Activities that you can conduct in your workplace
Hold your own event for Safe Work Australia Week
Safe Work Australia Week is a perfect opportunity to help businesses reduce the hidden costs of workplace injuries.
Changing your safety culture starts at the top. When your staff see that you are serious about safety, they’ll be keen to discuss safety and importantly, act safely.
One simple idea can reduce workplace incidents
By staging a safety event in your workplace you can begin to highlight the importance of safety and the role that everyone in the organisation plays in making safety a priority at work.
Your event doesn’t need to cost a lot of money or require a lot of time to plan. It can simply be one easy activity to get people involved and thinking about workplace safety.
It could be an ongoing activity that you launch during the week
A safety procedure that you develop and start implementing during the week
A safety information session that you conduct during the week, or
An event that you conduct during the week to promote safety and wellbeing.
If you are a multi-state organisation, you could set up a national theme within your organisation (eg slips, trips, falls; or manual handling) and conduct activities related to your theme.
Set up a health and safety notice board in a common staff area. Find a high traffic area in your workplace (eg tea-room, near staff roster) and set up a notice board highlighting common OHS issues in your industry and update this notice board on a fortnightly basis.
Incorporate OHS as a regular agenda item at staff meetings or start a safety column in your organisation’s newsletter. Use this agenda item/column to get safety messages across to all staff.
Introduce a ‘Safe Employee of the Month’ award. Send out a nomination form and ask staff to nominate workmates who have taken steps to make the workplace safer. Pick a monthly winner and give a prize (eg dinner/movie voucher).
Launch a safety suggestion box. Set up a safety suggestion box in a prominent position in your workplace, such as the lunch room, and ask staff to write down their safety suggestions. Draw up a confidential safety suggestion questionnaire and put it with the box. Introduce an incentive scheme with your suggestion box, so that ideas suggested by workers that are implemented result in a reward or prize. Hold a morning tea to launch the initiative to staff.
Form a or promote your workplace safety committee. Ask staff to nominate to be part of a safety committee. Make time for this committee to meet on a regular basis to discuss safety issues and resolve any safety problems.
Consider becoming a ‘considerate construction site’. You could engage with the community on the impact the construction is having (eg dust, noise etc).
Start a stretching class for staff before each shift. Organise for a physiotherapist to provide a demonstration for staff on stretches to reduce the impact of manual handing. Staff could then conduct these before every shift.
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Establish or review emergency procedures and conduct an emergency drill during the week. After the drill, ask for feedback on the procedure and make relevant changes to make your organisation’s emergency procedures more efficient.
Appoint an OHS representative in your business even if it’s not a legislative requirement. Ask for nominations for an OHS representative. Encourage this person to attend relevant training and act as a ‘first stop’ for OHS information.
Develop after hours safety procedures in consultation with your employees. A lot of accidents can happen when a person is working alone or out of hours. Ensure that staff know what they can do to make sure they are safe at work or travelling.
Launch/review an OHS training manual during the week.
Conduct a session on ‘Safe Design’ and how it can be continually applied throughout the lifecycle of a product or service in your workplace. Eliminating hazards at the design stage of any activity is the most effective way to reduce the risk of disease and injury in the workplace and safe design should be applied to every stage in the lifecycle from conception through to disposal.
Seek OHS and workers’ compensation information/statistics on your industry (eg falls from heights) and brainstorm within your organisation and implement a procedure for reducing this. The ASCC or your state/territory OHS authority will be able to provide you with further information on industry specific information.
Conduct a safety audit and have a safety plan developed in your workplace. Some states/territories conduct this as a free service to small-medium sized organisations or contact smallbusinessohs.com.au.
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Invite an industry specialist (eg physiotherapist, occupational therapist, occupational hygienist, psychologist) to hold a brief training/information session for common OHS risks in your industry and the consequences of incorrect practices (work and personal). This could include:
- Manual handling/body stressing
- Stress and fatigue
- Slips, trips and falls
- Harassment
- Road safety
- Drugs and alcohol
- Noise exposure
Organise a ‘toolbox talk’ amongst your work team. This could be done by the workplace health and safety officer or invite someone along to give a practical demonstration on safer handling methods or operational procedures. Provide ergonomic assessments for your workers. Run a training session on the use of personal protective equipment.
Plan a routine hazardous substances audit. Look at:
- Storage
- Labelling
- Correct usage and handling
- Checking if you have the latest safety data sheets.
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Attend a public information session on OHS. Most states/territories will be conducting OHS awareness activities as part of Safe Work Australia Week. Contact your state/territory OHS authority for further details.
Have a spring clean of broken or unwanted equipment. Unwanted/broken goods can be a serious hazard. Organise a working bee one morning and have an organisation wide clean up.
Conduct a safety trivia quiz at a work social function (this could include questions about OHS, food safety, personal safety etc). Encourage social discussion among staff about OHS. Organise a prize for the winning team/individual (even if it is just a packet of minties!).
Hold a health program during the week. Activities could include:
- Yoga class
- 10 min individual massages
- Stress management class
- Sun smart course (hosted by Cancer Council)
- Basic first aid course (hosted by St Johns Ambulance)
- Health assessments (eg blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, hip to waist ratio)
Gain some local media coverage for your business by promoting a new safety initiative. If you have a new safety initiative in your workplace, try contacting your local newspaper to promote it. Arrange to set up a photo opportunity for publicity.
Run a safety poster competition for the children of employees. Pick a safety theme and draw up some entry forms that your employees can take home to their children. Hang the posters in your workplace for judging and offer a prize for the best one.
Organise a social ‘meet and greet’ of your organisation’s OHS representative. Know where they are located and what services that they can offer.
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Page last updated: 31/07/2008