Funding helps centre
ARARAT Early Learning Centre would like to thank the Ararat RSL for giving us one of their generous community grants.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The money will fund bus hire once a month to take children to visit the residents at Garden View Court and fund resources to enrich the time spent together.
Isabel Nancarrow, Ararat
Safety should come first
NATIONAL Safe Work Month is a time for us to remember to keep each other safe in the workplace.
I've met too many people who've been injured on the job. The majority of the accidents were preventable.
Employers don't set out to be negligent or cause serious injuries but there is often a lack of safe processes or corner-cutting to save time and costs.
A young carpenter I recently represented fell from unstable scaffolding and landed on concrete. He sustained multiple fractures in both feet and multiple spinal fractures. He underwent three surgeries and had to lodge a WorkCover claim.
WorkSafe issued improvement notices. The employer was charged in court for failing to provide a safe environment. The injured worker had not received any training from his employer to safely erect scaffolding and neither had his co-worker. His employer did not hold relevant qualifications or training in erecting scaffolding and had not trained any employees.
My client is now a surveyor - a less physically intensive vocation. He is doing his best to move on. Workplace safety is an important issue because of the impact the injuries have on people's lives.
If you're being asked to take part in unsafe practices but don't feel confident to challenge your manager, always ask if there is a safer way to do something. Employers have the responsibility to keep workers safe.
Safety should come first.
Audrey Gunn, lawyer, Slater and Gordon, Geelong
Wellbeing is important
OCTOBER is Mental Health Month - an opportunity for workplaces and community groups to raise awareness of the importance of social and emotional wellbeing.
Events across Victoria are aimed at opening up conversations about anxiety and depression to help reduce stigma and empower people to seek help, for themselves or others.
While community awareness of anxiety and depression has grown over the past years, stigma associated with mental illness remains high and as a result, many people are too embarrassed or ashamed to seek help and don't get the treatment they need.
Twenty per cent of all Victorians - almost 1.3 million people - will this year experience mental illness. Over a lifetime, one in two Victorians will experience mental illness.
The Royal Commission into Victoria's Mental Health System is investigating ways to effectively prevent and respond to mental illness, to promote timely access to high-quality and safe treatment and create strong links between mental health and other services.
Jaala Pulford, Member for Western Victoria