Builders across Victoria should ensure construction sites are safe and secure before heading off on the Christmas break.

Constructions sites which aren't adequately secured can pose a risk to members of the public, including falls from partially built structures and scaffolding, live electrical power, open excavations or building waste and rubble.
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WorkSafe's Executive Director Health and Safety, Marnie Williams, said builders and site supervisors should carry out a few simple checks to ensure public safety over the holiday period.

During 2016/17, the Premium Compliance branch of WorkSafe Victoria commenced a project focussed on ensuring that employers in the housing construction industry were correctly determining whether the contractors they engaged were independent contractors, or whether they should be treated as workers of the employer for the purposes of WorkCover premium.
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WorkSafe selected the bricklaying, plastering and carpeting and tiling industries, largely because of their poor claims performance and focused on employers with remuneration of less than $300,000.

WorkSafe Victoria commenced a focus on traffic management safety at roadside worksites, throughout Victoria. In recent years, there have been numerous incidents or near misses involving workers, delivery drivers, vehicle drivers and members of the public, at or near construction sites.
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WorkSafe inspectors will be visiting sites across Victoria, to ensure that traffic related hazards and associated risks are adequately controlled. Because, it doesn’t matter how big or small your site is, the risk to workers and public’s safety needs to be managed. 

WorkSafe is pleading with employers and workers to take a step back and focus on safety as Victoria enters a traditionally dangerous time of year.

According to WorkSafe statistics, more Victorian workers die in the weeks leading up to Christmas than at any other time of year.
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Over the past decade, almost 25 per cent of all workplace fatalities occurred in November and December.