The partnership between EML and Steering Healthy Minds (SHM) has achieved recognition by being selected as a finalist for the Collaboration in Injury & Disability Management Award at this year's Excellence in Personal Injury and Disability Management Awards.
The Transport Industry Mental Health Initiative Steering Group was established in 2018. This was subsequently renamed ‘Steering Healthy Minds: A Transport Industry Mental Health Initiative’. SHM’s founding organisations are Transport Education Audit Compliance Health Organisation (TEACHO), Transport Workers Union QLD (TWU), Queensland Trucking Association (QTA), Queensland Council of Unions (QCU), WorkCover Queensland and TWU Super. The collaboration currently includes Kitney and EML.
EML joined the partnership in June 2022 through its Mutual Benefits program, providing funding to expand the program, and in February 2023 committing a Program Coordinator to lead the SHM steering group and facilitate the campaign through to February 2024.
Geniere Aplin, Chief Executive Officer, EML Solutions says, “Our participation in the Steering Healthy Minds initiative is intended to be a long-term partnership, and we are delighted to be collaborating with a group of stakeholders that share the same values and commitment to achieving better outcomes in the transport sector.”
THE REASON FOR THE COLLABORATION
According to Australian workers compensation data 2019-20, transport, postal and warehouse workers are the fourth highest group for serious workers compensation claims. They have the highest fatality rate amongst workers (15.6 deaths per 100,000 workers) and second highest fatalities per industry (20% of total fatalities). And 8% of serious claims are related to mental stress.
They also face a range of psychosocial hazards and factors that adversely affect their mental health and wellbeing, including exposure to remote and isolated work, high job demands, low job control, harassment and aggression, traumatic roadside events and a lack of workplace supports. According to the Productivity Commission: Mental Health Inquiry Report, 2020, the economic cost of reduced participation and productivity from poor mental health is between $12.2B and $22.5B per year.
THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS INDUSTRY INITIATIVE
Steering Healthy Minds was conceived as an up-stream mental awareness program to improve senior management values and attitudes toward psychosocial wellbeing and enable ‘on the ground’ upskilling of frontline workers to recognise and address mental health concerns.
By engaging workplaces directly, the mission of SHM is to upskill employers to provide an improved working environment in which people are safe and mentally healthy in their work, by:
- Normalising discussion on mental health issues in the same manner as physical injuries
- Promoting on the ground support for workers who may experience mental health concerns
- Supporting organisations to establish peer to peer mental health programs for workers
Employers in SHM are empowered to act early to reduce the impact of work on their employees’ mental health. By using a recognisable brand in Mental Health First Aid to create a peer support network, SHM promotes wellbeing in the workplace while enhancing mental health literacy and support skills in the transport community.
With EML’s support, SHM will be able to offer more Mental Health First Aid training and ensure the peer network within the transport industry grows even further. This increased focus will develop the program nationally, taking the benefits of SHM to other states and territories.
Click here to find out more about SHM and the programs they offer.
Visit the PIEF 2023 website awards page for more information on finalists across all categories.