Occupational Health & Safety
Every year approximately 600 Australian workers lose their life as a result of workplace injury. A further half a million people reported long term disability as a consequence of their workplace injury.
In the Mackay-Whitsunday Region, Emergency Departments report about 2,000 workplace injuries treated at hospitals, involving three per cent of workers.
Young people are especially vulnerable. Every year one in 10 male workers aged between 20 and 24 years will seek hospital treatment after being injured at work. School aged workers are at even greater risk with 50 per cent of senior school students are already in the workforce and when considering the number of hours they work, they are injured more frequently than other workers.
History
Established in November 2003 due to high rates of occupational injury in the region, the Occupational Health and Safety (OH & S) working group is a coalition of private business, OH & S officers, occupational health physicians, Department of Workplace Health & Safety, Queensland Health, James Cook University, TAFE, Education Queensland and industry groups.
Objectives
Our aim is to reduce/control occupational injury and disease in Mackay region. We aim to achieve this by:
- Enhancing collaboration between the private and public sectors such as TAFE, Education, Dept. of Workplace Health & Safety Queensland, Local Business
- Sharing relevant stakeholder information to identify priority areas for action
- Seeking opportunities to engage small business in the occupational injury group