Safe Towns visit to Bendigo found workplace health and safety ...

A visit to Bendigo by WorkSafe inspectors last week uncovered a number of health and safety breaches with 117 notices issued to concerned businesses.

Notices which require businesses to act on breaches by a certain date include forklift maintenance, guarding, racking, traffic management, personal protective equipment and insufficient return to work information. Sixty breaches were dealt with on the spot.

Inspectors visited 212 Bendigo workplaces as part of the Safe Towns campaign. WorkSafe?s General Manager for Operations, Lisa Sturzenegger, said that the campaign was received well by Bendigo businesses.

?It was great to find some standout businesses making health and safety a priority with inspectors walking away without having to issue any notices.

?We also came across businesses that had made attempts to address issues before the visit and welcomed the opportunity to discuss matters with an inspector.?

Ms Sturzenegger said that many of the issues identified by inspectors in Bendigo were easy to fix at little to no cost. She encouraged employers to find new ways to address workplace matters.

She also said that more than half of injury claims in Victoria each year are related to dangerous manual handling practices. Treatment and rehabilitation of injured Bendigo workers over the past five years had cost local businesses $ 41 million.

?This adds considerably to business costs through higher workplace injury insurance premiums and lost productivity.

?We also find in many prosecutions that businesses admit they were aware of an issue but failed to fix it. In many cases this has resulted in an injury, a conviction and a large fine.

?Not addressing health and safety matters can have devastating effects for workers and businesses. We urge businesses to stay on top of potential hazards, no matter how small or large they might be.

?With the notices issued last week, it is important that they are addressed as the inspectors would return to ensure they?ve been dealt with. If they are not dealt with, a prosecution often follows.?

Bendigo was the second regional area this financial year to be visited by a team of WorkSafe inspectors as part of the Safe Towns campaign. Echuca received a visit in August 2011 where 198 improvement notices were issued.

Safe Towns visits will also take place in South Geelong/Breakwater, Ballarat and Traralgon in coming months.

OHS News

Source: http://ohspolicy.com.au/safe-towns-visit-to-bendigo-found-workplace-health-and-safety-breaches/

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