New SafeWork SA initiative focused on the retail industry

The retail sector is the focus of a new campaign by SafeWork SA, which aims to protect workers from slips, trips, falls, and injuries caused by heavy lifting and repetitive tasks.

Starting in March, inspectors from SafeWork SA will make surprise visits to metropolitan retail businesses to assess their adherence to safety standards in terms of maintaining cleanliness and the proper handling of hazardous manual tasks.

Since the beginning of January 2021, SafeWork SA has issued over 49 statutory notices related to poor housekeeping and insufficient systems and training for hazardous manual tasks.

SafeWork SA Executive Director Mr Glenn Farrell said, ‘Many people don’t consider a retail outlet to be a particularly hazardous work environment, but the statistics clearly show that serious injuries caused by falls, slips, trips and strains are commonplace in the sector.’

Read more here.