Ms Guy received the award at a gala dinner at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Thursday night. 

She was recognised for helping more than 100 injured workers achieve a safe and sustainable return to work.

To do this she has put an emphasis on timely intervention and focused on City of Ballarat’s wellbeing program, which has increased return to work and manual handling training. 

“It was a good celebration of health and safety,” Ms Guy said of the night.

“I was a bit shocked to be honest. It took a couple of seconds to sink in and then I realised I had to get up. I had the opportunity to do a short speech so I just thanked City of Ballarat as my employer and the support they give me, my manager and my husband because he puts up with me.”

Ms Guy said she had strong support at the awards night including City of Ballarat’s chief executive Justine Linley, directors and colleagues to help celebrate the win. 

“The award just shows we are doing things right more than anything and let’s continue to do that,” she said.

WorkSafe chief executive Clare Amies said the winners and finalists came from a wide range of backgrounds, demonstrating there was a strong commitment in Victorian workplaces to reduce injuries and help injured workers return to work.

“These organisations and individuals have gone to incredible lengths to make their workplaces safer and healthier, to assist injured workers, or to overcome their own personal obstacles to return work after injury” Ms Amies said.

“Each one has set a good example of innovative thinking and dedication to help solve problems and overcome challenges. Every finalist should be proud of the wonderful work they have done to inspire others to make safety a priority in every workplace in Victoria.”

Read about Stacey Guy’s nomination here: 

Stacey Guy has dedicated the past seven years to helping more than 100 injured employees return to work in a happy and healthy state. 

Now the City of Ballarat injury management advisor has received the ultimate recognition for her efforts and initiative as a finalist of the WorkSafe Safety Awards.

Ms Guy’s role is to support and assist all council employees through injuries and illnesses, both work related or non-work related, with a focus on timely intervention.

Four years ago the City of Ballarat introduced an online reporting system, where injuries get logged and the safety team is able to respond straight away, working with the affected worker and supervisor to establish a plan of action.

This could mean seeing a doctor, a physiotherapist or providing information on how to submit a work cover claim.

A provider panel, as part of the timely intervention approach, allows the injured employees to have medical assessments and early treatment for niggles and injuries. 

“We want to keep our workers in the workplace,” Ms Guy said.

“The importance of early intervention is getting there as soon as we’ve got that incident and making sure they’re getting the appropriate treatments to keep them in the work place.”

While a wellbeing program was established a number of years ago, Ms Guy said there had also been significant progress in this area and a range of services now available to employees.

This included physiotherapy, mental health awareness sessions to make sure staff have the right supports in place and know who they have to talk to, boot camps, yoga and healthy eating information sessions. 

The holistic approach incorporates physical, mental and emotional wellbeing to address all aspects of health. 

Ms Guy said the most rewarding aspect of her job was the successes along the way such as seeing employees return to work.

She was one of 27 finalists of the WorkSafe Awards, receiving the nomination in the ‘return to work coordinator excellence’ section.

“It was a great feeling to find out I was a finalist, but it was surreal at the same time because I feel like I’m being rewarded for a job I love to do anyway,” she said.

City of Ballarat’s executive manager for safety, risk and compliance services Cameron Montgomery was behind Ms Guy’s nomination. 

“We (City of Ballarat workers) are a community within a community and part of that is keeping people happy, healthy and safe, and productive at work,” he said. 

“The stuff that Stacey does is incredible, she is out at all of these work practices from those out maintaining our gardens to our galleries.”

The WorkSafe winners will be announced at a gala dinner at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Thursday.