Victoria & Tasmania

2021 Meetings

VIC/TAS AGM - 20 July 2021 - see details below
Branch Christmas Meeting - 10 November 2021 (TBC)

For more information contact Ms Sally Kane (anzsom.victas@gmail.com).

Other local meetings (non-ANZSOM)

AFOEM Victoria Educational Meetings 2021
Monday 22 February (refer details below)

VIC/TAS Branch Council Members

Chairperson: Ms Sally Kane

Secretary: Ms Robyn Laurie

Treasurer: Ms Sandra code

Council members: Hilary Oakley, Dr Barry Gilbert, Elizabeth Keating, James Crompton and Harry Chow

Branch AGM documents (member login required)

UPCOMING EVENTS

ANZSOM VIC/TAS Branch AGM Educational Meeting
Australia's COVID-vaccine response & results

Date: Tuesday 20 July 2021
Time: 7.30 PM (AEST)

Presenters: Professor Katie Flanagan, Infectious Diseases Physician & Clinical Professor, University of Tasmania, and Associate Professor Nigel Crawford, Director of SAEFVIC, Murdoch Childrens Research Institute

Further details coming soon.

Presenters

Professor Katie Flanagan is a clinician scientist who has worked on global health issues for more than 20 years. She is Head of Infectious Diseases at Launceston General Hospital where her department provides a clinical infectious diseases service for the population of North and NW Tasmania. She is affiliated to University of Tasmania, Monash University and RMIT where she is conducting a number of research projects. Her main research interests are in the fields of vaccinology and infectious diseases immunology. She has led numerous vaccine immunology trials throughout the world including trials of novel malaria and HIV vaccines in African infants, and trials of the immunological effects of commonly used vaccines in the young and elderly. Her current main research focus involves applying systems biology techniques to study human responses to vaccination particularly at the extremes of age; and the role that biological sex plays in the vaccine-specific responses and non-targeted effects of vaccines.

Associate Professor Nigel Crawford is Director of SAEFVIC (Surveillance of Adverse Events Following Vaccination in the Community), a vaccine safety and clinical immunisation research group based at Murdoch Childrens Research Institute. Having completed his medical undergraduate studies at Flinders University Adelaide, A/Prof Crawford has a masters of public health from Cardiff University, Wales and a Vaccinology PhD from The University of Melbourne.

The SAEFVIC team is involved in the surveillance and follow-up of adverse events following immunisation (AEFI) in Victoria. Established in 2007, they have had over 7,000 AEFI reports and have published extensively in the scientific literature regarding vaccine safety.

A/Prof Crawford is also the Head of the Immunisation Service at The Royal Children's Hospital and an expert in the vaccination of special risk groups (e.g. immunosuppressed patients) and the clinical evaluation of adverse events following immunisation. He was the chief technical writer for the special risk section of the Australian Immunisation Handbook (NHMRC 2013) and was recently appointed to the Australian Technical and Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI).

He also has a keen interest in vaccine education, establishing the Clinical Vaccinology Update (held biannually) in 2012 and the Melbourne Vaccine Education Centre in 2014. A/Prof Crawford has been involved in paediatric training of junior and senior medical staff and medical student teaching through the University of Melbourne.

PREVIOUS EVENTS

AFOEM Victoria webinar
COVID Cases from the Frontline

Hosted by RACP AFOEM Victoria
Presenters: Dr Shana Khan
Harry Potter and the Coronavirus pandemic

Dr Sheik Yan Wong
COVID-19: A Case Study on the role of Occupational Physicians in the Chadstone SC Outbreak

Date: Monday 22 February 2021
Time: 6:15 PM – 8:00 PM (AEDT)

Cost: FREE for ANZSOM/AFOEM members

ASM2020 Conference Dinner

In conjunction with the virtual ASM2020 conference, local dinners were held on Saturday 22 November in most states. Host state, Tasmania, gathered delegates and guests at Franco's Italian Restaurant, while Victoria had more of social-distanced event with home-delivered grazing boxes.

Management of Workers Compensation Claims in a COVID-19 Environment

VIC/TAS Branch Educational Meeting
Presenter: Dr Rick Jones, Manager Claims Services, EML
Date: Thursday 29 October
Time: 7.30pm (AEST)

Recording available - click here (member access only)

Rick presented on the management of Workers Compensation claims in the Victorian Workers Compensation Scheme against the backdrop of COIVD19. A broad overview of the COVID impact on claims management outcomes in general was discussed as well a discussion on claims directly related to COVID infection.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

Increase awareness of the type of claims submitted during a (COVID) pandemic
Enhance knowledge of Claims outcomes during this period.
Understanding the process of returning injured workers back to work safely during COVID
Update knowledge as to the importance and criticality of timeliness of correct treatment

Dr Rick Jones, Manager Claims Services, EML

Rick has over 10 years’ experience in workers compensation and has been with EML since July 2016. Rick has responsibility for overseeing the activities of our Front-End claims teams and is keen on innovations that focus on delivering claims outcomes with emphasis on returning Injured Workers to work in a safe, timely and sustainable manner. Rick’s background in Medical Research has provided insight to the criticality of timely and correct treatment and its role in recovery and whole-person wellbeing.

Rick has a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry (Monash University), Bachelor of Science (Honours) and a Cert IV in Advanced Management

Kevin Sleigh Memorial Lecture:
Aviation medicine and COVID-19

Presenter: Dr Ian Hosegood, Director Medical Services, Qantas
Date: Monday 19 October
Time: 6.15 pm (AEST)

Click here to view recording

Dr Ian Hosegood

Ian Hosegood is the Qantas Group Medical Director, responsible for passenger and employee health across the Group Airlines and Businesses.

Ian has over 25 years experience in Aviation and Occupational Medicine and Health Systems Management including both Military and Commercial Aviation Medicine as well as Aeromedical Retrieval Services.

Ian's previous roles include Principal Medical Officer at CASA, Executive management positions in the Royal Flying Doctor Service and Emirates Airlines and Chief Instructor at the ADF's Institute of Aviation Medicine.

He served in the ADF for 12 years and was deployed overseas to Malaysia, East Timor, the Solomon Islands and Iraq where he was a member of the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) conducting monitoring and verification of Iraq's chemical and biological weapons program.

He is a Board member for the Australasian Society of Aerospace Medicine (ASAM) and the Australasian Medical Review Officer Association (AMROA) and is a member of the IATA Medical Advisory Group (MAG).

He is also current President of the International Airline Medicine Association (IAMA). Ian holds specialist fellowships in General Practice, Medical Administration and Aerospace Medicine and was an academic prize winner for the Monash PG Diploma in Occupational Medicine.

COVID-19: A roadmap to getting back to the workplace safely

Sally Kane and Sandra Code

Recording now available (member-only access)

Meeting Details

VIC/TAS Branch Educational Meeting
Date: Wednesday 29 July 2020
Time: 7.30 pm (AEST)
Topic: COVID-19: A roadmap to getting back to the workplace safely
Presenters: Sally Kane and Sandra Code

Session description

Organisations big and small have been turning their minds to returning to work after COVID-19 lockdown and to adjusting to the “new normal”. You will hear from two ANZSOM members, Sally Kane and Sandra Code, who have been instrumental in planning and managing the COVID-19 responses in their respective organisations – one a large transport operation in Victoria, the other a multinational research, development and production company.

These two case presentations and open discussion will explore:

COVID-19 impacts on the business and employees
Conditions of readiness/Government triggers
Return to site planning using Crisis Management Team
Employee health and wellbeing including ongoing support for employees who continue working from home
Hygiene practices / social distancing / PPE
Future changes

Sally Kane, EHS Manager Agilent Technologies Australia P/L, ANZSOM VIC/TAS Branch Chair

Sally commenced her nursing career in the 70’s being part of the first cohort of nurses to be trained in the University system in Victoria. She has gone on to work both in Australia and abroad in a variety of areas and fell into Occupational Health Nursing whilst working at Heathrow Airport in London in the 80’s. Her passion for Occupational Health and the preventative side of healthcare has seen her work in a variety of settings from manufacturing, hospitality, and service industries. She has been at her current position of Environment Health and Safety Manager at Agilent Technologies, a multinational high-tech company in the analytical chemical instrumentation business, for 26 years and has overseen many changes in the way people work and their health and safety. She has always been involved in her professional group in a variety of positions firstly with the Australian College of Occupational Health Nurses and in the last 10 years following a merger with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine. When she is not championing Occupational Health, she sings in a pop choir and is on the Board of a local Youth Club.

Sandra Code, Health Services Manager, Transdev Melbourne, ANZSOM Nurse Liaison

Sandra has been an Occupational Health Professional for 30 years and held a variety of positions including: Health Services Manager, Post Injury Management Co-ordinator, OHS consultant and OHS co-ordinator across key multinational organisations including Hospira (a Pfizer company), Boral Plasterboard, Nestlé and Heinz Watties’, working in the Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing and Food industries respectively.

Currently she is the Health Services Manager at Transdev Melbourne, looking after the health & wellbeing of all employees, including 1200 bus driver’s, and manages all aspects of WorkCover, Injury Management and Return to Work.

Sandra was the first Nursing Liaison Officer appointed to the Federal Executive of ANZSOM in 2019 and has been a member of the organising committee for the annual Scientific ANZSOM Conference since 2013.