Do you think that safety at work is only for Blue-collar industries? Think again!

It is sometimes said that offices or administration work is ‘safe’. Sure, more serious injuries and fatalities occur in other industries, however, when you consider that the highest cause of work-place injuries is due to sprains or strains (around one-third), followed by chronic joint or muscle conditions, you may want to re-consider your position.

Mats Eriksson, principal advisor and General Manager at Signature Staff said “According to the ABS, 58 out of every 1000 workers experienced an injury or illness in the workplace during a year at a staggering cost of over $60 billion to the Australian economy

In fact, every five minutes, someone gets injured at work in Australia and a high percentage of these injuries occur at small to medium businesses.

That’s why, every month, we hear about massive penalties and even criminal charges being handed out to companies and directors who neglect their health and safety obligations”

Don’t join the growing list of case law. It makes better sense to do something about safety at your workplace before incidents occur.

So where do you start?

The very first thing you must do is to identify the risks involved in the tasks and activities in your workplace.

However, one of the biggest challenges facing small and medium business owners and managers today is to understand their legal duty when you try to work out how to address these risks.

Whatever industry you’re in, think about safety the same way you think about production, sales targets or any other management issue. Plan for it, manage it and review it. In short, make safety a part of managing your business – you and your bottom-line be glad you did!

Help is near

To help make your job easier, the Cairns Chamber of Commerce in conjunction with it’s Regional industry Leaders has published a dedicated ‘Business Essentials” section on it’s website. Here you can access tools, kits and other information that will make easy work of legal compliance. There is also a webinar on the subject on the 10th June which will guide you through “What you must absolutely know about your legal duties”

Signature Staff is the Cairns Chamber’s regional leader for all matters concerning HR, IR and WHS. Contact them on 07 4050 3888 or visit their website www.signaturestaff.com.au