Journalist, footballer named health and safety ambassadors

Award-winning journalist and former CNN presenter Anjali Rao and Geelong Football Club triple premiership star Cameron Ling have been named as this year’s ambassadors for WorkSafe Victoria’s Health and Safety Month. Throughout October, Rao, Ling and others will be promoting workplace mental health, safety for young workers and safe storage and handling of dangerous goods.

Rao, who has worked in “high-pressure, 24-hour news environments” and covered devastating events such as the deadly Asian tsunami, Haiti earthquake and 9-11 terrorist attack, said she knows “first-hand the toll work can take on health, especially mental wellbeing”. She will be sharing her experiences at events across the state and will host a panel on emerging safety challenges and ways employers can create “positive, healthy and safe workplaces” at the Melbourne Health and Safety Month Conference on 30 October.

Meanwhile, Ling, who is returning for his fourth year as a WorkSafe Victoria ambassador, will MC events in Melbourne and Ballarat. Ling said he saw the impact a workplace injury had on his father and other aspects of his father’s life and was “honoured” to be back to “help ensure workers go home safely to their families each and every day”.

Last financial year, WorkSafe Victoria received 29,638 claims for workplace injuries and 24 people died as a result of workplace incidents. Victorian Minister for Workplace Safety Jill Hennessy said: “No-one should ever die or be injured at work, and WorkSafe’s latest claims data reinforces why we must continue to drive home the importance of workplace safety.”

More information on Victoria’s Health and Safety Month can be found via WorkSafe Victoria’s website.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/PRASERT