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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-10-18 Daily Xml
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Safe Work Month

The Hon. T.T. NGO (15:22): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. Will the minister inform the council about activities occurring during Safe Work Month?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:23): I thank the Hon. Tung Ngo for his question and his ongoing interest in safe working conditions. The honourable member is in fact right: October is Safe Work Month. It is a national campaign run annually by work health and safety regulators across Australia to raise awareness of work health and safety issues and provide resources and education to businesses to improve safety in their own workplaces. The focus of this year's campaign is 'Know safety, work safely', and there is a special focus on different areas of work health and safety during each week of the campaign.

The theme of week 1 is injuries at work, focusing on common health and safety risks and how they can be controlled to keep workers safe. Week 2's focus is mental health, focusing on how to identify psychological risks and hazards and recognising that mental health is just as important a part of work health and safety protection as is protection against physical health injuries. Week 3 is about managing work health and safety risks and preventing harm, looking at ways to manage WHS risks and prevent injuries and diseases, including how and when to consult with workers and their representatives on safety issues. Week 4, the final week, is safe and healthy work for all, focusing on the future of work, changing patterns and ways of working, and the opportunities to improve work health and safety in areas such as the gig economy and working from home.

In South Australia, SafeWork SA will be partnering with community organisations to run events directed at each of these different areas. Some of these events include webinar series on topics such as managing psychological risk in the workplace, the safety risks of ground excavation activities and working near power lines, and a mock trial showing how the enforcement of work health and safety laws can play out in the courtroom environment.

SafeWork SA will also be running its popular 'organise your own workplace activity' competition, which encourages businesses and their health and safety reps to run their own in-house events to raise awareness of health and safety. I am pleased to see our regulator in South Australia and business in South Australia taking work health and safety seriously in participating in events surrounding Safe Work Month to help build safe and healthy workplaces for our entire community.

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