2022

Hayley Davies and Eva Jakob

Organisation: Recovery Partners
Project: 'More than "Women's Issues" in the workplace:  Raising awareness on Endometriosis in the workplace. Education for employers and employees

The project is designed to develop widespread, context specific workplace awareness,  by educating staff and employers on the burden of endometriosis. It will provide current, evidence-based research on endometriosis and its association with decreased economic participation and potential impact on workplace safety.

This will prompt organisations to further enhance the importance of health and wellbeing programs, promoting positive lifestyle factors, such as, exercise, diet, sleep and overall health and wellbeing to improve outcomes for these women and their work productivity. The project will also identify concerns and actively offer suggestions for both women in the in their day to day lives and for organisations to improvement the management of endometriosis in the workplace.

Award: $12,500

Paige Cross

Organisation: AgInnovate
Project: New employee induction workshop series for farm businesses in South Australia

The target market for this initiative is young people working on SA farms aged between 16 – 25 years. By upskilling this age-group, it is anticipated that the WHS culture of the  agriculture industry generally will improve. This project will design and deliver two, one-day workshops in two separate regions of South Australia. This professional development initiative is a different approach to discussing the importance of WHS with young workers.

By bringing them together, and introducing them to key team communication strategies, it is anticipated that these young workers will go back into their workplaces (and rural communities) with modern WHS practices, and the communication skills to ensure that all places are safe places to work’. for her proposal to create a series of new employee induction workshops for young agriculture workers

Award: $12,500

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2021

Stephanie Schmidt

Project: ‘ACT for Ag – Building resilient farmers, farming businesses and farming families’.

ACT for Ag is a program developed with the aim of building psychological flexibility and wellbeing of farmers. Based on evidence-based workplace training programs utilising acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), ACT has been shown to improve mental health in the workplace.

ACT for Ag will implement a pilot of the program where participants can learn simple tools they can introduce to their partner, families and farming businesses to cause a ripple effect, leading to healthier individuals, relationships and farming businesses.

While the emphasis for this program is on farming and rural communities, this can be easily adaptable to a range of workplaces and industries.

Award: $15,000

Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, Appleton Institute and SA Ambulance Service - $10,000

• Dr Amy Reynolds
• Associate Professor Anjum Naweed
• Brandon Brown
• Sian Wanstall, and
• Dr Tim Rayner

Project title: ‘I wish I knew ..”: Drawing on the lived experiences of shift work, sleep loss and fatigue in Australian paramedics to proactively develop education, training and support materials for young workers’.

A research project focusing on young paramedic workers to develop a strong evidence base related to shift work and sleep problems in early-career paramedics, which can, in turn, inform sleep health interventions, education and support for our paramedic workforce.

Young paramedic workers are among the most understudied workforce, and this needs to change if we are to support their wellbeing and facilitate sustainable careers.

Other industries and work groups are highly likely to benefit from the findings and subsequent resources we provide, particularly as this work focusses on the impact of shift work, sleep problems and worker strategies. Paramedics are not the only first responders engaged in shift work from the first day of their careers. Other industries (including policing and fire services) could benefit from the overlap in experience related to new exposure to shift work careers.

2020

Stephen Sverchek and Larry Waller

Organisation: Youth Opportunities
Project: Young people in the workforce: A pathway to safety and success

Award: $10,500

Dr Ancret Szpak and Dr Jun Ahn

Organisation: University of South Australia
Project: Testing the effectiveness of virtual reality-based training for forklift operation safety skills among young people

Award: $14,500

2019

Cassandra Deon-Wierda

Project: Responding to client disclosures: Training for hairdressers in recognising and responding to domestic and family violence.

Award: $10,000

Georgia Thain

Project: Work Health and Safety in the sex industry of South Australia: Beyond criminalisation.

Award: $10,000

2018

Alex Thomas

Project: The #PlantASeedForSafety social media awareness campaign with 100 case studies of rural women who have improved safety to engage and inspire others.

Award: $20,000

Sara Howard

Project: To work with VET students to understand the implications of cobots in the workplace, and how this impacts safety for their career going forward.

Award: $15,000

Jaspreet Kaur and Anne Purdy

Project: To develop and translate multilingual fact sheets to support women to better understand the worker’s compensation scheme and navigate the psychological work injury claims process.

Award: $10,000

2017

Michelle Tuckey

Project: Prevention of workplace bullying through risk assessment: final project report.

Award: $10,000

Andie Xu

Project: Understanding the impact of sunlight exposure on hot flush symptoms.

Award: $10,000

2016

Karen Baines

Project: Safety groups for farm women. A farm safety implementation program pilot model for the future delivery of farm safety improvements.

Award: $10,000

Professor Susan Gordon

Project: Preventing and managing aggression in aged care.

Award: $10,000

2015

Dr Olivia Lockwood and Andy Roberts

Project: Developing strategies to reduce workplace injuries for sonographers.

Award: $10,000

Ms Anne Purdy and Ms Janet Giles

Project: Work health and safety risks associated with social and community services workers who are required to sleepover at their workplaces as part of their job.

Award: $10,000

2014

Gemma Beale

Project: The safety of female casual and seasonal workers during South Australia's 'Mad March'.

Award: $10,000

Renae Fernandez

Project: Identifying occupations performed by women that contribute to an increased risk of impaired fertility.

Award: $10,000

2013

Dr Claire Jones

Project: Biomechanic Evaluation of Spine and Knee Loads in Women performing a novel 'arm-to-thigh' technique for one-handed reaching and lifting tasks.

Award: $10,000

Dr Joy Penman

Project: Mental, psychosocial and emotional-safe environments for female immigrant nurses in rural and regional aged care services : an educational resource manual for new recruits.

Award: $10,000

2012

Dr Moira Jenkins

Project: Developing a group program to help workers who have sustained psychological injury as a result of workplace bullying or harassment, and as a consequence are no longer working, to return to safe work.

Award: $16,900

2011

Kathryn McEwen

Project: Building resilience at an individual and collective level for staff.

Award: $10,000

Sharyn Gaskin

Project: The influence of cosmetics on the skin absorption of chemicals amongst female workers.

Award: $9,150

2010

Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy

Project: Experiences of sexual harassment amongst young women workers: an exploration of power and opportunity.

Award: $10,000

Valerie O'Keeffe

Project: Nurses health and safety decision-making and the role of safety information.

Award: $5,000

Jessica Smith

Project: Raising awareness in the workplace of the potential impact of hazardous substances on fertility and pregnancy.

Award: $5,000

2009

Vicki Hutchinson and Belinda Purvis

Project: Management of aggression/violence in a clinical environment.

Award: $8,000

Kathy Grieve

Project: Menopause & work project: final report

Award: $6,760

2008

Georgina Upton and Bronwyn Knight

Project: Risk management techniques for digital mammography.

Award: $10,000

Susan Mitchell

Project: Minimisation of musculoskeletal sprains and strains in the Early Special Education field.

Award: $7,350

2007

Dr Elspeth McInnes and Christy Ward

Project: Supporting the occupational health and safety needs of Family Day Care providers in South Australia.

Award: $12,000

2006

Sharon Henderson, Alex Neill, John Packer and Craig Brown

Project: The three firms combined to produce a prototype motorised 'comfort chair mover' for residents of aged care homes, as well as motorised trolleys for high use and heavy duties.

The Scholarship will go towards funding a multi-language DVD-based training tool, and research to identify other industries where manual handling tasks may affect the well-being of women and to demonstrate the product to them.

Award: $10,000

2005

Alana Hale

Project: This scholarship was awarded to Alana Hale to undertake a study trip to London to participate in the Health and Safety Representative training for occupational stress and to work with the trainers in the Trade Union Congress (TUC).

The focus of this work was to identify what had worked well in minimising the risks of stress - particularly in women.

Award: $10,000

Karen Grogan

Project: The project examined ways of reducing bullying in the Public Sector, a major employer of women and also examined how women's leadership styles were being challenged in traditional patriarchal working environments.

Award: $10,000

Augusta Zadow
27 August 1846 - 7 July 1896

Augusta Zadow was an advocate for women's rights in the workplace and became South Australia's 'First Lady Inspector of Factories' in 1895. She was a woman ahead of her time, with many of the working conditions women enjoy today attributable to her advocacy.

She became an advocate for women working in clothing factories and was a major contributor to the establishment of the Working Women's Trades Union in 1890 and was a delegate to the United Trades and Labour Council of South Australia.

An outspoken supporter of women's suffrage, following the franchise of women in South Australia in 1894 she was appointed as a factory inspector to monitor working conditions for women and children.

Augusta is buried in the West Terrace Cemetery. Her gravestone was built with 1,000 threepenny subscriptions from factory workers.

In recognition of her work, SafeWork SA's Augusta Zadow Awards can help you meet the costs of a work health and safety initiative that benefits working women, research or further education.

Find out more:

• State Library of South Australia
• Wikipedia