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.
A strong safety culture constantly places a high priority on worker safety in a hazardous environment such as a hospital. Leadership commitment and clear accountability also underpin strong occupational health and safety (OHS) performance.
 John Doyle
Auditor-General |
Audit team Michele Lonsdale—Acting Sector Director Michael Herbert—Team Leader Aina Anisimova—Analyst Dallas Mischkulnig—Engagement Quality Control Reviewer |
Ordered to be printed
VICTORIAN GOVERNMENT PRINTER October 2013
PP No 283, Session 2010–13
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:
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.
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.
The fair value of a non-current asset on a particular date.
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.
The principal legislation governing financial reporting by public hospitals are the Financial Management Act 1994 and the Corporations Act 2001.
Figure C1 sets out the legislative framework for each type of entity within the public hospital sector.
Figure C1
Legislative framework for public hospitals and associated entities
