WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY COMMISSIONED RESEARCH GRANTS

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:46): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Can the minister advise the house about the current round of work health and safety Commissioned Research Grants?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:46): I thank the member for his very important question and acknowledge the many years that the honourable member has represented his members' interests in regard to occupational health and safety. I am pleased to advise that the work health and safety Commissioned Research Grants program opened for applications on Monday 2 July 2012. This program, which is presented by the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee, is for those interested in conducting research to improve health and safety outcomes in South Australian workplaces.

To assist potential applicants in applying, SafeWork SA conducted the 2012 Work Health and Safety Annual Research Forum on Wednesday 11 July 2012 at Pavilion on the Park on South Terrace, Adelaide. This free forum assisted potential applicants in determining possible research topics by presenting information about the national research agenda and the SafeWork SA Advisory Committee's priority areas of research. Almost 80 people attended this valuable forum and networking opportunity, and were provided with details of the process to follow in applying for a Commissioned Research Grant. Attendees also had the opportunity to hear from previous successful applicants who had worked in the priority areas of youth safety, precarious work, psychosocial issues, best practice in inspectoral interventions, and work health and safety consultation.

Last year, the University of Adelaide was funded $41,842 over two years for a road safety research project. The project aims to make comparisons between road safety and occupational health and safety welfare practices by contrasting injury monitoring data, policy and legislative regimes and discussing the possible crossover of some of these principles. A workshop to discuss possibilities and benefits of adopting road safety interventions in occupational health and safety, with a particular emphasis on the new national compliance and enforcement policy, will also be arranged as the second stage to this project.

The work health and safety Commissioned Research Grants program closes on Friday 24 August 2012. Further details about the grants program are available on SafeWork SA's website. I note that the work health and safety Commissioned Research Grants program annual budget is $320,000.