Augusta Zadow was an advocate for women’s rights in the workplace who became South Australia’s first female Inspector of Factories in 1895.

An advocate for the rights of women working in clothing factories, Zadow (pictured below) was a major contributor to the establishment of the Working Women’s Trades Union in 1890.

She was buried in West Terrace Cemetery under a headstone that was paid for by 1000 threepenny donations from factory workers and today, more than a century later, her legacy is remembered through the Augusta Zadow Awards.

The awards, presented on 25 October by the Governor of South Australia, Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC at a ceremony at Government House, support initiatives, research or further education that improve health and safety for women and young workers in South Australia.

The Augusta Zadow Awards have been run by SafeWork SA since 2005 and provide grants of up to $25,000 to help meet the costs of a work health and safety (WHS) initiative.

This year’s awards recognised research aimed at protecting midwives from work overload, training for care workers in burnout resilience and the upgrading of a toolkit to help employers identify gaps in their WHS systems.

The 2024 winners are:

Jackie Wood, Wendy Foster, Nicola Williams and Micah Peters ($22,500 grant)

This collaboration between the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and UniSA aims to answer the question of whether the historic caseload model for midwives is aligned to the changes of modern care requirements.

Findings will be used as the basis for negotiating changes in midwife caseloads, leading to a decrease in risk factors causing burnout and work overload.

Matt Lowe from the Apprentice Employment Network ($10,500 grant).

The SMART Kit Upgrade Project is a program offered by the Apprentice Employment Network to help host employers identify gaps in their WHS systems and provide them with the tools needed to improve.

The Augusta Zadow Awards grant will allow the kits to be updated in line with new regulations and also fund consultation with host employers to develop resources to be added to the kit.

Alison Hunter from Alison in the Universe ($12,000 grant)

Burnout Resilience for Support Workers and Carers is a health and safety training package for workers in the care sector being developed by social worker Alison Hunter.

The training focuses on ego-resilience, compassion satisfaction, and the creation of a personal self-care toolkit for each participant. The funding will allow the training to be rolled out.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Glenn Farrell said it was “exciting to see such a diverse range of winning submissions, aimed to proactively improve workplace health and safety”.

“SafeWork SA is proud to run the awards and looks forward to seeing the winning projects come to fruition,” Mr Farrell said.

“These projects can enable change across many workplaces and benefit countless workers.”