PSA and local members met with Employee Relations recently in regard to issues around a number of concerns.  Employee Relations has now come back with a response to your concerns as follows:

Question 1. The system to log the appointments does not work for workers:  PSA will be seeking to discuss options around moving the appointments to on-the-hour including requesting that appointments for the next day be in the system by 4pm and not 4.30?  This will allow Inspectors to check the next day’s inspections in work time.

Management Response: Inspections for the following day are available on the inspectors’ tablet by 3:30pm the previous day for them to view before finishing work on that day. The details include the address of the first job at 8am the next day.

Inspections may change due to various reasons including cancellation, inclement weather or a change in priority however if this occurs, particularly related to the first inspection, the inspector will be notified.

The ‘bots’ upload additional information overnight, but it is not a requirement that this additional information is viewed prior to commencing the inspection.

There is an exception to this daily update, and this is on a Friday afternoon. This is a system issue, which we are aware of and looking into. Inspectors will need to look at the jobs on Monday morning, but there is no requirement to view jobs on the weekend.

Efforts are made to allocate the first and last job of the day close to the inspector’s residence, to minimise travel.

The inspectors were informed in May that a series of workshops would be conducted looking at amalgamating the plumbing and gas inspectors which previously were together.  We have already had a number of workshops which have discussed:

• Pre inspection plumbing
• Inspections plumbing
• Pre inspection gas
• Inspections gas
• Compliance

We anticipate there will be a further five workshops, focusing on stakeholder engagement, systems, metrics, risk and reporting. Part of the workshops is looking at new ways of working including allocation of work, appointment times including windows of time rather than set times and scheduling including inspectors planning the priority or sequence of inspections.

The workshops are attended by a mix of attendees including inspectors, business support staff, project staff and management.

Any proposal to change the way we work, reporting lines and structures will be subject to consultation.

Question 2. Is there an understanding that Plumbing Inspectors are on a 9-day fortnight?  If not, is there a way for them to do compressed hours or access flexible working arrangements?

Management Response : No, there is no understanding of this.  The inspectors are clerk grade 7/8 and 9/10 and have access to both accruing and taking flex leave based on business needs and can apply for flexible working options such as compressed hours.  The only exception would be working from home as they are primarily field based staff.

Question 3. If Inspectors are having to log on in the morning from home to confirm their appointments haven’t changed overnight how is this time recorded and are they being paid overtime or is there a work around?

Management Response : Generally, inspectors are not required to log on from home in the morning, as the details of the jobs are in the system each afternoon. If this has changed since being available to them at 3:30pm the previous day a supervisor or manager will contact the inspector on their work allocated iPhone.  As mentioned above, the exception is Friday.

If an inspector needs to log on from home on Monday morning, it would not be classed as overtime, as generally this would not need to occur prior to 6am. There is provision in SAP to record as additional time. It would not be anticipated that it would take longer than 5 Minutes to look at the first job of the day.

Question 4. Have the Plumbing Inspectors been told to start at 8 and finish at 4.20?  Is there a job application that states the hours are 8 till 4.20?

Management Response: The first job of the day is at 8am, and it is generally not anticipated that there is a need to commence duty prior. However, in situations where both the inspector and the plumber arrive at site early, and are ready to commence the inspection, there is no barrier to commencing the inspection prior to 8am. For example, if both parties are ready at the site at 7.50am, and the inspection starts at that time, this is the starting time to be recorded.

Finish times can vary. Generally, the last inspection is scheduled for 3.30pm, and therefore most finish times would be around 4pm. However, it is accepted that some inspections may go longer, there may be some administrative work to complete, and therefore there is no finish time that is set.

It is expected that if an inspector needs to finish past 4.30pm, that they would advise this to the manager.

I note that you have provided a job advertisement from 2020, which shows the hours worked as being 8am to 4.20pm, with a half hour lunch break. As per above, this can vary depending on circumstances.

Question 5. With regard to vehicles: while it is understood that an Inspector finishes work at the end of their last appointment, if the vehicle is garaged at the Inspector’s home and the Inspector has to return home, put the kilometres in the computer then log off, is there an understanding that the Inspector will not have finished work until that occurs?  In which case, is the Inspector being paid for sitting in traffic for an hour prior to getting home?  If this is not the understanding, is this really private use of the car?

 Management response: Motor vehicles are provided to inspectors to garage overnight for ease of travel to appointments. These vehicles are not to be used for private purposes, and inspectors are required to travel directly to and from home to the appointed job.

This is an arrangement which has worked to the benefit of both parties for some time. Travel to and from the work location is not classed as work time.

Question 6. If home is not HQ, are Inspectors who have to log on in the morning to confirm appointments have not changed and then drive to the appointment before being deemed to be starting work, entitled to travel compensation?

Management response: The private residence of the inspector is not the headquarters – the headquarters is the office to which the inspector is appointed – to be specific, either Wollongong, Gosford, Newcastle or Parramatta.

In looking at the ways we work, we are considering changing the current motor vehicle arrangements, to be that inspectors do not keep the car garaged at their private residence overnight, but they would start and end the working day at the office to which they are assigned, and cars will be garaged on site, and booked to inspectors accordingly.

This arrangement would have some benefits – such as assisting with the scheduling of inspections and any concern with change of appointments.  Additionally, it would allow flexibility for the business to allocate resources on a daily basis where needed based on emerging issues, urgency, sick leave and vacancies. Unused motor vehicles could then be utilised as part of the pool vehicles for the Building Commission.

Any proposed changes will be subject to consultation.

Question 7. Has the business filled its vacant roles?  Does it consider it is at full complement of staff?  If not, what is being done to deal with potential workload and burnout issues?

Management Response: Recent recruitment has been approved, offering two grade 7/8 inspector roles. Additionally, two EOI’s will go out shortly, for 9/10 roles for up to 6 months. These roles will focus on compliance and therefore provides the current 9/10 role more time to focus on plumbing inspections.   Additionally with the proposed gas team amalgamating with the plumbing team (after consultation and assuming that the proposed change is approved) this will bring five roles including four inspector roles which are capable of completing plumbing inspections as this is their background.

In our meeting in June, the inspectors also asked for private use of cars (similar to SafeWork Inspectors) and their own Award. Please be advised that these requests are not supported.

PSA is happy to hear feedback from members.  We will arrange a member meeting shortly.