The transport and logistics sector is one of the most vital to the Australian economy.

The size of the nation and vast distances between major metropolitan centres means that many businesses and consumers rely on the effectiveness of freight companies for access to many essential products.

Therefore, ensuring the industry can operate efficiently and safely is of critical concern.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions notes that around 580,000 people are employed in the transport and logistics sector – approximately five per cent of the national workforce.

That volume of employment contributes to an industry generating approximately 10 per cent of GDP, according to the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development.

Promoting workplace health and safety in the transport sector is essential.

WHS challenges in transport and logistics

Given the size of the industry, it’s not surprising that there is a high rate of workplace health and safety incidents. Safe Work Australia statistics reveal that, in 2013-14, 9,425 serious injury compensation claims were made from the transport, postal and warehousing sector, behind only healthcare, manufacturing and construction.

The rate of incidents per 1,000 workers in the industry, however, topped the chart – equalled only by agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Similarly, the transport and logistics sector features far higher worker fatality rates than any other industry.

There were 54 workers killed on the road in 2015, while the entire spectrum of the mobile plant and transport sector made up 53 per cent of all workplace deaths that year.

There is a high rate of workplace health and safety incidents in transport and logistics.

Improving work health and safety in logistics

While there are a number of hazards that workers in the transport and logistics industry face, the two areas of the job that involve the greatest risk are when individuals are in vehicles, and when loading or unloading freight.

The aforementioned figure of 54 on-road fatalities in 2015 is concerning, but Safe Work Australia’s figures indicate that road transport deaths were less than half of those seen in 2009.

Meanwhile, the Victorian Government’s Better Health Channel notes that one in three injuries to Australian workers are caused by incidents during manual handling.

Given the nature of the logistics sector, the risks are significantly heightened for those individuals who spend large parts of their work day loading and unloading trucks and containers.

There is no shortage of opportunities to improve these statistics, but ultimately it all comes down to the same thing – better workplace health and safety education, application and monitoring.

There’s more to WHS in logistics than driving.