Australian industry recently observed National Safe Work Month. It was an opportunity for all workplaces to raise awareness and discuss issues relating to safety in the workplace – be that through injury or illness.

Individuals, their families and the broader community are all impacted by work-related injury and illness. Last year in Australia, Safe Work Australia preliminary data shows that around 163 people died while doing their job. Around 120,300 people made a workers’ compensation claim for serious injury or illness in 2019–20*.

Soberingly, Safe Work Australia’s Key WHS Statistics 2020 report lists the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry as having the highest fatality rate of all industries in Australia with 13.1 fatalities per 100,000 workers! This figure is a salient reminder that we all have a responsibility to provide a safe workplace for all employees within our industry.

A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), as a legal entity, has a duty of care to ensure the health and safety of workers while they are at work. They also have a responsibility to ensure the work carried out does not carry a risk to the health and safety of others.

The Australian WHS Act, Section 19 states that the PCBU must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures, and substances. This means using equipment such as forklifts safely, working at heights safely, the correct handling and segregation of incompatible chemicals and transporting chemicals safely.

Agsafe has several professional development options for the reseller network to help improve the safety culture within their business. The flagship face-to-face Agvet Chemical Retailer Course is a full day of training, providing employees with the knowledge to safely work with and provide advice on agvet chemicals.

This training provides new employees as well as staff that have many years’ experience, with up-to-date information to give each participant a sound understanding of industry best practice for the safe transport, handling and transport of agvet chemicals.

The online suite of Agsafe training options for members continues to expand. The AgBytes platform has a suite of short courses that members can undertake in their own time. These are typically around 30 minutes in length and provide employees with up-to-date information on relevant topics requested by the Industry Reference Group.

The latest AgByte update from Agsafe is Workplace Traffic management. Where there are vehicles like cars, trucks or forklifts at your workplace there is a risk that they will collide with people. People who work with or near vehicles are most at risk and customers and visitors to your workplace may also be at risk.

You must manage the risk of vehicles colliding with people at your workplace. There are a number of ways of doing this depending on the size of your workplace, the kinds of vehicles being used and how often vehicle and pedestrians interact.

You should start by identifying the hazards and the potential points of collision between people and vehicles. You can do this by considering the flows of traffic and people and by asking your workers and health and safety representatives about any problems they encounter at the workplace.

By law, you must then put in place control measures to eliminate or minimise the risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Several control measures are generally needed to control the risks effectively.

Members of Agsafe are exposed to these risks through their normal daily activities, particularly those that work in a warehouse/store environment where loading and unloading vehicles is a daily and repetitive task.

Not only are these short online modules a great tool for keeping updated with and reminded of issues of safety in your workplace; but by completing new AgBytes as they are released, members are able to maintain their professional development in a convenient and affordable way.

For further information visit the Agsafe website and search for training/Agbytes.

*Serious claims relate to where the compensated injury or disease resulted in one week or more off work.