CME and its member companies welcomed October’s WA Government response to the Parliamentary Inquiry into Sexual Harassment Against Women in the FIFO Mining industry.
The WA resources sector remains committed to eliminating all instances of sexual harassment and sexual assault in our workplaces. CME and its members continue to progress actionable initiatives aligned with the findings and recommendations to industry outlined in the Parliamentary Inquiry report to build on the current work underway across the sector.
Initiatives progressed include the Alcohol Guidelines, which has now been expanded to a set of Industry Expectations for Work-Adjacent Settings that can be applied to off-site locations such as conferences and airports. Meanwhile, CME’s partnership with Lifeline WA on the Resourceful Mind Peer Support program includes sexual harassment and assault modules co-developed with the Sexual Assault Resource Centre (SARC). Further to the work already progressed, more action will be taken through the Safe and Respectful Behaviours Working Group to establish routes to address the findings of the report.
Women in Resources Networking Sundowner – South West and Pilbara
CME and our Women in Resources Awards sponsors recently hosted our annual regional networking sundowners. These sundowners offered the opportunity for passionate local speakers to share their experiences in the resources sector. The presenters spoke to attendees about the steps they took to progress their careers and how they overcame professional challenges to achieve success.
WIRA South West Sundowner
CME and Albemarle hosted the WIRA Southwest Sundowner in Bunbury on 1 September. This year’s Outstanding Women in Resources Awards winner Kathy Lewy from Tianqi Lithium and Alyssa Hubert, Production Superintendent at Albemarle spoke to attendees.
WIRA Pilbara Sundowner
CME and Woodside hosted the WIRA Pilbara Sundowner in Karratha on 15 September. Attendees at the event heard from local speakers Yvonne Poor, the first female operations Team Leader at Woodside’s Karratha Gas Plant, and Rebecca Tomkinson, CME’s first female CEO.
Nominations for our annual Women in Resources Awards 2023 are now open!
Mental Health Week:
Mental Health Week is a national week celebrated each year in October, timed to coincide with World Mental Health Day on 10 October. Spearheaded by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health, with support from the WA Mental Health Commission, Mental Health Week (MHW) provides a prime opportunity to emphasise and discuss the relationship between social determinants and mental health and promote effective prevention strategies to keep people mentally healthy.
The theme for Mental Health Week in WA is: Where we live. How we live. What we’ve lived. Understanding the interactions and symbiotic nature between mind, body and environment is essential to overall wellbeing. Mental Health Week aims to bring awareness to this through a series of events, infographics, community grants and fundraisers all of which can be found on the MHW website.
A part of CME’s commitment to Mental Health Week is sponsoring the Mentally Healthy Workplace Award category in the WA Mental Health Awards. The event celebrates individuals and organisations who made an outstanding contribution to mental health in the calendar year of 2021. We would like to congratulate Roy Hill, AMCAP, PageGroup, and Strong Minds, Strong Mines who have been named as finalists in the Mentally Healthy Workplace Award. The awards ceremony will take place on 25 November 2022, tickets are available here.
Please contact Naomi Plummer, Policy Adviser – Health, Safety & People via email n.plummer@cmewa.com or 0439 843 968 to discuss.
Safe Work Month:
“WHS – think physical, think psychological”, is the theme of Safe Work Month, which is currently in full swing. The Western Australian (WA) Government uses the month to highlight every person’s right to a healthy and safe workplace. WorkSafe, part of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, is committed to supporting healthy and safe workplaces for the WA community, industry and the resources sector. In October, WorkSafe highlights ways you can develop and foster healthy and safe workplaces through a series of on-demand videos and live-webinars, as well as the 2022 Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards which recognise outstanding solutions and innovations to specific workplace health and safety problems in WA.
As part of the Government’s commitment to addressing mental health in the workplace, a new Work Health and Safety Excellence Award category was created – ‘Best Intervention to Address a Psychosocial Hazard in the Workplace’. This new award recognises an organisation’s commitment to the prevention of psychosocial hazards in the workplace, of which the Lifeline WA peer-support Program – Resourceful Mind, is a finalist for.
Please contact Naomi Plummer, Policy Adviser – Health, Safety & People via email n.plummer@cmewa.com or 0439 843 968 to discuss.
