Forklift News - Another forklift fatality

WorkSafe WA is investigating the work-related death of a 19-year-old forklift operator at Kwinana last week.

The man is believed to have been operating a forklift at a fertilizer plant when he became caught in the forklift’s mechanism.

There have been four deaths involving forklifts in WA over the past 10 years (14 over the past 20 years).

Ahead of this week’s Safety in Action Conference taking place in Melbourne, Associate Professor John Pead of the Australian Centre for Post-traumatic Mental Health has cautioned that counselling after workplace tragedy could do more harm than good.

He recommends that employers should consider alternatives to routine counselling following a workplace death or near miss.

"The traditional debriefing following traumatic events is ineffective and possibly harmful," says Pead.

"It has the potential of creating sick role expectations that only add to the likelihood that someone will develop a psychiatric condition. After a traumatic event, up to 80% of people will recover on their own with the support of their family and workplace.

Pead says the new Australian Guidelines for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder recommend a staged approach to mental health treatment.

"If they're not getting a lot better within three to four weeks of the trauma, that's the time to consider therapy and the best-placed people to make that judgement are family members and peers, not external professionals. Workplace supervisors need to be trained in 'mental health first aid' so that they know what mental health looks like and can be more confident about looking after the person who's been affected.

"It is possible to identify people who will not readily recover from the mental health consequences of injuries less than six weeks after the incident and there should be early screening by health professionals like GPs and claims staff."

Pead says that, even then, family and workplace supervisors should be proactive about the choice of counselling.

"There's a tendency for employers to think that once someone's in the hands of a psychologist, their role in looking after that person is over," he says. "The reality is that, firstly, ongoing workplace support is essential and, second, too few health practitioners offer effective mental health interventions."

"Unlike routine supportive counselling, cognitive behaviour therapy, and some pharmacotherapies have proven effectiveness in treating post-traumatic mental health problems. A drift towards mediocrity for mental health care is a particular risk when the consumer lacks knowledge and often does not pay for the service. We need to inform insurers and mandate evidence-based practices."

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