Solutions for Managing Safety in your Workplace

Our clients often contact us, knowing that they need to have some way of dealing with Safety in their workplace, but are not sure how to start, where to start or what needs to be addressed.

Workplace health and safety requirements vary by state and across industries and it is the legal responsibility of the business owner/manager to ensure legislative compliance with either OHS or WHS law depending on the jurisdiction. These laws also describe the duties that employers and individuals have in regard to these laws.

To summarise, employers and managers must;

provide and maintain a safe work environment,
provide safe systems of work,
provide and maintain safe plant and equipment,
ensure that safe methods of use, handling, storage and transport of plant or substances,
provide adequate facilities for the welfare of employees,
provide information, training and supervision,
monitor employees health and workplace conditions,
provide information concerning health and safety in the workplace,
maintain records relating to employees health and safety.

These requirements also apply in relation to any contractors and or visitors to your workplace and the penalties for a breach of the Act are substantial and are considered an Indictable Offence.

Similarly, these laws also provide the responsibilities of employees who, while at work must;

take reasonable care for their own health and safety,
take reasonable care of others that may be affected by their actions,
cooperate with actions taken by their employer to comply with the law,
not interfere with, or misuse any implemented control.

Developing robust, easy to use and reliable safety policies, procedures and controls plays an important part in establishing a positive health and safety culture in your business.

Our WH&S Consultants will provide you with expert advice on Occupational Health and Safety compliance, legislative obligation, addressing risk in your business, staff training and advice that will help you minimise avoidable workplace accidents, avoid costly fines, and possible legal prosecution.

Establishing the right safety systems is not just about meeting your legal requirements, it communicates to your employees, suppliers and the public, that safety is a priority within your organisation, which will help ensure you stand out from your competitors.

Does your organisations have a system or process to deal with safety in your workplace?

Is it apparent that your organisation requires a workable method of addressing workplace safety, but you are unsure where to start and what needs to be done?
Do you think your system are ready for a Certification audit?
Or, do you just want to be able to reliably measure compliance of your business systems?

Management and Safety Solutions can provide auditors who can measure and evaluate your Safety Management System and provide your organisation with comprehensive reports on areas of compliance, non-conformance and areas that require improvement.

Safety Management Systems

A Safety Management System (SMS) is a planned, systematic approach to managing health and safety risks in a workplace. Safety Management Systems help organisations to continually improve their safety performance and compliance to applicable health and safety legislation and standards. Research by Worksafe Vic, shows that there are clear links between good Safety Management Systems and long-term business efficiency.

The development of a SMS includes identifying, assessing and controlling risks to workers in workplace operations and the identification and analysis of hazards that impact health and safety in the work environment.

There are five steps to the development of an effective SMS, and these steps form a continual cycle of improvement. Consultation is a key element of each step.

1. Management commitment and policy

The policy is a general plan of intent which guides or influences future decisions. It is the basis upon which measurable objectives and targets within the SMS are developed.

2. Planning

Plan how to deliver the OHS policy, objectives and targets to ensure hazards arising from work activities are identified so that risks can be assessed and then controlled.

3. Implementation

Implement the plan by developing the capabilities and support mechanisms necessary to achieve the OHS policy, objectives and targets.

4. Measurement and evaluation

Measure, monitor and evaluate OHS performance, to determine the effectiveness of risk management, and if necessary take preventative and corrective action.

5. Review and improvement

Review and continually improve the OHSMS, with the objective of improving OHS performance.

Communication and consultation throughout the development and implementation process are key to developing a robust and user friendly SMS by ensuring that It provides all stakeholders with explanations of any decisions and any changes implemented that impact the work health and safety arrangements in the workplace.

Auditing & Gap Analisys

Policies & Procedures

What is a Policy and what is a Procedure?

- A Policy is a statement of purpose, which outlines broad guidelines on action that need to be taken to achieve that purpose.

- A Procedure explains how to perform specific tasks and duties.

Policies and procedures are formulated and adopted by an organisation to help reach its long-term goals are widely accessible employees and contractors. Policies and procedures are designed to influence and determine all major decisions and actions, and all activities should take place within the boundaries set by them.

Policies and procedures are integral to every workplace. They are constantly evolving to meet the standards set by government and statutory authorities, or to meet the needs and changes within your organisation. Whether the changes are driven by new legislation, regulation or codes of practice, your organisation needs to meet and maintain it's obligations to comply with it's Workplace Health and Safety requirements. Any changes to legislation or to processes in your organisation means that your organisation may need a review of current policies and procedure to ensure that they are up to date, relevant and working as they should be. Neglecting to ensure that your policies and procedures are regularly reviewed can come at a considerable cost to your organisation.

Well written policies and procedures provide clarity and certainty at the workplace and demonstrate legislative compliance. They should clearly set out the role of parties involved in any activity, set the parameters of employee behaviour and lets your staff know what they can and can't do in a variety of situations. They also provide guidance in day to day tasks and should be easily accessible, for example by placing them on noticeboards and intranet sites.

Every organisation should have policies for the following;

health and safety policy
drug and alcohol policy
non-smoking policy
internet and email policy
mobile phone policy
anti-discrimination and harassment policy
using social media
grievance handling policy
discipline and termination policy

Management and Safety Solutions understand that writing and reviewing policies and procedures takes time away from your core business and area of expertise and as such this task is generally at the bottom of the to do list. Contact us now to discuss how we can provide you with a solution for your organisations policy and procedure needs

Safety Management Systems

Risk Assessments

A risk assessment is a process to identify potential hazards and analyse what could happen if contact with a hazard occurs.

Risk is the possibility that harm (death, injury or illness) might occur when exposed to a hazard.
Risk control means taking action to eliminate health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and if that is not possible, minimising them so far as is reasonably practicable. Eliminating a hazard will also eliminate any risks associated with that hazard.

Assessing risk involves considering what could happen if someone is exposed to a hazard and the likelihood of it happening. Carrying out a risk assessment can help you evaluate the potential risks that may be involved in an activity or undertaking.

A risk assessment can help determine:

how severe a risk is
whether any existing control measures are effective
what action you should take to control the risk
how urgently the action needs to be taken.

A risk assessment should be done when:

there is uncertainty about how a hazard may result in injury or illness
the work activity involves a number of different hazards and there is a lack of understanding about how the hazards may interact with each other to produce new or greater risks
changes at the workplace occur that may impact on the effectiveness of control measures.

It is mandatory under OHS / WHS legislation to carry out a risk assessment for high risk activities such as working at heights, entry into confined spaces, live electrical work etc.

Managing WHS risks involves four steps:

Identifying hazards—find out what could cause harm.
Assessing risks—understand the nature of the harm that could be caused by the hazard, how serious the harm could be and the likelihood of it happening.
Controlling risks—implement the most effective control measure that is reasonably practicable in the circumstances.
Reviewing control measures—ensure control measures are working as planned.

Once the hazards and their risks are known, controls need to be put in place.

The best control measure involves eliminating the risk—that is removing the risk from the workplace. If that is not possible you must minimise risks, so far as is reasonably practicable. When determining the most suitable controls, you must consider various options and choose the control/s that most effectively eliminates the hazard or minimises the risk in the circumstances. This can be a single control or it could be a combination of different controls that together provide the highest level of protection that is reasonably practicable.

Hierarchy of control;

Elimination - Sometimes hazards - equipment, substances or work practices - can be avoided entirely. (e.g. Clean high windows from the ground with an extendable pole cleaner, rather than by climbing a ladder and risking a fall.)
Substitution - Sometimes a less hazardous thing, substance or work practice can be used. (e.g. Use a non-toxic glue instead of a toxic glue.)
Isolation - Separate the hazard from people, by marking the hazardous area, fitting screens or putting up safety barriers. (e.g. Welding screens can be used to isolate welding operations from other workers. Barriers and/or boundary lines can be used to separate areas where forklifts operate near pedestrians in the workplace.)
Engineering - Safeguards can be added by modifying tools or equipment, or fitting guards to machinery. These must never be removed or disabled by workers using the equipment.
Administration - Instructing workers in the safest way to do something - This means developing and enforcing safe work procedures. Employees and contractors must be given information and instruction and must follow agreed procedures to ensure their safety.
Personal Protective Equipment and clothing (PPE) - If risks remain after the options have been tried, it may be necessary to use equipment such as safety glasses, gloves, helmets and ear muffs. PPE can protect you from hazards associated with jobs such as handling chemicals or working in a noisy environment.

As mentioned earlier, sometimes, it will require more than one of the risk control measures above to effectively reduce exposure to hazards.

Hazard Identification

The term Hazard refers to a situation or thing that has the potential to harm a person. Hazards at work may include noisy machinery, a moving forklift, chemicals, electricity, working at heights, a repetitive job, bullying and violence at the workplace.

Identifying hazards in the workplace involves finding things and situations that could potentially cause harm to people. Hazards generally arise from the following aspects of work and their interaction, including:

physical work environment
equipment, materials and substances used
work tasks and how they are performed
work design and management.

Some hazards are part of the work process such as mechanical hazards, noise or toxic properties of substances. Other hazards result from equipment or machine failures and misuse, chemical spills and structural failures.

A piece of plant, substance or a work process may have many different hazards. Each of these hazards needs to be identified. For example a production line may have dangerous moving parts, noise, hazards associated with manual tasks and psychological hazards due to the pace of work.

Inductions & Training

OHS/WHS law provides that an employer must provide employees with information, instruction and training so that they may perform their work safely.

Inducting a new employee into your organisation provides a most convenient method of communicating relevant policies and procedures as well the risks and hazards associated with your organisations business activities as well as the controls used to mitigate these. Management and Safety Solutions can help develop an induction process that ensures compliance with your legal obligations and minimises risk to your organisation.

Management and Safety Solutions offers a range of training solutions via partner organisations, to small and medium enterprises that can be conducted either house or at client premises. Training can also be conducted remotely for business critical staff who still have to undertake operational roles while completing training, or who are in remote or interstate locations.

All training programs can be tailored to client requirements and provide a cost effective means of educating your staff in the critical aspects of work health and safety.

Audit & Gap Analysis

Policies & Procedures

Risk Assessments

Hazard Identification

Inductions & raining

Safety Solutions for your Business

Call Us Now: 0438 269 099

Solutions for Managing Safety in your Workplace

Safety Management Systems

Auditing & Gap Analisys

Policies & Procedures

Risk Assessments

Hazard Identification

Inductions & Training