Promoting work safety in Pakenham

Natalie Heriot (advisor) and Taylah Harders (group leader). (Gary Sissons: 435874)

For Health and Safety Month, WorkSafe Victoria paid a special visit to Pakenham to promote better health and well-being in the office or shop floor.

WorkSafe held their event at the Cardinia Cultural Centre on Wednesday 9 October as part of its tour around the state promoting safe and healthy workplaces.

The free event kicked off with a breakfast before WorkSafe inspectors addressed local issues and took questions from the audience to provide tips on how to prevent workplace harm.

In the Southern Metro area, containing Cardinia alongside five other council areas, ’body stressing’ was the most common cause of injury, followed by falls, slips and trips and hits by moving objects in 2023-24. Healthcare, construction and manufacturing were the most common industries for claims to Worksafe in the last year.

Attendees at the event also heard about the process of getting back to work after an injury, including common challenges and solutions along the way, and the support available for injured workers and their employers.

WorkSafe also shone a spotlight on hazardous manual handling, which is a leading cause of workplace injury, before a discussion on recent changes to welding fumes exposure standards and the control measures that are available to help reduce the risk.

A light lunch was held, bringing together local businesses and WorkSafe specialists before the event was brought to a close.

The state-wide roadshow will be followed by a week-long series of webinars towards the end of October.

You can register for more upcoming WorkSafe events at worksafe.vic.gov.au/events