More than 300 attendees at last month's Safety Show in Sydney took part in a ComOps survey especially commissioned for the event to reveal the top OHS concerns for HR professionals.

Reducing injuries, risk management and avoiding legal proceedings are the major occupational health, safety (OHS) and risk management concerns facing more than 80% of Australian organisations as they head towards the new year according to a survey conducted by ComOps.

The survey shows that organisations are highly concerned about a wide range of OHS issues including legal, claims and compliance related activities, environmental management, plant and equipment management, employee health, training and productivity and policies and procedures. Standardisation and transparency of practices across the spectrum of OHS and risk activities was also important.

Despite the fact that issues relating to auditing, monitoring and management of OHS and risk activities were consistently nominated as being of high or critical concern by more than 60% of companies, many organisations still struggle with their reporting, using a mixture of systems and practices.

Forty-four per cent of participants currently use OHS and risk management systems while a smaller number use Microsoft Excel spreadsheets, HR, payroll or in-house developed software. Half of the respondents also stated that their processes include manual or paper-based systems to monitor and analyse safety performance.

In an acknowledgement that a single, common approach would be beneficial, almost one third of the organisations (31%) stated that they intend to implement an OHS and risk management system. Sixty per cent of these organisations are looking to act within the year.

"The growth in interest in OHS and risk management systems is being driven by the realisation that good OHS and risk practices are not only a compliance requirement. They reduce an organisation's exposure to costly litigation and they contribute to the bottom line through improved productivity," said Moshe Woods, sales director, Australian Workplace Software, ComOps.

"This is what is causing a growing number of organisations to insist on rigorous OHS and risk compliance measures both internally and amongst partners up and down the supply chain."