Nearly half of young people injured at work: Unions ACT report   



Sydney Morning Herald
23 April 2018

 

Workplace injuries are common among young people and most workers under 25 have been bullied or harassed on the job, a new survey by the ACT's peak union body says.   

The Unions ACT report published on Monday found 40 per cent of young workers said they had been injured at work in the past year, and the same amount hadn't been told what to do if they'd been hurt.


Another 70 per cent of people aged 15-25 told the survey they had been bullied or harassed at work — the same figure as in last year's report — and the main perpetrators were their bosses (30 per cent) and co-workers (23 per cent).

Unions ACT randomly surveyed 223 people for the report, Breaking Point: Young Worker Safety in the ACT, and used the findings to call for greater regulation of businesses employing young people and new penalties for those ignoring the law.

The union body's secretary, Alex White, said a high percentage of young people were exposed to unsafe work and the risk of being injured.


Most of the survey's respondents worked in retail and sales (36.9 per cent) and hospitality and tourism (23 per cent), over half were employed on a casual basis and another 20 per cent were employed informally through labour hire, an Australian Business Number or a rolling short-term contract.

"The biggest challenge we've got is not that the ACT is worse than other jurisdictions, although it's bad, it's that people don't believe it's a problem and consequently are not willing to take the steps that are needed to protect young workers," Mr White said.

Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said WorkSafe ACT was auditing young worker safety in Canberra and the government would consider the findings of a Legislative Assembly inquiry into insecure work in the ACT.

An advisory committee on apprentice safety and young workers would also consider and advise the government on worker safety, Ms Stephen-Smith said.

The Unions ACT report also found nearly a third of young women had experienced gender discrimination at work, and that workers surveyed were unaware of their rights or of WorkSafe.

Unions ACT recommended new penalties for exploiting young workers and record-keeping failures, a certificate system for employers of five or more young people, and mandatory training for supervisors.

It also called for greater power for the Community Services Directorate to investigate, and for the ACT government to fund a union-developed workplace safety awareness program.

The latest report's findings come after a Unions ACT survey last year reported seven out of 10 young workers felt bullied or harassed at work while one in two felt they had been forced to work in an unsafe environment.   

Not really anything new is it

Spot

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 7:49am:



people spend maybe an hour commuting to work and then 8 hours at work,
the road toll is 1500 and the work toll  is 40.

so you are 4000 % more likely to be killed driving to work then you are at work, despite spending 8 x as long at work.
this makes the workplace 320 x safer, statistically then the commute.

australian employers take a bow for providing the safest workplaces in the world.
a stunning result .

perhaps we should get these fine employers to take over the roads and make all roads private toll roads as this would certainly save lives.

aquascoot wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 8:05am:


Would you tell the families of the 40 people who have been killed at work so far this year that it's just "resilience building"?

I was expecting Abbott to get blamed somehow, or even Turnbull.

aquascoot wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 8:50am:


Would you tell the families of the 40 people who have been killed at work so far this year that it's just "resilience building"?

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 9:20am:


Are you okay with a Rudd government policy being directly responsible for the deaths of a number of young men working in roofs in searing temperatures during the disastrous pink batts scheme? Speaking of which, because of Rudd's incompetence, the Commonwealth is now being sued in a class action over the pink batts debacle.

https://www.bordermail.com.au/story/5357129/pink-batts-class-action-sues-commonw...

On Thursday, it will be two years since 18-year-old Joshua Park-Fing died on a government-sponsored Work for the Dole site.

Josh was forced to ride on the back of a flatbed trailer without a harness, while being towed by a tractor. It’s suspected the tractor slipped a gear and jolted, causing the teen to fall and hit his head. Josh died from head injuries.

Two years on and his family still don't have answers about his death.

Jobs minister Michaelia Cash has refused to release the report into what happened and won't answer questions.

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 9:47am:


Perhaps we need a RC to find out

Armchair_Politician wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 10:09am:


Really - you don't expect your employer to provide a safe workplace?

If you see a hazard at work, you arrange for it to be fixed at your own expense?

"The law imposes a duty on employers to be proactive in reducing risk to health and safety.

"Directors and Officers have the ultimate duty of care, and they, together with persons concerned in the management of the company, are required to use due diligence to prevent a breach of the law."

BigOl64 wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 11:08am:


This thread is about workplace safety.

If you believe that deaths in the workplace have nothing to do with workplace safety, you are sorely mistaken.

BigOl64 wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 11:43am:


Sometimes, the injuries result in death.

This year, for example, the injuries have resulted in 40 deaths.

rhino wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 11:47am:


That's tragic, however, there's a big difference between suicide and workplace accidents that result in death.

rhino wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 11:53am:


Why not?

And, who's scoring political points?

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 12:00pm:


And then it's the employees responsibility when it happens under his messiahs watch 

Its time wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 12:22pm:


Yes, excellent point.

At first he says "a Rudd government policy being directly responsible for the deaths of a number of young men working in roofs".

Then, in the very next breath, he says "Whatever happened to taking responsibility for your own actions and safety? I never expect others to do it for me."

rhino wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 11:47am:


Nah - all in a day's work for a Muslim suicide bomber.....

DonDeeHippy wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 1:06pm:




Lifting inappropriately, burns, cuts from knives.

DonDeeHippy wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 1:06pm:


Lifting (heavy) boxes full of stock.

Slipping on wet floors (especially in places like a Coles deli).

Pulling a back muscle when twisting around at the checkout.

Reaching over and lifting heavy objects out of a customers's trolley at the checkout.

And yes, RSI injuries from scanning at the checkout.

DonDeeHippy wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 2:21pm:


It just goes to show who pays attention to workplace safety and who doesnt

Spot

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 3:36pm:

surely they would have reporting of injuries in other walks of life like retail and tourism. Any safety officers around ?

DonDeeHippy wrote on Apr 24^th, 2018 at 5:02pm:


Part of my job role is safety
I have a reporting function set up in our systems
We report every injury, even if it only requires a band aid
We investigate every MTI and LTI in great depth.
Additionally we have toolbox discussions every morning and risk assessments before every new job, sometimes several times a day.
Finally we have a near Miss reporting process where nothing happened, but may have.
These are also fully investigated.

Do we, with all these processes in place, still have injuries?

You betcha

We are currently 4 years LIT free
But we have had 9 MTIs in the last 6 months alone.

No matter how hard you try,
No matter how much you work at keeping people safe
No matter how many safe practices, procedures and special tooling you have
Someone will hurt themselves.

The only way to make a workplace 100% safe
Is to have no one working, or even turning up.

An example!
A young lady removing a staple managed to puncture her thumb with said staple.
Yes we do have staple removing tool.
She saw blood and passed out.
Hospital visit required
Back at work that morning. MTI.
Investigation required
Result, we don't use Staples in that area any more.

No matter how safe you make a workplace; "accidents" will continue for the young and stupid.

It is merely because the "young" see themselves as immortal. Beyond the rules generally.

Ergonomic lifting? That's for those geriatric old farts.

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 26^th, 2018 at 11:56am:


Yes. Begs the question of why they were eating so close to a vehicle unloading panels. I thought it was something like a clearance area 1.5 times the size of the load, especially where it is being moved.

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 26^th, 2018 at 11:56am:



If they ignore safety strictures is it an accident?

greggerypeccary wrote on Apr 27^th, 2018 at 9:58am:


Very close to where I work

Is the GetUp! inspired gloom and doom BlackDay's red rag parroting being CENSORED ????