More than half of all companies in Queensland plan to review their OHS policies as a result of the recent natural disasters in Queensland.
A recent study found that 78 per cent of organisations found gaps in their OHS policies following the disasters, and as a result, risk management strategy is now a greater priority overall.
The survey of OHS and risk managers found that a further one-third believe the average organisation is under greater pressure than ever to invest heavily in OHS policies and procedures.
However, just under a quarter plans to invest more resources in safety policies and procedures as a result of the Queensland disasters.
Conducted by ComOps, the survey of 65 senior business managers, including CEOs, OHS and risk managers at the Queensland Safety Show, highlighted some of the key barriers faced by OHS and risk managers.
Just under a third indicated that a legally compliant OHS strategy is not a high enough priority within their organisation and 29 per cent cannot afford the investment at the current time.
When it comes to deploying effective OHS strategies within their organisations, a further 35 per cent said they are frustrated by the behaviour of their workforce colleagues in assisting with policy and procedure compliance, while 14 per cent don't believe they are given adequate time to dedicate to the overall issue of safety.
The Queensland floods have been a wake-up call for a comprehensive review of OHS strategies, all the way from design and formulation through to incident reporting, risk mitigation and management, said Moshe Woods, who works in safety, risk and claims management solutions for ComOps.
"At the same time, the data would suggest that while the will is there to dedicate more resources to OHS, managers are still hindered by slack budget allocation and the perception that other business requirements have a greater priority," he said.
"It is reassuring to note however, that the survey also found more than a third of organisations are currently planning to deploy an OHS and risk management system, with a quarter of these planning to do so within the next year. This OHS policy overhaul should place Queensland in a better position at times of natural disaster in the future."