The value of safety and the impact of short-term hiring

Australia’s construction industry is booming – now worth over $7 billion – yet the industry is struggling with supply, and staff shortages are falling short.

As a result, very short term hires – commonly contractors, where some are even hired for just a few hours or one day’s work – are brought in to get on-site as quickly as possible and get the jobs done.

But this trend has major repercussions: overlooking or rushing the safety of your people.

In the first half of 2019, emergency services have been called out to 125 workplace accidents. The construction union has put this down to the growing pressure to meet deadlines, which is a common view shared by many in the blue collar sector.

Just this week, a construction worker fell several storeys to his death at a building site in Sydney’s west – an incident that was described as avoidable by NSW Ambulance authorities.

It’s hard to comprehend how these very short hires are given the time to be properly on-boarded and trained with tougher safety measures, particularly in the context of Australia’s strict workplace health and safety standards.

As a leading recruitment company that places skilled labourers, tradespeople and technicians all around the country into contracting roles, it is incumbent on us to invest their time, money and efforts into ensuring we avoid these risks.

The growing focus on safety in the workplace has been an area we have been focusing on at Page Personnel with our latest endeavour into the trades and labour space.

Businesses across all sectors prioritising a modern workplace health and safety framework stand to benefit from a safer, happier and more productive workforce well into the future.

We will continue to place heavy emphasis on workplace safety. And we will keep exploring ways to improve and lift our standards when it comes to the safety of our people.

This article originally appeared on LinkedIn.

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