Tradies National Health Month

August is Tradies National Health Month

This is an initiative run by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) to raise awareness about the importance of tradies health and wellbeing.

Hazardous manual handling is the most common cause of injury in Victorian workplaces, leading to injuries known as musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). MSDs include ligament and tendon damage, back injuries, sprains and hernias.

They can range in severity from a temporary strain, right up to debilitating injuries that can end careers and impair a person’s quality of life long-term.

Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) account for 30% of injuries sustained by Victorian construction workers, these can have significant and long-term impacts on workers’ physical and mental health and can end careers.

“Musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) account for 30% of injuries sustained by Victorian construction workers, these can have significant and long-term impacts on workers’ physical and mental health and can end careers.”

Over the last 12 months in Victoria:

• Construction has the third highest number of injury-related claims across all industries.
• Tradies working in carpentry, plumbing and electrical have been some of the most affected with the highest number of injuries.
• One-third of these claims are due to injuries sustained from manual handling.

Mental health continues to be a growing challenge for worksites.

This Tradies National Health month WorkSafe are here to support leaders in trade based industries with FREE programs containing tools and resources to support mentally and physically safe worksites.

Programs and resources such as the WorkWell Toolkit, OHS Essentials Program, information on hazardous manual handling and our Safety Soapbox newsletter can help to improve the mental and physical safety of a worksite.