Safe work is for life
Every October, workplaces across Australia take part in National Safe Work Month. Led by Safe Work Australia and supported locally in Victoria by WorkSafe Victoria, the 2026 campaign runs under one simple theme: Safe work is for life.
The message is a reminder that safety isn’t only about getting the job done right. It’s about protecting people’s lives, their health and their futures, on the job and well beyond it. Throughout the month, the campaign explores a different safety topic each week, encouraging businesses and workers to take a fresh look at how they keep each other safe.
For a steel business like ours, where heavy materials, long sheets and moving machinery are part of everyday work, that message hits close to home.
It starts with the people behind the steel
At Apex, safety starts with our people. They’re the crews, drivers and operators who show up every day, and the families who count on them coming home safe and well.
Keeping them safe takes many forms, and we’re committed to investing in all of them. Some of those investments are big and long-term. Others are small, everyday habits that make a real difference when they’re done consistently across every site.
Big investments: engineering the risk out
One of the most effective ways to keep people safe is to remove the risk at its source. That’s why we invest in modern machinery and equipment that reduces manual handling.
In 2025, we brought new sheet rolling technology into operation at our Dandenong South plant. Designed and built in Australia with our long-term partners at Emery Engineering, the highly automated system rolls and flips APCLAD sheets up to 27.5 metres long.
Before it arrived, producing sheets of that length meant a lot of manual work. Handling long sheets and heavy strapped packs was labour-intensive and carried a real risk of injury. Now:
- The machine does the heavy lifting, so our team doesn’t have to.
- Sensors and electric laser gates keep people clear of moving parts.
- Packs are stacked faster and are safer and easier to strap and transport.
It’s a big investment, and one we’re proud of, because it makes a real difference to the people doing the work every day.
Read the full story of our APCLAD sheet rolling technology →
Everyday habits: small things, done consistently
Not every safety improvement needs a new machine. Some of the most effective ones are simple, and easy to repeat across all our sites.
Regular toolbox talks. Our teams come together for toolbox talks every fortnight. They’re a chance to share what’s working, raise concerns and talk through hazards before they become incidents. Most importantly, they make safety a two-way conversation, where everyone’s voice counts.
New stainless steel water bottles for everyone. Staying hydrated matters, especially on long shifts and hot days in the yard or on the road. We’ve rolled out new stainless steel water bottles to our team to make hydration easy, and to cut down on single-use plastic while we’re at it.
Big or small, it all comes back to the same thing: backing the people behind the steel.
Keeping the conversation going
National Safe Work Month may wrap up at the end of October, but looking after our people is a year-round commitment. With Movember just around the corner, we’ll be carrying that conversation into November and putting the spotlight on health and wellbeing across our teams.
Stay tuned.
READ MORE FROM APEX
See how our Dandenong South plant now handles sheets up to 27.5 metres long with far less manual handling: Introducing our game-changing APCLAD sheet rolling technology