who have got really, really complex needs, complex barriers to living their day-to-day life.

Simple Design Fixes That Deescalate

Building The OVA Task Force

Speaker 2 11:01

Yeah, absolutely we do. One of the things that we have found that's been really helpful, just so that we can keep that interaction is, and it sounds very, very basic, but on the office door, some of our properties, we've actually put a security screen door, which we can keep it locked and then keep the office door open if the staff need to be in there, so that they can still communicate very openly and face to face to maintain dignity with the client and stop escalation of behaviours because they are talking face to face and they're not talking through a closed door. Now that also has the benefit of being able to see through the house more openly because of that wide area of vision in front of us, which then creates a safer environment for staff too.

Speaker 4 11:52

So fact-finding is the starting point for any project. What did the task force, which was made up of people from ERMA 365 from different areas of the business, what do you what did you first do to seek to find out about occupational violence and aggression on the ground and people's understanding of it?

Survey Insights And Underreporting

Speaker 2 12:15

First of all, we created a committee. As you said, it was made up of various people, including clinical knowledge, which was very important, and we had support from the CEO, which was terrific. But the first thing we did was actually coordinate a staff survey. This was all done in-house by uh clever teams of people, and we came up with a really detailed survey which had, I think, over 30 questions. It was quite broad in some areas, and then it was very specific. So we wanted to find out who had experienced any occupational violence and aggression, if they felt that they were trained for it, what sort of things they had done as a result. So had they been chased, did they have enough training? Did they feel safe when they were in their place of work? Where, if they had received violence or verbal aggression, who were the perpetrators of that? So we gathered a lot of information, which was really the starting point to then look at developing our policies and procedures and creating a framework for what the Health and Safety Committee was planning to do.

Speaker 4 13:31

So, what did you discover from the survey? What were the things that I guess stood out or surprised or concerned you?

Speaker 2 13:39

The biggest thing of interest, I suppose, was that the majority of staff that experienced verbal abuse accepted it. And the majority of that wasn't reported. And that compared to the physical abuse. Physical abuse was definitely there was a lot less of it, but the majority of people did not accept that, and the majority of that was reported. So that was an immediate highlight that we knew that we were underreporting a lot of OVA within the business. So that I guess became our one of our first focuses on increasing reporting even further.

Speaker 4 14:19

What were some of the reasons that you understood or were even stated on the survey about why verbal aggression, verbal abuse wasn't being reported?

Speaker 2 14:29

So people weren't reporting because they didn't think it was necessary. Someone just shouted at them a couple of times during their shift and they thought, well, that's okay. That's that's not a big problem. And and it probably isn't a big problem either. But over time, and with different varying levels of verbal aggression, it could be bullying, psychological threats, or texts or emails, phone calls, it can build up over time and people can receive a psychological injury as a result over time. So I think people just didn't understand. Number one, there was an expectation to report it. And secondly, what should be reported and why there was a need for that reporting. So we've had to sort of change the mindset.

Shifting Mindsets On Verbal Abuse

Speaker 4 15:18

What happened next? There was some really great work, including an internal communications campaign for staff, and you were able to work with our communications team on some pretty great posters that were very attention-grabbing. Can you talk a bit more about those and what was on those posters?

Comms Campaign And Myth Busting

Speaker 2 15:38

Yeah, so we took some feedback from the survey because staff actually had the opportunity to provide their own written feedback as well within the survey. And we put some of those comments in the posters and then we responded with the actual truth. So we called it some myths around OVA. So the myth would be something that had been reported within the survey, and then we actually challenged that and gave a response with the actual truth about the reporting. So whether that be a around verbal aggression, that it's not as important as physical aggression, and actually saying, well, yes, it actually is, and these are the reasons why. So you do need to be reporting it. And also that belief that, yeah, if I report it, nothing's going to be done. So we were able to tell everyone some of the things that were being done and the establishment of the OVA committee, and some of the other actions that the OVA committee were doing. Because obviously, we can't action or respond to every report that comes through. So we're relying on that data to actually understand the depth of a problem and to do an overall fix or improvement within knowledge gaps and also procedures and with our fit outs as well. So that's a really important area as well to actually stop some of these incidents occurring in the first place.

Speaker 4 17:14

Yeah, I think one of the posters actually had a comment that was from the survey in staff feedback, well, it's just part of the job. And I found that particularly powerful because I think there are certain professions where it's wrongly assumed that you should just take that because obviously you're working with people who have got differing needs and circumstances. But can you talk a bit more about that one?

Speaker 2 17:40

Yes, that attitude, it's just part of the job. That that was something that I used to hear a lot. And of course, there's still people that would feel that way, but we've we've really worked hard to change that attitude and that belief because it isn't part of the job, and it should never be part of a job. And we do know that some people's behaviours are a result of their illness. We totally understand that, and we need to be managing that, but that doesn't mean it's okay to be physically attacked or to be abused or threatened and have to deal with that day in, day out. That doesn't make that acceptable. So we've got to find ways to manage it, not only with the client, but making sure that we're supporting our staff as much as we can. So they need appropriate training, they need debriefing, they need counselling if necessary, and they need a safe place to work, both physically and psychologically.

Reporting Jumps And What That Means

Speaker 4 18:44

One of the big things with reporting OVA is if you're educating your staff and helping them understand the reports on your risk reporting system, in our case Risk Man, they're going to increase, right? And I guess that can be confronting. So what happened, you know, with the concerted effort for education, awareness raising, you know, you were doing like there's training, uh, lunch and learn sessions, a lot of comms. So what did we see as a result of this in the reports on Risk Man?

Speaker 2 19:22

So we we saw a huge increase in staff reporting of incidents relating to OVA in particular, and again, particularly around verbal aggression. Now, a lot of that, yeah, that they are small things, but they're the sort of things that wear you're down, you know, when you're coming into work every day and you're being sworn at and told you're, you know, terrible at your job and you're useless and all those sorts of things. It's not a nice environment to work. So we saw a huge increase in reporting, and I think in the first year it was well over a hundred percent increase, and that has sort of continued. Sort of moving on to the second year where we did another survey, so we were able to compare results to that first year. We definitely saw a swing in attitude and an increase in all reporting. So that was really positive, and it showed a greater depth of understanding of staff.

Measuring Success Beyond Numbers

Speaker 4 20:20

And obviously, incidents are categorized differently due to I think it's severity. I mean, I'm not, you know, I'm just a journalist here, so I'm just, you know, but from what I know, I've personally had to report something on Risk Man, like I had a bit of a slip when it was wet, and you know, understanding or and also a computer thing, understanding that the data actually helps the organization to know more and be better and support their staff better. So, what does success look like in terms of this OVA work and the reporting of incidents? Because, you know, we hear it that some workplaces might be a bit scared to tackle this. Certainly, we had a lot of support and the understanding that more reporting, it's not something to freak out about, but it's something obviously to keep in mind, but it gives you the bigger picture. So, what does success look like? What do you like to see when you're looking at the risk man?

Speaker 2 21:22

Okay, so I I want to see everything reported, first of all. So that increase in numbers is it's perfect to see that. I think that just really gives clarity about what is happening out there and what the staff are facing. What's been good, and we have actually seen this, is first of all, that huge increase in reporting. So the incident numbers of reporting. Then we've seen a decrease in the severity of some of those physical incidents. That's that's really been a big win for us. So the highest rated incidents for us. Or a one or a two. And the incidents rated level two have decreased substantially over time, which is positive, which means although there are some physical incidents still occurring in touchwood, there haven't been any really serious physical assaults for quite some time. The other thing also is the return to work or work cover claims that are coming through as well. So looking at those and the type of claims that are coming through is also a measure of success or failure too at any time in any business. So that that's also been a positive trend as well.

Severity Levels And Culture Change

Speaker 4 22:42

So when you're talking about incident levels, so what are we talking about when we're talking about the incident severity levels?

Speaker 2 22:49

Well, it's definitely reduced. So there's a lot more level three and four, which means the effect on a staff member is going to be less, whether that physical or verbal. So a level four, something's happened, but it hasn't affected day-to-day business. There's been no first aid required, or it wasn't really directed at a staff member. Level three, it starts to become more directed at a staff member. So the abuse is directed towards them, and the physical abuse is directed towards them. So we're getting more accurate reporting, we're getting better at it. And of course, there's always room to improve, and the quality of the reports and the details in it need to still improve, but we're getting there, and I think the culture, and I see it when we have new people join our business, they come from the same industry but with different providers. Our attitude towards OVA is that we don't accept it and it's not part of the job, and we do report it. I really see a big difference, and we also get feedback from staff coming into our business that actually are really appreciative of the fact that we want to know this information.

Speaker 4 24:08

Yeah, something else that's been part of this work is actually having health and safety representation on our clinical governance, which is a group within the organization who, you know, come and talk about differing issues, client well-being, escalations, you know, safety issues, things like that. So you're actually the representative on that. And it's made a difference. Can you talk about how did that come to be that you started to participate and what the results have been?

Property Fitouts And Early Controls

Speaker 2 24:41

Yeah, it's a really interesting one. And from a health and safety perspective, it's quite a privilege to be included in, particularly in the high-risk panel. So the high risk panel meets regularly, and we have one for our NDIS participants and one for our mental health participants. And the panel reviews all of the clients, particularly focuses in on clients where there's something going on with them. So they might be having increased behaviors, or there might be something that's going on that really needs some intervention or some changes. So I just sit in there and listen a lot, and I'm looking from a different lens. I'm looking at staff safety all of the time. So when the clients are changing or they've got issues going on, the result is often that it affects our staff. So I'm I'm really coming in from a different angle, and I guess I think about things to do with the staff and their safety. Yeah, I'm just putting that other lens in and I provide any feedback that's necessary, and it certainly isn't all of the time, but I think it's been really good at raising that level of awareness about how health and safety is part of our everyday consideration, and it's about doing business. It should be included in everything that we're doing and seeing. So while we 100% are focused on our clients and their well-being, at the same time, we need to be focused on our staff.

Speaker 4 26:18

Yeah, and that's led to being able to do work with, let's say, our assets management team because the people we support, their home becomes a place that can become a health and safety issue for them, for our workers. And so your input on this panel has actually led to some great improvements, uh, strategies that you can work with with our teams. That's also extended to being able to work with our assets team to make changes to the environment, you know, the property and what can be done there. And that's something that you've been able to contribute on the high-risk panel, isn't it?

Preventing Incidents By Design

Balancing Safety And Dignity

Speaker 2 27:00

Yes, it certainly has been, especially when we're looking at new clients coming in and making sure that a property that we are finding for them is appropriate and it's considering not only the client needs, but also the staff safety and their needs as well. So that includes obviously we've already mentioned about the staff room, and it might need a security drawer and a secondary exit, but there might be other things that we need to also consider when we're looking at a property. So that level of involvement with the property and assets team has included some of the actual items that might be within a fit out or where they're placed within a fit out, and working with the SDA provider as early as we possibly can to make changes. And a really simple example of this might be something like a European laundry that's fitted in an SDA home will have sliding doors on it that are really quite flimsy, and we know that client X is going to go into that home, and the first thing they're gonna do is pull off those doors. So, what is the point of having them there? They either need to not be there or they need to be built to a different level or a different standard. So those are sort of some of the things that we come in and we look at, and then we sort of have specific clients that have really specific risks that can link to our staff. So then it's thinking more broadly about the actual property to make sure that it's fit for purpose and really thinking about what controls we can put in place and what controls can we put in as early as possible so that we're not spending money to make improvements after the staff have got in. We've actually thought of these risks before we take on the client, before we move into the property. So we're stopping incidents occurring, we're not waiting for them to occur and then going, why did that happen? Oh, that was because this wasn't good enough, and then retrofitting or making changes. So it's about really that involvement, it's knowing what the client's issues are, what they're like, their physicality, and just trying to really focus beforehand and understand what some of the risks may be. The other area also is relocating from one property to another, which can be really traumatic for a client. So having a little more oversight and knowledge in that area as well has been beneficial too.

Speaker 4 29:39

Yeah, and you also work with the people we support their families as well, because sometimes we have NDIS participants who are transitioning to their own SDA property, and also working with our behaviour support practitioners around how to, I guess, not be implementing a restrictive practice for the person, but also trying to prevent damage to the property. And there was one really great example of that, and it it involved participants who obviously expressed themselves through drawing, through writing, but kind of writing on everything. And how was that managed? Because I thought that was really good, and it actually was one of the examples that was given for the entry for the award that we won, and we'll speak about that later.

Award Recognition And Impact

Speaker 2 30:32

Yeah, so that was I I was involved only to a minor extent, really, to that one, but um the operations team and the team leader of this particular client was extremely passionate about their well-being. Every single wall and surface was written on, and not just a little bit of writing, like absolutely completely damaged. So they they were written on all over the place, coloured in, had holes in walls everywhere, hardly any furniture. And then, of course, the staff were working in a place that always looked dirty. It wasn't necessarily dirty because it hadn't been cleaned, but just it never looked clean because the walls were covered in graffiti basically. So the team leader worked with the assets team and a few other people, including myself, to work with the department to get some funding. Her walls were all fixed, they were all repainted, and she was involved in the choice of colours in each of the rooms, which is really lovely to see. The house has now got a wall that she can use chalk on and draw as much as she likes on that wall. She has a great bench and chairs at that bench that she can sit and do her colouring, which suits her needs. So that's all been fixed. And yeah, other changes have been made in that property to make it a much more pleasant experience for everybody that's either living or working there. That's really good.

Speaker 4 32:16

Irma 365, actually, this was in October in 2025, was named the Work Health and Safety Team of the Year at the 2025 Australian Workplace Health and Safety Awards for our work reducing incidents and improving safety for mainly our frontline NDIS support workers. Now, you and I were involved in that submission. I obviously had nothing to do with the actual work, but we put together a submission. Now, obviously, we were absolutely thrilled. I mean, you know, it was a long shot, it's a big awards. Tell us about how you felt about that. It was a great night, wasn't it?

Sector Interest And Knowledge Sharing

Speaker 2 32:56

Well, yeah, it certainly was, Emily. We were named as a finalist, so that in itself was really exciting for our business. And we didn't expect to get that. As you said, Emily, it was a long shot, and really we umard about whether or not we should even put a submission in. Anyway, cut to the chase, the awards ceremony, that in itself was a bit of a thrill for everybody to go to a great location at the MCG, which was just fantastic to see that under lights at night. And then sort of as the night went on and they were giving out the awards, and it was all these huge companies with lots of money to actually spend, certainly compared to us anyway. Yeah, there was a couple of hospitals that were there, but again, an another big business. And what as they were showing the awards and the different things that people had come up with, they were all extremely impressive. And when it came to our section and the award for for the health and safety team of the year, it was absolutely a shock when they called out our name. It really was quite overwhelming, I think, for us and for a little old business like Irma. Yeah, it was a real privilege and very, very exciting. And I think really, really good to for the sector, for the actual sector to realise that there's work that can be done to improve health and safety for staff, which can also, of course, in the long term, that impacts clients too, because if you've got happy, safe staff, their interaction and attitude at work with clients is going to be more positive too.

What We’re Most Proud Of

Speaker 4 34:45

Yeah, and I think when um we read the judging panel's comments on the reasons why we were a finalist, I actually think they were their eyes were really open because really it's it's kind of a niche issue in a way where the NDIS participants' home is also a workplace. And considering how, you know, the NDIS is a big scheme, I don't think really people are talking about this. We are talking about it. So it was actually really thrilling. I mean, I almost cried, and and you and Lawrence Harvey, who is in charge of our mental health programs, and you gave a really beautiful speech, considering you both didn't expect to be giving it, and just talking about how we are really passionate about what the work we do, but people need to be made safe. And I was standing by that actually, someone came up to you after the award. Do you remember that conversation? It was a a man who came up and you know sought you out to say congratulations. Can you tell us about that?

Speaker 2 35:50

Yes, certainly. So that was a surprise. A gentleman came up to us afterwards, and as you said, he congratulated us on the award and he said, Look, I used to work in that sector too, and I left the sector because the attitude towards staff and staff safety, and obviously, which included occupational verbal aggression, was so poor that I ended up leaving the sector because it was so it was so bad. That was really good feedback, really positive feedback.

Leadership, Constraints And Creativity

Speaker 4 36:23

Yeah, it really was, and and we've been able to communicate and and share a bit more about this. You gave a presentation with Lawrence at the Complex Needs Conference, which um I co-hosted with AXO on on behalf of the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing, and that is focused very much on our colleagues and organisations like us who do support people who have extremely complex needs and you know the intersections of those things like homelessness, drug and alcohol, NDIS, mental health. But we've also been seeing some interest in people understanding about the stuff we do, what's been happening since the award, and of course, we are basking in that award glory for as long as we can.

Speaker 2 37:11

Yeah, well, surprisingly, we've been interviewed for an online health and safety magazine, which was really positive. We've been involved in a review that's being done currently for the robust housing that we spoke about earlier. So they're they're just reviewing that standard. So we've been involved in that. Yeah, so there's but there's definitely been some interest. Oh, and there was also a little presentation for the A20 as well on what we've been doing in that the OVA space.

Speaker 4 37:45

And uh you gave that presentation, and the A20 is actually it's a it's the group of the biggest registered disability support providers in the country. And overwhelmingly, most of those are not for profits, like like we are. I mean, there are some that are newer, like online recruiting, but it's certainly a very influential group in terms of voice and advocacy. So, Claire, what are you most proud of with the work that we do at Irma? And broadly now, we obviously are part of a group which includes the Disability Trust. We've got OC Connections, Marriott, there's you know other elements of the business, including inclusive employment. You've worked in health and safety for a while. It's your passion, you're very passionate about it. What are you most proud of from the the work that's been done around the occupational violence and aggression, but also broadly the the specialist work we do at Irma?

Frontline Voices And Ongoing Surveys

Speaker 2 38:46

I think giving a voice for staff is has been the the biggest thing. So, you know, on behalf of the staff, I advocating for them all the time. They may not see that, of course. But one of the the best things I think in relation to Irma and the involvement, and part of the reason we won that last award was because health and safety has been interwoven into the different parts of the business. It's not just a function that's sitting on the side of the business that's called on when there's a problem, it's actually been interwoven into our client intake panel, into a high-risk panel when we're obtaining a property for a client. There's all these different touch points where health and safety is actually being spoken about and looked at. So it's part of the business. And that at the end of the day is what's going to make the improvements. It's not having health and safety sitting at a desk in an office tucked away, and as I said, only being called on when there's a problem. It's actually being integrated into the business. So I think in any health and safety function, in any business, whether it be this or construction or anywhere, health and safety has to be a part of the business and a consideration in many aspects and choices that a business makes. And that I think we have achieved at Irma.

Practical Advice For Organisations

Speaker 4 40:20

Being a not-for-profit and working in the community services sector broadly, you know, it is a sector that, especially when you're a not-for-profit and working within the NDIS too, it's always changing. There's challenges. I'm sure no one's surprised by me saying that. You don't have necessarily the money to use that, you know, different sectors have, which means there's a lot of collaboration, isn't there? There's a lot of creativity. And that was actually noted in the judge's comments. I mean, you have to think differently when you don't have like a big budget or huge team. So, do you want to talk a bit more about that?

Speaker 2 41:06

There's never been a consultant called in to help us get any data or do a culture survey in that sense regarding health and safety. As I would say, with anything, the leader of a business is the barometer. And without them supporting anything that you do, and often within a health and safety space in any business, this business is no different. If the support and that attitude towards safety doesn't come from the top, or nothing's gonna work, doesn't matter how hard you work. So at Irma, the CEO, Carenza, has always been extremely supportive of health and safety and OVA, and the general manager that managed quality risk and safety was also really, really focused on improving safety for our staff. So it's definitely got to come from the top, but then you've also got to get into the right ears and the right people to try and influence and gather their support as well, which can be really, really quite hard because it's usually extra work for everybody involved. So I guess you've got to be able to influence, but to influence you also need that support from above. And we've certainly had that at Irma. You know, they're people that are passionate about people. So I think that that helps too.

Speaker 4 42:36

And of course, the people on the ground, the frontline workers, as we call them, delivering the NDI support, they're they're the experts too, aren't they? Because they're they're the ones who are seeing this every day. And and that was important to to capture their voices.

Speaker 2 42:53

100%. And um I think the surveys have been really successful in doing that. We've run two so far, and we're on track, I think, at this stage to run our third survey this year. And we need to keep on engaging with the frontline workers and their team leaders. You know, that's the most important important area of information we can gather is from the people that are in the frontline.

Speaker 4 43:22

And so finally, what would you say to organisations, could be within the the same sector we work in or others, about embarking on looking at occupational violence and aggression in a meaningful way, or if they're finding they've got issues, what what message would you say as a health and safety professional?

Speaker 2 43:46

Be open to having increased reporting. It's not a bad thing. It's actually really important. So actually look at firstly look at your client reports that staff are putting through and read them. Does any of that Actually, impact the staff member? And if it does, then is that being reported? And if it's not, it needs to be. So actually just reviewing what you're currently doing and what your current reports actually say and making sure that anything that does relate to a staff member is being captured as a staff incident that's separate and that you can actually monitor and track and actually gather some data. Just being really honest about what's happening and not pretending or just saying, oh no, we we don't get many incidents here. Because guess what? When you dig down, I can guarantee there will be some.

Closing Credits

Speaker 1 44:40

You've been listening to Get Real, talking mental health and disability, brought to you by the team at Irma365. Get Real is produced and presented by Emily Webb with Karenza Louis Smith and special guests. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next time.