October is National Safe Work Month: What does it mean for your workplace?

Every October Safe Work Australia holds National Safe Work Month that promotes the message about the importance of health and safety in the workplace and introduces initiatives that aim to reduce workplace accidents and illnesses.

Every workplace death is a tragedy – and work-related injuries and illnesses affect not just the injured employees but also greatly impact their families and the broader community.

That is why continued efforts are needed to address the causes behind workplace accidents and to ensure that the frequency of workplace death and injury keeps declining, making Australian workplaces safer for all categories of employees. 

Weekly Themes of National Safe Work Month

Each week of the National Safe Work Month has a special focus, specifically:

• Week 1 – Injuries at work. This week focuses on navigating common health and safety risks and keeping workers safe from falls and various injuries that can occur while performing manual tasks.
• Week 2 – Mental Health. This week is about identifying psychological hazards and managing associated risks.
• Week 3 – Managing WHS risks and preventing harm. This week’s focus is on eliminating or minimising the foreseeable risks associated with your workplace.
• Week 4 – Safe and healthy work for all. The week is about the future of work and about identifying what changing work patterns and technology might mean in terms of future health and safety challenges.

By having a dedicated week for every health and safety challenge, Safe Work Australia highlights the importance of different aspects of workplace health and safety and creates awareness about the strategies that can be used to improve the health and safety situation in your workplace.

The current health and safety situation in Australian workplaces

So, what is the current state of affairs? Let’s take a look at some current figures and trends concerning workplace health and safety in Australia.

Australian workplace fatalities by industry

The good news is that the number of worker fatalities in Australia has steadily declined over the last 20 years, with workplace deaths of the last few years about half of those of 20 years ago.

Still, according to the Safe Work Australia website, as of 22 September 2022, 115 Australian workers lost their lives as a result of a workplace accident.

It comes as no surprise that the transport, postal and warehousing industry is responsible for the most fatalities on the job (50 deaths so far this year), followed by agriculture, fishing and forestry with 24 fatalities.

The construction industry had 14 people die as a result of a workplace incident in 2022 so far, while manufacturing had nine fatalities. The mining industry had just one fatality as of 22 September 2022, which is a marked decrease from five deaths in 2021.

Australian workplace injury and workcover claims by industry

According to the Safe Work Australia data, the same industries – agriculture, forestry and fishing; manufacturing; transport, postal and warehousing; and construction – were responsible for the majority of serious workers’ compensation claims per thousand employees in 2019-2020.

(Serious workplace compensation claims are defined as accepted claims that resulted in a worker missing at least one week of work). By occupation, most claims were lodged by labourers and machinery operators and drivers.

Strategies for improving health and safety in your workplace

The health and safety situation in your workplace greatly depends on the willingness of all workers and managers to work together, putting the optimal health and safety procedures in place and ensuring compliance with them. This task requires an ongoing commitment and can only be achieved through a continuous, concerted organisational effort.

Some proven strategies for improving health and safety outcomes in any workplace are:

• Fostering a culture that encourages reporting of any health and safety hazards that workers may notice.
• Providing continuous training and education on different aspects of workplace health and safety. As well as outlining emerging challenges and ways to deal with them, this should include new ways to approach existing challenges.
• Always looking for more ergonomic solutions. With the rapid technological advancements of the last decades, any industry can benefit from continuous monitoring of new equipment and process design solutions available. As well as improving health and safety, this can also lead to better job satisfaction and improved productivity and employee retention, potentially benefiting the bottom line.
• Having a plan with measurable outcomes that are regularly reviewed and evaluated. 

We work hard to find the best possible match for you

At Synaco by Synergie, workplace health and safety of our employees has always been one of our priorities. We know that working in close collaboration with our clients is the best way to ensure that we can provide a safe and healthy workplace for our employees. To make sure the best match is achieved every time, we have rigorous recruitment processes set up. 

Additionally, in order to ensure the ongoing safety of our employees, we ensure that we spend plenty of time in the field. We attend pre-start and safety meetings, also holding regular work area inspections and toolbox talks with our workforce and conducting other relevant pre-site and on-site inductions, assessments, and training.

So, don’t let your next career move wait another day – see for yourself the positive difference that our caring and dedicated approach makes. You can browse our list of vacancies here.