Help the Helpline help you

The Helpline is the telephone and email information centre for Workplace Standards Tasmania. Helpline Inspectors are authorised under all the workplace legislation administered by Workplace Standards, and they deal with over 60,000 phone calls and over 1,400 email requests each year.

Although our inspectors are trained for the special challenges that come from working over the phone and with electronic information, there are things you can do to help them help you. So to get the most benefit from your call:

• call when you can concentrate and when you are less likely to be interrupted or distracted (by others or background noise)
• identify yourself. Your calls are not taped and are confidential, so please let us know who you are. If you are calling on behalf of a business, let us know as it may help
• state the reason for your call
• have a pen and paper ready. You’ll probably be provided with information that you need to write down
• have any information you might need on hand. If you’re providing the Inspector with any information, make sure you have it readily available
• if you have access to the internet while you are on the phone, have it ready! Much of our information is stored there and we can direct you while online
• provide feedback.

If there is something that is difficult to understand or you’re not getting the information and help you need, let the Inspector know so they can act accordingly. Positive feedback is also useful, so if there is something that really helped you, let them know that too.

Other things you should know about the Helpline’s operation are:

• incoming phone calls are allocated to the first available Helpline Inspector, so each time you call you are likely to be helped by a different inspector. Please deal with the inspector who answers your call
• most calls are answered immediately and over 90% are answered within the first three minutes, so please hang on should you be placed in a queue. Our inspectors will talk to you as soon as they can
• in extreme peak periods, you may get an engaged signal, which means that the queue is full. If this happens, please wait a few minutes before trying again
• emails are another popular way of making contact. Emails are suitable for relaying some information; however sometimes we need more details before we can provide an answer. Some matters are complex and so if you include a contact phone/mobile number in your email, you may get a speedier response. If you can’t be contacted by phone at certain times, please tell us that in the email.

Normal business hours for the Helpline are 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday except for statewide public holidays. For accident or emergency notification, contact can be made 24 hours a day, every day.