The Bus Association of Victoria (BAV) have released their new Wellness guides and resources. Their aim is for them to be used by bus companies to improve the health, wellbeing and safety of their employees. 

They began by conducting a survey, and from this extracted the leading concerns and issues. They then brought together a working group to develop the guidelines. All of the participants were from within their industry or with relevant specialities. The group were able to develop and gain consensus about the guides, and as the guides were industry specific the health and wellbeing changes were more likely to be implemented in the long term.

To find out more about the BAV guides, we spoke to Ingrid Ozols CEO of MH@Work (Mental Health at Work). She created MH@Work 13 years ago after time spent in HR and management. Her encounters with mental health issues led her to become a mental health advocate.  

Ingrid has worked with a range of organisations including Beyond Blue and mental health stakeholder groups. She has been involved in teaching GPs, psychologists and psychiatrists, as well as sitting on boards and advisory panels.

The Bus Association Wellness Program

Ingrid had been doing her Masters in Mental Health, and recognised that some professions were more high risk. She knew people working in the bus sector and became interested in what they were doing to tackle workplace violence. 

She began talking to Chris Lowe, the CEO of the Bus Association of Victoria (BAV). The bus industry was interested in improving the security and safety of their drivers, as well as their general health and wellbeing. They explored the causes of workplace aggression bus drivers were subjected to, and why bus drivers are at times treated badly by the public. 

The survey

A survey was conducted with bus industry members on wellness, to ascertain the areas which needed the greatest focus. 

The first time that the survey was conducted online only 47 people replied. Due to the low completion rate, Ingrid visited individual bus companies and spoke to drivers in person to encourage their participation. 

She approached this by picking a random question from the survey to discuss the reason it had been included. One example she gave was gender – male, female or other. At first many of the drivers saw the question as a joke but when it was pointed out that the survey results could help their children and grandchildren, behaviours changed and people were more willing to participate. They also encouraged their co-workers to complete the survey. Almost 500 responses were eventually received.

Ingrid found that people were also more willing to participate if they saw that real, positive change might result.

The survey results showed that the level of aggression aimed towards bus drivers was extraordinarily high. They also found that drivers largely enjoy the customer contact however customer contact can be stressful.  Additionally, customer expectations were found to be high, with people in a hurry to get from A to B.  

The Myki system also caused problems. When people ride for free, should drivers confront them? Not all drivers had received the training needed to enable them to handle such situations and not all bus companies had mechanisms in place to support them.

Despite the challenges, drivers were positive about their roles, and often stayed in their jobs long term. It’s a family and community oriented vocation.  However there are significant associated health issues.

Involvement of stakeholders

Ingrid considers that the BAV were trailblazing in the way that they engaged a broad range of stakeholders to develop the program. Through this engagement, they were able to incorporate a broad range of perspectives. 

The stakeholders included the Transport Union, the government, the operators, the safety regulator, people with the lived experience of mental health challenges, and professionals qualified in health issues. As the initiative was undertaken by the association, versus individual employers, they were able to allocate greater resources to the project. This approach encouraged individual employers to support each other in the implementation of the various strategies.

The Bus Association Wellness Program was developed over several years. As the creators of the program have a high level of understanding about the industry, they are also more likely to be heard than if it was created by an external party.

The program isn’t compulsory or prescriptive, but it provides bus companies with a useful template for use in the future if they choose. The program and BAV also provide a list of additional resources around particular subject areas.

The Guides

The guide have been divided into three sections:

• Making Health and Wellness a Strategic Priority: A Guide for Operators and Senior Leaders - This includes making wellness a priority, developing a strategy and developing KPIs, the policies and practices underpinning health, wellness and safety, and the importance of monitoring and adjusting.
• Managing Wellness in the Workplace: A Guide for Managers - This includes making health and wellness a priority, leading by example, creating open communication channels, promoting a sense of belonging and social wellbeing and creating a safe, healthy and productive environment.
• Ideas and Resources for Improving Health and Wellness - This includes health and fitness, driver safety, skills and support, developing a sense of belonging and workplace responsibility.

In addition to placing an emphasis on individuals taking responsibility for their own health and providing a list of the various support organisations, the guidelines also provide suggestions which can be easy to implement. 

Examples include:

• Exercise ideas such as having walking meetings, providing gym discounts or encouraging the use of stairs
• Providing information on healthy eating such as arranging for healthy food options in the workplace, providing chilled water or establishing a lunch club
• Providing health checks through a GP to test blood pressure weight, diabetes, eyesight, hearing, skin cancer and musculoskeletal problems
• Improving the ergonomics of the busses and office
• Providing advice on improving safety 
• The establishment of health monitoring and checks.

Disseminating the report

Once the report was completed, they went back to the main players who had participated in its creation and all shared the report. Through social media and networking the report was disseminated to bus companies and bus company staff. 

The challenge now is in bringing the suggestions and recommendations to life. 

BAV are planning to evaluate the program, as it is likely that different operators will respond to the program in differ ways. The suggestions about improving health and well-being range from small to large. Ingrid notes that the changes could be as simple as adding healthier options to vending machines.

“A little bit of information can help drive change. It’s about being willing to keep that change up,” Ingrid said. 

She wishes that every industry would conduct a similar survey to identify the particularly issues for that industry.  Identifying the problems those in the industry consider are significant provides an important platform for improvements.  

Further information about the program can be found here.