Running Head: WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY (1)

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY (1)

Name of the Student

Name of the University

Author’s note
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Work Health and Safety (1)

Short Answers

A. The steps involved in the development stage of the process are as follows:

 Observation of the said task

 Assessment and revision of applicable legislations

 The sequential arrangement of basic steps to fulfill the task

 Recording all potential hazards concerning the task

 Seeking methods and practices that can be implemented to eliminate or control the

risk factors

 Testing the stated procedure to determine its success

 Request for approval to commence the said task

 Revision and constant monitoring of the task situation and area.

B. Three instances when a work procedure might need to be reviewed for safety reasons are:

 If there is any change in the task

 If a new risk is identified

 If there is a change in legislation or codes of practice.

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C. A “Hazard log” is a written document that is to be maintained by all people undertaking

businesses where the details of all workplace hazards are to be drafted. It helps with hazard

identification as:

 It aids in assessing the risks that the said hazard may pose

 Evaluates the time frame in which the hazard can be brought under control

 Provides details of the steps that need to be taken to control the hazard

 Identifies people who are responsible to address such hazardous materials

 Provides a record of the date when the elimination of the hazard takes place.

2. Both the WHS committees, as well as workplace inspections, aim towards a common goal

and that is to effectively target and eliminate any workplace hazards to ensure a safe working

environment. WHS committees mainly provide the guidelines and measures that are to be

accounted for while the workplace inspections are responsible for putting the same into

action.

3 A. The link between hazard and risk can be explained as:

Industry hazards may be presented in the form of mental exhaustion, eyestrain from bright

lighting and occupational violence. However significant risks such as increased leave, biased

judgment and below par client care can be resulted due to those hazards.

B. Potential hazards in my line of work are:

 Eyestrain due to heavy fluorescent lights

 Lung distress due to smoke inhalation

 Ear distress due to the sound of heavy machinery

 Mental stress due to increased workload

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 Hazards of physical harm due to operation of automatic machines

 Muscular tension due to repetitive physical work

C. The three basic stages of controlling risk are:

 Hazard identification

 Assessment of risk

 Controlling the risk

4. The hierarchy of control can be explained further as:

 Elimination – Removing the cause of danger entirely

 Substitution – Controlling the stated hazard by substituting a less risky way to get the
same result

 Isolation – Isolating the hazard from the people to minimize risk of exposure

 Engineering – Making physical alterations to machinery to lessen remaining risks

 Administration – Making use of administrative controls to minimise the risk in the

future. For instance, installing warning signs.

 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – Using proper PPE to combat hazardous

exposure towards the personnel

5 A. Two examples of standards against which an individual can measure performances

are:
 Application of visible safety signs
 Maintaining a clean and a tidy work environment

.B. PPE should be worn in the context of social work under the following circumstances:

 Exposure to leak of harmful chemicals

 Exposure to infectious diseases

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6 A. Organisations may seek WHS advice if there is an absence of an individual with proper

workplace health and safety knowledge.

B. Four things that a WHS consultant can provide advice on are:

 Establishing safe workplace system

 Eliminating workplace hazards

 Eliminating safety risks for the workers to have a safe workplace

 Procuring samples of work environments for assessments

C. I would advise him to contact the following bodies to get in touch with a WHS consultant:

 Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists

 Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia Inc

 Safety Institute of Australia

7 A. PCBU stands for ‘persons conducting a business or undertaking.’ Some examples of

PCBUs are:

 Private, public and government organisations

 Companies and entrepreneurs

 Company directors

B. Key roles and requirements of PCBU’s are as follows:

Provision of a safe working space for its staff under the New WHS Act of 2011

Provision of adequate training to operate machinery to minimize risks associated with it

It is obligated to monitor the health conditions of its employees

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It is also legally obligated to assess and monitor their work environments periodically

They are obligated to keep up to date with the WHS policies to ensure a hazard free work

situation

8 A. The steps that I can take as an officer of the PCBU, to ensure due diligence in terms of

WHS policies, I can do the following:

 Establish a WHS committee and conduct regular meetings

 Review and act on unsafe work practices and policies

 Ensure clean communication between the management and the workforce.

B. Three examples of consultative workplace activities that can be developed in my place of

work are:

 Take regular rounds of the facility and assess the workplace

 Have informal conversation with the staff members

 Take surveys concerning their grievances in terms of working conditions

C. Taking regular rounds of the facility and assessing the workplace condition can help a

PCBU by generating awareness of any faults in the working conditions and can help in

preventing disasters.

9. 5 requirements of Section 48 of the Work Health and Safety Act are:

 Appropriate and relevant information in terms of health and safety is to be shared with

the workers.

 Proper opportunity is to be provided to the worker fraternity to express their concerns

on health and safety issues.

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 Workers are to be provided a significant voice in the decision making process

concerning their health and safety

 The views and concerns of the workers are not to be neglected

 Workers are provided advice prior to any sort of consultation

B. Organisations can encourage their workforce to contribute to the health and safety needs

of the workplace by:

 Seeking advice from them

 Encouraging them to report problems

 Asking them for suggestions in terms of health and safety

 Raising the concerns of the management with them

C. Three ways how organisations can monitor employee contribution are:

 Regular staff meetings

 Regular performance reviews and

 Regular written communications in the form of newsletters and e-mails

D. Benefits of communicating consultation outcomes with the workers are:

 Absence of miscommunication between the management and workers

 Better safety measures and working conditions

 Happy and a satisfied labor base

10. A. The five key components of consultation records that should be documented are:

 People who are involved

 Brief on safety matter

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 The decision undertaken

 The person who will undertake the action and when will it happen

 Completion of the action.

B. My workplace consists of heavy machinery and I always make sure that I do occasional

rounds of the area to ensure the proper functioning of all the machinery. It is a very crucial

activity towards prevention of hazards. While doing the rounds, I found that there were a few

machines that were giving off noises and therefore, I called in the workers and consulted with

them regarding the issue. They enlightened me that the sound may be coming off due to loose

screws in the machinery and was a potential hazard. Therefore, I immediately took action on

the same. The people involved were me and a few of the workers where the safety issue was

ill-functioning machines. I undertook the decision to fix it at the earliest. I called the assigned

engineer and had them fix it the very next day.

C. Three possible actions which an organisation can take in order to ensure responsibility and

accountability for health and safety breaches from the workforce are:

 Make the workers aware of their roles and responsibilities

 Applicable performance measure systems are to be implemented

 The rights and responsibilities of the workers should be documented

11 A. Five ways that an organisation can identify any WHS training requirements are:

 By developing a training matrix which aims towards identifying the WHS skills
needed for employees in relation to their job position

 By undertaking job safety analyses inclusive of training and competency in terms of

task

 By performing hazard risk assessments

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 By conducting timely WHS audits

 By reviewing applicable legislations

B. Three specific safety training requirements the organisation has to address are:

 First aid training

 Confined space entry training

 Hazardous substances training

C. The induction process for new staff in relation to WHS training are:

 Making them aware of the WHS policy

 Stating safety policies for them

 Educating them on how to report incidents, risk and hazards

 Providing them first aid facilities

 Issuing them PPE

12 A. Six instances where records might be needed to meet compliance requirements are:

 Policies

 Procedures

 Risk assessment forms

 Safe work method statements

 Inspection checklists

 Training matrix
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B. The main purpose of document control is to ensure quality record-keeping in a workplace.

Its basic purpose is to protect the value within the documents and to improve the worth of the

content for it to come to use for the ones requiring it for their work roles.

C. It is important to involve employees (workers) in the WHS policy development process as:

 They are the first people to be affected by the policy

 They might have fist hand experiences which may come across as insightful in policy

development

 Involving the workers in such a process increases their commitment towards the

organization.

D. Document register can help organisations to stay up to date with and inform all relevant

parties of legislative requirements as it is periodically updated and accessible.

E. Organisations can take the following steps to ensure that their current WHS reporting and

record keeping processes are compliant with legislative requirements:

 Copies of the legislation, regulations, codes of practice are to be kept

 Implementation of risk control measures are to be monitored

 Occasional review of risk management outcome is to be done

13.A Organisations should monitor the risk control measures they have in place to

appropriately determine of the measures applied are effective or not. It is also essential to

determine if implementation of such measures have given rise to new hazards.

B. WorkCover NSW
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C. Five instances where I might contact WHS regulator for advice are:

 To inspect the workplace and identify risks hazards and risks

 To provide advice on the implementation of policies

 To assess the present hazard

 To enforce laws and regulations

 To create an action plan for a significant risk

15. A. Four (4) ways that any potential barriers to improvement could be identified in the

workplace are:

 By running focus groups that are intended towards receiving feedbacks from the

workers

 By discussing barriers in an informal manner with the staff

 By observing the practices of the staff to check if the practices in regards to the

practices being taken up

 By holding periodic WHS meetings and distributing feedback and survey

questionnaires

B. Five potential barriers to improvement are:

 Negative attitude of workers towards the workplace

 Financial cost to improve the safety conditions in a workplace

 Issues such as high turnover rates among the staff members and the cost required to
train them
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 Burden in terms of administration relating to complying with legislative elements

 Undertaking inappropriate safety measures

C. Negative attitudes of workers may affect health and safety as they may not acknowledge

the safety measures being dictated to them. Plainly ignoring the same may have negative

results.

16. Organisations can monitor the effectiveness of their WHS plan by undertaking the

following:

 Incident data analysis- This allows an organisation to assess the incident and examine
the cause, the measures which protected further damage as well as the safety
procedures which failed to provide the desired result. Doing so will ensure to put
future security measures in place.

 Internal audit –This should be undertaken periodically as it examines the present

WHS system to rule out any deficiencies and adequately address the concerns.

 External audit- External audit is essential as it allows a legislation specific perspective

to monitor the WHS policies. Its main motive is to identify the strengths and
weaknesses of the implemented policies.
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References

Student Guide. CHC53315 DIPLOMA OF MENTAL HEALTH HLTWHS004 MANAGE

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY. Australian Learning Group.