Discuss about the Ensure Safety in Workplace for Small Firms.
A safe and healthy working environment is crucial for the success of business in terms of retaining staff members and maximizes the productivity. Although the process of implementation of safe practices is a bit expensive, the effect of not implementing the practices can be severe. Workplace health and safety is essential for the public, customers and employees and knowing the WHS laws can be beneficial in this regard. The WHS obligations state that the employees should be provided safe premises, safe materials and machinery, safe working systems, suitable facilities and working environment and workers compensation and insurance for the employees. Complying with these obligations can help to retain the skilled staff members and prevent prosecutions and fines. This is an audit report of the Bolt and Catch Pty Ltd and consists of the observations and recommendations of a WHS audit conducted at the working premises by the production manager.
Under Section 17 of the WHS Act, the persons, upon whom duties have been imposed by this Act, are required to ensure health and safety in the workplace by eliminating or minimizing the risks to health and safety of the persons at the workplace. (Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 2016).
Duties will be imposed upon persons under this Act who conduct a business or an undertaking if:
On Inspection, it was found that some of the employees were not wearing protective equipments and some of the new machines did not have guarding around the stamping press. Hence, we may conclude that their employers exposed the workers to risks and that they have breached section 17 of the WHS Act. As per the Act, if employers fail to take proper care of their workers while they are at work then they may have to pay penalties and fines. In this case, since the employer has failed to comply with the requirements of the Act involving the highest level of seriousness and culpability he may be held liable for category 1 offence paying a fine of 3 million dollars.
Section 18 of this Act lays down the meaning of ‘reasonably practicable’. To decide what is reasonably practicable the following matters need to be weighed and considered:
Hazard: The term ‘hazard’ is referred to a situation or a thing which has the potential to cause harm to a person. The following may be included within ‘hazard at workplace’:
Risk: The term ‘risk’ is referred to the possibility that harm, such as injury, illness or death, might occur when a person is exposed to a hazard.
Risk control: The term ‘risk control’ refers to the taking action of eliminating risks related to health and safety and, if eradication of such risks is not possible, to the minimisation of such risk. The elimination of a hazard includes the elimination of any risk which is associated with the hazard.
Section 47 of this Act imposes a duty upon the persons who conduct business or an undertaking to consult with the workers who may be directly affected matter relating to health and safety. If some procedures have been agreed upon between the workers and the persons conducting the business, then, those procedures are to be followed in consultation. The penalty imposed for non-compliance with this duty is $100 000 (if a body corporate disobeys such duty) and $20 000 (if an individual disobeys such duty)
Section 48 provides for the sharing of all relevant information about the health and safety matter with the workers. The workers are required to be given a reasonable opportunity for raising issues, expressing their views relating to the matter and for contributing to the process of decision making with respect to the matter. The workers’ views are required to be considered and taken into account by the persons who are responsible for conducting the undertaking or business. The workers, with whom the consultation process has been carried on, are also required to be advised of the consultation’s outcome on time. If there is a representative of the workers relating to their health and safety matters, then such representative is required to be involved in the consultation.
Section 46 requires coordination and cooperation of activities between all the duty holders who have a duty relating to health and safety on the same matter. The penalty imposed for non-compliance with this duty is $100 000 (if a body corporate disobeys such duty) and $20 000 (if an individual disobeys such duty).
In the instant case, the persons conducting the business have failed to ensure health and safety of the workers, Firstly; in the Press Room some employees were not wearing any safety equipment. The pressroom was extremely noisy and the employees operating the Chinese presses were devoid of any protective equipment and the new machines did not have any guarding, which clearly indicates that the persons conducting the business have not taken adequate steps to protect the employees from risk. Secondly, the persons conducting the business also failed to protect the employees from risk caused by the forklift drivers.
Thus, a violation of Section 17 has been caused by the duty holders under this Act and they are liable under Sections 46, 47 and 48.
Identification of hazards
To identify hazards in the workplace, things and situations should be found which are harmful. The following aspects of work are prone to causing hazard in the workplace:
Materials, substances and equipment used
Environment of work
Kinds of tasks allocated to the workers and the way of their performance
The design and management of work
In the instant case, the way of performance of the workers of Bolt and Catch Pty Ltd, and the rash acts of the forklift drivers could be identified of causing hazards. Additionally, work environment of this organization was not good and comfortable, due to the noise that prevailed in the Press Room; workers had to shout at each other for ensuring that they are able to hear each other.
The potential hazards can be assessed by inspecting the workplace, by consulting the workers and availing information from the technical specialists, industry associations, regulators and safety consultants. Inspection of the workplace at a regular basis would help to assess the hazards. The following things should be considered carefully:
Whether the present conditions of work ensure safety and health of the workers?
Whether the equipments and tools used are safe or not?
Have any changes taken place in the workplace which has the potential to cause harm to the workers?
As per the facts stated in the case study, on inspection, it may be concluded that the employer did not ensure safety and health of the workers at the workplace. Though, the workers were given protective equipments to wear however, none of the measures were taken to ensure that they were wearing the safety equipments regularly. Additionally, new machines do not have any guarding around the stamping press. Hence, Bolt and Catch Pty Ltd, has not taken any measures to assess the hazards that exist in the organization.
The most important step to be taken for controlling the risk is to eradicate the risks so far as is reasonably practicable, and if eradication of the risks is not possible, then the risks should be minimized so far as is reasonable practicable. Consulting with the workers and their representatives would also help in controlling the risk (Barrett et al. 2014)
There are three levels of controlling risks under the WHS Regulations which are required to be followed by the duty holders to ensure safety and health of the workers (Georg 2014). The following chart represents these three levels:
It is evident that every company in Australia has to comply with certain work health and safety (WHS) laws which are established by the Australian Parliament. Thus, here is the list of recommendations which companies can follow to ensure that they comply with Workplace health and safety (WHS) laws in Australia.
Thus, with appropriate management skills on behalf of the employers of any organisation in Australia, compliance with the rules and regulations of Workplace health and safety (WHS) laws can be achieved successfully. Thus, in the present case, a strict management rule that it is mandatory for all employees to wear protection equipments when they enter a Room which requires the same or engage in any operational activity which is unsafe, thus, in the present case, the Chinese workers should have been controlled by management to not work without protection equipments. Therefore, appropriate management which is strict in nature can prevent various accidents and injuries at workplace.
Additionally consultation sessions are to be arranged by employers which are an integral part of managing risk and hazards. Consultation session provide better knowledge, awareness, healthy and positive work relations which in returns helps to improve the health and safety of employees in Australia. Like in this case, it was noted that the employees were not wearing protective equipments and they had a very casual and lenient attitude towards the safety rules of the organisation. Making the employees aware of their safety and encouraging them to wear protective equipments will not only help the employees but also the employers from saving them from the fines that will be imposed.
Lastly, employers should strictly prohibit alcohol and drug consumption by employees at workplace. Thus, Alcohol and drugs management policies and procedures are very important and controlling the same affects the health and safety of the entire organisation. An employee who is drunk or addicted to drugs is dangerous in nature and can harm other employees or even the employer, thus controlling the consumption of alcohol and drugs is very important in maintaining health and safety at work place.
Conclusion
From the WHS audit, it can be said that there were several violations of the WHS obligations in Bolt and Catch Pty Ltd. The production manager found a severe violation of the WHS legal requirements on several instances and has included the appropriate penalties and recommendations in the report. The found hazards have been entered in the B&C risk register and have been reported in the appendix as the code of practice. A procedure has been drafted for identification of the hazards with their assessment and controlling the risks. Finally, recommendations have been made to ensure compliance with the relevant WHS legislations and sections of the act. The goal of the workplace health and safety is to foster a healthy and safe workplace for the employees as well as the customers, employers, family members and the co-workers. It is the responsibility of the employers to take care of the safety of the employees and the responsibility of the employees to abide by the laws of the WHS legal requirements.
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