Victorian Auditor-General's Office

4 Managing sector-wide occupational health and safety risk

At a glance

Background

Collecting and analysing sector-wide information on existing occupational health and safety (OHS) risks and emerging trends is important in a hazardous workplace such as a public hospital. Regular monitoring can identify upward trends which can indicate risks are not being controlled and that staff are being placed at unnecessary risk while at work. Responding at a systemic level may be necessary where an OHS risk presents at many hospital worksites.

3 Hospital safety management systems

At a glance

Background

The management of staff safety in public hospitals should be systematic, and core safety elements—such as incident reporting, hazard assessment and control, and monitoring and review—should be integrated. This enables occupational health and safety (OHS) risks to be controlled effectively, particularly in a large and complex working environment such as a hospital.

Appendix F. Audit Act 1994 section 16—submissions and comments

Introduction

In accordance with section 16A and 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994, a copy of this report, or relevant extracts from the report, was provided to the Department of Health and named hospitals with a request for submissions or comments.

The submission and comments provided are not subject to audit nor the evidentiary standards required to reach an audit conclusion. Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the agency head.

Responses were received as follows:

Appendix E. Glossary

Accountability

Responsibility of public sector entities to achieve their objectives, with regard to reliability of financial reporting, effectiveness and efficiency of operations, compliance with applicable laws, and reporting to interested parties.

Asset useful life

The period over which an asset is expected to provide the entity with economic benefits. Depending on the nature of the asset, the useful life can be expressed in terms of time or output.

Asset valuation

The fair value of a non-current asset on a particular date.

Appendix D. Financial sustainability indicators and criteria

Indicators of financial sustainability

This Appendix sets out the financial indicators used in this report. The indicators should be considered collectively and are more useful when assessed over time, as part of a trend analysis. The indicators have been applied to the published financial information of the 87 public hospitals for the five-year period 2008–09 to 2012–13.

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