By Ann Marie Angebrandt
ALTONA Primary School was forced to use thousands of dollars from its operating budget to fix its unsafe staff room after the Department of Education ignored official instructions for more than a year to deal with the problem.
The breaches occurred in Lynne Kosky’s Altona electorate while she was Education Minister.
In a landmark first case of prosecution against the department for workplace safety, the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court last week fined the Department of Education and Training $8000, plus legal costs, for failing to provide a safe workplace at the 90-year-old Blyth St school.
The school’s occupational health and safety representative, Margo Welsh, and principal Kevin Enright, notified the department on 7 December 2004 the staff room was too small.
Ms Welsh said there were serious risks of staff tripping or being scalded by hot beverages while jostling for space, and that the noise level denied teachers a proper break.
Only 14 chairs were available around the table for up to 28 teachers and staff at the 448-student school.
The department’s health and safety consultants, Noel Arnold and Associates, came to the school on 20 December, and confirmed the concerns were warranted.
In mid-2005, more than six months later, the department sent a portable to the school with no facilities for a staff room, nor funding to renovate it.
Around the same time, Mr Enright arranged for a classroom to be refurbished as a staff room out of the school’s operating budget.
WorkSafe Victoria issued the department with a second improvement notice in September 2005.
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The Occupational Health and Safety Act requires employers, to whom a notice has been issued, to comply with the notice or appeal to WorkSafe.
The Education Department did neither, so the case was taken to court.
Victoria Trades Hall Council Secretary Brian Boyd said Ms Welsh showed courage to face the “mammoth bureaucracy” of the Education Department.
“OHS representatives are the lynch pin of workplace health and safety and deserve to be respected and listened to,” he said.
WorkSafe Victoria General Manager Eric Windholz said schools needed to abide by the same standards as a manufacturing company or a construction site.
Ms Welsh, a teacher for 35 years, said the case set a precedent for other schools to ensure their workplaces were safe.
“I was doing my job, and if there are any repercussions, they’re not walking the walk and talking the talk,” she said.
An Education Department spokeswoman said the department was committed to maintaining safe schools and complying with legislative requirements for safety.
She said the case related to the length of time it took to respond to the complaint.
The school has used the refurbished classroom as its staff room since last year.
