WorkSafe inspectors target small business safety

29 June 2010

Small businesses in 14 suburbs and towns across Victoria will be receiving special attention from WorkSafe inspectors over the coming year.

Businesses in each area will be visited by inspectors over a five day period as part of WorkSafe’s Safe Towns and Safer Work Zones campaign, which has been running for nearly a decade.

“The focus of this campaign is to encourage small businesses to identify and fix basic safety issues,” WorkSafe’s Strategic Programs Director Trevor Martin said.

“We’re not out to get anyone – we’ll be giving businesses prior notice that we’re coming and guidance on the sorts of safety issues we’ll be looking for.

“That being said, inspectors won’t be soft on safety. Over the last twelve months, nearly 2,500 legal notices have been issued by inspectors under this campaign – so businesses can expect us to be tough on enforcement,” he said.

Over the next financial year, teams of inspectors will visit small businesses in Braeside, Melton, Mansfield, Moorabbin, Mildura, Campbellfield, North Geelong, Camperdown & Cobden, Preston, Daylesford & Hepburn, Hoppers Crossing, Clayton, Bairnsdale, and Doveton and Hallam (dates and local claim information below).

As well as basic health and safety issues, inspectors will also be looking for workplaces to meet their duties under the Accident Compensation Act – like fulfilling their obligations to help injured people return to work.

While WorkSafe does not issue fines, it can issue improvement requiring safety improvement work to be carried out, and prohibition notices preventing work if there is an immediate risk to someone’s health and safety.

‘“We see the same kind of hazards over and over again – things like inspection and testing of electrical equipment, first aid facilities, and guarding on machinery. Basic housekeeping is also an issue that workplaces fall short on.

“Often when something goes wrong, it goes wrong quickly and with disastrous consequences. This is why we want small businesses to take a step back and look at common workplace health and safety hazards.

“We want businesses to sit down with the workforce, go through the potential safety issues, and work out what can be done to eliminate them. Once that’s done, put a plan together and get to work putting it into effect,” Mr Martin said.

Safe Towns and Safer Work Zones program:  July 2010 – June 2011

 

Location	Date
Braeside	19 - 23 July 2010
Melton	2 - 6 August 2010
Mansfield	16 - 20 August 2010
Moorabbin	6 - 10 September 2010
Mildura	20 - 24 September 2010
Campbellfield	11 - 15 October 2010
North Geelong	29 Nov - 3 Dec 2010
Camperdown and Cobden	28 Feb - 4 March 2011
Preston	14 - 18 March 2011
Daylesford and Hepburn	21 - 25 March 2011
Hoppers Crossing	11 - 15 April 2011
Clayton	2 - 6 May 2011
Bairnsdale	16 - 20 May 2011
Doveton and Hallam	30 May - 3 June 2011

 

How big a problem is this locally?

City/Shire of…	Number of claims	Treatment and rehabilitation costs
Braeside (Kingston)	5218	$94.52m
Melton (Melton)	728	$14.95m
Mansfield (Mansfield)	299	$5.21m
Moorabbin (Kingston)	5218	$94.52m
Mildura (Mildura)	1245	$27.86
Campbellfield (Hume)	8217	$164.95m
North Geelong (Geelong City)	5059	$82.45m
Camperdown and Cobden (Corangamite)	365	$7.97m
Preston (Darebin)	3471	$61.14m
Daylesford and Hepburn (Hepburn)	202	$3.55m
Hoppers Crossing (Wyndham)	4774	$77.47m
Clayton (Monash)	6720	$105.99m
Bairnsdale (East Gippsland)	1024	$20.60m
Doveton and Hallam (Casey)	3442	$61.85m

 

* The figures above cover medical and related treatment costs of businesses in the above local government areas over the past five financial years to the end of June 2009. It covers people who are employees and are off work for 10 days or more and/or have treatment costs in excess of $550. It does not cover self-employed people. Figures vary widely due to the industrial/commercial/residential/population mix as well as size of the local government area.

WorkSafe Notices are formal directions

Improvement Notices are a formal direction to make a safety improvement within an agreed period. Prohibition Notices are issued when there is an immediate risk to health and safety. Receiving a Prohibition Notice means a machine or work practice must cease.

Both notices require sign-off from a WorkSafe inspector before they are lifted and that is generally the end of the matter. Breaching notices often results in prosecution.