This month we are celebrating our tradies!
In light of Tradies National Health Month, we’ve researched various statistics for you:
- Tradies are at a higher risk of developing skin cancer due to being exposed to the sun for extended periods of time;
- Young apprentice tradesmen (17-25yo) generally do not eat enough fresh food and consume too much junk food on the job and at home;
- 94% of tradies report that they don’t eat enough fruit and/or vegetables;
- Tradies/construction workers and ‘blue collar’ careers, have some of the highest suicide rate in Australia amongst men;
- 33% of males in the construction industry have high blood pressure;
- 45% are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease;
- 69% believed that being sore is just normal for the work they do;
- 68% said that they follow safe guidelines of lifting, leaving 30% at greater risk of injury from unsafe lifting;
- Every day 10 tradies are badly injured at work – a total of 3,650 injuries to tradies each year, with back injuries being the most common;
Sources: Vic Health Government, Blokes Psychology, Ethos Health, Service Seeking (dates ranging from 2017 – 2020).
How can WHS Vic help your workplace to support your tradies?
- Individual Health Assessments onsite, screening for heart health, diabetes, cholesterol and body composition (including bone density screening) to determine a problem before it’s too late;
- Presentations to your tradies from our dietician, tailored to you – we suggest information on how to maintain healthy body weight to combat diabetes, high cholesterol and an unhealthy heart. Our dietician can also explain times of the day to eat for tradies, the importance of specific foods for fuel and basic nutrition for health and wellbeing.
- Presentations to your team involving stretching techniques before beginning work, lifting techniques, strengthening exercises and the norm of how your body should feel day to day;
- Presentations from our psychologists to your team with techniques on how to achieve optimal mental health and
- Onsite skin checks for your tradies;
- In clinic (located in Geelong) audiometry and spirometry;
- Drug and Alcohol education;
- In clinic range of movement and physiotherapist assessment, offering advice and techniques to combat injury in the workplace;
Get in touch with us to help celebrate and support your tradies’ optimal health.