Previous Winners

2012 Winner
Dr Moira Jenkins
Aboto and University of Adelaide

Juanita Lovatt, SafeWork SA presented Dr Moira Jenkins with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship

Moira Jenkins was awarded a $16,900 scholarship to develop 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.

Key safety issues

• Working with participants to provide them with strategies to address their anxiety and depression which have been identified as the most common mental health impact of workplace bullying.

Anticipated outcomes

• Develop an evidence based cognitive behavioural psychotherapeutic group program that will address the psychological and behavioural needs of people who have been bullied or harassed
• Establish a focus group with the aim of further developing themes, and identifying core issues that may be preventing bullied workers from re-entering the workforce and participating fully in their lives
• Evaluation of the group program and disseminate the results through peer reviewed academic publication, conferences and relevant agencies.

2011 Winners

Kathryn McEwen
Psychology at Work in collaboration with Child and Family Health Services

The Hon Russell Wortley MLC presented Kathryn McEwen with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship

Kathryn McEwen was awarded a $10,000 scholarship to undertake a research project that aims to build resilience at an individual and collective level for staff.

The research project will find ways to help staff manage their everyday stress and to recover from the inevitable setbacks they face in their complex and demanding work.

Key safety issues

• Working with clients that have complex and challenging needs
• Identifying and reporting suspected child abuse and managing cases with child protection issues
• Visiting clients at home - with potential exposure to violence.

Anticipated outcomes

• Improved psychological well-being for staff
• Developed strategies that can be used to promote both individual staff and team resilience across health services
• Contribution to the body of knowledge in workplace resilience - its characteristics and how it can be developed.

Sharyn Gaskin
Occupational and Enviromental Health Laboratory, University of Adelaide

The Hon Russell Wortley MLC presented Sharyn Gaskin with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship

Sharyn Gaskin was awarded a $9,150 scholarship to undertake research to better understand the influence of cosmetics on the skin absorption of chemicals amongst female workers.

The research project will lead to better guidance on the health effects that wearing cosmetics may have on workers who handle chemicals, such as cleaning agents.

Key safety issues

• In the workplace there is little or no guidance on the issue of personal care products for workers handling chemicals.

Anticipated outcomes

• This research will provide new knowledge addressing female susceptibility to chemicals in the workplace and the potential role of products worn on the skin.
• A government briefing guidance document will be prepared (for SafeWork SA and other key stakeholders) highlighting the issues found relating to female susceptibility to chemicals in the workplace and the role of personal products worn on the skin.
• An information session (and presentation at a suitable SafeWork SA forum) will be made to key stakeholders regarding the knowledge gathered, and recommendations made.

2010 Winners

Valerie O'Keeffe
University of South Australia

The Hon Paul Holloway MLC presented Valerie O'Keeffe with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship.

Valerie O'Keeffe was awarded a $5,000 scholarship to undertake a research project 'Nurses' health and safety decision-making and the role of safety information'.

Key safety issues

Valerie will examine how South Australian hospital-based nurses understand and make decisions about their occupational health and safety.

This scholarship will enable Ms O'Keefe to undertake research to redress the knowledge gap by examining the cultural context in which this decision-making occurs, acknowledging that safety is a primary driver in the delivery of patient care.

Anticipated outcomes

The research will:

• identify the current processes that nurses use for making safety decisions
• provide a sound evidence base to develop strategies to support more effective decision-making, including reporting and training approaches, and the design and implementation of policies and procedures.

Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy
Young Workers Legal Service

The Hon Paul Holloway MLC presented Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy with their Augusta Zadow Scholarship.

Nadine Levy and Anne Purdy were awarded a $10,000 scholarship to deliver their project on 'Young women, small business and sexual harassment in an occupational health, safety and welfare (OHSW) context'.

Key safety issues

Sexual harassment remains a workplace issue, particularly in small business and especially for young women who have little to no work experience and don't fully understand their legal rights and available protection.

This can be connected to the fact that policies, procedures and induction programs about sexual harassment laws are rare in small business.

Anticipated outcomes

This research will:

• survey existing literature and look to the Model Health and Safety Bill and State safety legislation to assess their relative effectiveness and accessibility
• explore possible mechanisms to protect young female workers and educate employers on sexual harassment as both a discrimination and an OHSW issue
• provide practical recommendations specifically geared towards small business and young women.

Jessica Smith
Plant Genomics Centre

The Hon Paul Holloway MLC presented Jessica Smith with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship.

Jessica Smith was awarded a $5,000 scholarship to deliver a project 'Raising awareness in the workplace of the potential impact of hazardous substances on fertility and pregnancy'.

Key safety issues

Female employees and students working at the University of Adelaide's Plant Genomic Centre are at risk of being exposed to potentially harmful substances that may adversely affect their fertility or pregnancy.

Anticipated outcomes

This research will:

• highlight potentially harmful substances; chemicals which may affect reproduction or the health of unborn babies; and recommendations for improved handling procedures
• form the basis for an upgrade to the existing guidelines regarding the handling of these chemicals, and communicate the findings to staff and students using a pamphlet, the intranet and a launch event.

2009 Winners

Kathy Grieve
Catholic Safety, Health and Welfare SA

The Hon Paul Caica MP presented.Kathy Grieve with her Augusta Zadow Scholarship.

This scholarship was awarded to Kathy Grieve of Catholic Safety, Health and Welfare SA to undertake a project on 'Menopause and work'.

Ms Grieve manages occupational health, safety and welfare for the Catholic Church in South Australia, which employs many women as teachers and nurses.

Key safety issues

Although women constitute a large percentage of the Australian labour force and menopause is a significant event in the lives of all women, information and research about menopause and work can be hard to find. The effect of menopause on the lives of working women has been afforded little research.

This scholarship will enable Ms Grieve to undertake research and visit organisations in England that have either studied the effects on women who work during menopause, or implemented strategies to deal with the issue.

Anticipated outcomes

On completion of her research, Ms Grieve plans to develop a health promotion leaflet and a webpage to provide women with information regarding the symptoms of menopause and offer basic strategies to assist with symptom management, especially in the workplace.

Both tools will offer links to professional organisations and verified information sites.  The leaflet and website will provide women with reliable information that they can access while still remaining anonymous.

Vicki Hutchinson and Belinda Purvis
Repatriation General Hospital

The Hon Paul Caica MP presented the Augusta Zadow Scholarship for Vicki Hutchinson and Belinda Purvis of Repatriation General Hospital.  Ro Williams and Belinda Purvis accepted the award at the presentation night.

Vicki Hutchinson and Belinda Purvis, both from the Repatriation General Hospital, were awarded this scholarship to deliver their project on the management of aggression/violence in a clinical environment.

Key safety issues

Client aggression and violent incidents toward healthcare workers and others in the healthcare setting are increasing in incidence around the world. Evidence from current literature suggests that changes in healthcare access, nursing staff shortages and the acuteness of patients' conditions are some of the possible causes.

Nurses in a range of work environments face the terrifying possibility of becoming victims of aggressive and violent incidents while caring for patients. Research has shown the health industry to be the most violent industry in Australia. The consequences include an increased cost to the healthcare system, loss of experienced nurses from the workforce and the inability to attract nurses back to the workplace.

Anticipated outcomes

Meaningful continuing education is seen as a crucial link in the retention of nurses. Ms Hutchinson and Ms Purvis intend to develop an electronic learning programme to educate and prepare nurses for dealing with clinical scenarios before aggression or violence is demonstrated.

The eLearning programme, which will incorporate learning strategies based on clinical scenarios, problem solving and clinical reasoning, will complement and enhance the current 'hands on' training programme and be directly transferable for use by other health units.

2008

Pinnacle Workplace Consultants
BreastScreen SA

The scholarship is awarded to Pinnacle Workplace Consultants in partnership with The Briars Special Early Learning Centre to undertake a project to minimise musculo-skeletal sprains and strains.

The project centres on developing and implementing a manual handling strategy and procedures for high-risk activities within the Early Special Needs sector.

Musculoskeletal sprains and strains have been identified as a major area of concern in Early Special Education, an industry in which the majority of employees are female. The aim of the project is to reduce the severity and frequency of injuries to staff when assisting children.

The methodology for the programme will be based on the French Manutention Method of Manual Handling. Based on martial arts, abseiling and weightlifting principles, the method is relevant to current risk management techniques and a 'no-lift' approach to manual handling.

This scholarship is awarded to BreastScreen SA to undertake a project on Risk Management Techniques for Digital Mammography.

BreastScreen SA employs fifty female Radiographers who perform mammograms at six clinics and three mobile units across South Australia. BreastScreen SA also provides training for practitioners from private practices and public hospitals.

The highly skilled women who provide mammography services are susceptible to a range of injuries, due to the extremely repetitive nature of the work they perform.

While acknowledged that traditional analogue or film-based technology poses a high degree of risk of overuse injury to operators, little is known about these risks in the emerging field of digital mammography technology.

Under the guidance of Georgina Upton and Bronwyn Knight, the aim of the project is to:

• identify the occupational health, safety and welfare risks involved with digital mammography technology
• develop techniques to overcome those risks
• produce a DVD to assist Radiographers in the safe ergonomic use of the technology, and
• ensure information regarding injury prevention strategies is disseminated to all users.

It is anticipated the project will be completed towards the end of 2009, coinciding with the gradual rollout of digital screening technology.

2007

Dr Elspeth McInnes and Christy Ward both from the University of South Australia were awarded the Augusta Zadow Scholarship to deliver their project 'Supporting the Occupational Health and Safety Needs of Family Day Care Providers in South Australia'.

The Scholarship will assist them to undertake high quality research with a focus on children's development, learning, health and well being in the contexts of family, society, education and care. Dr McInnes and Ms Ward are closely aligned to the early childhood teaching and community programmes ensuring that practice and policy are informed by research.

The research project aims to support the occupational health and safety needs of Family Day Care Providers.

2006

This scholarship was awarded for an innovative collaboration between Trevu House Aged Care, Phantom Power Products and J Packer Design.

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.

These were trialled with great success at Trevu House Aged Residential Care at Gawler East, where 95 percent of employees are women.

Staff found their injury risk was eliminated; their fatigue level reduced considerably and the devices saved them time.

It is anticipated that by eliminating body-stressing injuries and reducing fatigue, these products will enable female employees to extend their working careers.

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.

The judges recognised the potential for this project to make a substantial improvement to the health and wellbeing of women, who comprise the majority of employees in the rapidly growing aged care industry.

2005

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.

The Health Services Executive (HSE) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) in England had developed resources that could be adapted for use in South Australia.

Alana visited the HSE and researched how they developed the management standards, enforcement practices and the methods used to provide the necessary information and assistance for implementation.

This project will have great benefits to advancing the issues surrounding work related stress.

This scholarship was awarded to Karen Grogan to progress Australian research into workplace bullying. The work undertaken took part of a larger research project, which had a particular focus on the South Australian Public Service.

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.