BSBWHS401 - IMPLEMENT AND MONITOR WHS POLICIES, PROCEDURES AND PROGRAMS

TO MEET LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS

Summative assessment 1

Question 1

 What are the key aspects of health and safety legislation? 220–250 words

PCBUs are required to consider and take advice from the codes of practice and standards when
providing reasonable standards of health and safety.
They are expected to do all that is practicable and reasonable to:

 provide safe plant, equipment and systems of work

 ensure proper maintenance
 ensure that substances in the workplace can be safely used, handled, stored and transported
 ensure that the workplace has safe, visible and accessible means of entrance and exit
 provide information, instruction, training and supervision so that workers have the knowledge
and skills necessary to safely complete tasks
 act to ensure the safety of visitors
 maintain environmental health and safety provisions
 provide information to workers about plant, equipment or substances used in the workplace
 protect workers from potential health and safety risks arising from use of plant, equipment,
machinery and substances
 communicate the results of research carried out on substances or plant

Health and safety legislation implies a mutual responsibility. It is the workers’ right to work in a safe
environment. Equally, the worker has a responsibility to observe the health and safety rules outlined in
the organisation’s procedures manual or documents.

Question 2

 What processes or procedures might an organisation use to identify hazards and monitor risk
control procedures? 220–250 words

 Risk management is a four steps 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.

There are four steps in the risk management process:

1. Identify hazards - Find out what could cause harm.

2. Assess the risk - If necessary, 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. This step may not be necessary if you are dealing with a known risk,
with known controls.

3. Control the risk - Implement the most effective control measure that is reasonably
practicable in the circumstances and ensure that it remains effective over time.

4. Review and assess the control measures - Review the control measures to ensure
they are working as planned.

Some of the ways in which an organisation can identify hazards and monitor risk
control procedures are:

- Workplace inspections or walk throughs. Conducting a thorough inspection will

highlight any hazards in the work area.

- Completing a risk assessment prior to completing a task. A worker assesses and

documents potential risks of completing a specific task.

Question 3

 Why is it important to provide information to work teams on the relevant health and safety
legislation, the organisation’s health and safety policies, procedures and programs, and any
identified hazards and their control? 80–100 words

 Team members need to know what risks and hazards they might expect to encounter in
their daily work, how these are avoided and what controls are in place to manage risks. The
hazards may include hazardous substances, heavy loads, noise, stress and hazardous work
environments. Staff should be acquainted with the risk-management plan of the
organization, shown how to identify and report new risks and hazards, and how to
recognize when risk control measures are ineffective or inadequate.

Question 4

 Explain the importance of effective consultative mechanisms in managing health and safety
risks and describe what they entail. 80–100 words

 Consultation is the fundamental element of a positive approach the health and safety in the
workplace. Through consultation, managers and supervisors can become more aware of
hazards and health and safety issues experienced by workers. Workers can also provide
suggestions about how to solve health and safety problems.
 Consultation is about sharing health requires effective consultation between PCBUs and
workers and providing them with an opportunity to respond and contribute to health and
safety issues that affect them.

Benefits include:

1. Consultation and participation leads to ownership and support for initiatives.

2. Consultation and involvement motivates workers to improve and to contribute to

continuous improvement.

3. Consultation indicates organisational respect for, and value of, worker opinions
and experience.

4. Workers are the people who know the job, the job conditions and the risks best.

Question 5

 Explain how the hierarchy of control applies in the work area. 220–250 words

 The hierarchy of control creates a systematic approach to managing safety in

your workplace by providing a structure to select the most effective control measures to
eliminate or reduce the risk of certain hazards that have been identified as being caused by
the operations of the business. The hierarchy of controls is a system that guides leaders to
choose the most effective and permanent ways to remove hazards in the workplace. The
goal is to eliminate hazards entirely if possible, but if that can’t be done, the hierarchy
framework is used to minimize the hazards.

There are 5 controls that are a part of the hierarchy framework, which enables prevention
through design. In order of priority, those include:

- Elimination of the hazard; physically removing the risk.

- Substitution to replace the hazard.

- Isolation of workers from the hazard (or engineering controls).

- Implementation of administrative controls to change the way people work.

- Protection of workers through Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).