CEO Welcomes New National Occupational Health and Safety Commission Office Leadership Team
The Chief Executive of the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC), Helen L’Orange, today announced the appointment of Ruth Campbell as Director of National Forum and Information and Jim Moore as Director of Prevention Strategies and Facilitation.
Ms L’Orange said: "Ms Campbell and Mr Moore are both very high calibre strategic thinkers who bring valuable skills and experience to NOHSC. With Lyn Maddock - Executive Director, Policy and Planning and Dr Margaret Hartley - Director of the Chemical Assessment Division, the new leadership team will ensure NOHSC continues to be a valuable source of strategic direction to national occupational health and safety (OHS) prevention efforts." Ms Maddock is also assuming responsibility for statistics, epidemiology and comparative performance measurement in the NOHSC office.
Ms L’Orange said the appointments are timely following the refocussing of NOHSC activities during 1997. Last year the Labour Ministers’ Council endorsed new directions which are designed to enable NOHSC to work constructively with all jurisdictions and industry parties on a national effort to improve OHS prevention outcomes in Australia.
Key activities of the National Forum and Information Branch are to facilitate the exchange of OHS information to help agencies and workplaces improve their OHS performance, to provide an effective national tripartite forum and to provide corporate support. Ms Campbell, recently a senior manager in human resources at QANTAS and previously in senior executive positions in the Commonwealth Department of Industrial Relations, has wide experience in management and achieving practical outcomes.
NOHSC’s Prevention Strategies and Facilitation Branch works towards identifying developing and emerging OHS problems, finding practical OHS solutions for workplaces, and facilitating improved prevention performance, particularly for small businesses. Mr Moore, who currently works as a management consultant, was previously a senior executive in the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs and Department of Social Security. Mr Moore will take up the position mid-year, and Mark Collins will continue to lead the branch until then.
NATIONAL OHS COMMISSION AT A GLANCE
Extent of the problem
Each year, thousands of Australians lose their lives, are injured, or suffer diseases through their work. Estimated financial cost to Australia of occupational injury and disease in 1996 was over $22 billion.
NOHSC
NOHSC is a tripartite statutory body, with government, employer and employee representatives.
Purpose
NOHSC leads and co-ordinates national efforts to prevent or reduce the incidence and severity of occupational injury and disease by providing healthy and safe working environments.
NOHSC’s new strategic direction is:
Identifying OHS problems - Developing and emerging OHS problems, including major trends, gaps and issues will be identified from national and international data and research. Finding practical solutions - Prevention initiatives that have been successful in one State or Territory will be evaluated, adapted and made available to all jurisdictions. The focus will be on finding practical solutions, and ideally, the best combination of measures to accelerate prevention improvement in workplaces, and reduce the need for government intervention. Facilitating improved prevention performance - Improved prevention performance will be facilitated by ensuring that workplaces have available to them information and strategies that are practical and relevant to their needs. Measuring performance - NOHSC will measure the prevention performance of the jurisdictions and the nation as a whole, and use the findings for continuous improvement of prevention efforts.
NOHSC:
- supports and adds value to efforts in the jurisdictions to tailor approaches to prevention improvement.
- facilitates through strategic alliances the development and implementation of better approaches to achieving improved prevention outcomes.
- integrates the needs of small business into its work.
Budget
NOHSC’s budget for 1997-98 is $15.6 million.
21 January 1998
Page last updated: 15/07/2008