Safety management: surviving the Christmas rush

As we approach the end of the year, production requirements ramp up in anticipation for our Christmas holidays, deadlines for construction loom like the shadows of Collins Street over contractors, drivers push for one more run before stopping and safety consultants find it more difficult to convince customers to observe their risks.

It will come as little surprise to anyone in industry that November and December have historically held the highest incident rates for any time of the year. The highest trending industries within Australia for incidents during this time are Construction, Manufacturing and Mining respectively. The highest cause for injury is by far musculoskeletal injury, which is unsurprising given most workers are rushing to complete tasks.

In many cases we can’t affect the workload required but from an Occupational Health and Safety point of view, we can affect the strain it has on your workforce. Here are a few simple methods which can be implemented to reduce the risk and consequences of hazards to workers during the busy periods:

Understand your tasks

Understanding what it is that your employees do in their work day is key to ensuring everyone values the correct way to undertake their tasks in a safe, effective manner. Undertaking task risk analysis (Job Safety Analysis, Safe Work Method Statements etc) through the year will allow you to find ‘risk points’ in the process, identify where corners are likely to be cut during peak demand periods and focus your safety observations toward these areas.

Casual employment

Depending on your industry, casual employment can strongly assist managing peak demand periods. During the Summer period school leavers and University students are able to work full time and tourists are flocking to our sunny shores, just remember to train and induct the new staff. Understanding your roles and identifying areas where additional labour can assist might just prevent your staff working twelve hour days and help everyone to breathe a little easier.

Contracted Services

Additional services are all around us, just waiting to assist your employees look after themselves and their families a little better, and group buying takes a little sting away from the collective hip pocket! Some areas where research shows the most benefit can be sought include the following.

Health

Services in the areas of nutrition, preventative physical therapy, mental wellness, health promotion training sessions etc.

Life

Services in the areas of cleaning, financial planning, ironing, gardening, shopping etc.

Scheduling

Work with your suppliers, customers and internal support staff to plan for safety processes and reduce the ability for excuses to be made. Planning activities so annual requirements are undertaken during slower times mean that maximum time is free during the peak season to focus on the job at hand. However, remember your OHS processes need to remain scheduled otherwise you risk eroding a years’ worth of hard work with a spike in incidents.

As a recent Worksafe Victoria media release stated:

“Victoria is in its most risky time of the year. There is a bottleneck of activity with many businesses winding down for a well-deserved break and others leading into their peak seasons. The consequences of safety failings don’t always kill, but they can lead to permanent injuries or reduce their ability to enjoy their lives.”

To enjoy time off, holidays and happy times with friends and family you need to keep on the ball and focus on what’s to be done so you can make it to those personal events you value.