Workplace Health and Safety for Fitness Trainers

Fitness trainers are responsible for ensuring good workplace health and safety practice.

This is achieved through:

• Complying with all legislation and all company policies, procedures and instructions
• Taking all action to avoid, eliminate or minimise hazards
• Making proper use of all safety devices and personal protective equipment
• Not willfully placing at risk the health and safety of any person, including fitness clients by their own acts or omissions
• Seeking information or advice regarding hazards and procedures where necessary, before carrying out new or unfamiliar work
• Being familiar with emergency and evacuation procedures, location of first aid kits, personnel and emergency equipment, and if appropriately trained, using the emergency equipment.

As a staff member, fitness instructor or trainer you will be exposed to various types of hazards that would affect the health and safety of the workplace, including your own work area.

Reporting Workplace Health and Safety Incidents

All incidents and near misses, big or small, should be reported to the management or to the appointed workplace health and safety representatives.

Workplace related incidents and accidents include:

• Injuries or illnesses
• Incidents or near misses (accidents that almost happened)
• Property loss or damage
• Environmental damage.

Staff and fitness trainers have a responsibility to report all accidents, injuries, incidents and or hazards to the appropriate workplace health and safety representative or manager and to ensure that the appropriate documentation and records are maintained.

These forms would be those developed in-house or using an incident template form and be used to investigate accidents/injuries/incidents/ hazards

Employers have a responsibility to investigate all reported accidents/injuries/incidents/hazards and to ensure corrective action is taken to prevent recurrence.

Certain types of workplace incidents need to be notified to regulators. Only the most serious safety incidents require regulators to be notified.

Notifiable incidents include:

• The death of a person
• A ‘serious injury or illness’ (generally requiring hospitalisation)
• A dangerous incident arising causing serious property or environmental damage.

In these cases, each workplace health and safety authority has a prescribed form in which all businesses are to use to report serious accidents or dangerous occurrences.