A staggering 80% of Australian small businesses don’t have a firm understanding of their workplace safety obligations, the Employsure Workplace Safety Index has found. Alarmingly, only 50% of employers believe themselves to be fully compliant in this area.

According to the research, knowledge of industry standards and increased documentation were the two key areas employers felt needed improvement, and complexity of regulations was named as the top issue holding employers back.

Australia has one of the world’s most complicated workplace health and safety legislative systems, and it seems many small and medium business employers struggle to understand their obligations.

Injury in the workplace was another area of concern. Research found that less than 60% of business owners knew their responsibilities should an employee get injured at work and with one third relying on Google for information rather than official sources, there is clearly a knowledge gap that needs to be addressed.

It is reassuring that 83% of small businesses have some sort of workplace health and safety management plan in place, but almost half of employers admitted there was more that could be done to actually implement their safety plan, showing there is still a long way to go to ensure all Australian businesses are safe.

The Employsure Workplace Safety Index is the result of a research project undertaken in the second half of 2017 by Employsure, the largest provider of employment regulations and work health and safety services in Australia. The company aims to track Australian small business’ understanding and confidence in planning, managing, and implementing their workplace health and safety obligations, to better serve their more than 15,000 clients.