SafeWork NSW is launching a campaign with a message to workers, employers, businesses, and contractors that when undertaking work tasks, “It’s the safe way or no way”.
SafeWork NSW’s campaign aims to create safer workplaces by driving awareness of the importance of reducing workplace risks and promoting safer work practices. The campaign is targeted at workers aged between 18-54 who work in construction, agriculture, trade, and food delivery industries.
The campaign identifies a number of high-risk work activities across industries, including encouraging action to ensure working at heights has the appropriate safety controls in place, guards are in use and people are wearing appropriate and well-fitted personal protective equipment.
Falls from heights is the number one cause of deaths and serious injuries across the state.
Agriculture is the second highest industry for fatalities and will also be targeted in this campaign because of serious risks associated with farm equipment and other hazards, including handling animals.
Also featured in this campaign to promote better safety awareness is warehouse hazards including using seatbelts in forklifts and separating plant from pedestrians.
SafeWork is also using the campaign to target the risks around food delivery riders and preventing injuries, including using hi-visibility equipment to assist in the prevention of injury to riders and other road users.
The campaign will target traditional media like radio and print in both regional and metropolitan areas, videos, and other messages through social media and Youtube, as well as specific advertising in various languages for those that do not speak English as a first language.
SafeWork’s compliance activities in the latest financial year (2022-23) include:
- Responding to 8,940 workplace incidents,
- 53,157 intervention and education activities,
- issuing 15,168 notices,
- issuing 175 charges across 61 matters filed in court.
For more information on the campaign or to see the resources, please visit SafeWork NSW | SafeWork NSW
Please attribute to Head of SafeWork NSW Trent Curtin.
“This campaign reinforces the importance of raising awareness of health and safety risks in workplaces. It supports the work of our dedicated Inspectors by emphasising the messages they take to workplaces every day – delivering them to a far wider audience.”
“SafeWork NSW is targeting this campaign based on a range of criteria including evidence from workers compensation injury claims and incident data, research on enduring and emerging high-risk harms and the day-to-day experience of our Inspectors.”