Growcom continues to work extensively with the Queensland horticulture industry to ensure businesses are kept up to date and remain compliant with current Queensland legislation.
In our experience, most employers want to do the right thing, but complex regulations often lead to confusion about what is needed to remain compliant.
To further assist industry to reduce risk and increase efficiency and compliance Growcom's highly regarded Workplace Essentials workshops will return to Queensland from this week.
Funded by the Queensland government, and supported by Sunsuper, MADEC and the Queensland Agriculture Workforce Network (QAWN), the Workplace Essentials series will be catered to the needs of each region with a focus on COVID-19 workplace health and safety obligations, workforce management, mental health and avoiding financial stress.
The Workplace Essentials workshops are all about reducing industry vulnerability by keeping farmers up to date with workplace laws and helping them to do the right thing.
By attending these workshops employers will gain a much clearer understanding of what gaps exist in their policies and practices and the tools they need to address those gaps.
This year's series will have a special focus on COVID-19 compliance.
In July, 72 businesses across the Burdekin, Gayndah and Sunshine Coast regions were randomly selected for targeted compliance checks of their Workplace Health Management Plans (WHMP).
Of those businesses, nine were found to not have a WHMP and three businesses demonstrated non-compliance with the plans they had in place. Checks of compliance surrounding self-isolation requirements were also conducted with no breaches detected.
With further compliance checks planned, Growcom strongly encourages all agricultural businesses to attend the upcoming Workplace Essentials workshops or webinars to ensure you remain compliant.
The 2020 Workplace Essentials workshop and webinar series is open to employers in all agricultural sectors throughout Queensland.
For more information or to register: www.growcom.com.au/workplace-essentials