A WEEK-long safety blitz is underway in Ballarat, with WorkSafe to target hundreds of Ballarat businesses this week.
The Safe Towns campaign will put more than 200 work places under the microscope, targeting businesses that fail to comply with health and safety laws.
The crackdown in Ballarat follows a five day blitz in Geelong a fortnight ago, in which 223 notices were handed to businesses.
WorkSafe general manager for operations Lisa Sturzenegger said it was in the interests of all businesses to ensure their work places were safe for their employees.
"We find in many of our prosecutions that businesses admit they were aware of an issue, but failed to fix it. In many cases this has resulted in an injury, a conviction and a large fine," she said.
Over the past five financial years there were 3021 injuries in Ballarat work places, with treatment and rehabilitation costs exceeding $61 million.
Shops, buildings sites, factories and offices will all be on Worksafe's radar.
Final results of the blitz are expected to be released early next week.