According to the Australian Safety and Compensation Council, a growing number of Australians are excessively obese and this is proving to be a new source of work-place accidents and injuries.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics found in 2008 that more than 7 million Australians aged 18 years were overweight, an increase of 2.8 million over the previous 15 years. These obese workers are in a time of downsizing being asked to perform more and more manual handling tasks whether in the office or on the shop floor.
Frequently, these businesses have few or no formal written Safe Work Method (SWM) written documentation. Thus, the business has no guide that can show these obese workers how to safely carry out their new, unfamiliar manual handling tasks. This leads to an increase in workplace accidents, worker injuries and workers compensation claims by the business, which increases costs for the business.
RMH Schaffer can assist businesses to develop SWM documentation that will evidence their due diligence. One page documents and a small investment can help the business to avoid huge costs of WC and increased premium costs.