Workplace Go Fuel Pty Limited: WHSMS And Compliance With WHS Legislation

Brief Introduction of the Workplace

Discuss about the Workplace Go Fuel Pty Limited.

Brief Introduction of the Workplace

Go Fuel is a private company that has an independent service station in the north of Melbourne. Jim Murphy has acquired the prestigious position of CEO of the company for last five years. Go Fuel has collected a significant amount of finance in order to buy Independent Service Station (ISS) of a total of nine stores that are operating in Victoria, Queensland and in NSW. It wants to rebrand them in the name of Go Fuel. The service stations of Go Fuel work 24 hours in a day. It is inclusive of a forefront that can be accessed by a vehicle and boasts of having six pump stations, food bar and a retail shop. It also has a store manager’s office along with that of a stockroom. Their work includes that of selling fuel, gas, oil along with that of supermarket goods and hot pies.

Go Fuel dreams of becoming first choice provider of snacks and fuel for the Australian motorists. It envisions of producing a safe environment at the workplace that will help in creating an international brand image. Go Fuel has underwent a lot of transformation and it wants to expand from that of a single hands-on operation to that of multi-store organisation that would triple in its size by the end of next five years (Ahmad et al., 2016).  Goods are being in huge quantities and it proves to be very difficult to lift them. Screens that are anti-glare have been installed on computer along with that of point-of-sale screens. Emphasis is laid on sales along with cost control and not in the area of health and safety. The workplace provides Personal Protective Equipment that includes safety vests and hard hats. They provide equipment for the protection of the faculties of hearing and sight. The staff however does not use it all the time thus leading to safety hazards. There are no posters related to emergency preparedness in the different stores (Bahr, 2014).  There is dearth of staff notice board that provides information on safety. There is the availability of material safety data sheet in relation to the dangerous goods that are petrol and LPG.

1. The health and safety laws require the employers to co-operate in the arena of mitigating workplace risk in order to serve the purpose of protecting the health of workers. Duty-holders should be able to ensure that people are not being exposed to to unnecessary risks in the workplace. Employees should take care of the fact that the non-employees are being exposed to health risk on account of the undertaking of the employer. Risk should be eliminated as far as practicable. Employers should engage themselves in active consultation with the employers in order to assess risk (Covello & Merkhoher, 2013). 
2. Consulting the workers is the key to ensure the safety of the workers according to the WHS Act. A healthy representative can actively engage in consultation in order to highlight the problem of the workers. Consultation is inclusive of sharing information and providing the workers reasonable scope so that they can express their views clearly. Consultation along with co-operation with other persons who are responsible for work safety should be carried out on regular basis (Demeritt et al., 2015). Other business operators who share the same workplace should also be consulted for mitigating the risk factor.
3. The needs of WHS management system revolve around identifying workplace factors that can have a relevant influence on the design related to WHS management system. The WHS legal obligations need to be clarified in particular reference to the workplace (Elliott et al., 2014). The links should be identified with other areas that are functioning. Relevant inputs from the stakeholders should be assessed regarding designing of WHS management system. Human resources should be identified that is required for the perfect functioning of WHS management system. The limitations of professional expertise in relation to the particular company should be recognised and WHS specialists should be consulted whenever necessary.

The WHS risk management framework is inclusive of four main stages. All the workers should be aware of and be able to understand the risk management practices. The use of information technology is crucial in order to monitor the safety risk. Reviewing and reporting related to risk management issue should be carried out at regular intervals in order to safeguard the health of the workers. The CEO and those who are in the board of Executive Management of Go Fuel Pty Limited should provide relevant input in order to establish WHS risk Management Policy. A culture of risk management should trickle down from the top management to the employees working at the lower level.

Review of the Workplace and relevant policies and procedures

Robust internal control along with written policies that is supported by an audit process is a significant step in risk management. Annual review can be carried out in the operations organisation of Go Fuel Pty Limited in order to perceive any area of weakness.

Documentation process that makes use of appropriate tools can be made use of in order to evaluate whether the controls are effective. Process should be reviewed from time to time till acceptable level of the risk is obtained. A Hazard along with Incident Report should be generated at the workplace. The Risk assessment that is complete should be filed and placed in the Divisional Risk Register. The Elumina database can be made use of in order to track whether the WHS control has been implemented properly (Bahr, 2014).

The Health and Safety representative should be provided with proper training and the providers should be able to meet the condition of approval. There should be the facility of an audit workbook that can help the persons who are undertaking the compliance audits ( Fingas, 2014).  Safe Work Australia along with Comcare can be taken recourse to that can provide guidance to help those who are interested in becoming an approved HSR training provider.

The human resources that are required in a service station for ensuring the health and safety of workers are service station attendant, service station night shift manager, service station manager, service technician, plant operator, frontline station support officer, customer service assistant and assistant retail manager. Quality Assurance Unit officers and board can help in providing safety to a gas station. The officer will ensure that the safety obligations as enshrined in WHS Regulation Act have been maintained. The Board on the other hand will keep in check the activities of the officers. They will help in achieving the goals of the organization.

The physical resources required in a service station for implementing the WHS system are breakaways, console parts, dispenser hose, driveway equipment, replacement covers, calibration containers, nozzles, remanufactured dispensers, air machine and swivel.

Resource	Wage incl. entitlements cost ($ hourly)	Lost productivity cost ($ hourly)	Total cost ($ hourly)
Store managers	100	100	200
Shift Managers and cashiers	50	50	100
WHS consultant	120	N/A	120
Training rooms	100	N/A	100

Records should be kept regarding whether the plans are being implemented. Health and safety grievances should be tracked down in order to successfully resolve the problems. Reduction in number of safety grievance should be tracked down correctly in order to measure the improvements in the arena of health and safety management. A checklist is necessary while auditing the system or in order to measure whether some activities are being completed within the framework of fixed time schedule (Forouzanfar et al., 2015).  Reports on frequency of mishaps and the average time that is lost on account of this has to be recorded properly. Qualitative information can be gathered from discussions with safety representatives that can reveal important facts. A logbook can be kept for recording the frequency of accidents and the loss that has been incurred on account of it.

Proposal for design of WHSMS

System in order to ensure workers participation in decision making of WHS

While dealing with the workers it is extremely important that briefing is communicated to the employees. Briefing refers to the steps that have been taken by the top management in order to minimize hazards related to health. Appropriate communication will focus on taking the point of view of the employees and their verdict on the steps that has been undertaken. Consultation can also be taken recourse to that will illuminate on the different options that are available and the choice made by the employees as they are the ones who would be most affected by the policies and procedures implemented (Xie et al., 2013).  The information should be provided as early as possible so that one gets enough time to ponder about the matter. Confidentiality in relation to personal information is necessary to prevent any kind of controversy. The workers should be given various ways so that they can provide feedback by using e-mail or a suggestion box can also be integrated into the procedures in order to avert problems (Lam, Leung & Chu, 2014).  Problem-solving should be carried out jointly and the employees should come together to discuss any issue of dispute and whether a unanimous solution can be agreed to on the issue. Before any significant decision is arrived at, it is of utmost importance to take into account the opinion of safety representatives before arriving at a solution. “Reasonable practice” should be carried out that is reasonable in relation to the particular circumstances. Reasonable practice depends on the structure of business and nature of work (Li, 2014).  The characteristics of workers that includes the spoken language along with literacy level will be taken into consideration when determining the extent to which the workers should be consulted. Workers who are working outside like drivers on road or those employees who are working from home should also be consulted while devising policies and procedures ( Paas, Reinhold & Tint, 2015).

Consultation provides a two-way process that is necessary to raise and solve the concerns of the employees. Views and information have to be shared in order to provide the solutions of the issues. The hazards should be identified and risks should be assessed at the outset after consultation with the workers. Changes have to be proposed in order to safeguard the health of the workers. Decisions should be made regarding whether the facilities are adequate for the welfare of the workers. Consultation involves sharing of important information regarding WHS matters with the employees. Workers should be given ample opportunity to express their view points on the problems and contribute effectively in the decision-making process. Workers should be informed about the outcome of consultation within a limited time frame. All the supervisors and employees who have supervisory functions should ensure that the supervision is adequate that is provided to the employees. Complexity of assigned task, risks associated with them and competency of individual can help in determining the form that is required for supervision (Paas, Reinhold & Tint, 2015). Direct and periodic supervision are effective ways in knowing about the concern of workers.

Relevant policies and procedures to ensure compliance with WHS legislations

The consultation meetings with workers emphasized that incidents of fuel spill, fire in rubbish spin and slipping on wet shop floor has proved disastrous for the work environment and has resulted into losing number of days worked ( Rahman et al., 2016). Tripping, falling stock in reserve and burns has led to a lot of disruption within the workplace. Eye and breathing difficulty in relation to fumes has also given rise to problems. It was found that no safety audit has been undertaken at regular interval and the schedule is not planned. There is no staff notice board revealing any safety information. The tanks can be rested on continuous concrete slab and double-walled tanks can be installed in order to provide protection and safety to the workers (Silvestre & Gimenes, 2017).  Rain water should be prevented from filling the containment area and the tank should have a roof structure in order to safeguard it. The dispenser hoses should be regularly checked in order to find out any problem. Drainage from diked containment areas can be controlled with the help of valves that are manually controlled. Adequate security like fencing and lighting should be provided. Tank valves along with starter controls should be locked whenever they are not operating (Reese, 2015).  They should be accessible only for authorized personnel. The employees who are handling with oil should be properly trained and pollution control regulations should be should be implemented in the workplace.

A Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) plan can be implemented within the service station that is certified by a professional engineer in order to solve the problems of the workers. Buried piping should be wrapped protectively and coated in order to prevent corrosion and they should be periodically tested in order to assess its structural integrity. Tank inspection should be combined with that of integrity testing which is based on the norms of industry standards in order to provide solution to the worker’s problems. Tank foundation, coating along with the piping system  should be inspected from time to time in order to prevent any disaster occurring in the workplace.

References:

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