Question:
Each State and Territory has a principal health and safety Act which sets out requirements for ensuring that workplaces are safe and healthy. These requirements spell out the general responsibilities of different groups of people who play a role in the workplace. Research the Work Health Safety Act in your state or territory and discuss the follow:-
1. The key Objects of the Act
2. The duties of employers and employees under the Act
3. The purpose of consultation, representation and participation and how this is conducted in the workplace
4. The role of HR in relation to the implementation of the OHS and Act in the workplace.
In the year 2013, Work health and safety legislation in Australia was imposed that includes the Act of Work Health and Safety, Regulations of Work Health and Safety 2012 that were supported through the codes of Practices that were actually align with the Queensland, New South Wales, Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory, Tasmania, and the Commonwealth (Work Health and Safety 2013). The regulations of Work Health and Safety 2012 explored the measures of control that need to be applied towards the particular hazards and work activities, for instance machine guarding as well as exposure of noise (Work Health and Safety 2013). The objective of these codes of practices is to offer the practical information, along with guidance over how to fulfill the needs of the regulations. These codes are actually mandatory for offering the information in order to support the workplace to achieve the safe systems at the workplace (Work Health and Safety 2013).
In the long term, the work health and safety laws will minimize the red tape as well as cost of compliance for those businesses that are operating their functions all across the state boarders (Work Health and Safety Laws 2014). It will offer to the workers with the similar safety and protection standards along with exploring their training and licensing nationally. The main principles related to the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 are actually consistent with the set up and common standards of health and safety (Work Health and Safety Laws 2014). In the year 2013, the act set up the duties of health and safety, which also includes the basic duty for protecting the person from getting exposure from the hazards and the risk that might occur at the workplace (Work Health and Safety Laws 2014).
It also offers the representation, consultation, as well as participation of the workers, which includes the representatives of Health and Safety and Committees of Health and Safety (Work Health and Safety Laws 2014). It even enables the compliance as well as enforcement by the Safe-Work, and the regulators. It also offers the creation of the Codes of practices and regulations. It includes that the important needs of the new regulations should have the transitional periods for offering the workers and the businesses with the time to get prepare (Work Health and Safety Laws 2014).
Everyone holds the right to work within the healthy and safe environment. Both the employees and the employers hold the role in preventing the illness as well as injuries related to the work (Acts and Regulations 2015). The useful guides of the organization offer the information in helping to understand the responsibilities of the employers and employees (Acts and Regulations 2015).
Responsibilities of Employees
Being the employee, one holds the responsibilities under the laws of Work health and safety (Acts and Regulations 2015). They need to act responsibility, and have to take care about themselves, others and also need to cooperate with the employers in context of the safety and health (Acts and Regulations 2015). These practices apply on every worker, whether they are having the disability or not. If the employees don’t follow these practices, then they need to be discipline by the employer under the employment conditions (Acts and Regulations 2015). They can even be prosecuted under the laws of health and safety in the state or the territory. Along with this, under the Act of Commonwealth Disability Discrimination of 1992, the ability of the workers to work safety is the most important need of the job (Acts and Regulations 2015). If the disability could be seen to cause the risk of health and safety for the other person at the workplace, then in that case, failing to disclose about the risk could be breach by the workers obligations under the legislations of health and safety (Acts and Regulations 2015).
Responsibilities of Employer
It is expected from the employers to offer the workplace with safe and healthy in order to protect the employees against all the potential safety and health risks (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012). The employers are actually responsible for ensuring about all the employees and to cover it by the workers to compensation insurance along with the event of the workplace injury (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012). In the case of workplace injury they should assist the injured workers to return well at the work with safety (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012).
Safe Work in Australia is highly responsible for enhancing the work safety and health along with the compensation arrangement of the employees all across the Australia (Developing Occupational Health and Safety Programs – Resource Manual, HCHSA 2003). It is actually funded through the Commonwealth, territory as well as government of the states. It works along with the governments, industry and the unions in order to minimize the death, disease and injury in the workplace (Developing Occupational Health and Safety Programs – Resource Manual, HCHSA 2003). The representatives of the health and safety provisions under the Act of Work Health and safety are consistently with the old Occupational health and welfare safety Act. It’s noted that the new schemes are actually less prescriptive in context of the HSR process that includes the workgroups (Developing Occupational Health and Safety Programs – Resource Manual, HCHSA 2003).
The functions of the workers are also to represent the workers within the work group in context of the matters related to Work health and Safety; monitor the measures that are actually taken by the person in conducting the business; investigate about the complaints through the members of work group about the Work Health and Safety (Bird and Germain 1996). It also enquires about anything, which happens to be at the risk towards the health and safety, which arise through the business (NSW Health 2005).
Representation of the workers offers the way for facilitating the consultation that includes the workers by offering them with the voice in the matters of health and safety (NSW Health 2005). The Act of Work Health and Safety explores the workplace that have the better outcome of health and safety when workers have the input before taking any decisions are taken for health and safety that impact them (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014). The person who conducts the business need to consult to be more practical with the workers who carry out the business work and the one who are directly impacted through the health and safety matters at the workplace (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014). The Act of Work Health and Safety permits the employees to consult and represent the safety and health representatives. It’s important that the workers should ask the representatives of health and safety in order to represent them in the matters of health and safety (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014). If the employees try to make the request, it is expected that the work groups require setting up to facilitate them into the election. Where else the Health and Safety representatives should consult the person who consults business undertakings (PCBU) (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014). The health and safety committee tries to bring the workers as well as management together in order to assist in developing as well as reviewing the policies and procedures of health and safety at the workplace (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014). The health and safety representatives need to set up the workers in to make the request to the PCBU (WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice 2014).
It’s noted that the health and safety committee are actually helpful for the forum in consultation over the issues of work health and safety (Towarnicki 2012). It’s also noted that the committee also enable the PSBU along with workers representatives in order to meet regularly and try to work in cooperation in order to develop the procedures and policies for improving the outcomes of work health and safety (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012). In general, they are helpful in the effective consultation at the healthcare workplace, in which there are many people trying to conduct the business as well as undertakings (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012).
It’s noted that widespread consultation has actually developed in the framework of cultural respect of the health by focusing over the agreement of cultural respect (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012). The framework of the cultural respect is also developed through the help of the guiding principles in the construction of the policy and the delivery of service through utilizing the jurisdiction by implementing the initiatives for addressing the own requirements in specific mechanism to strengthen the relationship among the system of healthcare (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012). It’s important that the consultation should be conducted in the health service with the representatives of the local community for the purpose of agreeing over the key group of language within the local area and the local people selection to act as the interpreters (Johnstone, Bluff and Clayton 2012).
It’s the responsibility of the managers to conduct planning and organizing the activities in the company and lead and control the activities of the company by motivating the staff (Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2014). In the area of occupational health and safety, both the state and the territory is responsible for formulating the laws related to occupational health and safety by enforcing the laws. It’s the responsibility of every state to have OF&S Act and ensure about the safety and health (Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2014).
In order to develop the OH&S programs in the company certain steps need to be taken. In the first step relates to certain set of programs that recognize the previous hazards that are faced by the workers and it include the existing records review (Bratton and Gold 2012).Legislations within the British Columbia also offers the guidelines that includes the minimum needs of the OH&S program (Bratton and Gold 2012).
The next step relates to prioritizing the requirements of programs, which is based over the risk related to the hazards that need to be controlled through the particular health and safety program (Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act 2014). The third step relates to developing the content of every program. It’s important that every program needs to be unique and need to be specific within the organization (Bratton and Gold 2012). It should include common elements like procedure for specific work, program goals, and statement of accountability, training, and program evaluation in order to ensure for continuous improvement.
References
Acts and Regulations. 2015. [Online]. Available at: https://www.worksafe.nt.gov.au/Legislation/Pages/Acts-and-Regulations.aspx [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
Bird, F. E. and Germain, G. L. 1996. Practical Loss Control Leadership. Georgia: Det Norske Veritas (USA) Inc.
Bratton, J. and Gold, J. 2012. Human Resource Management: Theory and Practice. Palgrave Macmillan.
Developing Occupational Health and Safety Programs – Resource Manual, HCHSA. 2003. Toronto, Ontario: Det Norske Veritas (USA) Inc.
Johnstone, R., Bluff, E. and Clayton, A. 2012. Work Health and Safety Law and Policy. Australia: Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia.
NSW Health. 2005. Learning and Development Policy – NSW Department of Health. Sydney, Department of Health, NSW. [Online]. Available at: https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies/PD/2005/pdf/PD2005_255.pdf [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
NSW Health. 2005. Managing for performance – a better practice approach for NSW Health. Sydney, Department of Health, NSW. [Online]. Available at: www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies/PD/2005/pdf/PD2005_180.pdf [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
Towarnicki, S. 2012. Human Resource Management: maintaining a motivated and productive workforce. HIM-INTERCHANGE, 2(1), pp. 9-12.
WHS/OH&S Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice. 2014. [Online]. Available at: https://www.business.gov.au/business-topics/employing-people/workplace-health-and-safety/Pages/whs-acts-regulations-and-codes-of-practice.aspx [Accessed on: 31st January 2015].
Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Act. 2014. [Online]. Available at: https://notes.nt.gov.au/dcm/legislat/legislat.nsf/linkreference/work%20health%20and%20safety%20%28national%20uniform%20legislation%29%20act?opendocument [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
Work Health and Safety Laws. 2014. [Online]. Available at: https://www.safework.sa.gov.au/show_page.jsp?id=112104#.VMxjLdKUcUc [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
Work Health and Safety. 2013. [Online]. Available at: https://www.jobaccess.gov.au/content/work-health-and-safety-0 [Accessed on: 31st January 2015]
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