A WHS Tool to Help Identify Areas of Concern
Our recent WHS articles have contained tools that you could use to step back from the daily work traffic in your workplace and take an exterior viewpoint from which to assess the state of WHS consultation in your workplace.
We have now created a simple tool that we hope you find useful to take a broad view of the state of all WHS matters in your workplace. It may help you identify the areas that need WHS improvement. And you may need to drill down into that area to identify or verify specific situations that require attention.
Maintaining a safe and healthy workplace requires vigilant attention and action. And there are a number of pressing reasons to do so including the safety and health of all persons in your workplace and the productivity and viability of the PCBU and compliance with WHS law.
Each duty holder in your workplace (PCBU, Officers, Workers, and Others) can contribute to or implement actions according to their level of authority and their WHS duty of care that can help to keep each item on the list in a compliant state.
The items in the list below are all key areas for WHS compliance. You may like to mark a score out of 10 in each box in the list. This can help identify any area that needs attention and the overall state of WHS in your workplace.
Or you may chose to use it as a survey by getting each person in a specific group (such as all Managers) to score the list so that you can tabulate their responses.
WHS Concerns Tool
This basic tool covers areas that could concern most workplaces. It provides a base that each workplace could modify if needed to best suit their workplace.
1. Identify Hazards
Have all the health and safety hazards in your workplace been identified – do you know what could cause fatality, injury or illness in your workplace?(WHS Act Section 17 to 19, WHS Regulation 34)
2. Assess the risks
Do all workers and other persons who may be exposed to the risks, understand the harm that could be caused by each hazard, how serious the harm could be, and the likelihood of it happening? (WHS Act Section 18)
3. Eliminate or control the risks
If the risks cannot be eliminated, have the risks been minimised as far as reasonably practicable by routinely using effective control measures? (WHS Regulation 35 to 37)
4. Review the control measures
Are risk control measures reviewed regularly to ensure they are working as planned and revised when necessary? (WHS Regulation 38)
5. Consult with workers
Are workers consulted about health and safety matters that affect them?(See WHS Act Sections 46 to 49 - see our two July 2018 website articles, How to Increase the Benefits of WHS Consultation, and How to Increase the Benefits of WHS Consultation - Part 2.)
6. Instruct, Train, Inform and Supervise
Have your workers been given sufficient instruction, training, information and supervision to enable them to safely carry out their work? (WHS Act Section 19 (3)(f), WHS Regulation 39)
7. WHS Duty Holders
Do all WHS duty holders in your workplace know what they must do to satisfy their duty of care and do they do that?
PCBU (WHS Act Section 17 to 19 and 20 to 26)
Officers (WHS Act Section 27) Workers (WHS Act Section 28)
Others (WHS Act Section 29)
Do the Managers and Supervisors who have been given the necessary authority and directions by the PCBU, develop and/or implement the actions that will satisfy the PCBUs duty of care?
8. Work Health & Safety Management System
Does your workplace have a functional health and safety management system in place that enables your workplace to comply with the WHS Act and WHS Regulations that apply to your workplace?
Are all employees sufficiently aware, trained, and instructed to develop and/or implement or contribute to the actions needed to maintain an effective health and safety management system?
Is your work health and safety management system regularly audited?
7th August 2018
You are welcome to download and distribute the article in your workplace if you feel it may be useful
