Focusing on informing and empowering employers and employees on health and safety at work, this year the events paid particular attention to events that covered manual handling, Return to Work and psychosocial factors. This included:
- Free advice and resources on safety and compensation issues from WorkCover agents.
- Innovative ideas and solutions from the WorkSafe Awards entrants.
- Demonstrations of new health and safety equipment and techniques in areas as diverse as ergonomics and manual handling.
Some great points throughout the day on Monday that SafetyFirst picked up from WorkSafe week Victoria 2013 included:
-
In 2017 all Victorian OH&S Regulations expire. WorkSafe Victoria are looking to that time to have new updated Regulations out for the state.
-
Australia has an aging workforce. This will show a drastic change in workplace injury statistics not just for Victoria, but for the whole of Australia.
-
The Health and Safety Representatives (HSR's) portal has over 15,000 registered members now - worksafe.vic.gov.au
-
Victoria has over 246,000 workplaces with only 210 WorkSafe inspectors. That’s 148 inspectors on the ground every day. Understanding that the math doesn't add up here; it is imperative that WorkSafe Victoria gain the support of the community, its workers and employers.
-
The OH&S Body of Knowledge (BOK) is a wealth of information for employees and practicing OH&S professionals - (ohsbok.org.au)
-
Regarding workplace policies, stay away from motherhood statements. These are statements that are unrealistic for your company to achieve.
-
Workplace OH&S policies should include your companies OH&S Legislative responsibilities
-
When implementing control measures into the workplace for hazards, don’t be afraid to start with the lower control methods where appropriate and move up the scale over time. General information here - Hierarchy_of_hazard_control
-
SafetyMap - How to develop and write procedures and how to streamline your documentation regarding OH&S (Victoria) - worksafe.vic.gov.au
-
Management shouldn't be afraid of the management review processes when it comes to OH&S. This is a great way to show that management is committed to OH&S.
-
OH&S consultants can't do the ground work for you. That is, the implementing of what is needed for your business management system. They can only consult on what needs to be done. The ground work has to be done by the company employees. This is simply because they are the ones directly affected by the results. This method also gives employees ownership of the new changes.
-
If your company has monthly audit processes in place, make sure that your staff are not spending all their time fixing the non conformances from the previous months audit instead of looking at the bigger picture and tackling the real issues that could be present. If this situation is found, a good solution could be to drop your internal audits back to every three months to give your staff time and space to breath. This is a great way to get a more acurate monitoring system in place.
-
When building an OH&S management system, you don’t have to start from scratch. Use what is already in place and build on from there.
03 9639 3955
Apprenticeship Employment Network