RaceSafe

PAKENHAM racecourse is among the safest tracks to work at in Victoria and that fact will stand it in good stead to maintain its status as a viable ongoing racing and training operation for the foreseeable future.
A major part of a submission supplied to Racing Victoria Limited (RVL) by the Pakenham Trainers Association in response to RVL’s document on the future of country racing, focused on occupational health and safety issues.
When the figures were tallied up, the verdict was overwhelmingly in favour of Pakenham’s outstanding effort in the implementation of the RVL-developed RaceSafe program that addresses all aspects of risk management.
The Pakenham Training Centre was ranked third of 39 in the state for safety and that figure pleased Pakenham racing manager Michael Hodge.
“It’s not just about accidents, it’s a lot more than that. It’s about having the systems and processes in place to manage risk and in doing so reduce any possible incidents,” he said.
Pakenham was one of three racing clubs to volunteer to become part of the pilot RaceSafe program more than 18 months ago and the success has been outstanding.
“It’s nice to get in on the ground floor and get the jump on everyone. We were one of three clubs that they piloted the RaceSafe program through and since then, they have progressively rolled it out to others,” he said.
Pakenham Trainers Association secretary Terry Ahern agreed that it had been a great success and said that trainers, track workers and associated staff had embraced the program and made it work, resulting in the excellent outcome.