In light of research indicating that the food and beverage manufacturing industry records the highest incidence of workplace accidents in Australia, the Group Training Association of Victoria has released the Safety First App to help promote workplace safety in the lead up to Christmas.
Recent Safe Work Australia data shows that employees in the food and beverage industry, particularly workers in meat manufacturing, are the most likely to injure themselves at work, and November and December are the most dangerous months for manufacturing, transport and construction workers.
To help ensure the safety and apprentices and trainees and improve their understanding of OH&S, the Group Training Association of Victoria has developed the Safety First App.
Gary Workman, executive director of the Group Training Association of Victoria, said “Our members employ 8500 apprentices and trainees across Victoria and are committed to ensuring their staff, particularly those that are on new worksites, or equipment and plant, have handy access to the safety information checklists they need.
“Now apprentices have the safety questions they should be able to answer right in their pocket.”
The app will bring technology-enabled features into the traditional OH&S documentation, streamlining it and ensuring it is more site-specific.
It will provide instant feedback to apprentices with links to further information and a “percentage completed” indicator that will highlight how much information each individual knows for each worksite.
From an employer point of view, the app will provide a permanent compliance record for each employee on every worksite they attend, with the ability to produce electronic certificates of OH&S induction completion levels.