05:37 pm, Wednesday 27 February, 2008

Source: Gold Coast Daily

ONE third of employees believe their work equipment is hazardous but more than a quarter would compromise their health for danger money, a new survey shows.

The survey, conducted by network company LinkMe.com.au, also found that 40 per cent of people felt their employer did not care about their health and safety concerns.

The survey of about 1500 people found more than a quarter would compromise their wellbeing at work in return for more money.

Eighteen per cent of those respondents would accept $10,000 as the minimum pay rise to compromise their health and safety, 17 per cent would accept $5000, 9 per cent would accept $3000 and 15 per cent would accept just $1000.

“The fact that Australian workers are so desperate for money that they would compromise their own health and safety for a mere $1000 reflects a cavalier or even desperate part of Australian working life,” LinkMe.com.au CEO Campbell Sallabank said.

With more than 30,000 claims for workplace compensation in 2007, the lack of Occupational Health and Safety concerns is a multi-billion dollar cost to Australian businesses every year, he said.

“A formal process for rectifying OH&S issues is essential in the modern workplace.

“Implementing a committee responsible for ensuring that concerns are dealt with swiftly and effectively is one tactic companies can adopt to deal with the issue.”

Forty-two per cent of people surveyed continue to use unsafe equipment because they felt they had no other choice, while 31 per cent said the nature of their work was always going to be detrimental to their health.

Twenty-eight per cent believed nothing would change even if they made a complaint and 16 per cent were concerned that complaining might threaten their job security.

Mr Sallabank said it was not enough to protect just employees from OH&S issues.

“According to the Federal Government, every business has a responsibility to ensure that its workplace doesn’t create health and safety problems for customers and the general public.

“The cost of creating a safe work environment is strongly outweighed by the potential expensive cost of compensation claims, not to mention the moral reputation of the company.”

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know