WorkSafe Victoria has announced a rural blitz of Victoria, with a particular interest in the Ballarat area.

 

WorkSafe will inspect about 200 Ballarat businesses as part of the agency’s Safe Towns campaign to check on health and safety compliance.

 

WorkSafe’s General Manager for Operations, Lisa Sturzenegger, said it was in everyone’s interest to address issues sooner rather than later.

 

“We find in many of our prosecutions that businesses admit they were aware of an issue, but failed to fix it. In many cases this has resulted in an injury, a conviction and a large fine,” she said.

 

“Not addressing health and safety matters can have devastating effects for workers and businesses. We urge businesses to stay on top of potential hazards, no matter how small or large they might be.”

 

Statistics show 3021 injuries were reported to WorkSafe from the Ballarat region over the past five financial years, with treatment and rehabilitation costs exceeding $61 million.