Australian Hardware Wollongong Store WHS Policy

The Purpose

The WHS policy focuses to ensure that the entire work in the company is carried out safely in accordance with Australian Hardware ethics (Bahn, 2013).This provides a legislative obligation that focuses to provide health and safe working environment in the organization. The safe working environment for the environment should be exercised in employees, business contractors, visitors and client’s .Australian Hardware stores are working hard enough to ensure all employees are treated well and they are safe from injuries and other related health hazards (Timmins, 2011).

Purpose. The aim of this policy is to ensure that work is done safely and no injuries. The policy targets to provide health and safety within workplace thus promoting a conducive working environment. The main work is to ensure no injuries and health measures are keenly handled in workplace (Chin, DeLuca, Poth, Chadwick, Hutchinson, Munby, 2010).

Scope. The scope of this policy is to cover employees and contractors in Wollongong Store.

Responsibilities. The responsibility for the policy is to initiate implementation mechanisms which rests majorly on the employees and management in Wollongong store (Stevens, Helseth, Khan, Munson, Smith, 2010).

Management carries the following;

• Discussing with employees issues regarding safety and health changes(Farrell & Shafiei, 2012).
• Ensuring there is safe environment for work.
• Training employees on safety and healthy strategies.

While employees in hardware stores ensures;

• Adhering to all health and safety procedures (Bruce & Nowlin, 2011).
• Reporting injuries experienced in workplace.
• Encouraging other employees in stores to follow health and safety policies.

Amended WHS policy applied on workers responsibilities and legislation

• Regular review and evaluating health and safety systems by use of the audits and inspections in the stores(Jay & Kenny, 2010).
• Establishing objectives that will target to eliminate the injury or illness and also ensure all cases are adequately reported to the relevant personnel in the stores.
• Providing adequate training to the employees especially on how to handle items manually, how to lift heavy objects in the stores, training on safe storage of the toxic chemicals in stores and also training on first aid activities.
• Ensuring there is regular conduct with the injured workers in stores or the staff so as to monitor their progress(Anderson, 2011).This helps in ensuring all workers injured are receiving appropriate medical help.

Outline of resources and costs for the system.

Human resource needed in the stores (Bartlett & Bartlett, 2011).

Resource	Amount	Payment @ hour	Lost incurred in production	Total payment per hour	Total cost identified
Employees	20	25	20	40	560
Departmental leaders	5	30	30	30	210
Store managers	7	40	40	50	370
Senior mangers	2	70	50	100	290
Rooms used for training	2	30		20	80

Resources required for the WHS in the hardware stores (Phillips, 2016).

Human resource in stores	Amount (($ per hour)	Physical resources needed
Senior manager in store	120	Training building.
Store manager	60	Resources needed if an injury occurs while working.
Team leader from every store	45	Items for handling heavy machines and materials in the stores.
Workers (15 per store)	25	Available buildings
WHS consultant (1 per store)	70	Office
Audit to track all events in the stores	30	Office

The scope in ensuring self-working place covers all contractors and all employees in Australian Hardware stores .The portfolio describes weaknesses in the company .That is how company has failed to follow the WHS policies. The evidence was revealed by certain stakeholders in the company (Pollack, Austin, Grisso, 2010).The supervisors gave some weaknesses that gave adequate prove which indicated how WHS has not been met in the Australian Hardware company. The following are some evidences in which the company has failed to adhere to terms in WHS.

• Lack of adequate training to the workers.
• Some members in the company are not aware on issues of WHS and thus unable to ask for their rights.
• Some stores are not of standards .This is to mean that stores are congested.

Advice from the HSR on Integrating WHS in stores;

• Stores not complying with the terms in WHS policy.
• No timely gathering of information responding to quick risk measures.
• Employees not familiar with risk and hazards anticipated in stores.
• Inappropriate record keeping and lack of training to workers.

WHS risk management procedures.

Purpose. This policy describes the risk management process and sets out the responsibilities of the Board, chief financial officers and others in the Wollongong Store (Smith, 2017). 

The board must ensures that;

• All frameworks for risk management are reviewed by the Audit committee.
• Identifying all areas with potential risk in Wollongong Store
• Preparing remedial action for the risk identified in stores.
• Undertaking regular program for auditing in Wollongong Store.

The Chief financial officer undertakes;

• Ensuring stores comply with risk management policy.
• Reporting to the board information on the risk policies.
• Keeping the risk register in Wollongong Store.

Record keeping procedures in Wollongong Store

Purpose. The purpose of the policy in Wollongong Store is to identify and keep records in specified manner (Stephans, 2012). All investigations relating to injuries are recorded for future use whereby they are retrieved when needed.

Scope

Responsibilities. Management has the mandate to review the records so as to identify those incidents which have resulted to injuries in the Wollongong Store. All workers in the hardware store are expected to cooperate so as to submit all records about injuries to their respective managers.

Identifying hazards in Wollongong Store

Hazards in the Wollongong Store is identified through;

• Carrying out risk assessment in the workplace(Wang, 2011).
• Determining how employees in workplace may be prone to risk.
• Evaluating risk on regular basis in Wollongong Store.
• Recording risk experienced annually in Wollongong Store.

Developing the WHS safe practices in Wollongong Store.

The main ways of ensuring safe place practices in Wollongong Store includes;

Use of substitution method. Targets to replace risk in hardware stores by another which is less harmful.

Use of warnings. Developing rules and regulations to be followed by workers when in stores. This minimises exposure to hazards.

Through use of administrative controls in hardware stores. It includes use of other working practices that aid in protecting workers

The aim is to report on the entire WHS strategies in Wollongong. It indicates the objective of the identified concept in relation to monitoring procedures. The report is based on how the stores have employed difference mechanisms to curb risk depending on WHS checklist. Also, each concept in the report is constructed with the person responsible.

Stores not complying with the terms in WHS policy.

Based on the identified data the number of reported injuries cases increased for last 6 months. This data was obtained through incident reports from WHS checklist. The checklist contained the total number of workers who were seriously affected by various hazards experienced in the stores .Most of the stores were not familiar with the WHS policies in workplace.

Employees not familiar with risk and hazards anticipated in stores

Employees were not familiar with risk and hazards in stores. The report was based on information received from the auditing team in stores. All stores were inspected thoroughly to point out all risks experienced by workers. It was done depending on the WHS Risk Assessment Policy in the stores. Was also identified by using project management report on WHS procedures. The entire process was controlled by the WHS consultant in the company.

Inappropriate record keeping and lack of training to workers.

Training employees on the key concepts indicating risk or hazard assessment strategy in stores. Most of the training activities in the stores were not done appropriately. Lack of training decreased the competence level .A small percent indicated employees who have completed WHS training programs. The number was about 15 out of the 45 in stores.

Responsibilities

No timely gathering of information responding to quick risk measures.

There were no records for the number of employees who were injured last month. Also managers did not keep records for the injuries experienced in the workplace (Stevens et al, 2010). Failure to record data on injuries in the stores resulted to the lack of information on identifying employees who were injured in the stores. The report was based on the investigations done in different offices in the stores. Management did not prove why they were no records for injuries in the stores.

The following recommendations involves actions plans needed by the stores. These recommendations describes the remedy for the problems indicated in the report on hardware stores. Wollongong stores need to;

• Identify items to buy or hire so as to ensure safety and health risks in stores when training employees.
• Considering regulations in health and safety. Ordering new items to be used in stores which are not prone to risk and injuries.
• Creating system that will enable workers to report cases of injuries, accidents and risks in workplace. This will ensure employees are safe when working in stores.
• Designing a new safe work method assessment or statements for the new equipment introduced in the stores.
• Control measures and procedures used in training employees(Wang, 2011). All the requirements for the items needed in training should be analysed so as to control risks in health and safety in hardware stores.
• Ensuring workers are familiar with the hazards of low frequencies such as fires.

Implementation plan for the report was categorised on different section. Each part described the appropriate implementation policies needed in the stores.

Action based on the report.	Implementation.
Required implementation in stores.	Evaluating and reviewing health and safety measures in the stores. Eliminating work related injuries and illness by hiring new items such as ladders for reaching higher heights and borrowing lifting items in the stores (Zadnikar & Vanderhenst, 2013).  Training employees on the appropriate methods to use when using harmful chemicals, when lifting heavy items in the stores and also encouraging workers to record cases of injuries in stores.
Identifying long hazards in the stores.	Ensuring workers are conversant with the hazards which manifests to them for a short term such as; Ø Harmful chemicals in stores. Ø Noise from machines and colleagues. Ø Safe storage of sharp items in stores. Ø Not exposing to radiations.
Identifying low frequency hazards in stores.	All workers being conversant with the events that may result from the serious injuries, deaths and other dangerous situations such as ; Explosions, building collapsing and outbreak of fires in the stores.
Understanding risks or hazards from new items or new equipment in the stores.	Formulating policies on the hazards from new items purchased in the stores

WHS session plan for training (Pollack et al, 2010).

No.	Action plan.	Required action in store.	Resources needed.	Human resource responsible	Date for action	Approved signature
1	Identifying access equipment to be replaced in store such as ladders and lifting cranes.	Providing appropriate heights to be used by the lifting machines introduced. Providing ladders to be used when lifting heavy items in stores.		Senior manager.	13/10/2018
2	Determining from the list provided what item to buy and what item to be hired in the stores. Quoting important item.	Coming up with most effective method of buying lifting machines in the stores (Chin et al, 2010).	Need for price list in each store and supplier catalogues	Store manager.	14/10/2018
3	Ordering and arranging access to new items needed in the stores.	Ensuring the new items are available for the entire site.		Store manager	15/10/2018
4	Designing a new safe work method assessment or statements for the new equipment introduced in the stores.	Providing a training reference to the workers in the stores.	Providing WHS codes and practices to the workers.	Team leader	16/10/2018
5	Evaluating the overall training results.	Giving out questionnaires or using interviews to check on effectiveness of training session.	Providing WHS manuals	Senior manager	21/10/2018

Conclusion

Implementing health and safety measures outlines the solutions for the hazards that are either anticipated or experienced in working places (Gunderson & Helikson, 2011).  Therefore, it is necessary for the hardware organization to consider all techniques that will boost health and safety. Therefore, ensuring safe working place is very important in hardware stores. It can be achieved through preparing health and safety management program that focuses to come up with apt measures to reduce risks from hazards.

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