New national work health & safety laws to commence in January 2012

New OHS laws, geared towards a national system, will be implemented in January 2012.

Employers should commence steps now to ensure that their operations will comply with the laws upon commencement.

Due Diligence is the new standard that organisations need to apply to their decision making and governance in regards to health and safety.  This proactive responsibility is part of the changes due to be introduced in the Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act from January 2012. For some organisations, the current standard of duty of care inVictoria has posed a challenge to achieve.

In order to meet legal requirements, insurance firm and RVA Platinum Corporate Partner Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) have identified important processes to assist employers with the new changes. The Due Diligence criteria are listed below, with suggestions on what organisations need to know and do to meet them:

1.    Acquire knowledge of health and safety issues

• Acquire up to date knowledge of the WHS Act, Regulations and Codes of Practice (Model WHS legislation can be found on the Safe Work Australia website http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au)
  
• Stay informed on current industry issues through conferences, seminars, information and awareness sessions, industry groups and newsletters
• Ensure that work health and safety matters are considered at each corporation, club or association board meeting

2.   Understand the nature of the business operations and associated hazards and risks

• Document hazards and associated risks in core activities of the operations through a structured and planned program
• Ensure that information is readily available to other officers, managers and workers about procedures to ensure the safety of specific
  operations that pose health and safety risks in the workplace
• Continuously improving the safety management system

3.    Ensure that appropriate resources and processes are used to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety

• Implement a safety management system that drives management accountability
• Establish and maintain safe methods of work
• Establish budgets to enable OH&S to be effectively resourced and managed
• Recruit personnel with appropriate skills, including safety personnel
• Ensure staffing levels are adequate for safety in operations
• Give safety personnel access to key decision makers
• Maintain and upgrade infrastructure

4.    Implement processes for receiving and responding to information about incidents, hazards and risks

• Employ a risk management process
• Empower workers to cease unsafe work
• Establish processes for considering and responding to information about incidents, hazards and risks in a timely fashion
• Measure and report against positive performance indicators to identify deficiencies, for example, percentage of issues actioned within agreed timeframe

5.   Establish and maintain compliance processes

• Undertake a comprehensive audit of policies, procedures and practice
• Test policies, procedures and practices to verify compliance with safety management planning

Guarantee for the unreasonable

One of the most difficult concepts for organisations to accept is that safety obligations extend even to workers who fail to comply with safety procedures. Safe work procedures need to identify and implement controls to manage risk. That is, a safe work procedure that doesn’t provide for a backup when a worker is careless or foolish does not meet legislative requirements.

The goal for retirement villages across Australia is to achieve a safe workplace with minimal risks and chance of prosecution. But safety is not simply meeting legal compliance. It’s about acting responsibly for your fellow workers and residents.

Echelon is a wholly owned subsidiary Jardine Lloyd Thompson and employs a team of safety consultants who provide a range of support services to enable clients to achieve OH&S best practice. For further information please contact Gaurav Puri (Occupational Health & Safety Consultant) on 03 9860 3498.

RVA to engage General Manager, National Advocacy

The RVA is seeking to engage a General Manager, National Advocacy who will lead strategy development and the implementation of the RVA’s national and state advocacy objectives.

The RVA’s advocacy approach is focused on protecting the future sustainability of the retirement village industry.  This is achieved through frequent and informed engagement with all levels of Government, media and the community.

The Board has recently signed off on a clear advocacy strategy that will guide its activities in the next three years.   A copy of this strategy can be viewed on our web site.

A part of the strategy is to engage an experienced and dynamic individual to lead strategy development and the implementation of the RVA’s national and state advocacy objectives. This new position will forward the organisation’s goals in respect to proactive advocacy on issues for the retirement village industry – as an industry providing quality accommodation and related services to senior Australians.

An experienced and dynamic individual is required to establish and deliver a highly professional advocacy function, understand both the business and social outcomes expected of the industry and maintain productive relationships with stakeholders including owners, retirees, the media, and governments at all levels. The incumbent will attend Board meetings and liaise directly with industry CEOs as a key member of the RVA’s senior management team.

For further details about this exciting new industry leading role, view the position online.

Final report sent to Government on Caring for Older Australians inquiry

The final report into Caring for Older Australians has been completed and sent to the Australian Government for review.

The report makes several recommendations relating to the retirement village industry and takes into account the integral role the retirement village industry plays in providing accommodation for older Australians and acknowledged the importance and necessity of the industry’s accreditation program.

The Commission has recommended the following relating to retirement villages that are of great interest to the future of our industry, including but not limited to the following:

1. The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) should develop a strategic policy framework for ensuring that sufficient housing is available that would cost effectively meet the demands of an ageing population.

2. The regulation of retirement villages and other retirement specific living options should remain the responsibility of state and territory governments, and should not be aligned with the regulation of aged care.

3. State and territory governments should pursue nationally consistent retirement village legislation under the aegis of the Council of Australian Governments. Changes to state and territory government legislation under this process should:

• be informed by research jointly commissioned by the industry and government
• have regard to the industry’s accreditation process

The next step in the inquiry process is the release of the final report by the Government. Under the Productivity Commission Act 1998, the Government is required to table the report in each House of the Parliament within 25 sitting days of receipt. Federal parliament now has 25 sitting days to release the final report publicly, which will mean a release date of sometime in November.

When the Government releases the report, the Commission will send a copy of the overview and recommendations to all participants who made submissions, appeared at the public hearings, attended workshops or were visited by the Commission.

Further information on the Productivity Commission and all current and completed projects can be obtained from the Commission’s website or by contacting the Media and Publications section on (03) 9653 2244 or email: maps@pc.gov.au.

One week left to go until RVA Regional Conferences

Regional conferences are shaping up to be bigger and better than ever with the RVA looking forward to the month ahead with the first conference in Queensland to be held next week.

Delegates will be treated to an array of topics, speakers and industry experts to assist with real solutions, up-to-date advice and help to achieve growth in the industry.  The program will highlight issues that are relevant to today and into the future with topics including financial and banking, legal issues, operational initiatives, accreditation, innovation, sustainability, sales & marketing and planning & development.

Queensland delegates will have the opportunity to learn tips for navigating the risks of Adverse Action and Discrimination Claims. The Fair Work Act 2009 introduced a new ‘breed’ of claim, Adverse Action, which is fast becoming the claim of choice. Minter Ellison will discuss the key issues all decision makers need to be aware of in relation to minimise risk.

Victorian delegates will listen to Derek McMillan, Chief Executive of Australian Unity Retirement Living, facilitate a 60-minute interactive session on practical solutions to increase efficiency, further improve resident satisfaction and minimise staff turnover,  which will draw upon success stories from a panel of exceptional village managers.

NSW delegates will hear from the Minister for Fair Trading for the first time in many years. The Hon. Anthony Roberts will provide an update on his party’s policies and plans for the industry.

In addition to this, the ACT’s Member for Ginninderra, Ms Mary Porter will address delegates at the Welcome Cocktail Party on the Thursday evening. Ms Porter has lead the charge for regulatory reform in the ACT and will deliver an insight into the reform process and the issues concerning her from her consultation with the industry.

In WA, the keynote address is from Barry Urguhart of Marketing Focus, who will speak about the importance of ageless marketing and how to remove the stigma from words that describe ageing, taking into consideration the needs of multiple generations. Barry will demonstrate how companies can target the 55+ market and use media to help change and shape future attitudes and perceptions of retirement village living.

All regional conferences except Victoria will host a gala dinner where the winner for the Manager of the Year will be announced in each region.

The RVA is still accepting bookings for all conferences however numbers are filling fast and space is strictly limited. To register, please download a conference registration brochure.

RVA works with IMG to deliver village management focused professional development

IMG, in conjunction with the RVA, has recently delivered the first of a series of four professional development sessions. These sessions are aimed at Village staff that are seeking support, ideas and practical guidance in the running of their villages.  

The first session Continuous Improvement was booked out and participants gave excellent reviews. Participants gained valuable insight that continuous improvement is a process across all facets of operational management resulting in comments that many attendees will immediately revise their plans and involve residents and staff more. 

The handouts, including the presentation and document templates on a CD, were well received. Participants reported that the training exceeded their expectation and that they learned more than they expected.

Delivered by experienced Village operators with anecdotal evidence, the sessions are relevant to the industry.  Timing of the sessions ensure enable minimal disruption to the work day as they take place prior to work, over a coffee and a muffin. The next session is Running Effective Meetings in August with other sessions planned for September and October. These sessions still have a limited number of spaces available.

The RVA is committed to running quality professional development for the entire industry from developers to village managers and ensuring the content is relevant and pertinent to the audience. 

For further information please call IMG on 03 9803 9704.

Aged care bed shortage is burdening hospitals

The Age last week reported on another story yet again about how hundreds of thousands of people are waiting too long for care in state hospitals, which have become increasingly swamped by elderly people waiting for aged care beds.

While media reports of aged care bed shortages is nothing new, the number of patients staying in emergency departments longer than 24 hours nearly doubled from 531 in the first six months of 2010 to 958 in the second half of the year. There was also a growing number of patients with mental health problems staying for longer than eight hours because of hospital bed shortages.

The Victorian government’s first hospital report card revealed that in the second half of last year, nearly a third of patients, or 226,000, waited longer than clinically appropriate times for treatment in emergency departments. This was up from 191,000, or 28 per cent of patients, in the first half of 2010.

The drop in performance came as the number of patients going to emergency departments jumped 5 per cent from the first half of the year to the second half and as hospitals became increasingly clogged with elderly patients who could not get into aged care facilities.

For the first time, the state government released figures on the number of ”hospital bed days” taken up by elderly people waiting to be admitted to aged care facilities. The number of bed days increased from nearly 34,000 to 39,000.

The chairman of the Victorian faculty of the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, Dr Simon Judkins said governments needed to work on other ways of freeing up beds with more aged care facilities and more staff on weekends to discharge patients.

President of the Victorian branch of the Australian Medical Association Dr Harry Hemley said the report showed how much pressure the hospital system was under and highlighted the need for ongoing investment, particularly in aged care services.

Health Minister David Davis said 800 hospital beds would be added over the next four years, but he said it was the federal government’s responsibility to increase aged care beds.

RVA CEO Andrew Giles agrees that there is a need to increase the number of aged care beds but hopes that governments can now see a role for retirement villages to become part

RVA pleased with number of nominations for Manager of the Year

This year has seen an increase in the number of Manager of the Year nominations with 12 received from residents, family members of residents, staff and owners and operators across all regions.

The RVA could not be more pleased with the amount of nominations that have been received so far since online nominations opened two weeks ago, indicating that the Manager of the Year will be bigger and better than ever before.  

The strong interest in Manager of the Year reinforces that the wider community values the people working in the industry and none more so than the village managers who work tirelessly are passionate about what they do day in and day out.

There is less than a week to go before nominations and applications close so keep them coming. If you haven’t yet nominated a great village manager, please do so now.  It’s free and takes only a few minutes.

Village managers don’t miss out on submitting your application. It’s quick and easy to apply online.

Nominations and applications close 20 June.

State Budget – changes to land rich provisions impact retirement villages

When the new Victorian government handed down its first State budget on 3 May, the Government also announced its intention to amend the ‘land rich’ provisions of the Duties Act 2000 as from 1 July 2012.

Under the current model, a ‘land rich’ landholder is a private company, a private unit trust scheme or a wholesale unit trust scheme that has:

1. land holdings in Victoria with an unencumbered value of $1,000,000 or more; and

2. its land holdings in all places (whether within or outside Australia) comprise 60% or more of the unencumbered value of all of its property.

Currently, duty is imposed where over a three year period a person acquires an interest of 50% or more in a ‘land rich’ private company or 20% or more in a ‘land rich’ private unit trust.

Although the specific details have not yet been released, it’s proposed that the new ‘land rich’ landholder duty model will remove the requirement of test number two above. Accordingly, an entity will be considered to be ‘land rich’ if it holds land in Victoria that exceeds a certain value irrespective of how significant its land holdings are as a percentage of its total assets. The relevant value is yet to be announced.

With this change, more entities will fall within the definition of a ‘land rich’ land holder which will in turn result in more acquisitions of private companies and private unit trusts becoming subject to duty.

Retirement villages that have been acquired through a share acquisition or acquisition of a unit trust could be impacted.

The proposed change will result in greater uniformity of the ‘land rich’ provisions amongst all the states and territories.

For example, private company X has land holdings in Victoria worth $3 million. Its total assets are worth $6 million. As the law currently stands, Company X is not a ‘land rich’ landholder. Person A acquires a 50% interest in Company X. No duty is payable on the acquisition.

Assuming the $1M threshold remains, Company X is considered to be a ‘land rich’ landholder. Where person A acquires a 50% interest in Company X, duty will be payable.

The RVA is working with Russell Kennedy to keep members informed as soon as the Government releases the specific details of this important change to the law.

Message from the Chief Executive Officer

IRCAS National Accreditation Scheme Proposal

The RVA has been working with Aged Care Queensland, ACAA and ACSA to assess being part of a national accreditation scheme for the whole industry (titled IRCAS – International Retirement Communities Accreditation Scheme).

Over the past eighteen months, the RVA executive and a sub committee of the RVA Board has reviewed IRCAS with input from the proposed Shareholders.  The goal has been development of a business plan that would deliver an improved scheme for members, consumers and could bring independent international certification.  The business case was critical for the RVA Board to assess the validity of the opportunity.

The review of IRCAS was undertaken in consideration of the ultimate objective of the RVA, that is is to make accreditation more accessible, aligned with the commercial needs of villages and to significantly increase the number of RVA members undertaking and renewing accreditation.  Be assured, accreditation is a key pillar of the RVA’s Strategic Plan and the future growth of the industry in demonstrating that we are committed to delivering quality accommodation and support for older Australians.

Considerable information was shared between the proposed shareholders in IRCAS.  However, the final business case could not satisfy the RVA in some key areas that would have been critical to its commercial and practical success.

The final decision of the RVA National Board, on the basis of the information presented, was that the imminent risks of the proposed scheme outweighed the benefits of a joint national approach for the industry.  The RVA is now committed to significantly improving its scheme, with a business plan being developed that will bring a series of new value added benefits to members and make accreditation more accessible and of increased value to members. 

The RVA has had a national accreditation scheme (designed by the industry for the industry) in operation for some fifteen years.  The scheme has excellent foundational elements that can be improved upon to deliver greater quality outcomes for the industry and build our message to government and the broader community that retirement villages are critical social infrastructure in our communities.

I look forward to, in the coming months, announcing a range of improvement initiatives in respect to the RVA National accreditation scheme.

Andrew Giles
Chief Executive Officer

 

Online nominations and applications now open for Manager of the Year

Online nominations and applications are now open for the RVA’s 2011 premier industry award, Manager of the Year, seeking the industry’s’ best village managers and leaders.

The search for the industry’s best village management talent is built upon nominations – a ‘tap on the shoulder’ from a staff member, peer, resident, family members of a resident, a village owner or operator or anyone who has a business relationship with a great village manager.

Nominating is the perfect opportunity to honour an inspirational, passionate and talented village manager.

For many people, the thrill of receiving a nomination in such a prestigious Award program is, in and of itself, a memorable career milestone.

Exceptional village managers from an RVA accredited village are represented in the Manager of the Year. We find that once nominated, many managers want to participate because the process provides in-depth self appraisal and affirmation of their successes.

After an individual has been nominated, they are required to submit an application. The application encourages participants to take stock of their village based on important key areas including resident satisfaction, business management, innovation and communication to name a few.

From the applicants who have put themselves ‘out there’ a short listing process is undertaken. Category finalists are interviewed by a panel of industry leaders and senior executives who lend credibility and strength to the process.

RVA CEO Andrew Giles said he hoped this year would see an increase in the number of applications for the award.

“This award has been very successful in past years and I think that’s because we have so many high quality managers that do a fantastic job.”

“I would like to see an increase in applications to make the competition even greater and thus elevate the prestige of the award even higher than it already is,” said Mr Giles.

This year’s awards are only open to RVA accredited villages or those in the process of being accredited and the village manager must have been in the role for at least 12 months.

Nominate now – it’s free and takes only a few minutes. Nominations and applications are accepted until 20 June.