Work Well and Go Home Safe
About the Glenorchy City Council
Glenorchy is in southern Tasmania, about seven kilometres north of the Hobart CBD. The Glenorchy City Council serves a population of about 50,000 people. It has a workforce of 256, including 100 people who work in the field as part of Works and Services. Works and Services is responsible for all the physical works done by the Council.
Reasons for the 26TEN grants project
The Council had already done a basic language, literacy and numeracy assessment that showed that nearly half its workforce didn’t have the skills that are now needed to work well and be safe. This is a result of the workplace now having more computer systems and more health and safety requirements. Workers need stronger skills.
Also, workplaces need to do what they can to make workplace material and requirements more accessible.
Achievements
Since providing literacy and numeracy training there has been a strong improvement in the details provided in incident reporting and an improvement in general workplace health and safety.
A number of documents and forms are easier to understand and use. Meetings are shorter and more effective now the template for agendas and minutes is simpler.
Overall participants were satisfied with their training. Feedback from the group sessions has been positive. Employees have said:
- ‘Developing spelling skills makes me feel good within myself, and I feel smarter, like I am getting somewhere.’
- ‘I have a better understanding of the importance of correct and concise reporting‘
- ‘I will remember someone is reading the email on the end.’
- ‘I can read better, and read ahead to get a better understanding of the information.’
What the Council did
Over the course of eight months employees received literacy and numeracy training based on the documents they use for their jobs.
Some people needed one-to-one support with:
- errors in spelling
- poor grammar
- errors in punctuation
- reading comprehension
- self-checking.
Small group training was given for:
- incident report writing for coordinators, team leaders and workers
- effective meeting procedures for coordinators and team leaders
- writing effective emails for coordinators, team leaders and the manager
- reading policies and dissemination of information for coordinators, team leaders.
Documents were redesigned to be easier use.