WorkSafe wants businesses returning from holidays to make safety a priority on their new year’s resolutions list after 25 people died on the job in 2011.

It was a tragic end to the year with nine of the deaths occurring in November and December, bringing the annual toll two above the 23 recorded deaths recorded in 2010.     

WorkSafe’s Executive Director of Health and Safety, Ian Forsyth, said of the 25 deaths, 12 were in metropolitan Melbourne and 13 in regional Victoria, including eight in agriculture. Those who died were aged from 11 to 94 and all but one worker was male.

“Workers are entitled to return home safe from work at the end of the day. When this doesn’t happen, it’s a tragedy that is felt by many people including their family, friends, colleagues, employers and the wider community, “Mr Forsyth said.

“WorkSafe is responsible for educating the community and enforcing the law, but employers, managers, supervisors and workers must share responsibility to maximise safety and reduce the number of workplace incidents.”

In addition to the number of deaths in Victorian workplaces, around 29,000 people are hurt badly enough every year to make a workers’ compensation claim.

“For some, challenging the practices and habits of your working life can be hard, but if something goes wrong, the consequences are often immediate, horrific, long-lasting or fatal.”

Mr Forsyth said most incidents often involved workers doing routine jobs, which showed no one was immune from the risk of serious injury or death.

“WorkSafe inspectors and investigators are often told ‘he was experienced and always careful’ or that ‘we’ve been doing it that way for years and never had any problems before’,” he said.

“Safety is about understanding what can happen and doing all you can to ensure people are trained, supervised and have what is needed to work safely, even if they’ve done a job a thousand times before.

“The fact that so many people died in the last few weeks of last year shows that while you can be doing well, constant vigilance is needed as the situation can change quickly.”

With many workplaces re-opening this week and next or coming down from peak periods, Mr Forsyth urged businesses to get on top of health and safety issues.

“Do it today because tomorrow might be too late.”

“We’re talking about business across all industries, from manufacturing to farming to retail to hospitality. Injuries and deaths don’t just happen in one sector or in one area.”

“While Victoria is Australia’s safest state and its employers pay the lowest average workplace injury insurance premiums that can only be maintained if we all do what we can to make workplaces as safe as possible.”

WorkSafe’s “Who’s there” campaign which shows a mother and daughter’s response when told dad isn’t coming home will be re-launched on Sunday.

The aim of the campaign is for Victorian workers to stop and think about what is ultimately important to them, why safe workplaces are needed, and what they can do to prevent situations like this happening.

For more information on how to make you workplace safe, visit: www.worksafe.vic.gov.au or call WorkSafe’s telephone advisory service on 1800 136 089.

Victorian workplace fatalities for 2011:

1.         2 February                                                                
A 53-year-old male was crushed by a large metal panel that fell as a shipping container was unloaded at Kilsyth.    

2.         3 March                                 
A 40-year-old teacher drowned attempting to get a group of students out of the water (in a snorkelling class) at Torquay.

3.         12 April                                                                     
A 55-year-old male milker sustained fatal crush injuries when rammed by a cow on a farm near Inverloch.

4.         20 April                                                                     
A 56-year-old male was crushed whilst seated in the cabin of an excavator while removing pine trees at Apsley.

5.         21 April                                
A 94-year-old male riding an ATV hit a bull hole and rolled, sustaining fatal injuries at Hedley in South Gippsland.

6          8 May                                                                                    
An 18-year-old female employee died after being crushed by an overturning four wheel agricultural vehicle at Nangiloc.  

7.         19 May                                                          
A 54-year-old male died after being exposed to chemicals at Laverton.

8.         28 May                                                          
A 30-year-old male died when a large section of a pile drilling rig mast collapsed in South Melbourne.

9.         14 July                                                          
A 35-year-old male worker died when a cherry picker struck overhead powerlines in Spotswood.

10.       19 July                                                          
A 44-year-old male Yarrawonga farmer fell about three metres to the ground from a cage being raised by a tractor.

11.       31 July                                                          
A 56-year-old male (contractor) died when he was struck by packs of timber that fell from a semi trailer which was being unloaded at Campbellfield.

12.       9 August                  
A 62-year-old male died after being struck by a tree during tree-felling work at Mingay.

13.       18 August                                           
A 17-year-old male dairy farmer died at Yalca while operating a rotary milking machine.

14.       03 October                                      
An 11-year-old boy died when the quad bike he was riding overturned on a dairy farm at Katunga. He was helping to move cows.

15.       13 October                                      
A 70-year-old male farmer died from injuries received while working on hay baler on a property near Dimboola. It is understood that he lit a fire to attract attention after being trapped in the plant and was engulfed by fire.  

16.       19 October                                                  
A 45-year-old male was operating a mobile elevated work platform and become trapped between the bucket and roof trusses at Altona North.

17.       21 November                                              
A 73-year-old male died when he was charged by a bull at Acheron.

18.       24 November                      
The bucket of a cherry picker containing a 45-year-old man fell approximately 7 metres to the ground while removing gum trees from a private property at Lara.

19.       25 November                                              

A 46-year-old male employee sustained fatal injuries after he was crushed by a truck door. The man was standing between the truck’s body and door when the vehicle moved forward at a factory in Westmeadows.

20.       30 November                                  
A 49-year-old male employee was controlling traffic when he was fatally struck by a road sweeper at Bayswater.

21.       1 December                                                            
A 53-year-old male sustained fatal injuries when he fell into a channel containing liquid sewage at Bangholme

22.       1 December                                                
A 26-year-old male employee sustained fatal injuries as a result of being struck on the head by a falling crane component at Campbellfield.

23.       2 December                                    
A 37-year-old male contractor was repairing a truck loading dock at Laverton. The dock fell causing fatal injuries.

24.       12 December                                              
A 25-year-old male employee sustained fatal injuries when a plumbing van exploded at Mulgrave.

25.       14 December                      
A 43-year-old male employee sustained fatal injuries after he was struck by a falling tree during forestry operations at Gellibrand.