DCN December Edition 2019

WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY
Safety culture demands a
safety-minded workforce
As children, safety messages are
hammered home and we learn how to
remain safe. But as adults, there is often
a disconnect, writes Kelly Shaw*
Despite a growing focus on safety, work-related injuries,
illnesses, and death cost Australians more than $60bn a year.
Safe Work Australia recently released key workplace health
and safety statistics for 2019, a national overview of workrelated
fatalities, injuries, and disease. Despite an encouraging
decline in the number of Australians killed in the workplace last
year, 144 people unnecessarily lost their lives at work.
“While these trends are encouraging, they are not a cause for
celebration. Every work-related fatality is a tragedy, and there’s
a lot more work to be done,” Safe Work Australia CEO, Michelle
Baxter says.
“We know that work-related fatalities, injuries, and disease have
a devastating impact on workers and their families. Understanding
the latest statistics can help identify ways to prevent these.”
Workers in the supply chain are particularly vulnerable to
accidents due to the labour-intensive nature of the work. More
than a third of the people fatally injured in the workplace are
machinery operators and drivers. Some 31% of these involve a
vehicle collision.
According to Safe Work Australia, the sector with the highest in
workplace fatalities is transport, postal and warehousing with 38
fatalities in 2018.
environment and secondly, well-designed, healthy and safe work
will allow workers in Australia to have more productive working
lives,” Safe Work Australia says.
THE RECRUITMENT SECTOR
Some recruitment companies are taking a proactive approach to
safety concerns before employment even begins.
Erik Samuelson is the medical services manager at Labourhealth,
which provides comprehensive pre-employment assessments by
qualified medical professionals for workers sourced by Labourforce.
Each division of The Navital Group - Labourforce, Labourhealth
and Impex Personnel - prioritises safety.
Labourforce has specialised in providing staffing solutions to
the supply chain industry in Australia and New Zealand since its
inception 20 years ago.
Mr Samuelson explained the company’s dedication to
worker welfare. “Our target market is predominantly any work
environment where there’s a lot of labour-intensive duties. So
manufacturing, construction, transport are the ones we focus
on the most, mainly due to the fact that it’s very labour intensive
and the likelihood of someone injuring themselves is quite high
compared to a white-collar office environment.”
One area where Labourforce seeks to differentiate itself
from other recruitment companies is a strict drug and alcohol
testing of all candidates put forward. The after-effects of outof-hours
recreational drug use can leave people with difficulty
concentrating, exhaustion, blurred vision and headaches. It can be
The link between safety
and productivity
NATIONAL SUPPLY CHAIN FOCUS
In August this year, Australian transport ministers approved
the country’s first National Freight and Supply Chain Strategy.
The strategy recognises that “Australia’s freight systems are the
lifeblood of our economy and way of life” and sets industry goals
and targets for 2024, designed to meet the unprecedented freight
and supply chain demands expected in coming years.
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack estimates about
163 tonnes of freight is delivered per person around the country
each year. He says, “With our freight volumes expected to grow by
more than a third by 2040 and online shopping growth at over 20% a
year, we need to increase the productivity of our freight system”.
The strategy targets four critical action areas, one of which is
enabling improved supply chain efficiency. For the first time, the
strategy will integrate the different transport modes, focusing on
the entire supply chain rather than just looking at separate aspects
in isolation.
It is therefore perhaps timely that Safe Work Australia has
identified supply chains as an action area in its Australian strategy.
“Firstly, all workers, regardless of their occupation or how
they are engaged, have the right to a healthy and safe working
A healthy workforce that doesn’t use illicit drugs is
more inclined to turn up to work on time and cause
the employer fewer problems.
Erik Samuelson, Labourhealth
50 December 2019
thedcn.com.au