6 UWA newsHow do you rate your working life?Ethicsand your well-being are two new areas to be included in the Working Life Survey <strong>2000</strong>.All UWA staff should have received their survey forms a few weeks ago and everybody isurged to take the time to fill them in and return them by the beginning <strong>of</strong> August.Information gathered in the survey is valuable for planning over the next few years. <strong>The</strong> results willindicate what areas need improvement and identify a range <strong>of</strong> issues to feature in future enterprisebargaining agreements.Human Resources’ senior policy analyst, Jan Stuart, said the most important indication from the1997 Working Life Survey was a powerful need for job security among UWA staff.“We have focused on that in the latest enterprise agreement,” Ms Stuart said.She said that efforts have been made to reduce repetition and improve the coherence, especiallythe section on the working environment.Other areas have been expanded, including new sections on ethics and your well-being, and thequestions on equity have been altered.In reworking the survey, Ms Stuart and her team in Human Resources have included questions thatwill facilitate comparison with other surveys.Questions about choosing an academic career or choosing to work in higher education have comefrom the American Faculty Poll, a regular survey <strong>of</strong> Americans working in higher education. UWA canbenefit from comparing its staff’s attitudes to those in similar positions overseas.A few questions from a national ARC-funded stress survey in higher education (due out in August)are included in this Working Life Survey, also for comparisons, as are some questions from a survey<strong>of</strong> academics in <strong>Australia</strong>n universities on work roles, and questions from polls conducted by theNational Health Service in the UK and the WA Public Service.“We have included these so we can identify our position in relation to other institutions in ourown state, in other parts <strong>of</strong> the country and internationally,” Ms Stuart said.<strong>The</strong> over-riding feeling expressed by staff in the 1997 survey was a positive one about UWA, thatit was a good place to work and they were reasonably happy at work.“This was confirmed by the exit statements provided by staff who have left the <strong>University</strong> sincethe last survey,” Ms Stuart said. But the rapidly changing environment for higher education may haveresulted in changes. We need to be aware <strong>of</strong> these movements.“It is important that as many staff as possible find the half an hour needed to respond to thissurvey, so we are best equipped to make the decisions or changes that YOU want.”Looking for genuine bargains? Forget thedepartment stores and boutiquesand stay on campus.<strong>The</strong> UWA Save the Children Fundbooksale is in its final days in the undercr<strong>of</strong>t<strong>of</strong> Winthrop Hall.While the rare gems are likely to havebeen already snapped up, the tables are stillBook in for a bargainbeing replenished and the prices are plummeting. Asorganiser Rosalind Lindsay says, “Everybodygoes out smiling on the last day” when youcan fill a box for just a few dollars.<strong>The</strong> sale is open until 7.30pm tonight andtomorrow (Monday and Tuesday) and thedoors close on the last happy customer at2pm on Wednesday. Enquiries: 9381 3423.THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • JULY <strong>24</strong> <strong>2000</strong>
UWA news 7Centre for Offshore Foundation SystemsWA holds the last surprisefor worldly engineerDr Barry Lehane . . . surprised byearthquakes.Civil engineer Barry Lehanehas led design teams workingon the Hong Kong–Kowloontunnel, a new underground raillink across London and gravityplatforms in the North Sea.He thought there could be no moreengineering surprises in store for him— until he came to UWA.<strong>The</strong> Gledden Senior Fellow fromTrinity College, Dublin, spent firstsemester working with Pr<strong>of</strong>essor MarkRandolph, Director <strong>of</strong> the Centre forOffshore Foundation Systems (COFS),and Associate Pr<strong>of</strong>essor Martin Fahey,Head <strong>of</strong> the Department <strong>of</strong> Civil andResource Engineering, on designmethods for foundation systems.Dr Lehane said he was surprised t<strong>of</strong>ind that every structure in WA has tobe built with the possibility <strong>of</strong>earthquakes in mind.“<strong>The</strong>re is quite a severe earthquakeloading, something which I’m not usedto. We have no seismicity at all inDublin!” he said.“<strong>The</strong> world is such a small placenow that I would have said there wereno surprises to be found in technology,methods and design <strong>of</strong> foundationstructures, no matter where in theworld you were. <strong>The</strong>n I learned about<strong>Western</strong> <strong>Australia</strong>’s earthquakes.”<strong>The</strong> brilliant young engineer whotopped his class at <strong>University</strong> College,Cork, is now a lecturer in civil engineeringat Trinity College and a Fellow<strong>of</strong> the College, as well as chairman <strong>of</strong>the Geotechnical Society <strong>of</strong> Ireland anda core member <strong>of</strong> the EuropeanTechnical Committee on Piles.“About 50 per cent <strong>of</strong> my researchis involved with piled foundations andthe design approach for them,” he said.“Design differs from theory in thatit’s more practical. My particular skill isin bridging the gap between the crazyideas that academics have and thereality <strong>of</strong> practical engineering.“Of course, I’m not referring to theacademics here! COFS has an internationalreputation for always being intouch with industry. That’s why Idecided to come here.”He said that exploration companieswere having to drill deeper to find oiland gas and this presented a challengeto people like himself and COFS.“Our understanding <strong>of</strong> soil behaviouris improving all the time, so weneed to keep changing our designs.”Dr Lehane said designing foundationsfor <strong>of</strong>fshore structures was notmuch different from those for onshoreuse.“A thousand metres <strong>of</strong> waterdoesn’t make much more difference tothe soils and movements within themthan one meter <strong>of</strong> water. And allowingfor wave motion in the structure issimilar to allowing for wind instructures on land,” he said.For KerrySmith, theOlympic TorchRelay was just apractice run for the real thing.For Mrs Smith, the co-ordinator <strong>of</strong>Unigym, in the Department <strong>of</strong> HumanMovement and Exercise Science, thereal Olympics are the Paralympics,which will follow the competitions forable-bodied athletes.She has been chosen to carry thetorch in the Paralympic Torch Relay onOctober 8.Her son David, swam in the 1992Paralympics and she was a staffHuman Movement and Exercise ScienceParalympics light the waymember at the Barcelona Games. MrsSmith is the sports director <strong>of</strong> the WAParalympic Committee and pastpresident <strong>of</strong> the WA Disabled SportsAssociation.She has been involved in paralympicsand sports for people with disabilitiessince they began in WA. She is onseveral state, national and internationalcommittees and it is for her untiringwork for people with disabilities thatshe is being rewarded with a leg <strong>of</strong> thetorch relay.Earlier this month, Human Movementgraduate Scott Walker returnedfrom his work with a motor racingcompany in France to carry theOlympic torch for a leg <strong>of</strong> the relay inJoondalup.Mr Walker has represented<strong>Australia</strong> at two Olympicgames in bobsleigh butafter a master’s thesis,which examinedproblems formotorsportathletes, heis now workingin thefield he lovesmost, the motorracing industry.THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA • JULY <strong>24</strong> <strong>2000</strong>