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Make safety a priority in 2012: WorkSafe

WorkSafe Victoria urges transport industry to make safety a priority this year

January 10, 2012

WorkSafe Victoria is urging the transport industry to make safety a priority this year following a number of fatalities in 2011.

A 56-year-old contractor died when timber fell from a semi-trailer and struck him at Campbellfield in Melbourne.

Another man died in November after being crushed by a truck door in Westmeadows.

A 37-year-old contractor died after the truck loading dock he was repairing at Laverton fell on him.

WorkSafe’s Executive Director of Health and Safety Ian Forsyth says 25 people have died on the job across all industries in Victoria last year.

“Workers are entitled to return home safe from work at the end of the day,” Forsyth says.

“When this doesn’t happen it’s a tragedy that is felt by many people including their family, friends, colleagues, employers and the wider community.

“WorkSafe is responsible for educating the community and enforcing the law, but employers, managers, supervisors and workers must share responsibility to maximise safety and reduce the number of workplace incidents.”

Some 29,000 people are hurt every year, he adds.

“For some, challenging the practices and habits of your working life can be hard but if something goes wrong, the consequences are often immediate, horrific, long-lasting or fatal.”

Most incidents often involve workers doing routine jobs, which shows no one is immune from the risk of serious injury or death, Forsyth says.

“WorkSafe inspectors and investigators are often told ‘he was experienced and always careful’ or that ‘we’ve been doing it that way for years and never had any problems before’,” he says.

“Safety is about understanding what can happen and doing all you can to ensure people are trained, supervised and have what is needed to work safely, even if they’ve done a job a thousand times before.”

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