Injuries on housing construction sites costing $17m per year

More than 20 Victorian tradies a week were seriously injured on housing constructions sites last year, costing the industry $17 million in medical costs, wages and other expenses, according to WorkSafe Victoria. WorkSafe Inspector Steve Thornely said the figures could be significantly higher as sole traders do not make claims under WorkSafe’s injury insurance scheme.

“Housing sites are constantly changing with different trades on site for short periods over the life of a project. As a result, workers can face a continual and changing variety of hazards that require continual management,” he said.

“While not all incidents result in injury, we want to highlight the importance of workplace safety on construction sites by encouraging tradies in the domestic construction sector to take part in a competition using their smartphones.”

WorkSafe Victoria has designed the Top Tradie competition to get tradies talking about safety and do more to look after their employees, themselves and their mates. Over the next six weeks, teams which sign up to the Top Tradie competition will compete for weekly prizes by answering 10 sport and safety-related questions each week.

The weekly prizes include adrenalin sports packages, footy tickets and vouchers with the overall winning team getting four tickets to one of Victoria’s premier motorcycle events.

“Tradies, who are almost invariably self-employed, must not only be aware of their own safety, but should ensure they have the correct insurances and cover in place should anything go wrong,” said Brian Welch, Executive Director of the Master Builders Association of Victoria.

To find out more about the competition and to register for the Top Tradie quiz, visit: www.toptradie.com.au. To be eligible for prizes, entrants must have a Construction Induction Card (or equivalent) and work in housing construction in Victoria.