101 reasons to head to Work Safe Week in Victoria

Work Safe Week in Victoria will include 101 seminars designed to inform and empower employers and employees on health and safety issues at work.

Starting 21 October, the program will pay particular attention to key issues facing businesses, including manual handling, return to work and psychosocial factors. Presentations will explore the latest trends and ideas from around Australia and overseas.

WorkSafe Chief Executive Denise Cosgrove said Work Safe Week was designed to be practical.

“We’re keen to make sure that employers and employees can take solutions and ideas back to their workplace so they can make a practical difference to how they manage safety,” Cosgrove said.

“That’s why we’re introducing a number of new networking ‘hubs’ which will be a fantastic way for employers and employees to learn from each other’s challenges and innovations.”

The hubs, which will operate between seminars, will offer:

• free advice and resources on safety and compensation issues from WorkCover agents;
• innovative ideas and solutions from the WorkSafe Awards entrants;
• demonstrations of new health and safety equipment and techniques in areas as diverse as ergonomics and manual handling.

Cosgrove said some sessions would be conducted by WorkSafe inspectors, who would talk about what they looked for when visiting a workplace and how to achieve compliance.

“This year, we’re also offering the opportunity to submit a question before the event, relating to the session that you plan to attend,” she said.

Work Safe Week is being held from 21-23 October at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. Attendance is free at all sessions.

Work Safe Week also heads to the country

More than 40 seminars will also take place across regional Victoria as part of Work Safe Week.

Regional seminars start from 21 October and will take place in Bairnsdale, Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Horsham, Mildura, Morwell, Port Fairy, Shepparton, Warrnambool and Wodonga.

WorkSafe Chief Executive Denise Cosgrove said the sessions would pay particular attention to key issues important to country businesses, including manual handling, farm and construction safety, return to work strategies and psychosocial factors including stress and mental health.

Employers and employees interested in attending can book for a single session or participate in the whole day’s program, depending on their areas of interest.

Work Safe Week will visit:

    Morwell on 21 October
    Warrnambool on 23 October
    Geelong on 24 October
    Port Fairy on 25 October
    Shepparton on 28 and 30 October
    Bendigo on 29 October
    Ballarat on 30 October
    Bairnsdale, Horsham and Mildura on 31 October

Melbourne sessions will take place from 21-23 October at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.