WorkSafe Victoria
WorkWell Wednesday Bullying video
WorkSafe has a (relatively) new e-bulletin: WorkWell Wednesdays. The theme in this week's bulletin is "Prevent bullying in your workplace". Bullying is, unfortunately, too common in our workplaces, with Safe Work stats indicating that 1 in 10 Australian workers reporting they have been bullied. There's a link to an informative and entertaining video with Dave O'Neill and Dr Peter Cotton, as well as a link to the WorkWell toolkit.
Health and Safety Month
WorkSafe is organising many events for Health and Safety Month, in October. These events are open to anyone, including employers, HSRs and workers - but note that none of these have s69 approval so HSRs cannot attend on paid leave. For the Melbourne events, scheduled for October 30 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, click here. The keynote speaker for this event is Catherine McGregor, a freelance broadcaster, cricket commentator and author. She is also Australia's most prominent transgender woman. Sessions on the day cover a range of issues including Sexual harassment and workplace equality; Fatigue; and Psychological hazards and the safe system of work.
This webpage has links to all the events around Victoria.
Dangerous Goods Amendment (Reform) Bill
The Dangerous Goods Amendment (Reform) Bill 2019 was second read last week and is now public. It is a welcome Bill - it increases the penalties for non-compliance and introduces a new offence where people recklessly contravene the Act.
SafeWork NSW updates 23 WHS codes
The NSW government has varied 23 of the State's WHS Codes of Practice, including by adopting model provisions on asthma inhalers and EpiPens.
In May last year, Safe Work Australia amended the national model WHS Code for first aid to state that while workplace first-aid kits shouldn't contain analgesics like paracetamol and aspirin, employers "may consider including an asthma-relieving inhaler and a spacer to treat asthma attacks and epinephrine auto-injector for the treatment of anaphylaxis or severe allergies". The code recommends, however, ensuring that they are stored according to the manufacturer's instructions and providing first aiders with the appropriate training. Read more: NSW media release; Source: OHSAlert
Safe Work Australia
Fatality Statistics
There still has been no update on the Safe Work Australia - the last being August 1, when there had been 83 fatalities notified to SWA. The workers killed came from the following industries:
- 28 in Transport, postal & warehousing
- 19 in Agriculture, forestry & fishing
- 12 in Construction
- 6 in Public Administration & safety
- 5 in Electricity, gas, water & waste services
- 5 in Mining
- 3 in Manufacturing
- 2 in Professional, scientific & technical services
- 2 in Wholesale trade
- 1 in 'Other services'
To check for updates, and for more details on fatalities since 2003, go to the Safe Work Australia Work-related fatalities webpage and in particular, here.
