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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-09-30 Daily Xml
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SAFE WORK WEEK

The Hon. CARMEL ZOLLO (14:55): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the minister provide details of this year's upcoming SafeWork Week, which I understand is the premier occupational health and safety event in South Australia?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister Assisting the Premier in Public Sector Management) (14:56): The best way to reduce the long-term costs of workplace injury and illness is to make South Australian workplaces safer. Of the many strategies undertaken to promote workplace safety, SafeWork Week remains a key initiative of the government to educate the community on the need to stay safe at work. It is with great pleasure that I joined Tom Phillips and other members of the SafeWork SA advisory committee recently to launch the program for this year's SafeWork Week.

SafeWork Week runs this year from 25 to 29 October, with a full program of events across a wide range of occupational health and safety issues, but with a common theme this year of consultation in the workplace. This year's event has been specially tailored for all those who are interested in safe, fair, productive working lives, and not just for the occupational health and safety professionals. SafeWork Week 2010 will offer a mix of free workshops, seminars and briefings, with topics such as the workplace environment, asbestos, noise, chemicals and other important occupational health and safety issues.

South Australia's SafeWork Week will also coincide with the national SafeWork Australia Week, culminating in the announcement of the state winners of the SafeWork awards. Much work is done on many levels to ensure that South Australians come home from work safely, from information at events such as SafeWork Week to the tens of thousands of workplace visits conducted by SafeWork SA inspectors every year. These activities are complemented by a number of productive initiatives to support workplace compliance with safety requirements.

Engagement has been one of the hallmarks of the SafeWork event throughout the years here in South Australia. The organising partners of SafeWork Week 2010 come from a variety of positions in the workplace spectrum, with SafeWork SA and WorkCover SA representing government, and Business SA and SA unions representing both employers and workers. This partnership is also reflected in the membership of the SafeWork SA advisory committee, which sets the strategic vision for South Australia's workplace safety agenda and advises me on occupational health, safety and welfare standards, policy and legislative matters.

Clearly the most compelling example of strength through diversity is the range of contributors to SafeWork Week 2010, with this event featuring workshops staged by a number of organisations. These include our organising partners, as well as the SA Asbestos Coalition, the Australian Hotels Association, the Working Women's Centre SA, the Safety Institute of Australia, the Environment Protection Authority, OneSteel Whyalla, Corporate Health Group and TAFE SA as examples.

This wealth of knowledge will go a long way towards making the state's workplaces safer, an objective we have enshrined in South Australia's Strategic Plan. We aim to beat the nationally agreed target of a 40 per cent reduction in workplace injury by 2012, and the education process of SafeWork Week 2010 will go a long way towards achieving that goal. The SafeWork event really does make a difference, and each year surveys and evaluations are conducted to monitor the event's effectiveness. Some 80 per cent of those surveyed told us that the activity they attended would be likely to influence them to make changes at their workplace. The gains from achieving safer workplaces will benefit us all.

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