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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
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Parliamentary Committees

Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation: Work Related Mental Disorders and Suicide Prevention

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. S.W. Key:

That the 26th report of the committee, entitled Work Related Mental Disorders and Suicide Prevention, be noted.

(Continued from 16 November 2016.)

Mr KNOLL (Schubert) (11:21): I rise today to talk to the wonderful report done by one of the hardest working committees in the parliament, a committee I am very happy to continue to be on regardless of any other jobs that land in my lap.

This inquiry lasted quite a long time and saw a huge number of varied witnesses from across unions as well as lots of non-government sector people who came to give evidence to the inquiry into work-related mental disorders and suicide prevention. I propose to go through a couple of the recommendations and flesh them out in small detail to give us a better understanding of why we arrived at the decisions we did.

Recommendation 1 talks about asking the Attorney-General to commission an independent review of the South Australian Guide to Evaluation of Psychiatric Impairment for Clinicians (GEPIC). This is a model used to ascertain psychiatric impairment when defining how mentally impaired an individual is, especially in relation to an injury from a work-related cause.

We took a lot of evidence on the effectiveness of GEPIC, as a model, to put into a numerical form something that is inherently subjective and difficult to measure. I wholeheartedly support the review of the GEPIC measure, because we saw what we perceived to be a lot of inconsistency in the way that GEPIC, as a model, was applied. We saw situations where some people who had a much greater propensity to return to work had higher GEPIC scores than others for reasons unknown to the committee, which we did not quite understand, not being qualified psychologists.

This was based on scenarios put to us—'This is the scenario we put to you, but this is the score they came out with'—that showed there was a level of concern by the committee about how this was being implemented. I understand that regardless of what measure we try to put in place there will always be a level of subjectivity; it is not like a physical injury where, if you break a bone you can show that the bone is broken and you cannot use your arm.

When we are talking about psychological injury, it is much more difficult to measure. Still, I think there is much more work that needs to be done. There can be some greater transparency around how GEPIC scores are given, and hopefully that will give greater comfort to those who go through that process.

Recommendation 2 is probably the one I struggled with the most. Our committee, being a committee that likes to come to a consensus decision, did alter recommendation 2 and toned down the recommendation to call on the Minister for Industrial Relations to investigate the call for presumptive provisions for police and emergency services personnel who suffer prescribed mental disorders.

We have been through presumptive compensation for firefighters and CFS volunteers when they contract cancers. We did that because certain cancers show up potentially 10, 15 or 20 years after somebody has stopped being an active firefighter, and there is a reasonable body of evidence that shows a level of causation between somebody being a firefighter and contracting one of these cancers. That link was well understood, so presumptive compensation for those cancers makes sense. Instead of going through what would be a difficult process to prove correlation and causation, a presumption is put in.

I felt that there was not the same level of evidence for our committee to come out and say that we need presumptive provisions for prescribed mental disorders when it comes to emergency services personnel. That is not to say in any way that our front-line police, emergency services staff and volunteers do not go out and see things and do things that lead them to suffer from mental disorder—not at all. But to presume that in every instance, as the new legislation says, the significant factor is work, is I think a step too far, and the evidence was not there to support it. I am comfortable with the recommendation as it stands to investigate the call to see if we can actually build a body of evidence that develops that tight causation, and I look forward to the response from the minister.

The other recommendations meld together around looking at ways to improve how people who work in high-risk industries where they are likely to come into contact with violent, dangerous, potentially scarring situations are dealt with. That is the crux of where our inquiry wanted to head and where we saw real issues.

Recommendations 11, 13, 19, 21, 23 and 24 all in some way deal with that, whether it be the Minister for Police commissioning a report into suicidal behaviour of police officers, which is an issue that I have talked to police officers about; commissioning an evaluation of the current psychological health programs; and SafeWork SA looking at promoting help-seeking behaviour in regard to encouraging industries around including mental health awareness in some of their new induction programs. That is probably one of the best recommendations we made because proactively and pre-emptively as part of an induction process is exactly the time to deal with it, so that businesses and workplaces can start to develop a culture of dealing with mental health illness when it arises.

Recommendation 19 was around commissioning an evaluation of the SA Police psychological health program and reporting the findings to us within 12 months. Recommendation 21 was around commissioning a review of the tasks undertaken by police service personnel and to identify those tasks that are likely to expose officers to reasonably foreseeable cumulative psychological harm. That again is at the heart of what we are seeking to determine: what are the actions and incidences that happen that are most likely to cause harm and what can we do to help minimise those effects?

We talked about asking the Minister for Police and Emergency Services to provide details of how workers in regional and rural areas are supported, given that there is an apparent lack of services outside urban areas and also to look into the Victorian Smart app and consider whether that is an effective early intervention tool to assist police officers and managers to deal with mental health concerns. In my new role in the area of police, corrections and emergency services, I have spoken to a number of people who have already looked into this report and said, 'Thank you,' because it highlights concerns they have been raising for a while.

I am fairly sure that the work we have done here is going to spur on further evaluation and analysis, hopefully by the ministers themselves and more broadly in the community. It is something we need to deal with. We ask our police officers to run into situations that we ourselves are running away from. We ask police, along with emergency services personnel, to attend road crashes where horrific scenes may end up scarring their minds.

In fact, an Australia Day award recipient in my local area who is a long-term CFS volunteer detailed, in broad terms, accidents that he had seen over his time as a volunteer firefighter. You could tell that they had left an indelible mark on him. Again, that shows that the people who are running into the things that the rest of us run away from need more help and that we should look after them.

I thank our hardworking committee that just gets on with the job, ably chaired by the member for Ashford. I also thank Sue Sedivy, our research officer, who never fails to seek out information that can help us with our reporting. All in all, it is a good working committee that is helping to move society forward in relation to how we deal with these issues.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (11:30): I rise to speak to the 26th report of the Parliamentary Committee on Occupational Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation, entitled 'Work related mental disorders and suicide prevention'. Certainly, since coming into this place I have become well aware of a broad range of issues that can occur due to work-related mental disorders. Before coming into this place, I was well aware of the issues facing our service men and women with post-traumatic stress disorder in the military forces, especially those who in more recent times have served overseas, whether it be in Afghanistan or Iraq.

I have talked about this matter before in this place. My brother was a warrant officer in Iraq during 2005-06 and he had a colleague of the same rank who rotated next to him on their six-month tours. He was, for want of a better word, one of the most bulletproof characters you could ever meet. Sadly, however, getting past the military psychologists, he succumbed to post-traumatic stress disorder and lost his marriage, lost his family and paid a huge price for his service. This former colleague of my brother is not alone. Our service men and women are to be admired for the job they do, not only those who work overseas but also those who work on home soil. I want to make sure that gets onto the Hansard.

In relation to other front-line workers on the domestic scene, whether they be police, nurses, firemen or Country Fire Service people, I am a member of the Country Fire Service, as many members are in this place and I have met and talked to people from some of the brigades, especially on the Dukes Highway at Coonalpyn. This is a crash brigade, a highway brigade, and they are involved in dealing with crashes on the Dukes Highway. Anyone who knows about highway crashes knows that they can be pretty terrible, especially when a couple of trucks come together and are burnt out and the only remains of the people inside are, sadly, burnt corpses.

These workers see some terrible things, such as vehicles that have gone under trucks. We also have suicides out there, where people have driven out of Adelaide for a couple of hours and decided to line up a truck that will end their life. It happens far too often. The volunteers in the Country Fire Service are people from the community, and it is also very traumatic for the local ambulance people who have to turn up and pick up the pieces.

I know of at least one person who has said, 'Look, I've got to step back for 12 months because I've seen enough for a while. Hopefully, I can get back and do this volunteer service.' Our paid professionals on the front line—nurses, doctors and police—see some very traumatic incidents, some involving life and death and others involving people having drug episodes, and other episodes they need to deal with, which obviously affect their mental health at the time and into the future.

Mental health and the workplace can go right across the board. I know MATES in Construction do great work in trying to combat suicide in the construction industry, which has one of the highest rates of suicide at an industry level. I have spoken about them in this place before and they do excellent work, they have excellent forums and excellent outreach programs to workers in construction to keep them on the right track. I think the problem may be related to the cyclical nature of construction work, where you have a big building program, then that drops off and all of a sudden there is no pay for a while and you are up against it with payments and so on.

That is just one example, but I believe it has an impact on mental health issues and suicide in the construction sector. My background is in farming and, sadly, it is one of those jobs that has always been linked to rural suicide. Too often, farmers feel isolated and alone, so it is good to see so many different groups operating. I know there is a Men's Shed group that meets regularly on a Friday just outside of Coomandook. There are so many other rural and urban Men's Shed places where people can go to have a chat.

Men's Shed is based around trades, but you do not have to go there and make anything; it is more about making conversation and knowing that there are other people you can talk to and relate to about anything. I think that is important, especially in rural areas. I know only too well from my own background that you can feel isolated at times, but it is only when you catch up with other people that you realise everyone has their issues.

It does not have to be just in a farming sense. It does not matter what occupation you are in, people have their issues. However, it can be accentuated in farming because people spend many, many hours on their own. They get up early, they do not even see the family and get back late. They do that day in, day out during the busy seasons of seeding and harvest especially, and also when they have busy times, such as shearing and other jobs.

I would like to acknowledge the work of the suicide prevention networks. I am certainly involved at a local level with a network based in Murray Bridge. I think all the groups connected with that network are doing great work. I know Silent Ripples do postvention work helping people who have been bereaved by suicide, but there are also suicide prevention networks that have been set up in Sedan, up in Schubert, and throughout Coorong council areas like Tailem Bend and Meningie. I mentioned MATES in Construction earlier. They held forums in the South-East, but they have not just concentrated on the construction industry. They talked to their local audience, which obviously is mainly a farming community, about mental health issues and suicide prevention.

I know that in the report there is part of a speech by the Hon. John Dawkins, and it would be remiss of me not to mention his work both in this parliament and outside this parliament with regard to mental health and suicide prevention. His work has been exemplary. I know others work in these areas, but I know that John is highly dedicated to this cause and puts in a lot of time and effort, and I truly do commend him for that.

At all levels, we can never do enough and we must keep doing more. Sometimes it comes down to the fact that people need to realise that they are not alone and that they need to find someone and have a chat. It does not have to be directly about their issues, but it helps to just have a chat, settle down, realise that tomorrow is another day and work through them. I am certainly pleased to see that this fulsome report in regard to work-related mental disorders and suicide prevention has gone on, and I commend the report.

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (11:39): I would like to thank everyone for their contribution to today's debate about our report inquiring into work-related mental disorders and suicide prevention. I think the member for Schubert has covered the recommendations in a fair bit of detail, so I am not going to repeat or highlight those. I would also like to echo what the member for Hammond has said with regard to the Hon. John Dawkins. One of the reasons we started this inquiry all that time ago was to follow up on some of the inquiries John Dawkins had been making into work-related mental disorders and suicide prevention.

He really has made sure that this issue, which he has been campaigning on for such a long time, looks at paid work as well as some of the other areas that have been looked at with regard to suicide prevention and also mental health. As members would know, the prevention of psychological injuries and mental health is in the scope of the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. It places a primary duty of care on a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), as far as reasonably practicable, to ensure that workers are not exposed to risks to their health and safety as a result of their work with the PCBU.

One thing that has come out of the extensive submissions and witness statements the committee received is one of the problems with the collection of data. I make this general point: ReturnToWorkSA no longer produces and publishes annual statistical data about workers compensation and trends, which is obviously of concern to our committee and also to policymakers in general. As much as I have made this plea before, I make it today because I think if we are serious about prevention and about assisting people who have the misfortune of being injured or becoming ill as a result of their work, then we really do need to have a proper profile.

I urge the government, and also ReturnToWork, to exercise its obligations under section 13(1) of the Return to Work Corporation of South Australia Act 1994, which says that there needs to be a publication of information and statistics to make sure we have this information. Because workers compensation claims data is not the most reliable source for work-related mental injury or suicide, data in our report has been drawn up from a range of sources to assist with the understanding of the breadth and depth of this problem. I would particularly like to commend our executive officer, Ms Sue Sedivy, for the fabulous work she has done in trying to pull this very complicated report together.

What we do know at the moment is that psychological injury claims represent about 4 per cent of all the accepted claims—and I underline the word 'accepted'—but are responsible for five times more in costs and absence from work. Workers in their mid-career, aged 40 to 59, account for 46 per cent of all psychological injury claims in South Australia. So, we do have some data and it does give us some indicators, but we really do want to go back to having the comprehensive information that policymakers and practitioners in the area can actually work from. I commend the report to the house and thank everybody who has been involved in its production.

Motion carried.

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