WorkCover focus on young worker safety

WorkCover NSW has focused on young workers during the month of April, undertaking a number of workplace safety initiatives for young workers.

Acting CEO John Watson said the centrepiece of the initiatives is an online, interactive work health and safety tutorial, which young people can use to test and improve on their OHS knowledge: “A specially designed Safety Zone on the WorkCover website includes typical workplace scenarios which young people are most likely to encounter — handling awkward or heavy objects, operating machinery, using chemicals, being exposed to noise or working at heights.

“Participants can work their way through the examples shown to learn how to handle potentially hazardous situations and check out the real-life case studies which resulted in injury or death in the workplace.

“WorkCover statistics show that young people have a 75% [greater] chance of getting hurt at work than do older workers — not necessarily through carelessness — but due to their lack of workplace experience.”

A suite of Young Workers Fact Sheets can also be downloaded from the WorkCover website. These include detailed information on personal protective equipment, alcohol and drugs in the workplace, working at heights, workplace bullying and violence in the workplace.

“A major innovation that WorkCover is trialling for introduction later this year is a free, online learning tool called Hazard A Guess, which will assist employers and educators in meeting their OHS training obligations,” continued Watson. “Using the program, employers and trainers will be able to put together a set of online workplace tasks appropriate to their particular industry and test the OHS knowledge of their young workers or students.

“The results of these online tests will enable employers and trainers to track the progress of their young workers or students, and decide whether further training is required.”