Over 2,300 health and safety decision makers from multiple sectors across Australia converged on the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre for the Workplace Health & Safety Show 2018, a brand new event spanning two action packed days and showcasing the cutting edge technology, ideas and practises of the safety world.
The Workplace Health & Safety Show was a key event for the inaugural #SAFETYSCAPE. An initiative of the highly respected Safety Institute of Australia, the peak body in Australia representing OHS safety professionals, #SAFETYSCAPE is a new week-long program of events, workshops, forums, seminars and conferences. The Safety Institute of Australia’s own conference own two day National Health & Safety Conference: In Practice was success with delegates from all around Australia discuss some of the challenges currently faced by WHS professionals and practitioners.
A highlight of the event was the Live Action Theatre Program where a series of events saw professionals discussing the day’s hot topics including, sexual harassment in the workplace, risk assessment, hazard awareness and speaking up. Key sessions included Probuild: Humanising Safety – Tapping into the Emotional Drivers of Behavioural Change and Bullying: How Well Are You Conducting Your Workplace Investigations? sessions presenting to a full house.
Another popular Live Action Theatre event was an interactive panel on sexual harassment in the workplace, specifically looking at the recent case surrounding inappropriate behaviour from former City of Melbourne Mayor Robert Doyle. The panel, Lessons Learnt from the Robert Doyle Sexual Harassment Case, featured Former City of Melbourne councillor Stephen Mayne and sexual harassment activist Nikki Keating spoke about how widespread harassment has become with half of all women and a quarter of all men experiencing sexual harassment in Australia.
Of keen interest to the crowds in attendance was the Free Education Program. Across 14 talks, seminars and panel discussions industry professionals shed a light on a variety of important topics including mental health in the workplace, ground-breaking new technologies, and navigating ever-changing safety industry standards.
“The Free Education Program received a huge amount of interest from attendees. We had a very wide cross section of industries in take part in the education program which is a tell-tale sign of the importance and enthusiasm within the industry to stay abreast of the latest developments,” said International Exhibition and Conference Group CEO, Marie Kinsella.
The Free Education Program was divided into two streams: Health Hub, tackling the ways businesses can keep staff happy and healthy; and the Safety Spot, exploring the very forefront of safety solutions with the latest industry technologies and developments.
With work-related stress causing a staggering 92% of all work-related mental disorder claims, Mental Health was a key pillar of the Health Hub. In the seminar Managing Stress and Anxiety – Ways To Help Your Team, Samuel Eddy, a Mental Health Expert with Open Change, walked a standing-room only audience through how to identify the signs and symptoms of a work-stressed or anxious team member, how to help and talk to someone in your team who may be suffering and ways in which to reduce work stress and anxiety within a team.
Over at the Safety Spot, myosh Business Development Manager Adrian Manessis dove deep on how KPI improvements affect the bottom line and influence safety culture in the seminar How Does Work Safety Impact Performance, Profit and Culture? The Facts and the Figures.
While many visitors were engaging in topical discussions in the free seminars, others were testing out all kinds of new and exciting products and services on the showroom floor.
Popular exhibitors this year included cloud-based safety expert myosh, a major sponsor of the event, car manufacturer Hyundai, lockout supplier Cirlock, and safety training leaders Deltawest Training. They were joined on the showroom floor with leading brands CPR SafeInd showcasing their range of safety guarding, A-Safe and their polymer safety barriers, Pathtech, the number 1 selling saliva testing device in Australia, and major safety product manufacturer and supplier, MSA.
Kinsella highlighted the golden opportunity that the Workplace Health & Safety Show offers its exhibitors to market their product. “We’ve had some incredibly positive feedback from our exhibitors on the amount of business that was done right on the show floor. We’ve also received great feedback from attendees, all of which have enjoyed the opportunity to speak direct to distributors and build relationships for future business”
MEDIA ENQUIRIES:
Amy Owen amy@cardinalspin.com.au P: 02 8065 7363 M: 0404 977 338
Genvin In genvin@cardinalspin.com.au M: 0449 939 864
EDITOR’S NOTES:
WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY SHOW
An exciting addition to the safety industry event landscape, the inaugural Workplace Health & Safety Show is the official exhibition of the #SAFETYSCAPE Convention, a week-long program of events, workshops, forums, seminars and conferences. The Workplace Health & Safety Show is a must attend event for all safety professionals from a range of industries including manufacturing, building/construction, mining, councils/locals government, hospitals, transport and more. We make it easy and efficient for these professionals to have the broadest range of offerings under the one roof where they can compare, buy and stay updated on the latest policies.
#SAFETYSCAPE
#SAFETYSCAPE aims to put safety into context within the broader industrial landscape; it provides a destination where safety related ideas and insights can be shared and made relevant to an audience beyond the health and safety community. It’s a place where the thinkers and the doers – from all corners of industry – can connect, collaborate and innovate. It provides