SAFE-T1

BULLYING Bullying is a hazard across a range of industries. It can take many forms and includes verbal and physical abuse, harassment and intimidation from managers, supervisors and/or co workers. Bullying is when these behaviours are repeated, or occur as a pattern. Young people entering the workforce for the first time are more vulnerable to bullying. They may find they are: being asked to do meaningless tasks unrelated to the job being given tasks with impossible deadlines having work rosters changed to deliberately inconvenience them not provided with important work related information which makes the job harder than it should be. These are all examples of bullying. Bullying is often not reported and is much higher than the statistics about work related injury and illness show. Check out the resources on bullying in the Resource centre to find out more about bullying at work.

LIFTING AND PUSHING Most jobs require some lifting or pushing of products or equipment. Because of this, sprains and strains are the most common workplace injuries. Pushing and lifting are a part of what is called manual handling. Manual handling injuries account for about 25% of all injuries to young workers. The factors that are likely to make pushing and lifting more risky are: the size and shape of the objects the amount of force required to push or lift the posture (or body position) used to push or lift the number of times you have to do the action the amount of time spent pushing and lifting. Have a look at some of the resources in the Resource centre to find out more about the hazards and risks associated with lifting and pushing.

SLIPS TRIPS AND FALLS Slipping on floors or tripping on uneven surfaces are common hazards found in most workplaces. In this section falls refers to falling from low heights such as steps and curbs rather than heights above two metres which are covered by very specific laws. About 20% of all injuries to young workers are from slips, trips and falls. Check out the resources in the Resource centre to find out more about slips, trips and falls.

USING MACHINERY Young workers use a wide range of machinery. Common hazards related to using machinery include: becoming tangled in the moving parts of a machine, eg. clothing or jewellery being caught up between rollers being crushed by the moving parts of a machine cuts from blades and moving parts of a machine being electrocuted by poorly maintained electrical leads or cables. Injuries from using machinery cause about 10% of injuries to young workers. If you want to know more about the hazards and risks associated with using machinery, have a look at the resources in the Resource centre.

WORKING WITH CHEMICALS Using, storing and disposing of chemicals (also known as hazardous substances) can result in injury and illness if appropriate care is not taken. Chemicals may be solids, powders, liquids or gases, pure chemicals or mixtures. Workers may be exposed to chemicals by: breathing in (inhaling) vapours, fumes, dusts and mists being absorbed into the body from direct contact with the skin, eyes, etc swallowing (ingesting) injecting into the body. Chemicals account for about 2% of workers' compensation claims for young people but because illnesses and diseases from chemicals may take many years to develop this figure is an underestimate of the size of the problem. Have a look at some of the resources in the Resource centre to find out more about the hazards and risks associated with working with chemicals.