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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-12-01 Daily Xml
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WORKPLACE INJURIES

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (14:53): Can the Minister for Industrial Relations advise the council of South Australia's performance, compared to the rest of Australia, in terms of reducing workplace injuries?

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (14:53): I thank the member for his very important question. I also acknowledge the many years that the Hon. Mr Kandelaars spent ensuring that his workplace was safe. I would also like to make it clear that this is the sort of good news that any industrial relations minister would like to be able to give.

As members may recall, in March of this year my predecessor informed the house about South Australian developments towards achieving the nationally agreed target on reducing workplace harm. This target is for all states and territories to achieve a 40 per cent reduction in injury claims by 2012, as agreed to under the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002-2012. In March, South Australia had just recorded a 36.5 per cent improvement in injury reduction, which had exceeded the required benchmark at that point of 28 per cent.

Today, I am pleased to inform the council that the latest edition of Safe Work Australia's Comparative Performance Monitoring Report has now been released and it reveals that South Australia is the only jurisdiction to have met the required rate of improvement in the incidence rate of injury and musculoskeletal claims between the base period (2000-01 to 2002-03) and 2009-10.

To reach the nationally agreed target, each of the jurisdictions would needed to have recorded a 32 per cent improvement from the base period by the end of June last year. South Australia recorded a 39 per cent improvement and continues to lead all other jurisdictions as we progress towards the nationally agreed target. This latest result is a clear demonstration that the proactive injury prevention initiatives that have been undertaken by SafeWork SA are achieving results. These proactive injury prevention initiatives include SafeWork SA's Industry Improvement Program and events such as the recent Safe Work Week.

The Industry Improvement Program is SafeWork SA's key proactive injury prevention initiative. Under this program, employers are engaged in a range of intervention strategies that build workplace capability to prevent work-related injuries and illness. The Industry Improvement Program addresses priority industry sectors and priority risks through a targeted intervention approach. It aims to assist businesses to reduce the incidence and cost of work-related injury and illness by 4 per cent per annum in support of South Australia's Strategic Plan target 21—Greater safety at work, the National Occupational Health and Safety Strategy 2002-12, and the memorandum of understanding between SafeWork SA and WorkCover SA.

Significant reductions in injury have been achieved for the various cohorts each year, including a combined reduction of 11 per cent for target cohorts (small business) in the 2010-11 year compared with 2009-10. Another proactive injury prevention activity is the SafeWork event. The annual Safe Work Week, which was held in the last week of October and coincides with the national Safe Work Australia Week, is South Australia's premier event to educate the community on the need to stay safe at work. This year's program consists of more than 70 free information sessions that were attended by over 3,600 people on issues such as the proposed model work health and safety laws, as well as specific workplace safety matters like manual handling, hazardous chemicals and risk management.

Proactive programs, such as the Industry Improvement Program and Safe Work Week, operate in conjunction with other assistance, education and compliance activities undertaken by SafeWork SA inspectors to improve safety outcomes in workplaces across all industry sectors within South Australia. It is hoped that once we get the new work health and safety laws, which have been delayed for a few months, through this parliament in good order we would be seeking, hoping or expecting these figures to be reduced even further.

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