Extrastaff is committed to minimising injury and ill health at work, and achieving leading industry practice with health and safety.

A recent internal review of Extrastaff's injury rates revealed a serious injury incidence rate for 2009 of 9.9 (per 1000 employees), which is well below the National rate of 13.5 (all claims) and significantly lower than industry specific incidence rates for "labourers & related workers" being 37.7 (sourced from Compendium of Workers Compensation Statistics Australia 2007-8, published February 2010)

Workplace injuries happen all the time. The most susceptible employees who experience workplace injuries are those working in more dangerous areas such as factories and patient handling in residential care. However the most common types of injuries which have greatly affected employees are those that we don't necessarily think as dangerous but are nevertheless detrimental to the health and safety of workers, such as slips and falls, sprains and strains.

Based on this Extrastaff review of injuries for 2004-2009, here are the top 10 workplace injuries (types):

1. Soft tissues injury due to trauma / unknown mechanisms
2. Joint and other articular cartilage diseases (includes normal degenerative joint changes)
3. Trauma to joints and ligaments
4. Contusion, bruising and superficial crushing
5. Trauma to tendon
6. Trauma to ligaments and joints
7. Laceration or open wound
8. Trauma to muscles
9. Foreign body in eye
10. Tendonitis

The top 10 causes of injury were:

1. Muscular stress whilst handling objects, other than lifting.
2. Muscular stress whilst lifting, carrying or putting down objects.
3. Being hit by a falling object. These involve accidents such as tools falling directly on any part of the workers' body as well as falling debris. It also includes being collected by a falling patient.
4. Falls on the same level. This pertains to falls that have happened on same level surfaces. Common injuries filed in this category are slipping on wet floors, trips.
5. Being trapped between a stationary and moving object.
6. Stepping, kneeling or sitting on objects.
7. Muscular stress with no objects being lifted.
8. Being hit in the eye by a foreign object (dust).
9. Exposure to chemicals.
10. Burns and contact with heat.

In addition to a robust health and safety management system, Extrastaff endeavours to minimise the risk of injury to its employees through:

• Risk assessments of jobs and tasks to be performed
• A site hazard assessment completed for each client site
• Provision of health and safety induction and training to enable Extrastaff employees to safely undertake their work activities
• Work site visits by Extrastaff Consultants to monitor, review and support safe work operations and environment.