World Congress Korea 2008

World Congress On Safety And Health At Work, Korea 2008.

Brief Cv

Name: Phil Wadick

Qualifications: B.A. Dip. Ed., M. Ed. (Hons), Adv. Dip. OHS

Job title: Proprietor, Work Safety and Training

Organisation: Work Safety and Training offers OHS consultancy and training services to all types of industries.

Contact: email – workohs@tpg.com.au; mobile: 0411 625 917

Work Experience

Phil began his working career as a high school teacher. However, although enjoying the role of educator, he felt unsuited to this work so he entered the construction industry and learned a trade. His educator side again came to the fore and he enjoyed passing on skills to apprentices. He spent almost 20 years working as a tradesperson in the construction industry. He managed his own small business, trained apprentices, employed tradespersons, liaised with builders, designers, clients, employees and other stakeholders. His business had a creative arts department which specialised in creative tiling, hand made tiles, mosaics and public installations.

For the last 10 years he has worked in the field of OHS as a consultant and trainer. A distinctive feature of his work has been his involvement with the construction industry because of his in-depth knowledge and experience of the industry. He understands the industry and holds a deep respect for the subcontractors who must navigate and negotiate a path amongst several competing pressures.

Education And Research

He gained his B.A. Dip. Ed. in 1973, and was a tradesperson by 1980. By 1995 he decided to change careers again and went back to university and studied adult education and occupational health and safety, culminating in a M. Ed. Honours (Adult Education and Training) research project designed to better understand and document the safety culture of subcontractors in the construction industry. He has presented his findings at several conferences, had them published in peer reviewed conference proceedings and the Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand. Three of these papers were also accepted for publication on the CFMEU NSW website.

In partnership with his wife, Marilyn, he has conducted research into how to best manage job stress in the community service sector, presented his findings at a counsellors’ conference in Melbourne, and had a paper accepted for publication in the Journal of Occupational Health and Safety: Australia and New Zealand. Phil is currently undertaking a PhD through Monash University, designed to understand the double question of what makes OHS training effective, and how people put their OHS learning into practice at their workplace.

Korea 2008

He is presenting 3 symposium papers, giving a talk at speaker’s corner, and exhibiting 2 posters. Following is a short summary of these presentations:

#13. Safety culture of subcontractors in the construction industry.
This paper summarises his research, knowledge, and experience of the challenges faced by subcontractors for working safely. He demonstrates that they are the last link in a chain of events that negatively impact on their safety. He stresses the control and influence that the builder (principal contractor) has, and the fact that builders have little to no training in such people management skills as communication, leadership, negotiation and conflict resolution. He makes further recommendations about designing safety into a project.

#47. Adult Education Theory and learning Safety: what next? The case for a learning circle approach to training workers with low literacy.
This presentation is based on practical approaches developed by Phil Wadick to improve the OHS training of low literacy and nesb workers in the construction and manufacturing industries. It uses visual aids and discussion techniques to engage the hearts and minds of these types of participants who are often marginalised during ohs training classes.

#48. Challenges to effective ohs consultation on large civil construction sites.
This paper uses information gathered during several OHS consultation courses delivered to OHS reps and committee members from large construction sites. It discusses the challenges these often relatively uneducated people have to becoming involved in a system of consultation based on reading, writing, and participation in meetings. It tries to understand the effects of power relations on their ability to represent their workgroup’s interests in the face of the unrelenting focus on costs and production schedules.

# Speaker’s Corner:
How to ensure effective ohs training with practical and sustainable outcomes. This talk introduces Phil’s current PhD research. It will invite participants to become involved in the research, and contribute their examples from their experience about what makes ohs training effective, what are the barriers to its implementation at work, and what things enable new and better ohs practices.

# Poster Session PS265.Management of occupational health and safety in the construction industry must include creating and managing the safety culture of subcontractors.
Using a fishbone diagram analysis, Phil attempts to flesh out all the factors that contribute to the subcontractor safety culture. In summary, the influences are:

Their knowledge of ohs legislation,
The materials and equipment they use,
Their training and their lack of training,
The construction site itself,
Subcontractor personnel,
Their work methods, and
The subcontracting system itself.

Recommendations are made that may improve the safety culture of subcontractors.

#Poster Session PS266. Job stress among counsellors in the health and community services sector.
This poster documents research that uncovered the ohs implications of managing job stress for counsellors, and suggests recommendations for counsellors and their organisations that, if implemented, may improve job stress outcomes.