Free mental health webinar for manufacturing industry

A free webinar on workplace mental health for the manufacturing industry will be delivered by R U OK? Director and author Graeme Cowan next Monday.

Held in conjunction with WorkSafe’s WorkWell Program, the webinar “creating mentally healthy workplaces in manufacturing” will support employers and business leaders to take the first steps to create and facilitate a mentally healthy workplace.

The webinar will introduce industry leaders to the ‘primary prevention approach’ and describe the work-related factors that impact mental health and safety in the workplace.

Graeme will also explore the WorkWell Toolkit — a free, voluntary online tool using a step-by-step approach to help employers promote mental health and prevent mental injury in the workplace.

With information tailored to specific industries, the WorkWell Toolkit contains practical resources for the manufacturing industry, including tip sheets, policy examples, case studies and templates covering work-related factors that impact workplace mental health.

Graeme Cowan said a focus on mentally healthy workplaces in the Australian manufacturing industry will return a proven positive impact.

“Three out of four Australians say that a mentally healthy workplace is important when looking for a job,” Cowan said.

“There is a $2.90 return on investment for every $1 invested in creating mentally healthy workplaces in the manufacturing industry.

“Effectively protecting the psychological health of your employees can lead to less costs from work absences, conflict, errors, injuries and grievances.”

With manufacturing being one of the hardest-hit industries of the COVID-19 pandemic, Graeme said workplace mental health should be a top priority.

“With many factories importing raw materials from China, local producers are stressed as they try to adapt to a volatile supply chain,” Graeme said.

The webinar will run via Zoom on Monday, 16 November 2020, commencing at 1 pm.

For more information, click here.

Image credit: ©stock.adobe.com/au/Dhanya