Victorian food manufacturers will soon face tougher safety regulation as the State Government’s scheme to tackle manual handling injuries begins on 1 July.
Under the plan, WorkSafe Victoria inspectors will visit food manufacturers and processors, and issue Improvement Prohibition Notices where safety breaches are found. Companies with serious breaches will face prosecutions.
Director of WorkSafe’s manufacturing, logistics and agriculture division, Trevor Martin said: “There were more than 12,000 workplace injury insurance claims as result of manual handling injuries in 2006-07.
“More then 900 were in the food manufacturing sector, accounting for three per cent of the state’s total injury claims.”
He said along with repetitive bending and twisting, the lifting of boxes, drums and bags of ingredients cause nearly 40 per cent of manual handling injuries in the industry.
According to Mr Martin, the average cost to treat and rehabilitate each manual handling injury exceeds $9,000.
He pointed out while businesses are well aware of safety obligations and the means of preventing injuries such as installation of a pallet lifter with a turntable, they often are not acted upon.
“Mechanical aids can increase productivity while the business costs associated with managing claims and potential legal and reputational issues can be minimised,” he said.
“Creating a safer, more productive workplace requires thought and action.
“Too often WorkSafe inspectors find that plans have been developmed, but not put into effect,” Mr Martian said.
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