Manjimup nurse wins at Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards
WA Country Health Service (WACHS) Clinical Nurse James Walker has been named the 2024 health and safety representative of the year at the Work Health and Safety Excellence Awards.
The Awards recognise outstanding solutions and innovations to specific workplace health and safety problems in Western Australia.
As Warren Hospital’s Work Health and Safety (WHS) representative, James was recognised by his colleagues for his commitment to safety and wellbeing.
Some of the initiatives he’s led include implementing safety culture as well as establishing and steering working parties to address concerns – resulting in an overall improvement in psychosocial safety for staff.
He has also developed safety videos to demonstrate how to use equipment safely and prevent injury and implemented processes to make reporting of hazards and incidents more accessible and easier for all staff.
Acting Executive Director South West Jeff Calver congratulated James on the win.
“James is a high performing health and safety representative and an extraordinary clinical nurse,” he said.
“As an organisation, staff and patient safety are our highest priority and we’re lucky to work with people like James.
“This award win is fantastic recognition of his efforts and is very well-deserved.”
For James, making sure staff feel safe is second nature.
“I believe that everyone has the right to feel safe at work, and I’m enthusiastic about playing a part in making that happen,” James said.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to know that my contributions help others feel more secure and confident in their workplace.”
WA Country Health Service’s virtual security hub was also named a finalist for the roll out of our innovative CCTV Operations Room – using state-of-the-art technology to enable real-time security support to regional hospitals and health services.
The service is operated by security personnel and has proven to enhance safety and deter antisocial behaviour at hospitals since going live in March and expanding to its eighth site in July.