On this page

  • Purpose of the WICC
  • Members
  • Our goal
  • Engaging with us

Purpose of the WICC

The Workplace Incidents Consultative Committee (WICC) is a lived experience committee established in 2021 under Victorian occupational health and safety (OHS) laws and regulations.

Members are appointed by the Minister for Workplace Safety (the Minister) to provide advice to the Victorian Government on how to support those impacted by serious workplace injuries and deaths and make Victorian workplaces safer.

Members

The WICC comprises up to 15 lived experience members, including a co-chairperson. The other co‑chair is the Parliamentary Secretary for Workplace Safety, Bronwyn Halfpenny MP.

We represent a diverse range of lived experience and include members who:

  • have personally suffered a workplace injury, including both physical and psychological injuries
  • have lost a family member to a workplace fatality
  • care or cared for a person who has suffered a serious workplace injury
  • have witnessed the workplace fatality of a colleague.

We also come from diverse backgrounds, representing workers from:

  • a range of professions, occupations and industries
  • metropolitan and regional Victoria
  • diverse cultural backgrounds
  • the LGBTQIA+ community.

Please look over the bios prior to engaging with the WICC, along with completion of the consultation form.

Our goal

We are driven by a shared goal to improve the health and safety of Victorian workers and support those affected by serious workplace incidents, including their families.

Our aim is to positively influence the projects of those who engage with us by:

  • providing constructive feedback on projects, programs and reforms from a real-world perspective;
  • identifying issues for workers and their families on proposed reforms and providing potential solutions, so that these can be addressed before being implemented; and
  • endorsing projects, programs and reforms that help make workplaces safer and support those impacted by serious workplace injuries and deaths.

Our lived experience of a serious workplace incident involving death, serious injury or illness provides us with unique insight into how programs, services and systems can be improved to support those in a similar position.

Engaging with us

What should you engage us on, and when?

You should consult us on activities that relate to:

  • the needs of persons affected by workplace incidents that involve death, serious injury or serious illness (affected persons)
  • the development, review and improvement of policies, practices, strategies and systems relating to affected persons and occupational health and safety more generally.

You should engage with us early in the development of reforms. Where we see gaps or opportunities across government, we will proactively reach out and invite you to engage with us.

How should you prepare for consultation with us?

Engagement with us will be most productive if we are both prepared. To achieve this, we ask that you first review the WICC Member Biographies and complete the WICC Consultation Form prior to confirming a presentation or meeting attendance. The form will help us understand:

  • whether you are seeking input from the committee, seeking our endorsement, or providing us with information only
  • the problem you are trying to address
  • the timeline/trajectory of your work, including key dates and milestones
  • the negotiable and non-negotiable elements of your work/project, so it is clear what we can influence and what has already been decided.

All materials should be provided to the Secretariat at least two weeks before we meet. When we meet, engage in dialogue and discussion with us, and allow time for us to provide feedback.

What to be aware of when engaging with us

Working on system reforms can trigger our grief and trauma. This is challenging for us and can also be uncomfortable for those who engage us. We respectfully ask you to:

  • be aware that some of us are still working through our grief and trauma, which is an ongoing and lifelong journey
  • be prepared to hear our stories which can be sometimes be emotional and challenging to hear
  • prepare to engage with us in a way that is sensitive, respectful and does not add to our trauma.

How will we approach your engagement and consider what we are consulted on?

Depending on the matter and its stage of development, our advice and recommendations to you may be:

  1. Informal or formal – e.g. provided through group discussion or in writing as a collective position.
  2. A consensus or a range of views – our membership is diverse and there may be instances where a range of views should be considered simultaneously.

If you are seeking our endorsement for a piece of reform, we will provide a formal letter of endorsement should we support your reform.

How to request engagement with us

If you would like to engage with us, please contact the Secretariat via email at wiccsecretariat@justice.vic.gov.au (External link).

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