As you may be aware, it is intended all Australian states and territories will move to a new harmonised WHS (Work, Health and Safety) Act as of January 1 2012. Whilst it is anticipated it may take a few months for all states to become aligned, this national reform of the current state based Acts will standardise safety laws across Australia, with the aim of providing improved levels of work health and safety protection to all Australian workers.
Key to the new Act is the obligation by companies to minimise or eliminate workplace hazards where it is reasonably practicable to do so, increasing the level of protection available to anyone engaged in work related activities. Essentially this means the onus is on the employer, to ensure you have effective processes and practices in place, and that you manage them appropriately.
Many companies claim to have appropriate work health and safety policies and procedures in place, yet don’t ensure it is a priority across all sectors of their business. Reformation of the Act advocates a broader approach to workplace participation and greater corporate governance. If every business has a duty to proactively manage the health and safety of its workforce, workplace safety needs to be at the forefront of your corporate planning and decision making.
As a base line, all employees have a responsibility to support and adopt work safe practices that demonstrate a reasonable level of care in all work related activities. Yet, employees can only comply with the requirements of work health and safety if appropriate measures are enabled by the business and its management. The mindset around workplace safety must extend to ensuring appropriate policies and procedures are implemented and that your employees are aware of them. How integrated are your WHS policies throughout your training? Are your company specific expectations covered in your induction processes? Cameron Cranstoun, Health Safety and Environment Manager at the Bayside Group for the last eight years, stresses the importance of verifying that workplace safety forms a part of a new employee’s induction, and suggests obtaining sign off by both the manager and the employee. Of course it’s then important employees have ready and ongoing access to your workplace safety guidelines and procedures.
So, how do you ensure due diligence when it comes to addressing work health and safety in your workplace?
Firstly you need to be confident you are informed of relevant information on health and safety regulations and that the information you acquire is credible. This information needs to be readily available to your workforce along with the implementation of processes that eliminate or minimise risk. Your workplace health and safety policies and practices need to enable timely information or responses to incidents, hazards or risks, and all processes must comply with your obligations under the Health and Safety Act. It is pertinent that all employees across the organisation understand their role and responsibility with regard to WHS, and consider integrating these into position descriptions or annual KPIs.
Finally, conducting regular audits and reviews on your workplace health and safety policies and procedures is the most assured way to know you are not just meeting legislative compliance, but minimising risk and protecting your employees. Assuming you are prepared to see and address what actually happens in your workplace, rather than focussing on what should happen or what people report to be happening, regular reviews allow opportunity to ensure WHS practices fit with your culture and current organisational drivers.
Ultimately, the biggest influence in driving continuous improvement with regard to workplace safety is the leadership that comes from management and the way in which an organisation’s culture is driven to adopt and continually evolve health and safety best practices.
