By Eleanor Wilson
Unsafe manual handling practices and hazards impacting the construction industry are key issues affecting workers in the Pakenham region, WorkSafe experts revealed at a Health and Safety Month event on Wednesday 18 October.
The Pakenham Regional Tennis Centre hosted about 80 local employers and workers to hear from work safety experts about staying safe on the tools, including controlling exposure to high risk crystalline silica dust in construction, hazardous manual handling basics and how to support injured workers back to safe work.
The Pakenham event was one of 17 events held across Victoria, including Shepparton, Traralgon, Geelong and Bendigo.
WorkSafe event manager Andris Blicavs said it was the first time the workplace health and safety regulator had included Pakenham in its educational touring events.
“The interest in coming to Pakenham is that it’s a growing area and we haven’t been here before,” Mr Blicavs said.
“When we plan our events we look at the businesses that are in the area and the claims we receive.
“We know that manual handling claims are quite large on our database,
Around 36 per cent of workplace injuries in Victoria are for musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) caused by hazardous manual handling.
WorkSafe ambassador and former AFL star Cameron Ling was invited to MC the event, which included a breakfast and lunch.
“We originally got Cameron involved because we realised that health and safety is not necessarily a sexy subject, so it was a way to raise the profile a bit,” Mr Blicavs said.
“But he also has a real interest in work safety and being involved and as a result he’s been part of WorkSafe since 2016.”
