As a bookkeeper I sometimes witness the challenges business owners face when they realise that they currently don’t have the cash flow to renew their WorkCover premium. Fortunately, that can be fixed easily with a payment plan that suits your business, but more on that later… let’s look at safe work matters first.

Why WorkCover is so Important

Getting injured in the workplace can happen any time and in any workplace. Whether it’s a small injury or a major accident, injuries that have long term ramifications affect not just the worker, but also the family and the business. That’s why it is critical that you keep your workers compensation cover updated at all times.

I’m sure you would agree that when it comes to managing health and safety risks, prevention is always better and really just a smart way to do business. And besides, effective management of health and safety risks at the workplace is a legal requirement.

National Safe Work Month

October is National Safe Work Month and this year’s theme is “A moment is all it takes.” Business owners are encouraged to take a moment every day in their workplace to think about the risks and hazards that they face in the workplace and think about how they can prevent harm.

According to Queensland Government findings* the most common mechanisms of injury over the five years from 2009-10 to 2013-14 were:

• body stressing (29 per cent)
• hitting objects with a part of the body (19 per cent)
• fall, trips and slips (19 per cent)
• being hit by moving objects (18 per cent).

National Safe Work Month CEO Michelle Baxter said “Injury or death in the workplace changes lives forever,” and “This October, take a moment to consider what workplace safety means to you.”

How to Make Safe Work Practices Second Nature

It makes sense to always keep safe work practices at the forefront of your mind. Commit to taking a safety moment every day in your workplace. This could be as simple as spending five minutes every morning talking with your team about the hazards and risks in your workplace, and how to prevent harm.

I know that many tradies see the update of their Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) as a compliance issue to help them get contracts or meet tender conditions. However, this initiative can help make it a lot easier for you to build safety consciousness into your daily team conversations. Then the next time you have to update your SWMS, it will be easy to do because it will be second nature.

WorkCover insurance is not just a legal requirement of doing business, it’s especially important to builders and tradies. In Queensland alone 74,840 non-fatal injury claims were submitted in the construction industry in the year 2013-14*.

When you consider that, in the same year the number of employees covered by workers’ compensation was highest in the industry areas below, it makes sense for tradies to keep premiums up-to-date:

• construction services (103,438 people or 57 per cent of industry workers’ compensation participants)
• building construction (43,998 people or 24.3 per cent)
• heavy and civil engineering construction (24,617 people or 13.6 per cent)

Of all workers in the industry, only 75 per cent were employed in these industry sectors and covered by workers’ compensation.

Keeping Up With WorkCover Premiums is a MUST

If you want to find out about easy ways to keep your WorkCover premiums up to date, you can contact us directly.  We can conduct a FREE Cash Flow Pulse Check for you to identify the best way to set up a WorkCover payment plan to help keep you and your workers covered at all times.

*Source: Office of Industrial Relations, Construction Statistical update 2009-10 to 2013-14
For detailed guidance on managing workplace risk, visit worksafe.qld.gov.au.
Find out more on the National Safe Work Month website.

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