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BSBWHS501A
Ensure a safe workplace
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Assessment Task 2
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Undertake
consultation and manage WHS risk
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Table of Contents
Work Health
and Safety (WHS) legislation requires that all foreseeable hazards are
identified and the risks arising from these hazards are eliminated or
controlled.
Risk management is a legal requirement for
all businesses regardless of their size and basically it involves asking the
following questions:
·
What hazards exist in the
workplace?
·
How serious are the hazards?
·
What can be done to control
these hazards?
Risk management is a four step process
whereby you identify hazards in the workplace, then assess the risk of those
hazards and then implement control measures, which will eliminate or minimise
the risk of injury from the hazards you identified.
Control measures which have been put in
place must be reviewed periodically to check that they actually fix the
problem, without creating another one.
Hazards can be identified through:
·
workplace inspections
·
incident reporting
·
register of injuries
·
consultation with employees
·
Feedback from employees.
There are a number of business activities
which can involve risk to safety. These can include:
·
Purchasing: the equipment or chemicals
purchased to run your business may introduce safety issues (e.g. plant and
equipment; cleaning agents)
·
Work activities: in carrying out work
tasks the physical and psychological demands of the tasks, equipment used,
working environment can place employees at risk (e.g. repetitive movements,
length of time spent on the computer, air quality, materials handling)
·
Contractors/casual employees/customers:
other workers who come into the workplace can be at risk or place your
employees at risk from the work activities they conduct (e.g. cleaning agents
used by cleaners, electrical contractors, verbal abuse by customers).
Risk Assessment determines how likely and how serious the effects
will be on people in the workplace being exposed to the hazard. Work out which
hazards are most serious and deal with them first. To assess the risk, you
should consider:
·
the type of hazard
·
how severely could the hazard
injure or cause illness (consequence)
·
how likely is this consequence
going to happen (likelihood)
·
the frequency and duration of
exposure
·
who it may effect
·
capabilities
·
skills, experience and age of
people
·
Layout and condition of the
working environment.
Risk Control involves deciding what needs to be done to eliminate or
control the risks to health and safety. Where possible, you should always try
to remove or eliminate the problem from the workplace, for example by using a
different process, or changing the way a job is done.
If it is not possible to eliminate the
hazard, the Hierarchy of Risk Control must be used to determine the most
effective measures to minimize the risks.
Hierarchy
of risk control
1.
Design or reorganize to eliminate the hazard from the workplace: try to ensure that hazards are designed out when new materials,
equipment and work systems are being planned for the workplace.
2.
Remove or substitute the hazard: where possible remove
the hazard or substitute with less hazardous materials, equipment or
substances.
3.
Enclose or isolate the hazard: this can be done
through the use of barriers, introducing a strict work area, enclosing a noisy
process from a person.
4. Minimize
through engineering controls: this can be done
through the use of machine guards, effective ventilation systems etc.
5. Minimize
the risk by adopting administrative controls:
establish appropriate procedures and safe work practices such as job rotation
to reduce exposure time or boredom; timing the work so that fewer employees are
exposed; routine maintenance and housekeeping procedures; training on hazards
and correct work methods.
6.
Personal Protective Equipment: provide suitable and
properly maintained personal protective equipment and ensure employees are
trained in its proper use (examples include gloves, earplugs etc.).
If no single control is appropriate, a
combination of the above controls needs to be taken to minimize the risk to the
lowest level that is reasonably practicable.
Periodic reviews of control measures and
risk assessments should be conducted to ensure the control measures implemented
are appropriate and effective and the risk assessments are still valid. This
can be achieved through safety audits, regular workplace inspections,
consultation with employees and review of incident investigations. Risk
management should be built into all workplace activities that can give rise to
safety issues.
This policy
recognizes that Australian
Hardware is responsible for the health and safety of
all employees in the workplace. In fulfilling this responsibility we have a
duty to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without
risks to health.
To meet the objectives of this policy, we
are committed to regular discussions with employees to ensure that health and
safety issues are regularly reviewed. Health and safety is most effective when
a joint owner/manager and employee approach is used to identify and solve
problems.
We are committed to continuously improving
WHS by addressing hazards and reviewing outcomes.
Employer/
and managers/supervisors must ensure:
- Effective implementation of this policy.
- Their responsibilities under the Act and
Regulations are met.
- Agreed procedures for regular discussion
between managers and employees are followed.
- All workplace hazards are identified and
risks assessed and controlled.
- Regular workplace inspections are
conducted.
- Information, training and supervision are
provided for all employees in the correct use of plant, equipment,
chemicals and other substances used.
Employees:
- Have a duty to take care
of their health and safety and that of others.
- Must comply with safety procedures and
directions.
- Must follow reasonable instructions.
- Must not willfully interfere with or
misuse items or facilities provided in the interest of health and safety.
- Must inform their manager or supervisor
of hazards, accidents and near accidents occurring at the workplace.
Visitors and contractors must:
- Not put themselves or
any of our employees at risk.
- Abide by our safety policy and rules.
- Not enter restricted areas without
permission.
This policy will be regularly reviewed in the light of changes to
the workplace and changes in legislation.
Management seeks cooperation from all
employees in achieving our health and safety objectives and creating a safe
work environment.
A code of
practice provides details on how to achieve the standards required under the
work health and safety (WHS) legislation, by identifying hazards and managing
risks.
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011
(WHS Act), codes of practice are admissible in court proceedings. Courts may
regard a code of practice as evidence of what is known about a hazard, risk or
control, and rely on it to determine what is reasonably practicable in the
circumstances. A person cannot be prosecuted for failing to comply with a code
of practice.
A person with duties under the WHS Act can
comply with their duties by following another method, such as a technical or
industry standard, if it provides a standard of work health and safety
equivalent to, or higher than, the code of practice.
An inspector can refer to an approved code
of practice when issuing an improvement or prohibition notice and can offer the
person to whom the notice is issued a choice of ways in which to remedy the
contravention.
All the retained codes of practice are
available on this website.
The new WHS codes of practice available
from 1 January 2012 include:
- Confined spaces
- Hazardous manual tasks
- How to manage and control asbestos in the
workplace
- How to manage work health and safety
risks
- Managing the risk of falls at workplaces
- How to safely remove asbestos
- Labeling of workplace hazardous chemicals
- Managing noise and preventing hearing
loss at work
- Managing the work environment and
facilities
- Preparation of safety data sheets for
hazardous chemicals
- Work health and safety consultation,
coordination and cooperation.
Model codes of practice agreed by the
Select Council on Workplace Relations are provided as guidance material until
gazette in NSW:
- First aid in the workplace
- Construction work
- Preventing falls in housing construction
- Managing electrical risks at the
workplace
- Managing risks of hazardous chemicals in
the workplace
- Managing risks of plant in the workplace
- Safe design of structures
- Excavation work
- Demolition work
- Spray painting and powder coating
- Abrasive blasting
- Welding
The above model
codes of practice are available from Safe Work Australia.
A number of draft model codes of practice
are in the process of being finalized and are provided as guidance material
until approved:
- Working in the vicinity of overhead and
underground electric lines
- Safe design manufacture import and
supply of plant
- Amusement devices
- Scaffolds and scaffolding work
- Tree trimming and removal work – crane
access method
- Industrial lift trucks
- Formwork and false work
- Managing risks of plant in rural
workplaces
- Cranes
- Managing risks in forestry operation
- Managing cash in transit security risks
- Traffic management in workplaces
The draft model codes are available from Safe Work Australia.
Being able to identify hazards is crucial
in ensuring tasks are carried out safely. Your past experience in the workplace
may help you to identify some hazards, but remember to also use the skills and
knowledge of those around you to help.
Identifying hazards and controlling risk
must be done continuously as new work processes, tasks, equipment and workers
come into the workplace. Part of this process may be to ask your employer to
employ or engage a suitably qualified occupational health and safety
professional to come into the workplace to provide advice on health and safety.
Some
ways to identify hazards and control risks:
- Talk
with workers (including contractors) who are or will be performing any
tasks to identify all potential hazards and the best ways to eliminate or
reduce risk.
- Make
sure you are aware of any high risk activities, work with new machinery or
new work processes before they happen.
- Understand
the hazards associated with tasks you supervise and have risk controls in
place before work starts. This could mean preventing work from being done
while a safety issue is being resolved.
- Take
action to resolve health and safety issues as soon as possible. This
includes escalating the issue to more senior management if necessary. Once
agreement is reached on how to fix a problem, implement it as soon as
possible.
Controls should be determined according to
the “Hierarchy of Control” system described below. The following control
elements should be utilised in the order presented and where appropriate used
in conjunction.
1. Elimination
↓
2. Substitution
↓
3. Isolation
↓
4. Engineering
↓
5. Administration
↓
6. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
As the title suggests, this control measure
involves eliminating or removing the risk in its entirety. For example:
- Risk: High levels of manual handling
when loading and unloading glassware onto trolleys from shelving.
- Control: Store glassware directly onto
trolleys hence eliminating the need to unload and load from the shelves.
This form of control involves substituting
a safer process or material for the hazardous process/material identified. For
example:
- Risk: Cleaning solution causing allergic
reactions and nausea.
- Control: Substituting a less toxic or
non-allergenic cleaning solution for the task.
This control involves separating the hazard
or hazardous work practice from employees other work areas. This may involve
sectioning off the area by erecting barriers or by relocating either the
hazardous work practice or the „other‟ employees and their work
practices. For example:
- Risk: Excessive noise emanating from
machinery.
- Control: Enclosing the machinery or the
personnel hence creating an isolating barrier between the hazard and the
person by using a barrier.
This method of control involves designing
and/or adding physical safety features to plant or equipment.
a)
Equipment and Workplace Design
The provision of new and/or additional equipment or redesign of a workplace can
be used to control identified hazards. For example:
·
Risk: Animal handling.
·
Control: Hoists. Slide Boards.
·
Risk: A poor clerical
workstation design resulting in a risk of injury to the back, neck, shoulder
and wrist.
·
Control: Re-design the
workstation to recommended ergonomic specifications for the personnel including
the provision of equipment such as slope- boards, document holders, foot stools
and ergonomic chairs.
b)
Automation Fully or partially
automating a process removes the need for, or reduces the risk of, performing a
hazardous task. For example:
·
Risk: Manual handling in washing
glassware process.
·
Control: Introduction of an
automatic washing system.
c)
Containment (ventilation,
dilution, extraction) Containing or drawing away a hazard at the source so that
personnel are not exposed. For example:
·
Risk: Chemical fumes given off
during cleaning, laboratory, or welding processes.
·
Control: Construction of a
local extraction system to remove the fumes at the source.
d)
Guarding Guards must be
provided when there is the potential for people to come into contact with
hazardous situations to ensure that no part of the person (including hair,
clothing etc) can be caught in the moving part. There are several different
types of guards, movable/interlocked, fixed, and photoelectric beam. For
example:
·
Risk: Accessible high speed
rotating parts on a machine
·
Control: Placing appropriate
guards to prevent access to the rotating parts.
This type of control is most effective when
used in conjunction with measures mentioned above or as an interim control
whilst more effective control measures are developed and implemented. It
requires systems to be established or amended in order to control the risk
presented. Most often it requires the assessment and modification of the
task(s) performed. It may include measures such as:
a)
Amendment or establishment of
new Policy and Procedures. For example: developing documented safe work
practices for a hazardous task, or implementing restrictive policy to prevent
staff or students from coming in contact with identified hazards.
b)
The introduction or review of
existing maintenance schedules for plant and equipment, or safe work practices.
This measure is used to ensure that existing plant, equipment and procedures do
not deteriorate to the point where they become hazardous.
c)
Limiting the exposure of
personnel to elements that are only hazardous when they exceed a certain
threshold. These types of hazards can include: noise, radiation, heat,
chemicals, etc., and can be controlled by introducing elements as simple as job
rotation.
d)
Providing training and
information in safe work practices and other workplace health issues so that
personnel can work safely.
PPE is not a particularly effective control
method and should only be used:
a)
When all other control measures
are impractical; or
b)
In conjunction with other more
effective, control measures.
It is important to
select the correct PPE for the hazard identified, and advice should be sought
in this regard if you are not sure (Health and Safety ext. 4900)
The above
“Hierarchy of Control” provides a basic guide for controlling hazards in the
workplace. Consult your SHR and attempt to find solutions by working your way
down the hierarchy. Once appropriate controls are identified it is necessary to
consult senior management and the staff that will be affected by the changes.
This will reduce the possibility of oversights and help to gain the support of
In accordance
with Principle 4 of Information Standard 40: Recordkeeping (IS40), public
authorities are required to have an identifiable recordkeeping program,
including documented policies and procedures.
This Public
Records Brief provides guidance to Queensland public authorities on developing
a recordkeeping policy.
A good
recordkeeping policy will enable public authorities to:
- outline how records should be made and
kept, including requirements for authorized disposal
- ensure compliance with legal
requirements, information standards and the needs of the government
(including administrative, financial and accountability) and community
- formalise intentions and practices with
respect to records management
- communicate to all staff the importance
of good recordkeeping, and
- increase the ability of staff to create
full and accurate records.
A recordkeeping policy also supports compliance with other
requirements of IS40, including assigning responsibilities, identifying
requirements for records creation and outlining the legal and administrative
context for recordkeeping.
The policy itself should provide
recordkeeping directives and responsibilities clearly, in a way that is easy to
understand. Detailed advice on recordkeeping procedures or tools should be
included in supporting documentation.
Components of a recordkeeping policy may include:
Component
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Details
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Purpose
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What are the aims of the policy?
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Policy statement
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What is the public authority’s commitment to recordkeeping?
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Scope of the policy
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What is the application of the policy? It should cover the entire
business of the agency, and records in all formats.
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Policy context
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How will the recordkeeping policy relate to broader information
governance within the agency?
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Legislation and Standards
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Recordkeeping requirements are set out in the Public Records
Act 2002. For an overview of relevant legislation, standards and policies
see the Queensland Government Recordkeeping Policy Framework1
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Recordkeeping systems
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What recordkeeping systems does the agency use?
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Responsibilities
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Who has recordkeeping responsibilities in the agency?
What positions, individuals or departments?
See Public Records Brief: Recordkeeping Responsibilities: an
overview
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Monitor and review of policy
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What is the review date of the policy?
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Authorization
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The policy should be authorized by the
Chief Executive. Include the date of authorization.
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Participants: Jinwoo, Eunjin,
Jiyun, HSR, Store.
Eunjin: - Dear HSR, I would like to
talk about the real problem that I am not happy with: about providing and
maintaining a safe and healthy environment to work!
Jinwoo: - Yes, Mr HSR, It should be providing support and training and at
least supervision to employees to ensure a safe and healthy workplace. We would like to hear some of them.
HSR: - Marina, Robert. As
individual employees you have to know all of workplace and health and safety
policies and procedures.
Jiyun: - Where can we find them?
Store: -Every single employee has to know them and you can find them in
WHS 2011 NSW policy and procedures
HSR: - That our responsibility to provide a safety workplace for our
workers but that workers responsibility to take care about your wrong safety.
Jinwoo: - Yes, we also would organise some training for other workers with
a purpose of encouraging others to follow healthy and safe working practices in
the workplace.
HSR: - Yes you are right. Let’s organise it next Wednesday. Pl inform
all our staff about
Eunjin: -Yes it will be done.
Risk
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Controls
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Monitoring
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Timelines
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Responsible
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Difficulty sourcing or training skilled and
experienced staff.
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Targeted advertising in trade magazines and
online.
Promotional focus on training and development
opportunities.
Regular training for existing staff.
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Regular investigation of competitor wages,
seeking to match or better if viable from budgetary perspective.
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Monthly and quarterly
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store general managers and general operations
managers.
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Wastage or unsaleable stock from poor
inventory maintenance and sales monitoring.
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Continuous monitoring using in-house ERM
system
Daily contact with suppliers.
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Daily automated monitoring (with alerts for
issues) and anticipation of demand through ongoing research and analysis in
consultation with market research consultants
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Daily monitoring
Monthly and quarterly sales and demand
analysis
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Store general managers, general.
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Personal Protective
Equipment
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Day Operations
–Normal Requirements:
Safety footwear, eye
protection (goggles), face protection, hand protection (gloves), overalls,
breathing protection. Ensure all PPE meets relevant Australian Standards.
Inspect, and replace PPE as needed.
Provide UV sun
protection where required, (broad brimmed hat, UV rated clothing, SPF 30+
sunscreen, tinted safety glasses with adequate UV protection).
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Safety notes
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Petrol is classified
as a flammable liquid. It evaporates at relatively allow temperatures and the
resulting vapour is highly flammable. Petrol is toxic, potentially causing
eye/skin irritation, and if swallowed. can be fatal. Diesel is classified as
a combustible liquid. Diesel is less flammable than petrol, however, in high
temperatures, such as a fire
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Meeting
minutes
Risk
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Controls
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Monitoring
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Timelines
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Responsible
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Difficulty sourcing or
training skilled and experienced staff.
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Targeted advertising in trade
magazines and online.
Promotional focus on training
and development opportunities.
Regular training for existing
staff.
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Regular investigation of
competitor wages, seeking to match or better if viable from budgetary
perspective.
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Monthly and quarterly
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store general managers and
general operations managers.
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Wastage or unsaleable stock
from poor inventory maintenance and sales monitoring.
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Continuous monitoring using
in-house ERM system
Daily contact with suppliers.
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Daily automated monitoring
(with alerts for issues) and anticipation of demand through ongoing research
and analysis in consultation with market research consultants
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Daily monitoring
Monthly and quarterly sales
and demand analysis
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Store general managers,
general.
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