RTWSA - World Day

Friday 28 April 2023 is World Day for Safety and Health at Work and Worker’s Memorial Day when we remember those who have died from a work-related injury or illness and look at how we can prevent work-related injuries.

This year’s theme for World Day for Safety and Health at Work is ‘A safe and healthy working environment is a fundamental principle and right at work’.

This theme encourages workplaces to ensure that a safe and healthy working environment is a priority and should not be viewed as an optional extra. Health and safety at work goes beyond physical injuries and includes risks to workers’ psychological health.

Both events remind us that we have a responsibility to prevent illnesses, injuries or fatalities and also to support the positive mental wellbeing of workers.

As this important day approaches think about how you can take the lead in work health and safety.

There are a range of free services and resources available to help South Australian businesses create safe and healthy workplaces.

Andrew shares his story of being injured at work when he was involved in a physical altercation with a patient while working as a security guard.

Andrew talks about the impact his injury had on his life and the challenges he faced in his recovery, and how returning to work more than a decade after sustaining a serious back injury, gave Andrew “things that money can’t buy”.

Watch Andrew share his recovery and return to work story.

Sprains and strains account for 33% of work injury claims.
Sprains and strain-type injuries are grouped together and collectively known as “body stressing” injuries.

Body stressing claims were the most common type of claim accepted in South Australia last financial year. And the year before that. And the year before that. In fact, since 2015, body stressing claims have accounted for more than one third of all claims lodged in the state.

The prevalence of this necessitates an opportunity for reflection; are we doing enough to combat this significant problem, and more importantly, what are the right things to do?

Supporting the health and wellbeing of people at work can help everyone live healthier lives.

The Healthy Workplaces Service provides businesses of all sizes in South Australia with free, practical information and resources to create a healthy, safe, and thriving workplace.

Any organisation in South Australia can access this free service. Register your workplace online and one of our Healthy Workplaces Advisors will contact you within 5 working days.

The service is tailored to your workplace and needs. No matter where your workplace is in its health and wellbeing journey, our Healthy Workplaces Advisors can provide advice and support to:

• help you to create a health and wellbeing program
• address specific health and wellbeing issues within your workplace
• link you to resources and support to help you promote health, wellbeing and safety
• provide recommendations on quality improvement.

Our Healthy Workplaces Advisors are qualified professionals from across the areas of health promotion, workplace health and safety and business services. They can help you create a workplace health and wellbeing strategy that improves the physical and mental health of your employees.

The Healthy Workplaces Service is a joint initiative of Wellbeing SA, SafeWork SA, ReturnToWorkSA, Department for Industry, Innovation and Science and Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.

A mentally healthy workplace is crucial to support staff wellbeing and create a thriving, productive business. If you want to do more in the area of workplace mental health in 2023, ReturnToWorkSA has a free online module to get you and your workforce started.

Our free online Mentally Healthy Workplaces course provides an interactive, self-paced learning option for participants wanting to create a mentally healthy workplace. The module unpacks the “what”, “why” and “how” of a mentally healthy workplace.

Featuring videos, resources and interactive activities, it provides an engaging learning experience you can complete at a time and place convenient to you. The module can be used to start the conversation, upskill management in supporting and addressing workplace mental health and can even be incorporated into your leadership induction program.

A record number of people injured at work are returning to work and life sooner after their injury as a result of improved and earlier support by ReturnToWorkSA and our claims agents.

91.9%* of injured workers have remained at or returned to work within 13 weeks of injury, up from 90% last financial year and 86% in 2018-19.

This builds on our best return to work performance in 2022 and has proven that early support results in better outcomes for workers and employers.

ReturnToWorkSA's Employer Education Advisors can provide you with tailored support and education about the health benefits of work, the Return to Work Coordinator role and suitable employment. They can also help you with strategies to achieve best practice recovery and return to work.

Our specialised Mentally Healthy Workplaces Consultant can help you to identify and reduce risk factors to mental health in your workplace and work with you to provide practical support, advice and resources

SafeWork SA's Safety Advisors provide a free service to small to medium-size businesses, tailoring advice to suit the individual needs of your business. They can also present an information session to your workers.