How employers can prevent costly workplace injuries
Australia’s hospitality sector is no stranger to physical hazards, with fatigue, sharp kitchen objects, heavy equipment, heat, open flames and wet floors being daily occurrences across most businesses.
Hospitality businesses have a legal obligation to provide a safe working environment for staff under state-based laws overseen by Safe Work Australia. For employers, comprehensive safety has reputational benefits, reduces rates of injury, and improves staff retention.
Unsafe practices, on the other hand, can come with significant financial penalties for employers. In 2021, the national median compensation for a serious workplace injury was $55,270 per serious claim[1] and seven weeks’ lost time per employee. Severe cases in some jurisdictions could see unsafe workplaces pay a maximum penalty of $3 million or, in the case of industrial manslaughter, penalties of over $10 million or 25 years imprisonment.
It therefore pays to run a hospitality business that champions safety for all staff and minimises risk of injury at all times.
Don’t forget stress and other psychosocial hazards
Hospitality workers are often faced with stressful and tiring situations and an employer must take steps to manage the risks of psychological harm. Recently, states and territories have introduced WHS Regulations, supported by Codes of Practice or Guidelines, that require employers to ensure safe systems of work, training and supervision to remove the risk of harm caused by bullying, harassment, stress, fatigue and other psychosocial hazards. Critical steps for improving psychosocial hazards include planning rosters, ensuring enough staff are on the floor, and having robust processes for dealing with difficult customers.
Employers should also take steps to reduce bullying and harassment in the workplace. Sadly, hospitality workplaces are not immune to these risks. In Victoria, the introduction of anti-bullying legislation as long ago as 2011, known as Brodie’s Law, came after the tragic suicide of a young woman, Brodie Panlock, who was subjected to relentless bullying at the café she worked at. Serious bullying is now a crime in Victoria, punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment.
How should employers best protect their staff from workplace injuries?
Employers should implement a comprehensive workplace health and safety plan to eliminate or minimise exposure to hazards, train staff, and report incidents effectively. This includes:
- having a clear understanding of your responsibilities and duties as an employer as outlined in your state’s workplace health and safety legislation
- identifying all potential hazards and either removing them or providing proper safety processes, equipment, signage and training
- training staff and regularly conducting refreshers on how to safely perform tasks, including by providing adequate supervision. Provide staff with a written safety procedure and obtain their sign-off on completion of the training
- ensuring all machinery is safely guarded and maintained, and equipment is used in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions
- designing workplaces and work processes and providing equipment that limits staff physical strain such as overstretching, twisting, bending and awkward postures
- adopt comprehensive emergency management and written incident reporting processes, and train staff to comply with them.
What happens if an employee is injured?
Under Australian law, employers are required to have insurance to cover employees in the case that they are injured or get sick as a result of work.
To be eligible for workers’ compensation, the worker must:
- be an employee of the business (full-time, part-time, casual, voluntary or under apprenticeship)
- have a medical condition that has been diagnosed by a medical practitioner
- have a medical condition caused by the work
- have suffered a financial loss as a result of their injury.
If an employee is injured at work, they usually have six months to notify their employer of the injury and make a claim with their state’s regulator (e.g. WorkSafe Victoria, iCare NSW). This timeframe can be extended to up to three years in exceptional cases, such as if the worker did not become aware of their injury until much later.
The regulator will review the claim and decide whether the injured party is entitled to receive workers’ compensation from their employer.
Depending on the nature of the injury, workers’ compensation may cover an employee’s lost wages, cover medical costs, pay a lump sum or pay funeral expenses if the injury results in a fatality.
Help is available
Work health and safety laws and obligations vary from state to state, so it’s important to ensure you are operating in accordance with your state’s regulations.
Legal professionals who specialise in the hospitality sector, such as Holding Redlich, are available to work with your business to ensure your practices meet all standards required, and keep your businesses and staff well-protected.
By Holding Redlich partners Ben McKinley and Michael Selinger
About Ben McKinley
Ben McKinley is a Partner in the Workplace Relations & Safety team at Holding Redlich. Ben acts for a number of the largest and highest profile restaurant and hospitality groups in Australia, and has assisted them to reduce their legal exposure in all employment-related areas, including Fair Work Ombudsman prosecutions and underpayment, discipline and dismissal, and workplace health and safety.
About Michael Selinger
Michael Selinger is a Partner in the Workplace Relations & Safety team at Holding Redlich. Based in Sydney, Michael has more than 20 years’ experience in all areas of workplace relations, with a strong focus on work health and safety. He advises on complex and sensitive workplace issues, including the management of ill and injured employees and critical workplace safety incident investigations and prosecutions.
If you have any questions, please contact Ben at ben.mckinley@holdingredlich.com or Michael at michael.selinger@holdingredlich.com.
