October is National Work Safe month in Australia, an important time for all businesses to create safe working environments. This also extends to taking care of workers’ mental health.

Safe Work Australia have shared some very helpful mental health resources, key guides, fact sheets and case studies for businesses to use, which we’ve included below for you. As stated in a recent piece of communication from Safe Work Australia: “Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic has been a stressful time for all Australians. While employers might not be able to help the stress workers are facing at home, they must eliminate or minimise the risk to psychological health and safety at work as far as is reasonably practicable.”

• Preventing psychological injury at work during COVID-19 information sheet provides information about work-related psychosocial hazards that may have been introduced or increased due to COVID-19, how to prevent psychological injury at work during COVID-19 and links to useful resources.

• Download the work-related psychological health and safety guide which provides a step-by-step process for managing work-related psychological health and safety
• Share the National Safe Work Month mental health case studies which provide examples of best practice work health and safety for COVID-19, and

For more information, see Safe Work Australia’s COVID-19 information on mental health which includes links to support services. And to learn more about National Safe Work Month at safeworkmonth.swa.gov.au.

Visited our socials lately?

We’ve been celebrating Safe Work Month in our own way across our social channels, reflecting some interesting retail stats and tips. For example, did you know that in a survey conducted in the second week of September, 93.4% of ARA members said there were no known outbreaks of COVID-19 at any of their stores, distribution centres, or warehouses? It’s the hard work of our retailers that has kept our sector a safe place to work and shop. #safetytogether

In another post, we shared two tips to staying safe this October and beyond:

1. Ensure that customers are encouraged to only touch items they are interested in purchasing

2. Have you got a cleaning regime? Ensure regularly cleaning of frequently touched surfaces and spaces, which are most likely to result in the transmission of communicable diseases.

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