“I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” Ash says of her time as a HSR earlier this year.

As part of her traineeship with the Rural City of Murray Bridge, Ash gained a Certificate IV in Library Information Services.

She passed the HSR role on to a colleague when finishing her traineeship in July and is now back at Murray Bridge Library in a temporary role.

Her previous role ranged from managing meeting rooms to coordinating the library’s weekly public events – including her own addition of the Chess Club.

“You know how in Mario Kart, all different characters have the things they’re good at, and Mario is a little bit good at everything? I like to be Mario,” Ash says.

When a HSR vacancy opened in the library, she took up the chance to build on past experience – and is even looking into further WHS studies after her experience.

Read on about Ash’s role and her manager Tim Law’s reflections.

What got you interested in the safety rep role?

Ash: I was a HSR at Hungry Jack’s yonks ago. I took over the HSR role at the library after someone had left. She absolutely loved being a HSR here and had so much passion for it. When she left, she put that spark in me to carry on that work.

How was the training course?

Ash: It was good to see so many different organisations represented there. Everyone had the same issues, and we would often pick apart each other’s and share solutions.

What’s been a highlight from the role?

Ash: I’ve enjoyed taking on the extra bibs and bobs that HSRs don’t always have to do – I just love doing it. We’ve updated SOPs (standard operating procedures) and done site inspections. It was really good that the WHS team and Tim included me in that.

Libraries are often thought of as quiet places, are there hazards that people might expect in the library?

Ash: I think because of the cost of living going up, more people are going into the library to get help with things… but we are also getting the frustration taken out on us.

What’s been the most rewarding?

Ash: It was really good to get more of the responsibility, do a lot more of the teamwork, and to help make the work environment a safer place.

We recently had an emergency incident. I picked apart our response and went “OK, what can we change?”

What would you say to someone thinking about becoming a HSR?

Ash: Do it. You won’t look back. It’s a really good way of being a voice for your team, but not only that, it’s been a really good way to meet new people and learn about this space.

The WHS team here with council is fantastic. I’m looking into getting a WHS certificate in future because I’ve really enjoyed this stuff.

What was the moment that made you want to pursue WHS work?

The head of WHS brought it up with me while I’d been working with the team. He asked what I was thinking of doing after my traineeship and suggested, “what about your Cert IV in WHS?” And it sounded like a perfect fit for me.

Right now, I have a young family so my priority is finding permanent work. From there I’d still really like to do a Certificate IV in WHS and find work in that area.

Do you think you’ll be a HSR again in your next role?

In a heartbeat.

How Ash impacted the team

Library Team Leader Tim Law gave glowing feedback about Ash’s time with them and added insights from the perspective of his role.

Did it work out well for Ash to sign up as a HSR?

Tim: It was great to discover that a trainee, and somebody with that experience as a HSR, was willing and able to nominate. Ash has just made it her own, but also followed in those passionate footsteps that had been left.

What are some hazards in the library that people might not think of?

Tim: (we’ve seen) the introduction of the importance of psychosocial hazards, and the impact of difficult and disgruntled customers. The fact that some people do have a bad day, and then come in and things don’t quite go right, and they take it out on the staff on the front counter.

Now we don’t just sweep it under the carpet and go “oh, grow a thick skin, you’ll get over it.” Now we have to take them as serious matters.

How has Ash helped the team build their safety skills?

Tim: It was great having a fresh set of eyes and fresh viewpoint on it. I’ve been with council for almost 20 years, so there will be things that I’ve taken for granted and just learned to accept.

Having somebody new in the role go, “This doesn’t ring right – this doesn’t feel safe to me. What can we do about it?” And actually having that support to work through those steps and make it a safer environment for the general public, staff and other visitors from council, it’s just been great.

What were some highlights for you?

If something like our recent emergency does happen again, there are some improvements that we can make, and working through that incident with Ash enabled us to identify them.

While we’ve had some amazing HSR officers before Ash, Ash herself is going to leave some pretty massive shoes to fill.

Being the proxy for the site, I got great feedback from the WHS team on what Ash and her predecessor have done for the site and council, which makes me incredibly proud.

Further links:

• HSR Hub