Safe work environment

Deakin’s Alcohol policy is a clear statement that sets out the framework for the responsible supply and consumption of alcohol by students, staff and associates of the University at any activity or events where they are representing the University.

While at work Deakin staff including contractors must ensure that they are not impaired by the effects of alcohol and drugs during the course of their work. The Alcohol Policy and the Code of Conduct, provides a clear framework for students, staff and other members of the University community for the responsible supply and consumption of alcohol at any activity or event where they are representing the University.

The Alcohol policy also describes specific work activities where alcohol is not to be consumed because of the inherent high risk nature of the work.

Support Services

The University will provide support for students and staff who are experiencing alcohol-related issues, including addiction. Students needing assistance with alcohol related issues should contact the Deakin Medical Centre. Staff needing assistance with alcohol related issues should contact/speak with their manager or the Employee Wellbeing Support service.

The Department of Health guidelines provide answers to a range of common questions that will assist you to understand some of the risk related to alcohol consumption and why as a community we need to understand how it affects our mental and physical health.

Managing the use of alcohol at events

The Alcohol policy provides a useful event risk assessment template for event organisers to use so that event related risks which include alcohol service and consumption can be managed by event organisers.  It must be completed as part of planning any University event.

Event organisers must fully understand the Alcohol policy and applicable laws, regulations and University procedures and guidelines and manage their events accordingly. They also are expected to keep the safety and well-being of participants at the forefront of their planning and management of events. Further information can be found at www.vcglr.vic.gov.au

Low risk events need to be managed and this checklist can assist managers and event organisers to ensure alcohol related risk is systematically considered and addressed.

What do I need to know about the health impacts of alcohol?

Factors such as gender, age, mental health, drug use, and existing medical conditions can change how alcohol affects you. Responsible drinking is about balancing your enjoyment of alcohol with the potential risks and harm that may arise from drinking - especially if you go beyond low risk drinking levels.

What do the guidelines recommend?

• For healthy men and women, drinking no more than two standard drinks on any day reduces your risk of harm from alcohol-related disease or injury over a lifetime.
• Drinking no more than four standard drinks on a single occasion reduces the risk of alcohol-related injury arising from that occasion.

What are the health risks?

Alcohol and drugs “change the balance of chemicals that help your brain to think, feel, create and make decisions. The drugs and alcohol you use can affect you both now and in the future. Changing drug and alcohol habits can take time, but with support and perseverance you will notice positive changes in your mental and physical wellbeing.” Beyond Blue 2017

The health risks that accumulate over a lifetime from alcohol increase progressively - this means that the more you drink, the greater the risk.  Drinking alcohol can affect your liver or cause brain damage, heart disease, high blood pressure and increases your risk of many cancers. It may also increase your risk of injury through road trauma, violence, falls and accidental death.

What is a standard drink?

A standard drink contains 10 grams of pure alcohol.  It is important to note that drink serving sizes are often more than one standard drink. There are no common glass sizes used in Australia.   The label on an alcoholic drink container tells you the number of standard drinks in the container.

Tips to reduce the risk to your health when drinking

It is possible to drink at a level that is less risky, while still having fun. There are a number of things you can do to make sure you stay within low risk levels and don't get to a stage where you are no longer capable of controlling your drinking.

These include:

• Set limits for yourself and stick to them
• Start with non-alcoholic drinks and alternate with alcoholic drinks
• Drink slowly
• Try drinks with a lower alcohol content
• Eat before or while you are drinking
• If you participate in rounds of drinks try to include some non-alcoholic drinks

Alcohol and mental health

There is growing evidence that alcohol increases the risk of some mental health problems, like depression and anxiety. Around 37% of people who report problems with alcohol also have a co-occurring anxiety and/or mood disorder. The risk of having a mental illness is around four times higher for people who drink alcohol heavily than for people who don’t.

Companion animals including dogs are not permitted on University premises, for health and safety reasons. Companion animals do not include seeing-eye dogs and other working animals. Enquiries about signs and stray animals may be directed to Security.

A child may only be brought onto University premises in accordance with the Flexible Working Procedure. The staff member (i.e. the parent or guardian) must be aware of hazards and ensure the safety of the child. For example, be careful of heavy or automatic doors, lifts, people carrying hot drinks, scissors, staplers, staircases, carparks and the like.  The staff member must be with the child at all times.

In accordance with the Flexible Work Arrangements procedure and for safety reasons, children are not permitted at all in workshops, laboratories, other spaces with potentially dangerous equipment, and building sites, and children with infectious diseases requiring exclusion from childcare or school are not permitted in the workplace at all.

Where practical, workplaces that are buildings need to be capable of maintaining a temperature range that is comfortable and suitable to the work. Optimum comfort for sedentary work is between 20°C and 26°C, depending on the time of the year and clothing worn. In enclosed workplaces, comfortable rates of air movement are usually between 0.1m and 0.2m per second. Staff undertaking work requiring physical exertion usually prefer a lower temperature range.

Where the indoor temperature in areas of light work such as offices reaches an ambient temperature of 30–32°C, staff will be entitled to a 10-minute break at the end of each 50 minutes with access to cool drinking water. When the temperature reaches above 32–35°C, the breaks will increase to 20 minutes at the end of each 40 minutes. When the temperature exceeds 35°C, staff should preferably be relocated to a cooler environment, or be given the option of leaving work for the remainder of the day without loss of ordinary pay.

When temperatures reach 35°C, students should preferably be relocated to a cooler environment or the remainder of the class cancelled, at the discretion of the Head of School or Pro Vice-Chancellor. Remember that of course students are able to leave a location without having to take into account University employment obligations and consequences as do staff.

In other indoor locations such as workshops, plant rooms, warehouses and so on, similar arrangements should be made by managers where practical, taking into account the amount of physical activity.

If you have any questions regarding measuring indoor temperatures, please contact the Infrastructure, Property and Precincts help desk on 5227 1166.

Any person with signs and symptoms of heat stress (e.g. feeling generally unwell or experiencing nausea, dizziness, weakness, clumsiness, collapse and convulsions) should seek immediate first aid or medical attention. Be aware of these signs and symptoms in others.

If a staff member has a medical condition that puts them at a higher risk of heat stress or similar, then they must bring to the attention of their supervisor any medical restrictions in warm conditions.  A doctor's certificate setting out the risk and restrictions may be required.

Equipment with an exposed heating element such as a bar radiator is not to be used on University premises due to the risk of fire.

Staff concerns about noise levels which cannot be addressed promptly and readily should be reported by managers to the your Health and Safety Partner.

Occupational violence is "any incident where an employee is physically attacked or threatened in the workplace" (WorkSafe), whether by a colleague or a third party. A university is not a workplace where violence should be of everyday concern.

If a staff member feels that his or her duties carry the risk of threat or physical attack the matter should be raised immediately with their manager.

If an assault has occurred or is there is an immediate likelihood of one, contact the police on 000 and Security on SafeZone or 1800 062 579. An assault is a criminal matter.

The University’s policy and procedure on occupational violence and security is contained in:

• Workplace OHS Security Standard
• Workplace Violence Risk Assessment

The Personal Security Guidelines provides general guidelines on keeping safe on campus.

Slips, trips and falls are the most common reported accident at Deakin. Most slips, trips and falls are preventable through good design, appropriate maintenance, housekeeping and cleaning, individual risk management and effective hazard identification and reporting.

The actual causes of the slip, trip or fall can be complex. These causes, more accurately, contributing factors, can include:

• Weather, especially rain
• Lighting - especially at the bottom of stairs and steps
• Lack of maintenance of paths and steps
• Cleaning regimes - either too little, or the opposite too much polishing
• Human error such as leaving cords across pathways, other poor housekeeping or failing to properly repair paths after other work
• Failure to match surfaces to human capability especially where limited by age or disability
• Poor or inappropriate designs
• Individual misjudgement about risk such as taking shortcuts, hurrying, getting distracted or wearing higher risk footwear.

In many cases the actual accident is caused by a combination of the above factors.

The best approach for local staff and managers is to incorporate slip, trip and fall prevention into your routine inspections and ensure all staff are encouraged to report "near misses" and hazards through the using the online incident report form. The training and e-learning packages below can be incorporated into your refresher and local training programs to promote awareness and understanding on how slips, trips and falls can be prevented.

Staff must keep their own work areas clean, tidy and safe, including:

• removing tripping hazards such as loose cords, loose floor coverings and objects in walkways and working areas
• storing materials stably and in a way that minimises manual handling risks
• cleaning up or cordoning spills
• removing paper and obstacles from the floor.

If there is a similar hazard in a shared area, such as a corridor or tearoom, then attend to it if possible or or through a Work Request to Infrastructure and Property Group (IPG).

Managers' workplace inspection checklists include housekeeping hazards.

Checklists

WorkSafe: Slips, Trips and Falls Checklist  (DOC, 186.5 KB)

Training and e-Learning Packages

The STEP Tool is an eLearning package developed by the United Kingdom Health and Safety Executive, providing slips and trips guidance through interactive learning. It is an easy way to learn about slips and trips, how they are caused, why preventing them is important and how to tackle them. This is supported by various resources including training packages.

For information on smoking refer to our page on health and wellbeing.

Vaccination may be appropriate for staff engaging in activities such as first aid duties, clinical work, handling human blood or other body substances, laboratory work, cleaning, gardening, maintenance, security and overseas travel. More information is contained in the Vaccination Guidelines (PDF, 49.4 KB) .

For student vaccination refer to the Current Students website. Some courses may specify vaccination as a requirement.

Working from heights of two metres or more is separately regulated under the OHS Regulations. The head of any organisational area which has staff or contractors engaged in this kind of work must refer to Part 3.3- prevention of falls of the OHS Regulations. The OHS Regulations impose specific legal responsibilities on employers for prevention and control.hey must identify tasks carrying the risk of a fall and measures to be taken to address this risk. For more information contact the Health, Wellbeing and Safety (HWS) Unit