Not-for-profit organisation the Australian Paralympic Committee (APC) has today launched the Workplace Safety Alliance, a new initiative designed to highlight the importance of safety in the workplace.
The initiative will see APC’s Paralympians, many of whom have been injured at work, sharing their stories with member organisations.
“Safety has become an extremely high priority for many Australian businesses and the Australian Paralympic Committee Workplace Safety Alliance is uniquely placed to deliver the message of the real impact and implications of workplace injury and return to work and life,” says Australian Paralympic Committee CEO Jason Hellwig.
The Workplace Safety Alliance will focus on a variety of sectors, including organisations in construction, manufacturing and transport.
The APC has partnered with the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) on the initiative, which Hellwig says will “ensure the most up-to-date best practice information” is conveyed to the member organisations.
SIA spokesperson Patrick Murphy says that the APC’s Paralympians are imperative to the cause.
“We are delighted to be partnering with the Australian Paralympic Committee and considering many of the Paralympians have encountered disability through serious injury at work, we believe their inspirational speakers are the face of resilience and determination,” Murphy says.
Statistics released by Safe Work Australia in December last year revealed that in 2010-11 there were 132,570 workers’ compensation claims for serious work-related injuries or illnesses. This works out to 13.1 claims per 1000 employees.
The figures also revealed that a typical compensation claim sees an employee spend four weeks absent from work.
Transport & storage, agriculture, manufacturing, and forestry & fishing were said to be industries with the most compensations claims.