Keep safe in the workplace

On Thursday, April 28, 2022, we acknowledge World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Workers' Memorial Day.

The day provides an opportunity to reflect on how to prevent occupational deaths, injuries, diseases and illnesses. It is also a day to remember those who have died from a work-related injury or disease.

The latest Safe Work Australia data reveals that 194 workers were fatally injured at work in 2020.

Eighty people died in a vehicle collision which was 41 per cent of the total number of deaths for 2020.

Twenty-five people were hit by moving objects which accounted for 13 per cent of the deaths figure.

Falls from a height killed 22, while 17 people died from being hit by falling objects.

Being trapped by moving machinery accounted for 13 while being trapped between stationary and moving objects was the fate of 11 workers.

Other mechanisms, including many different events and means, saw 26 people die at work in 2022, the year the statistics were gathered. Any workplace fatality is tragic and unacceptable.

By raising awareness of the importance of health and safety in the workplace, Australian workplaces can implement an effective and preventative approach to work health and safety and ultimately save lives.

The theme set by the International Labour Organisation for this year's World Day for Safety and Health at Work is 'Act together to build a positive safety and health culture'.

This theme encourages workplaces to foster a robust workplace health and safety culture in which everyone contributes to a safe and healthy working environment.

Australian workplaces are continuously changing, evolving, and adapting due to many global factors - some within and some out of our control.

There is no better example of this than the impacts the COVID-19 pandemic had and continues to have on workplaces across all industries.

We need to embed WHS into our workplace culture and make it everyone's responsibility - to save lives and create happy, safe, and healthy workplaces.