Tradies National Health Month

It is Tradies National Health Month which means it is time to focus on the health, safety, and wellbeing of our tradies!

Tradespeople provide countless valuable services to the community – they renovate our houses, repair our electrical wiring, tile our bathrooms, landscape our gardens, and paint our walls to name a few! They also work in high-risk, and often physically demanding environments which means that it is imperative that worksite and workplace safety practices are followed, and that the health of tradies is prioritised.

According to statistics from Safe Work Australia, more than 50 per cent of serious, workplace-related injury claims involve tradies, despite the fact that tradespeople only represent approximately one third of the Australian workforce.1 The construction industry also experienced the highest work-related injury or illness rate (59 per 1000 employed persons) of any Australian industry during the 2017-18 financial year.2 These statistics highlight how important it is for employers, employees, unions, and the wider community to focus on safeguarding tradies’ safety and wellbeing.

Tradies National Health Month is a national awareness campaign held in August each year that shines a light on the health and injury risks that affect tradespeople. This health initiative, driven by the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA), strives to educate tradies, their employers, and the wider community about workplace injury prevention, and encourages tradespeople to put their wellbeing first to avoid serious injury, mental ill health, loss of work and loss of income.

There are various ways for tradies and their employers to spread this important message and raise awareness:

• Conduct refresher training sessions at your workplace around safe lifting techniques and why they are important
• Arrange for a local physiotherapist to run a workplace safety and injury prevention session for your employees
• Host a health and safety breakfast and incorporate warm up exercises and stretching techniques
• Log on to the Tradies National Health Month website to learn more about common injuries, reducing the risk of getting injured at work, and why tradies’ health is so important

We love our tradies! Builders, brick layers, plumbers, painters, electricians, tilers, and landscapers are just some of the tradespeople that regularly assist MoneyQuest clients throughout their home

buying and property investment journeys. So this Tradies National Health Month, let’s encourage tradespeople right across the country to look after their most valuable asset, their health.

• SHARE