Whether it was a builder's labourer, an office clerk, a public servant or a hospital doctor, Erich Janssen devoted his public life to ensuring as many Australians as possible were safe at work and legally protected.
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Erich, a former ACT WorkCover commissioner, and winner of an international award for creating 'Safe Hours' for young doctors in Australia, died this week, aged 67, after a lengthy battle with cancer.
Erich Edo Janssen emigrated to Australia at the age of four with his parents, Elisabeth and Ewald, brother Eddie and sister Marianne, escaping post-war poverty in Germany. After arriving on the Italian ship Castel Felice they began their life in Australia at Bonegilla, Victoria, a first port of call for many migrants.
His father had been a coalminer in Germany but in Wollongong became a foreman at the Port Kembla steelworks. The family rented a house in the bush behind Thirroul, with no running water or services. Ewald later built a house at Oak Flats, south of Wollongong. It was in this working class, immigrant community Erich developed a strong sense of social justice.
After gaining first-class honours in geography at ANU, with a thesis about the living conditions of migrants in the Illawarra urban system between 1950 and 1980, Erich worked for various Canberra unions. These included the Australian Public Service Association, the Administrative and Clerical Officers Association, the Professional Officers Association, and the Australian Federal Police Association.
From 1992 to 2003 he was director of Workplace Policy at the Australian Medical Association's federal office in Canberra. There, he developed and negotiated national programs on excessive hours, fatigue management and workplace flexibility aimed at changing workplace and medical cultures. As a result, junior doctors, who were experiencing high suicide rates, were rostered on with safer hours. He also worked on national competition policy for the professions, changes to Medicare provider eligibility, and the impact of major corporates on general practice. In all these areas he was recognised as a dogged and skilful negotiator.
In 2003 Erich was appointed ACT WorkCover commissioner and oversaw multiple programs to ensure workers were safe, especially on building sites, where a spate of workplace accidents in the ACT had led to deaths and serious injuries. His achievements included major amendments to ACT occupational health and safety legislation, implementation of a new Dangerous Substances Act, substantial amendments to the Workers Compensation Act and introduction of an offence of industrial manslaughter.
Erich completed an MBA and became a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. His final role was as chief executive of the federal government agency General Practice Education and Training, where he oversaw increased recruitment of junior doctors into general practice, especially in rural and Indigenous communities.
Throughout his working life, Erich believed in the value of lists. At the beginning of each day, he wrote in an A4 diary a list of jobs to be achieved that day and he would not go home until all items on the list were crossed off. He thought this was a good discipline; he was not content to merely pass items from the in tray to the out tray. He wanted to make a real difference to each matter on the list and to consider how each matter contributed to the broader picture. Those who frustrated Erich in the achievement of these outcomes would feel a sudden and irresistible pressure followed by a need for action. It worked very well for him and he never needed to be reminded of a deadline or criticised for missing a deadline.
Outside of work, Erich was regarded by family and friends as relaxed and fun-loving. His passions were skiing and fishing, and his family would spend weeks in the Snowy Mountains each year. During the past 10 years, he loved entering cross-country skiing races and even won a race - a victory he liked to joke about as there was only one other competitor who was a lot older.
He was involved in maintaining The Snowies trout population and was on the committee of the Upper Goodrabidgee River sub-branch of the Monaro Acclimatisation Society. His other passion was tennis - as secretary of the Majura Tennis Club he successfully pursued grants for upgrading the Dickson courts.
In 2010 Erich was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer; he then turned his considerable intelligence and resilience towards surviving as long as possible. He retired and travelled extensively with his wife of nearly 40 years, Jenny, managing to live for 13 more years - long enough to meet four grandchildren, including Joey born last July. Having worked hard all his life, in retirement his friends were often surprised to hear him say "work is overrated".
He is survived by Jenny, his children Dieter and Nina, daughter-in-law Renee, son-in-law Nick, grandchildren Theodore, Max, Meila and Joey, his brother Eddie and sister Marianne.
A funeral service will be held at Margaret Whitlam Pavilion at the National Arboretum on Friday, February 9 at 3pm, followed by a wake at Pollen café at the Australian National Botanic Gardens.
