Issue Date:  -  Tuesday, 25 October 2005

WorkSafe Forum sets its sights on workplace safety

A record number of participants have registered to attend WorkSafe’s annual safety forum tomorrow (Wednesday October 26).

WorkSafe WA Commissioner Nina Lyhne said today nearly 750 people – with over half of them safety and health representatives from all over the state had registered compared to just over 500 last year.

“Each year the forum gets bigger and better, reflecting the importance placed on keeping people safe and healthy at work. 

“The emphasis of the forum is placed fairly and squarely on supporting safety and health representatives in the important role they play in workplaces. 

“The key objective of the day is to exchange information and ideas on occupational safety and health issues. The program includes a mixture of plenary presentations, and different perspectives from workers, employers and government,” Ms Lyhne said.

“We really want to inspire people to put safety first and not to take a ‘she’ll be right’ attitude.  It is estimated that each year across Australia more people die as a result of workplace injury and disease than are killed on our roads.  In Western Australia alone, every sixteen days on average a family gets a knock on the door to say that their loved one has been killed at work.  On average, a worker is injured seriously enough to require time off work every twenty-five minutes.

“The tragedy is that most if not all of these occurrences are preventable.  It’s only by working together, talking about safety and then translating that talk into action that workplaces can truly claim to take workplace safety seriously”, said Ms Lyhne. 

Key speakers at this year’s forum at the Perth Convention Centre titled ‘Taking Safety Seriously ‘ include the Hon John Kobelke, MLA Minister for Consumer and Employment Protection, Associate Professor Tony Cooke, Chair of the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health and Nina Lyhne, WorkSafe WA Commissioner. 

Dr Karl Kruszelnicki well known scientist, engineer, doctor, author and science commentator will talk on ‘Great Moments in Work Safety”.

“ Popular sessions include those on extended working hours, workplace bullying, creating healthy workplaces and changes in occupational safety and health laws.  This reflects the diversity of issues modern workplaces and their workers face said Ms Lyhne.

Registrations for the forum have come from safety and health representatives, safety officers, managers and supervisors from the mining and non-mining sectors as well as interested members of the public.

The forum is jointly presented by Worksafe, Resources Safety Divisions of the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, the Commission for Occupational Safety and Health and WorkCover Western Australia.

The event is part of the inaugural Safe Work Australia Week 2005 and Community Safety Month.

For further information on the forum visit www.worksafe.wa.gov.au or call (08) 93278781.