SafeWork Australia has released their key findings report for work-related injury and fatality statistics. This is part of National Safe Work Month and part SafeWork’s goal of using data to make workplaces safe.
Among Australian work industries, construction posted the third highest number of fatalities and the fifth highest fatality rate per 100,000 workers this year (26, and 2.2 respectively).
Some more key statistics:
Machinery operators and drivers had the highest fatalities by occupation (8.3 per 100k)
Labourers had the highest number of serious claims made by occupation (27,090)
The construction industry was responsible for 12% of all serious claims made
Construction had an incident rate of 15.2 serious claims per 1,000 employees
36% of Serious claims were a result of body stressing, 23% were from slips, trips, and falls
72% of all serious claims were a result of an injury
SafeWork Australia has highlighted the importance of using these statistics to recognise risk and raise awareness of workplace hazards.
The Signs of Poor Health and Safety
If you’re concerned that your health and safety policies aren’t appropriate, here's what to look out for:
Poor Incident Reporting: Not logging and reporting incidents on-site properly is a huge indicator of risk. Making note of incidents isn’t just for serious cases, they should also be used for near misses and other occurrences on-site.
Profits taking priority: Another obvious cause of health & safety issues, but the financial reality is, this will end up having aa more detrimental impact on a companies bottom line, whilst they cover for staff absences.
Blame Culture: Accepting the consequences can be difficult in the wrong environments. Within cultures of blame or discipline when incidents and injuries occur, you promote negative views on health and safety. If your team feels anxious or embarrassed to make reports due to fears of consequence, it can hamper your efforts in achieving a safe workplace.
Bad Communication: An inability to openly communicate your reasoning when introducing new health and safety measures, won't emphasise your point of the overarching drivers, plus your team doesn't hear why it's beneficial to them. If your measures are considered an afterthought, they won't be taken seriously.
How do we move towards a Safety-First Approach?
Some steps you can take to move towards a more Safety First working environment:
So, how do you get your crew on board? It's never as easy as New procedures = Safety sorted. Ultimately, it's all about buy-in. Your team need to feel motivated to take safety into their own hands.
Some steps you can take include in achieving this:
Communication: Having honest and open communication with your team about why you’re making changes is the best way to help them understand the importance.
Transparency: The more transparent and clear you are, the more likely any new initiatives will be taken seriously. Make sure that your crew has easy access to current health and safety guidelines so they can stay in the know with any changes.
Mental Health Support: Site safety isn’t just about physical health, it’s about mental health too. Those working in construction and trades can be at risk of depression, stress, or anxiety as it’s been an ongoing issue in the industry for years.
If you are taking steps to improve your site safety culture, mental health awareness definitely needs to play a part in that. By providing resources and establishing an environment where your crew feels respected and safe to open up and express themselves you’ll be able to create a support system where you can look after each other’s wellbeing and mental health.
Training: Ensuring that your crew are trained and comply with the correct health and safety practices ensures they're knowledgeable on correct procedures, and give your business and it's people confidence that they know how to safely and correctly perform their jobs.
Be a Leader: Before anyone cares how much you know, they wants to know how much you care. If your team sees that you don’t take health and safety seriously, you'll never foster a culture of site safety from the top down. Demonstrate to your team the importance of following health and safety standards by doing them yourself. They’re not just going to take your word for it.
Reporting: An expectation should be set that reporting incidents isn’t something anyone need feel anxious or uncomfortable about doing. Emphasising that people don't get in trouble for making a report, but instead it's viewed as a way of finding out how to prevent an accident or injury occurring again is the correct approach. By making proper reporting a core element of your teams’ day-to-day responsibilities, makes it second nature.
Make it a Team Effort: Site safety impacts everyone, so get everyone involved in shaping their site’s culture. The more input they have, the more likely they are to follow precautions. By having regular health and safety discussions with your team, gives them the opportunity to voice their own safety concerns and opinions, allowing their input to drive the implementation of safety measures that affect their jobs.
Comments