Hltohs300a Activity 1 Answers
HLTOHS300A
CONTRIBUTE TO OHS PROCESSES
Assessment activity 1: Plan work in accordance with relevant provisions of OHS legislation, standards, codes of practice/compliance codes and guidance material
1. What is the aim of OHS legislations, regulations, and codes of practice?
The aim of OHS legislation is to simplify the requirements for a workplace to ensure it is safe and healthy. The legislation is the guidelines for the director of a company to make the codes of practice for their team to follow. Regulations provide a simplified approach to health and safety in all types of workplaces. Codes of practice provide the minimum standards for health and safety in a workplace and codes of practice provide direction on how standards of occupational …show more content…
health and safety can be accomplished.
2. What are the responsibilities of the following people with regard to ensuring that the appropriate health and safety needs of the work group are maintained?
The director of the community service organisation The director is responsible for ensuring both the manager and their workers are doing the right thing. The director overlooks the manager to ensure that they are providing the workers with information, instruction, training & supervision to ensure health and safety. The director also overlooks the workers as well to ensure that they are correctly performing their duties under the guidelines. The director works and observes from the state-wide requirements.
The manager The manager’s job is to ensure everything is up to the state-wide standards outlined in the OHS legislation. The manager must be aware of the codes of practice so that their workers follow it. The manager’s should also make themselves available to listen to all concerns, solutions and idea’s communicated by their workers about potential or existing hazards from becoming a further risk. Managers also make any final decisions when a member of the team brings forward an issue although if a hazard could become extremely hazardous or may cost a lot of money to fix, the director may need to be consulted and make the final decision.
The worker It is the responsibility of a worker to maintain the health and safety practices in place and work in a way to ensure that they do not endanger theirs or other’s health, safety and welfare. Workers must use any personal protective equipment in the appropriate way and comply with reasonable instruction given by their directors or supervisors for workplace health and safety at the workplace. Workers must also ensure that they are not under the effects of any illegal or inappropriate substances, that they are aware of all updated and current OHS information and legislation requirements and report any incidents, illnesses or potential hazards as per appropriate procedures.
3. From what sources can you access, accurate OHS information?
• State and Federal Government OHS Informational Websites
• Handbooks given to you by your employer
• Information hung around the workplace
• Workplace Health and Safety Legislation (Act, Regulations and Codes of Practice)
• Your manager or OHS representative
Assessment Activity 2: Identify hazards as part of work planning and work process
1. What is a hazard?
A hazard is any substance, material, source, condition or process that has any potential risk that can cause harm or danger to a person’s health or endanger someone’s welfare or safety.
2. What is risk assessment and why are risk assessments necessary?
A risk assessment is the process in which hazards are assessed for health and safety risks that will have an impact of staff, children in care or visitors. Risk assessments are necessary in order to maintain a safe working environment for all workers and persons that enter the workplace and environment. It is to make sure everyone goes home safely.
Assessment Activity 3: Address identified hazards prior to starting work using judgement within defined scope of responsibilities and report residual risk according to organisation’s procedures
1. How can results of hazard assessments be communicated to employees?
With a clear policy and work place process and workflow design with correct and current information regarding the implemented changes, procedures, applications and workflow methods.
2. What things would you need to measure, evaluate and assess prior to implementing changes in the workplaces?
• That the changes will minimise the risk of incident, injury or illness,
• The changes will not adversely affect other activities or processes,
• The changes will not increase the risk of incident, injury or illness.
3. What actions would you take to ensure that safety is not compromised by these changes?
• Controls and procedures are to be implemented and communicated to all personnel associated with the hazard,
• Controls need to be monitored
Assessment Activity 4: Report incidents and injuries in line with organisation’s policies and procedures
1. Why is it necessary to have effective accident and incident reporting procedures that are understood by all employees?
It is mandatory under Workplace Healthy and Safety regulations to have incident and accident reporting procedures that can be comprehendible by all employees because an accident can happen anywhere at any time in the workplace and be witnessed by staff from any type of team level. If members do not have a proper understanding, it would not be very effective to have a procedure in place where you need an employed witness to answer complex questions about what happened in the case of an incident/accident. Especially if the incident/accident leads to a legal battle, the incident report forms would be used as evidence so they need to be filled out as accurately detailed as possible. If the procedure is made simple and easy to understand, in the case of any accident/incident reporting, it is more likely that it will be accurate.
2. Why is it necessary to have effective record-keeping systems in place?
• To support the introduction of new processes,
• To support organisation responsibilities to Workplace Health and Safety,
• As evidence in workers compensation or litigation,
• It is mandatory under Workplace Health and Safety regulations.
Assessment Activity 5: Undertake OHS housekeeping in work area
Why is housekeeping important?
• To prevent the workplace from becoming a OHS hazard,
• To keep the workplace equipment and resources in correct places and in working condition,
• To keep the working environment clean and hygienic.
Assessment Activity 6: Maintain and update own knowledge of OHS issues as they apply to workplace systems, equipment and processes
How do you ensure integrity (validity) of information?
Check for the latest copies (amendments) of legislation information pertaining to Health and Safety from:
Workplace Health and Safety (QLD
NOHSC
Standards Australia
Q-Comp
Work Cover
Ensure that information from other sources is reliable, valid, relevant, consistent, correct, sufficient and current.
Assessment Activity 7: Manage own levels of stress and fatigue to ensure ability to work safely
How can you determine the levels of stress in an organisation and the likelihood that it will be a casual factor in injury and disease and why consider it at all?
Considering stress in a working environment is the responsibility of employers, upper and middle management to ensure the workplace is as stress free as possible. Stress in a workplace is an important factor in employee performance and by evaluating employee performance for feedback; all those responsible can succeed in bringing the levels down to a safe level. Assessing records related to complaints, grievances, absenteeism, dissatisfaction and productivity can provide information to help understanding the stress in which is placed on all workers in the organisation. As can conducting employee satisfaction surveys, observing worker relationships and job satisfaction, analysing statistics of incidents and illnesses to identify related patterns. By understanding what may be stress factors, all those involved can then implement control strategies to limit excessive stress in a workplace.
Assessment Activity 8: Share information on safe work practices and work procedures with members of the work group
In what ways can OHS information be shared in the workplace?
• Posters
• Regular Staff meetings regarding discussions about OHS around the organisation
• Notices
• Information booklets
• Up-to date policies
Assessment Activity 9: Check the OHS practices of less experience members of the work group
1. If a new employee in your organisation had an accident, causing injury, in the first week of employment, what circumstances do you think would be investigated?
• Whether that employee has been given all the correct resources
• Whether their induction was carried out
• Whether the more experienced employees are supervising less experienced employees correctly
2. What do you think it means, in terms of work practice and activities, that duty of care extends beyond your workplace and worksite to include the community and the environment?
• That the surrounding community is not being effected by noise pollution
• That your organisation is disposing of waste correctly
• That your organisation is not polluting the environment with harmful chemicals
• That your organisation is keeping an environmental impact to a safe level
• That your organisation is not having an adverse effect on the community
Assessment Activity 10: Provide guidance and coaching to less experienced members of the work group to support them in
Your team is concerned that they have insufficient knowledge/ understating of safety procedures and legislative requirements in your workplace. They also feel that the incidence of accidents in your section is higher than it should be. They have asked you to submit, to senior management, a proposal for a formal OHS training program. What information would you include in the proposal and how would you encourage senior management to support this initiative? What procedures would you follow in gathering data and information to support your proposal? How likely is it that this, or a similar proposal, would be accepted in your workplace?
I would start my proposal with, “The team in our section feel that we need improvements. After a group discussion, we have come up with a solution to better our safety competency” to show the amount of concern and stress the situation is putting on our team. The information I would include in the proposal would be the statistics of the amount of injuries, incidents and accidents in my section compared to other sections within the organisation and the severity of the injuries that have occurred and scenarios that have happened in the workplace as a result of insufficient training. I would further discuss training programs available for our specific type of work, and also OHS programs available. I would mention that mentoring systems where more experienced staff members supervise the less experienced staff members have proven to be effective in other organisations and show our eagerness by mentioning that our team is more than willing to complete formal training outside of work hours so it does not conflict with work time or process. The information provided in my proposal would show I had initiative as it contains research and would need to have been covered before they invested in anything, it also saves them time. The procedure I would follow would be legally collecting the data, statistic and information so I do not breach any privacy concerns. The included statistics and collected information would also help with the reliability of my proposal. I strongly believe that the proposal would be accepted given the effort I had gone to for collecting my research and information. It shows how much of a concern it is to our team and how willing we are to bring up our safety competency to an appropriate level.
Assessment Activity 11: Support members of the work group to accurately record incidents and complete associated workplace documentation according to organisation’s procedures
Why must all workplace accidents and incidents be reported promptly, clearly and accurately?
So that legally, the organisations system is faultless in case of any legal matters, work cover claims or auditing and the organisation can implement procedures to prevent occurrence where available.
Assessment Activity 12: Raise OHS issues in accordance with organisation’s procedures
During participatory processes, a group of employees identify a number of issues that have not previously been taken into consideration. These issues are of concern to the employees and should, they believe, be acted upon. What procedures should management follow to handle such previously unidentified issues and what procedures should they follow to provide feedback to employees about their contribution?
Firstly, all concerns brought to management should be taken seriously and always acted upon promptly. Management should go through a series of risk/hazard assessments to identify the issues and then further implement correct control and procedures. They need to support employees with correct training and provide them with any updated information, policies and workflow designs.
Assessment Activity 13: Contribute to workplace meetings, workplace inspections or other consultative activities in a constructive manner to improve safety
Why should employees be encouraged to participate in meetings and other workplace activities that will improve safety?
It is important that all employees in an organisation are able to participate in discussions about health and safety around the workplace; further adding input to help improve their own working conditions and safety. It is an important aspect in an organisation that employees or anyone who may be affected.
Assessment Activity 14: Provide assistance to work group members to contribute to workplace safety
How valuable do you think it is to formally recognise employee contribution to OHS and to provide incentives for compliance? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
I believe it is extremely important to recognise employee contributions to OHS and also their compliance with the rules set. Anything we do as an individual or a team has a shortcut and may not be the safest or of the best quality. However, as it can cut down the time and overall be easier for them in the long run, it can be difficult for a worker to resist taking a shortcut. Gratifying employees with incentives for carrying out their work in a safe way and following correct OHS legislation is not only beneficial but it shows them that management appreciates that they carrying their work out safely and according to procedures, legislations and codes of practice. As some employees may see an unappreciative manager as accepting their shortcuts, they may continue to do their work unsafely which may not only impact the organisation and workers but the surrounding environment as well. This could lead to unnecessary pollution and an irreversible impact. Workers are also more likely to take ownership if they are involved in the decision making process.
The disadvantages that could come from an incentive program are that employees may become competitive and it may affect their ability to work. If the incentive was overly tempting, employees may begin to turn against each other and no longer work as a team.
Assessment Activity 15: Apply knowledge of roles and responsibilities of OHS representatives and OHS committees
What are the responsibilities of OHS committees or representatives?
An OHS representative is an individual elected by the workers who serves almost the same type of purpose as an OHS committee, though the representative investigates workers complaints about OHS, conducts workplace inspections and speaks to employers to encourage improvements in OHS areas. The elected representative;
• Negotiate on behalf of the employees to improve working conditions
• Resolve concerns/issues related to the working environment or workplace practice
• Provide the workers with results and outcomes.
An OHS committee is involved in the planning and implementation of safety programs/procedures and in the assessment and evaluation of workplace hazards/risks. An OHS committee’s role is to ensure, through constant cooperation and contact with management that all OHS requirements are met. The OHS committee;
• Talk with employees and pursue feedback about whether the committee’s previous activities were operational in helping health and safety issues
• Deal with health and safety issues that can only be resolved by upper management.
• Keep accurate records
• Represent the workers interest
• Encourage them to report any workplace issues.
Assessment Activity 16: Report identified hazard and inadequacies in risk controls, check the workplace for hazards using itemised checklist/s in accordance with work procedures and contribute to risk assessments
1. Why is it necessary to assess risk in terms of likelihood and severity?
It is necessary to assess risks in terms of the likelihood and severity as it will help to determine what controls to take and how fast to implement the control.
2. Why is it necessary to assess current risk controls?
By assessing current risk controls, OHS can determine if the control measures have or will become ineffective and if they need improvements.
Assessment Activity 17: Provide input to development and implementation of control measures, with reference to the hierarchy of control
How do you think employees can be encouraged to actively contribute to the development and implementation of control measures?
I believe that employees can actively contribute to the development and implementation of control measures by constantly assessing their own working surroundings, presentation, behaviour and the equipment they work with. They can be encouraged with regular meetings to update them with working conditions, a hazard/risk book that they can write in and add their concerns and by being notified of ongoing changes as controls measures are being implemented. If employees have been provided with enough information to understand the types of risks and hazards they work with every day, then they can actively contribute their own ideas about how hazards/risks can be controlled and behave according to procedures and regulations to reduce risks.
Assessment Activity 18: Identify emergency signals and alarms, respond to them, take initial action to control/ confine emergency, taking into account the nature and scope of the emergency and implement emergency response procedures within scope of training and competence
1. Why are regular fire drills necessary?
It is necessary to provide all the occupants in the organisation with regular fire drills so that they are aware of the evacuation plan and have had enough practice in moving safely and promptly to the nearest exit and to the designated area in accordance to the organisations evacuation policy.
2. What questions should you ask if someone tried to tell you there is a bomb on the property?
• Where is the bomb?
• What does the bomb look like?
• What kind of bomb is it?
• How is the bomb fused?
• Why are you doing this?
• Who are you?
• What organisation do you represent?
3. What are 2 other OHS emergency situations you might encounter in a community service workplace? Explain how each situation should be handled.
Occupational Violence is a situation where employees or customers are verbally, psychologically, physically attacked or threatened in the workplace either from other workers, other customers, people associated with the business or from management. To handle an occupational violence situation, everyone would need to stay calm to prevent the aggressor’s behaviour from worsening. Employees should alert the supervisor or the manager. If the situation cannot be resolved quickly, the police will need to be called.
Chemical Spills is a situation where chemicals have been spilled and are at risk of exposing them to employees or customers. The exposure can be caused by routine work duties going awry, working unsafely or by accidental chemical releases. The effects of chemical exposure can also be short-term or short-term, based on the duration, amount of exposure and toxicity of the exposure.
All employees should be previously trained or informed as to how to handle a chemical spill in the workplace. All workers around the location should be informed of the spill and wear the appropriate protective gear. If the correct products to clean up the spill is available (i.e. absorbents, disinfectants, buckets, gloves etc) available workers in the vicinity should start immediately cleaning the spill up and management should be alerted.
4. What action should be taken if you or another staff member became aware of a potential hazard that had not previously been identified? Explain the step by step procedures that should be followed.
If a member of staff becomes aware of a potential hazard that has not previously been identified, they should alert management or the OHS representative and inform the staff of the potential hazard so that they are aware of it until the controls can implemented.
Assessment Tool 2:
1. Describe the basic objective/purpose of the OHS legislation.
That a work place is safe at all times and that everyone goes home safely.
2. Define the duties of employees under the Act.
Their duty is to ensure that their behaviour is not placing themselves or anyone else in danger.
3. Briefly explain the duty of care concept?
It is the legal responsibility of a worker to maintain the health and safety practices in place and work in a way to ensure that they do not endanger theirs or other’s health, safety and welfare.
4. How can staff be advised of the emergency procedures they should follow?
With regular practices of those emergency procedures (e.g. Fire Drills) so that they can change and update the emergency procedures until they are in safe working order and appropriate.
5. Explain the concept of a hierarchy of control measures?
1. Elimination- Eliminate a hazard, you completely eliminate the associated risk.
2. Substitution- Substitute a substance or a process with one the has less potential to cause injury.
3. Engineering- Make a structural change to the work environment or work process to interrupt the path between the work and the risk
4. Administration- Reduce risk by upgrading training, changing rosters, rest breaks or other administrative
actions.
5. PPE- As a last resort, when you can’t reduce the risk of injury in any other way, use personal protective equipment.
6. List 4 factors you should take into account in the risk assessment?
• Identify the risks
• Analyse the risks
• Evaluate the risks,
• Implement controls them to stop people from being hurt.
7. Why are hazard assessment and safety audits necessary?
By assessing the risk associated with a hazard, you can then determine the controls to put in place to minimise the effects of the hazard. Safety Audits are necessary tools that are utilised to evaluate the operations, procedures and process to discover existing and potential hazards and the controls required.
8. Explain the safety signs
Safety signs are set around a centre to remind people when to use PPE (e.g. Gloves), how to use something (e.g. Air-conditioning) and to remind workers to do certain things that are required (e.g. Washing your hands after the use of something or after bathroom use).
Assessment 3…
1. A group of new staff have been recently employed and inducted. You have been asked to conduct an OHS training session for these people. Some of the OHS information they require should have been communicated to them at the induction. What OHS information should be included in the induction process for new employees? Make a list. What other OHS information would you cover in a training session for new employees?
• Where the emergency procedures are placed or shown
• Where the evacuation plans are
• Where everyone will assemble in the case of an emergency
• What procedures are followed and where they are kept
• Where the safety signs are located
• Where all the fire extinguishers are placed
• First Aid kits
• Any particular
• What PPE is required and where it is kept
• Where hazardous areas and chemicals are kept
• How to report incidents
• Who the first aid officers are
• Location of toilets
• Where the Material Safety Data Sheets are kept for any hazardous substances
• Who the fire warden in the organisation is
2. What procedures should be followed if it was determined that current controls were no longer effective or that changes to workplace procedures would make the controls ineffective?
Change the control management procedures and communicate with the staff
3. Why is it necessary to keep accurate OHS record in the workplace?
The company uses them to identify trends and keeps them as evidence for future legal matters that may occur.
CONTRIBUTE TO OHS PROCESSES
Assessment activity 1: Plan work in accordance with relevant provisions of OHS legislation, standards, codes of practice/compliance codes and guidance material
1. What is the aim of OHS legislations, regulations, and codes of practice?
The aim of OHS legislation is to simplify the requirements for a workplace to ensure it is safe and healthy. The legislation is the guidelines for the director of a company to make the codes of practice for their team to follow. Regulations provide a simplified approach to health and safety in all types of workplaces. Codes of practice provide the minimum standards for health and safety in a workplace and codes of practice provide direction on how standards of occupational …show more content…
health and safety can be accomplished.
2. What are the responsibilities of the following people with regard to ensuring that the appropriate health and safety needs of the work group are maintained?
The director of the community service organisation The director is responsible for ensuring both the manager and their workers are doing the right thing. The director overlooks the manager to ensure that they are providing the workers with information, instruction, training & supervision to ensure health and safety. The director also overlooks the workers as well to ensure that they are correctly performing their duties under the guidelines. The director works and observes from the state-wide requirements.
The manager The manager’s job is to ensure everything is up to the state-wide standards outlined in the OHS legislation. The manager must be aware of the codes of practice so that their workers follow it. The manager’s should also make themselves available to listen to all concerns, solutions and idea’s communicated by their workers about potential or existing hazards from becoming a further risk. Managers also make any final decisions when a member of the team brings forward an issue although if a hazard could become extremely hazardous or may cost a lot of money to fix, the director may need to be consulted and make the final decision.
The worker It is the responsibility of a worker to maintain the health and safety practices in place and work in a way to ensure that they do not endanger theirs or other’s health, safety and welfare. Workers must use any personal protective equipment in the appropriate way and comply with reasonable instruction given by their directors or supervisors for workplace health and safety at the workplace. Workers must also ensure that they are not under the effects of any illegal or inappropriate substances, that they are aware of all updated and current OHS information and legislation requirements and report any incidents, illnesses or potential hazards as per appropriate procedures.
3. From what sources can you access, accurate OHS information?
• State and Federal Government OHS Informational Websites
• Handbooks given to you by your employer
• Information hung around the workplace
• Workplace Health and Safety Legislation (Act, Regulations and Codes of Practice)
• Your manager or OHS representative
Assessment Activity 2: Identify hazards as part of work planning and work process
1. What is a hazard?
A hazard is any substance, material, source, condition or process that has any potential risk that can cause harm or danger to a person’s health or endanger someone’s welfare or safety.
2. What is risk assessment and why are risk assessments necessary?
A risk assessment is the process in which hazards are assessed for health and safety risks that will have an impact of staff, children in care or visitors. Risk assessments are necessary in order to maintain a safe working environment for all workers and persons that enter the workplace and environment. It is to make sure everyone goes home safely.
Assessment Activity 3: Address identified hazards prior to starting work using judgement within defined scope of responsibilities and report residual risk according to organisation’s procedures
1. How can results of hazard assessments be communicated to employees?
With a clear policy and work place process and workflow design with correct and current information regarding the implemented changes, procedures, applications and workflow methods.
2. What things would you need to measure, evaluate and assess prior to implementing changes in the workplaces?
• That the changes will minimise the risk of incident, injury or illness,
• The changes will not adversely affect other activities or processes,
• The changes will not increase the risk of incident, injury or illness.
3. What actions would you take to ensure that safety is not compromised by these changes?
• Controls and procedures are to be implemented and communicated to all personnel associated with the hazard,
• Controls need to be monitored
Assessment Activity 4: Report incidents and injuries in line with organisation’s policies and procedures
1. Why is it necessary to have effective accident and incident reporting procedures that are understood by all employees?
It is mandatory under Workplace Healthy and Safety regulations to have incident and accident reporting procedures that can be comprehendible by all employees because an accident can happen anywhere at any time in the workplace and be witnessed by staff from any type of team level. If members do not have a proper understanding, it would not be very effective to have a procedure in place where you need an employed witness to answer complex questions about what happened in the case of an incident/accident. Especially if the incident/accident leads to a legal battle, the incident report forms would be used as evidence so they need to be filled out as accurately detailed as possible. If the procedure is made simple and easy to understand, in the case of any accident/incident reporting, it is more likely that it will be accurate.
2. Why is it necessary to have effective record-keeping systems in place?
• To support the introduction of new processes,
• To support organisation responsibilities to Workplace Health and Safety,
• As evidence in workers compensation or litigation,
• It is mandatory under Workplace Health and Safety regulations.
Assessment Activity 5: Undertake OHS housekeeping in work area
Why is housekeeping important?
• To prevent the workplace from becoming a OHS hazard,
• To keep the workplace equipment and resources in correct places and in working condition,
• To keep the working environment clean and hygienic.
Assessment Activity 6: Maintain and update own knowledge of OHS issues as they apply to workplace systems, equipment and processes
How do you ensure integrity (validity) of information?
Check for the latest copies (amendments) of legislation information pertaining to Health and Safety from:
Workplace Health and Safety (QLD
NOHSC
Standards Australia
Q-Comp
Work Cover
Ensure that information from other sources is reliable, valid, relevant, consistent, correct, sufficient and current.
Assessment Activity 7: Manage own levels of stress and fatigue to ensure ability to work safely
How can you determine the levels of stress in an organisation and the likelihood that it will be a casual factor in injury and disease and why consider it at all?
Considering stress in a working environment is the responsibility of employers, upper and middle management to ensure the workplace is as stress free as possible. Stress in a workplace is an important factor in employee performance and by evaluating employee performance for feedback; all those responsible can succeed in bringing the levels down to a safe level. Assessing records related to complaints, grievances, absenteeism, dissatisfaction and productivity can provide information to help understanding the stress in which is placed on all workers in the organisation. As can conducting employee satisfaction surveys, observing worker relationships and job satisfaction, analysing statistics of incidents and illnesses to identify related patterns. By understanding what may be stress factors, all those involved can then implement control strategies to limit excessive stress in a workplace.
Assessment Activity 8: Share information on safe work practices and work procedures with members of the work group
In what ways can OHS information be shared in the workplace?
• Posters
• Regular Staff meetings regarding discussions about OHS around the organisation
• Notices
• Information booklets
• Up-to date policies
Assessment Activity 9: Check the OHS practices of less experience members of the work group
1. If a new employee in your organisation had an accident, causing injury, in the first week of employment, what circumstances do you think would be investigated?
• Whether that employee has been given all the correct resources
• Whether their induction was carried out
• Whether the more experienced employees are supervising less experienced employees correctly
2. What do you think it means, in terms of work practice and activities, that duty of care extends beyond your workplace and worksite to include the community and the environment?
• That the surrounding community is not being effected by noise pollution
• That your organisation is disposing of waste correctly
• That your organisation is not polluting the environment with harmful chemicals
• That your organisation is keeping an environmental impact to a safe level
• That your organisation is not having an adverse effect on the community
Assessment Activity 10: Provide guidance and coaching to less experienced members of the work group to support them in
Your team is concerned that they have insufficient knowledge/ understating of safety procedures and legislative requirements in your workplace. They also feel that the incidence of accidents in your section is higher than it should be. They have asked you to submit, to senior management, a proposal for a formal OHS training program. What information would you include in the proposal and how would you encourage senior management to support this initiative? What procedures would you follow in gathering data and information to support your proposal? How likely is it that this, or a similar proposal, would be accepted in your workplace?
I would start my proposal with, “The team in our section feel that we need improvements. After a group discussion, we have come up with a solution to better our safety competency” to show the amount of concern and stress the situation is putting on our team. The information I would include in the proposal would be the statistics of the amount of injuries, incidents and accidents in my section compared to other sections within the organisation and the severity of the injuries that have occurred and scenarios that have happened in the workplace as a result of insufficient training. I would further discuss training programs available for our specific type of work, and also OHS programs available. I would mention that mentoring systems where more experienced staff members supervise the less experienced staff members have proven to be effective in other organisations and show our eagerness by mentioning that our team is more than willing to complete formal training outside of work hours so it does not conflict with work time or process. The information provided in my proposal would show I had initiative as it contains research and would need to have been covered before they invested in anything, it also saves them time. The procedure I would follow would be legally collecting the data, statistic and information so I do not breach any privacy concerns. The included statistics and collected information would also help with the reliability of my proposal. I strongly believe that the proposal would be accepted given the effort I had gone to for collecting my research and information. It shows how much of a concern it is to our team and how willing we are to bring up our safety competency to an appropriate level.
Assessment Activity 11: Support members of the work group to accurately record incidents and complete associated workplace documentation according to organisation’s procedures
Why must all workplace accidents and incidents be reported promptly, clearly and accurately?
So that legally, the organisations system is faultless in case of any legal matters, work cover claims or auditing and the organisation can implement procedures to prevent occurrence where available.
Assessment Activity 12: Raise OHS issues in accordance with organisation’s procedures
During participatory processes, a group of employees identify a number of issues that have not previously been taken into consideration. These issues are of concern to the employees and should, they believe, be acted upon. What procedures should management follow to handle such previously unidentified issues and what procedures should they follow to provide feedback to employees about their contribution?
Firstly, all concerns brought to management should be taken seriously and always acted upon promptly. Management should go through a series of risk/hazard assessments to identify the issues and then further implement correct control and procedures. They need to support employees with correct training and provide them with any updated information, policies and workflow designs.
Assessment Activity 13: Contribute to workplace meetings, workplace inspections or other consultative activities in a constructive manner to improve safety
Why should employees be encouraged to participate in meetings and other workplace activities that will improve safety?
It is important that all employees in an organisation are able to participate in discussions about health and safety around the workplace; further adding input to help improve their own working conditions and safety. It is an important aspect in an organisation that employees or anyone who may be affected.
Assessment Activity 14: Provide assistance to work group members to contribute to workplace safety
How valuable do you think it is to formally recognise employee contribution to OHS and to provide incentives for compliance? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages.
I believe it is extremely important to recognise employee contributions to OHS and also their compliance with the rules set. Anything we do as an individual or a team has a shortcut and may not be the safest or of the best quality. However, as it can cut down the time and overall be easier for them in the long run, it can be difficult for a worker to resist taking a shortcut. Gratifying employees with incentives for carrying out their work in a safe way and following correct OHS legislation is not only beneficial but it shows them that management appreciates that they carrying their work out safely and according to procedures, legislations and codes of practice. As some employees may see an unappreciative manager as accepting their shortcuts, they may continue to do their work unsafely which may not only impact the organisation and workers but the surrounding environment as well. This could lead to unnecessary pollution and an irreversible impact. Workers are also more likely to take ownership if they are involved in the decision making process.
The disadvantages that could come from an incentive program are that employees may become competitive and it may affect their ability to work. If the incentive was overly tempting, employees may begin to turn against each other and no longer work as a team.
Assessment Activity 15: Apply knowledge of roles and responsibilities of OHS representatives and OHS committees
What are the responsibilities of OHS committees or representatives?
An OHS representative is an individual elected by the workers who serves almost the same type of purpose as an OHS committee, though the representative investigates workers complaints about OHS, conducts workplace inspections and speaks to employers to encourage improvements in OHS areas. The elected representative;
• Negotiate on behalf of the employees to improve working conditions
• Resolve concerns/issues related to the working environment or workplace practice
• Provide the workers with results and outcomes.
An OHS committee is involved in the planning and implementation of safety programs/procedures and in the assessment and evaluation of workplace hazards/risks. An OHS committee’s role is to ensure, through constant cooperation and contact with management that all OHS requirements are met. The OHS committee;
• Talk with employees and pursue feedback about whether the committee’s previous activities were operational in helping health and safety issues
• Deal with health and safety issues that can only be resolved by upper management.
• Keep accurate records
• Represent the workers interest
• Encourage them to report any workplace issues.
Assessment Activity 16: Report identified hazard and inadequacies in risk controls, check the workplace for hazards using itemised checklist/s in accordance with work procedures and contribute to risk assessments
1. Why is it necessary to assess risk in terms of likelihood and severity?
It is necessary to assess risks in terms of the likelihood and severity as it will help to determine what controls to take and how fast to implement the control.
2. Why is it necessary to assess current risk controls?
By assessing current risk controls, OHS can determine if the control measures have or will become ineffective and if they need improvements.
Assessment Activity 17: Provide input to development and implementation of control measures, with reference to the hierarchy of control
How do you think employees can be encouraged to actively contribute to the development and implementation of control measures?
I believe that employees can actively contribute to the development and implementation of control measures by constantly assessing their own working surroundings, presentation, behaviour and the equipment they work with. They can be encouraged with regular meetings to update them with working conditions, a hazard/risk book that they can write in and add their concerns and by being notified of ongoing changes as controls measures are being implemented. If employees have been provided with enough information to understand the types of risks and hazards they work with every day, then they can actively contribute their own ideas about how hazards/risks can be controlled and behave according to procedures and regulations to reduce risks.
Assessment Activity 18: Identify emergency signals and alarms, respond to them, take initial action to control/ confine emergency, taking into account the nature and scope of the emergency and implement emergency response procedures within scope of training and competence
1. Why are regular fire drills necessary?
It is necessary to provide all the occupants in the organisation with regular fire drills so that they are aware of the evacuation plan and have had enough practice in moving safely and promptly to the nearest exit and to the designated area in accordance to the organisations evacuation policy.
2. What questions should you ask if someone tried to tell you there is a bomb on the property?
• Where is the bomb?
• What does the bomb look like?
• What kind of bomb is it?
• How is the bomb fused?
• Why are you doing this?
• Who are you?
• What organisation do you represent?
3. What are 2 other OHS emergency situations you might encounter in a community service workplace? Explain how each situation should be handled.
Occupational Violence is a situation where employees or customers are verbally, psychologically, physically attacked or threatened in the workplace either from other workers, other customers, people associated with the business or from management. To handle an occupational violence situation, everyone would need to stay calm to prevent the aggressor’s behaviour from worsening. Employees should alert the supervisor or the manager. If the situation cannot be resolved quickly, the police will need to be called.
Chemical Spills is a situation where chemicals have been spilled and are at risk of exposing them to employees or customers. The exposure can be caused by routine work duties going awry, working unsafely or by accidental chemical releases. The effects of chemical exposure can also be short-term or short-term, based on the duration, amount of exposure and toxicity of the exposure.
All employees should be previously trained or informed as to how to handle a chemical spill in the workplace. All workers around the location should be informed of the spill and wear the appropriate protective gear. If the correct products to clean up the spill is available (i.e. absorbents, disinfectants, buckets, gloves etc) available workers in the vicinity should start immediately cleaning the spill up and management should be alerted.
4. What action should be taken if you or another staff member became aware of a potential hazard that had not previously been identified? Explain the step by step procedures that should be followed.
If a member of staff becomes aware of a potential hazard that has not previously been identified, they should alert management or the OHS representative and inform the staff of the potential hazard so that they are aware of it until the controls can implemented.
Assessment Tool 2:
1. Describe the basic objective/purpose of the OHS legislation.
That a work place is safe at all times and that everyone goes home safely.
2. Define the duties of employees under the Act.
Their duty is to ensure that their behaviour is not placing themselves or anyone else in danger.
3. Briefly explain the duty of care concept?
It is the legal responsibility of a worker to maintain the health and safety practices in place and work in a way to ensure that they do not endanger theirs or other’s health, safety and welfare.
4. How can staff be advised of the emergency procedures they should follow?
With regular practices of those emergency procedures (e.g. Fire Drills) so that they can change and update the emergency procedures until they are in safe working order and appropriate.
5. Explain the concept of a hierarchy of control measures?
1. Elimination- Eliminate a hazard, you completely eliminate the associated risk.
2. Substitution- Substitute a substance or a process with one the has less potential to cause injury.
3. Engineering- Make a structural change to the work environment or work process to interrupt the path between the work and the risk
4. Administration- Reduce risk by upgrading training, changing rosters, rest breaks or other administrative
actions.
5. PPE- As a last resort, when you can’t reduce the risk of injury in any other way, use personal protective equipment.
6. List 4 factors you should take into account in the risk assessment?
• Identify the risks
• Analyse the risks
• Evaluate the risks,
• Implement controls them to stop people from being hurt.
7. Why are hazard assessment and safety audits necessary?
By assessing the risk associated with a hazard, you can then determine the controls to put in place to minimise the effects of the hazard. Safety Audits are necessary tools that are utilised to evaluate the operations, procedures and process to discover existing and potential hazards and the controls required.
8. Explain the safety signs
Safety signs are set around a centre to remind people when to use PPE (e.g. Gloves), how to use something (e.g. Air-conditioning) and to remind workers to do certain things that are required (e.g. Washing your hands after the use of something or after bathroom use).
Assessment 3…
1. A group of new staff have been recently employed and inducted. You have been asked to conduct an OHS training session for these people. Some of the OHS information they require should have been communicated to them at the induction. What OHS information should be included in the induction process for new employees? Make a list. What other OHS information would you cover in a training session for new employees?
• Where the emergency procedures are placed or shown
• Where the evacuation plans are
• Where everyone will assemble in the case of an emergency
• What procedures are followed and where they are kept
• Where the safety signs are located
• Where all the fire extinguishers are placed
• First Aid kits
• Any particular
• What PPE is required and where it is kept
• Where hazardous areas and chemicals are kept
• How to report incidents
• Who the first aid officers are
• Location of toilets
• Where the Material Safety Data Sheets are kept for any hazardous substances
• Who the fire warden in the organisation is
2. What procedures should be followed if it was determined that current controls were no longer effective or that changes to workplace procedures would make the controls ineffective?
Change the control management procedures and communicate with the staff
3. Why is it necessary to keep accurate OHS record in the workplace?
The company uses them to identify trends and keeps them as evidence for future legal matters that may occur.