Victorian WorkSafe Health and Safety Month ambassador named

Former Geelong football captain Cameron Ling has been named ambassador of WorkSafe Health and Safety Month in Victoria.

Ling will launch the event, which runs from 3–27 October 2016, at an invitation-only business leaders’ breakfast at the RACV Club in Melbourne. He will also promote activities in Melbourne and across the state.

“Workplace safety is everyone’s business and I will do everything I can to encourage Victorians to learn more during Health and Safety Month,” said Ling.

“Everyone has an interest in getting workers home safely at the end of the day, because we all have family or friends who work. It’s why we all need to play our part.”

More than 60 free seminars will be held across the state on topics such as the importance of mental health and wellbeing, the rise of occupational violence, construction safety, managing fatigue in the transport sector, how to store and handle dangerous goods, practical controls in the retail sector and return to work strategies.

Director of R U OK? Graeme Cowan, AFL personality Kevin Sheedy and CSIRO’s Dana Bradford will headline a special symposium in Melbourne on 26 October. Additionally, the Victorian Trades Hall Council will run a special Health and Safety Reps conference in Melbourne on 25 October.

There will also be regional events in Geelong, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Bendigo, Mildura, Swan Hill, Echuca, Morwell and Bairnsdale.

WorkSafe Chief Executive Clare Amies said that the event had been expanded to run across the month to ensure more communities could be involved.

“We know workplaces are changing and new challenges are arising, so it is important that employers and employees continue to question what they are doing and educate themselves on emerging issues,” she said.

“More seminars across the state means more Victorians than ever before will have the opportunity to hear from experts in a broad range of subjects.”

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Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/G W Mullis