Embedded Files
Attendance:
Thomas Lidgerwood
Tim Bishop
Jake Joyce
James Walshe
Matthew Windsor (online)
Apologies:
Alex Morris
Drizzy Evergreen
Jack Tandy
Sarah Fraser
Matters Arising
The draft discrimination guidelines were revisited.
This draft has previously been referred to under several working titles, including “respect and safety guidelines,” but the group agreed that it requires a clear name and scope.
It was acknowledged that the purpose of the document is to define how the organisation responds to incidents of discrimination and harassment, regardless of whether they come from customers, the public, or fellow staff.
Discussion
The group agreed that the new document should be titled the Discrimination and Harassment Procedure. It was clarified that this will sit alongside the existing discrimination and harassment policy, which defines expectations and values. The policy sets out what is acceptable and unacceptable conduct, while the new procedure will explain the steps to be followed when such conduct occurs.
It was agreed that although the procedure overlaps with other workplace safety procedures, it should remain a distinct document because of the personal and sensitive nature of discrimination and harassment. The procedure should, however, cross-reference other documents such as the traumatic response policy, the injury policy (including psychosocial injuries), and the unsafe work environment reporting framework. In practice, this means the procedure will direct managers and staff to the correct resources without duplicating content across multiple documents.
The discussion turned to how staff and managers respond to incidents. It was noted that clearer wording is needed regarding the manager’s responsibilities once an incident has been reported. The procedure should list what a manager is expected to do during immediate check-ins, what support measures are available, and how follow-ups will be documented. Examples of support measures include leaving the job immediately, returning to the depot, swapping team members, adjusting rosters or hours, and not re-booking problematic customers.
The group considered whether discrimination and harassment incidents should be reported through the same form as general safety issues. It was decided that two distinct reporting forms will be maintained. One form will cover safety, injury, equipment, and environmental issues, while the other will be specific to discrimination and harassment. The latter will default to private handling, with staff able to opt in if they want their report shared with the OHS committee. Anonymous suggestions will be treated differently: they will default to being shareable, but staff will be able to opt out if they do not wish their feedback to be made public. It was further agreed that discrimination and harassment submissions should always appear as “critical” in reporting systems to ensure immediate attention.
The matter of next-day jobs following incidents was raised. Where there is no doubt about the seriousness of a situation, a manager may make a “captain’s call” to cancel or alter a job without waiting for further consultation. Where there is disagreement, the OHS committee may be asked to vote.
The conversation then shifted to the structure and presentation of policies and procedures in the company wiki. The group agreed that policies and procedures should be separated more clearly. Policies should describe values and expectations, while procedures should provide the practical steps. A central “incident and reports hub” page has been created to house links to all report types, including injuries, accidents, broken items, safety issues, discrimination and harassment, and anonymous suggestions. Participants agreed that a shallower structure and alphabetical listings would make the information easier to find, especially once the new mobile app gives staff access through single sign-on.
Broken links caused by changes to the wiki structure were highlighted as a problem. Tim and Matt will spend time relinking content and considering whether some references should use search instructions instead of direct links to avoid breakage. The group decided to hold a dedicated session to design a uniform layout and navigation for the wiki. Procedures will be standardised so that they all follow the same skeleton of immediate safety, reporting, manager check-in, support measures, and follow-up. This format will first be applied to the discrimination and harassment procedure, then rolled out to other procedures.
It was also noted that many training resources in the office are outdated. A process will be established where staff regularly check and update the materials they use. Training documents currently sitting in personal Google accounts will be moved into a shared structure and embedded in the wiki as read-only resources.
Finally, the group acknowledged that the wiki’s design is plain and not particularly engaging. While the priority remains function and accuracy, it was suggested that once the structure is stable, templates should be refreshed with company branding, colour, and styling to improve readability and engagement.
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Resolutions
The meeting resolved that the discrimination and harassment procedure will remain a distinct document but will be rewritten using a standardised format and cross-referencing related policies.
Two separate reporting forms will be retained.
The wiki structure will be simplified, with clear separation between policies and procedures.
A routine review process for office procedures and training materials will be introduced, and a working session will be organised to finalise wiki navigation.
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Action Items
Tim and Matt will finalise the discrimination and harassment procedure and ensure it is cross-linked to the policy, internal complaints procedure, traumatic response policy, the injury policy, and unsafe environment reporting.
Tim has updated the injury report form to explicitly include psychosocial injuries and will adjust wording in both the discrimination and harassment form and the anonymous suggestion form to clarify defaults around sharing.
Discrimination and harassment reports will be treated as critical and routed for immediate attention.
Tim and Matt will dedicate time to repairing broken links within the wiki.
Procedures and policies will be reformatted to follow the agreed skeleton.
Jake will provide training materials from his Google Drive to be embedded in the shared wiki structure.
Staff will be asked to routinely review their procedures and cheat sheets to ensure accuracy.
A dedicated workshop will be held to design a consistent wiki structure.
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