Free workshops on workplace safety

For the first time, SafeWork SA will offer on-site information sessions in the metropolitan and outer metropolitan areas from 26 September through to 21 October as part of the lead-up to the Safe Work Week 2011.

Safe Work Week 2011 will run from 24 to 28 October, to coincide with the national Safe Work Australia Week. It also offers free workshops that are tailored to meet the needs of employers, employees, contractors, health and safety representatives and OHSW professionals. The sessions are open to companies or businesses with more than 20 employees, and they are free to nominate a safety topic of their choice. They can register for a session via the Safe Work Week 2011 website: www.safework.sa.gov.au/sw2011.

Small businesses in particular can again take advantage of the 'Take 10@10' safety training materials to run their own in-house safety awareness sessions. Again, interested businesses that register online can download a package of training materials that cover 12 safety presentations each of about 10 minutes’ duration, or they can choose the topics of interest and relevance to them, such as: basic OHS responsibilities, bullying, drugs and alcohol, forklifts, hazard identification and risk management, healthy workplaces, infection control, manual handling, new and young workers occupational stress, slips, trips and falls, and working hours.

In 2010, 513 registrations for Take 10@10 were received, including 20 from interstate and even one from Croatia. The registrations meant a safety message was taken to a combined total of more than 165,000 employees and other workers.