Your health and safety guide to Plant

Transcription

1 Your health and safety guide to Plant Edition 2 June 2017

2 Contents Introduction 1 About the problem 2 What is plant? 2 What injuries can plant cause? 2 Your legal duties 3 The law 3 Employers 3 Self-employed persons 4 Employees 4 Designers 4 Manufacturers 4 Suppliers 4 Compliance and enforcement 4 How to comply 5 Consult 5 Find 5 Fix 6 Review 6 Glossary 7 In this series 8 Hazards 8 Industries 8 Subjects 8 The information presented in Your health and safety guide to plant is intended for general use only. It should not be viewed as a definitive guide to the law, and should be read in conjunction with the Occupational Health and Safety Act This guidance has been reviewed and updated for the sole purpose of amending year and regulation references relating to the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations, in line with amendments which came into effect on 18 June This publication is protected by copyright. The Victorian WorkCover Authority encourages the free transfer, copying and printing of this publication if such activities support the purposes and intent for which the publication was developed. WorkSafe Victoria is a division of the Victorian WorkCover Authority.

3 Introduction Every year, workers sustain horrific injuries as a result of dangerous plant. Using some form of plant, machinery or equipment is just part of the job for nearly a quarter of all Victorian workers. However, when plant is unsafe, things can go wrong, leading to serious injury and even death. There are steps you can take to make plant safe and prevent people from getting hurt. This guide will help you understand the hazards and risks relating to plant, and will explain what you need to do to make your workplace safe. About the problem What is plant? What injuries can plant cause? Your legal duties The law Information for employers Information for self-employed persons Information for employees Information for designers, manufacturers and suppliers Compliance and enforcement How to comply Consult Find Fix Review Glossary WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 1

4 About the problem What is plant? Plant is a broad term covering machinery and equipment that: cuts, drills, punches or grinds material presses, forms, hammers, joins or moulds material combines, mixes, sorts, packages, assembles or knits material lifts or moves materials or people. Common types of plant include forklifts, tractors, lifts, earthmoving machinery, cranes and other mobile plant, lasers, scaffolds, temporary access equipment, explosive-powered tools and amusement structures. Certain kinds of plant, such as forklifts, scaffolding, cranes, turbines and some pressure equipment require a licence from WorkSafe to operate and the design of some high-risk plant must be registered with WorkSafe. To find out more about licensing and registration requirements for plant, contact the WorkSafe Advisory Service ( ) or visit What injuries can plant cause? Plant is a major cause of workplace death and injury in Victoria. There are significant risks associated with using machinery and equipment, and injuries sustained as a result of unsafe use of plant tend to be severe. Examples of serious injuries caused by dangerous plant include: having limbs amputated by unguarded moving parts of machines being crushed by mobile plant fractures from falls while accessing, operating or maintaining plant electrocution or burns from plant that is not adequately protected or isolated burns or scalds due to contact with hot surfaces, or exposure to flames or hot fluids. WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 2

5 Your legal duties The law Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (OHS Act) The OHS Act came into effect on 1 July It sets out the key principles, duties and rights in relation to occupational health and safety. The duties imposed by the Act cover a wide variety of circumstances, recognising the need for a duty-holder to have flexibility in determining what needs to be done to comply. The OHS Act is based upon the following key health and safety principles: All people employees and the general public should have the highest level of protection against risks to health and safety. Those who manage or control things that create health and safety risks in the workplace are responsible for eliminating or reducing the risks, so far as is reasonably practicable. Employers should be proactive in promoting health and safety in the workplace. Information and ideas about risks and how to control them should be shared between employers and employees. Employees are entitled and should be encouraged to be represented in relation to health and safety issues. Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (OHS Regulations 2017) New Regulations for occupational health and safety came into effect on 1 July 2007 and were remade by the OHS Regulations The plant part of the OHS Regulations is intended to prevent injuries associated with the use of plant in the workplace. To do this, the Regulations impose specific legal responsibilities for identifying and controlling risks associated with plant on employers, self-employed persons, employees and designers, manufacturers and suppliers of plant. Employers As an employer, you have a general duty to make your workplace safe, as well as specific duties in relation to hazards such as plant. You must identify hazards associated with plant and eliminate any risk involved. If it s not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, you must reduce the risk, as far as reasonably practicable, by: using plant that has a lower level of risk using engineering controls, or isolating the plant from people. If there is still a risk after using these methods, you should reduce it by using administrative controls or personal protective equipment. You must review (and, where necessary, revise) your risk controls if things change or at the request of a health and safety representative. You must also consult employees and health and safety representatives when identifying hazards and deciding on control measures. Employers must also comply with a number of specific risk control duties covering: guarding, operators controls (including stop controls and warning devices), installation and commissioning, maintenance and inspections powered mobile plant (including rollover protection for tractors and industrial lift trucks) electrical plant and electrical hazards plant that lifts or suspends loads, including lifts, escalators and moving walkways for moving people scaffolds provision of information, instruction, training or supervision to employees. WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 3

6 Your legal duties Self-employed persons If you are a self-employed person, you have the same legal duties as an employer, except for those relating to information, instruction, training or supervision. You must ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that people are not exposed to health and safety risks arising from your work. Employees Your employer is required to protect you from injury when using plant in the workplace. At the same time, you have a general duty to take reasonable care for your own health and safety, and that of others who may be affected by your work, and to cooperate with your employer s efforts to make the workplace safe. This may include following workplace policies and procedures, attending health and safety training, as well as helping to identify hazards and risks. Designers The safe design of plant plays a critical role in reducing risks in workplaces. If you design plant for use in a workplace, you must identify all hazards associated with its use during the design phase and provide information about the hazards and risks to the manufacturer. You must also provide specific information to the manufacturer. If the manufacturer advises you that there are safety issues with the design, you must revise the information to take account of these problems, or instruct the manufacturer in writing that such revision is not necessary and provide reasons as to why this is the case. Designers of high-risk plant must also register their designs with WorkSafe. Manufacturers If you manufacture plant, you have duties relating to the use of the safety information provided by the designer. You must advise the designer of any hazards you identify during manufacture and ensure that the hazards are not incorporated in the plant. If this is not possible, you must ensure that risks are eliminated or reduced so far as is reasonably practicable. You also need to obtain safety information from the designer and pass this information on when supplying the plant. Suppliers If you supply plant, you have duties to ensure that hazards associated with the plant have been identified and that the risks have been controlled. You also have a duty to control risks associated with the plant and to obtain safety information from the manufacturer and pass this information on when supplying the plant to someone else. There are additional duties for suppliers who hire out plant, as well as for the supply of rollover protection for tractors. Agents who act for suppliers have a duty to obtain and pass on safety information before selling the plant. Compliance and enforcement WorkSafe applies a strategy of constructive compliance a combination of incentives and deterrents to improve workplace health and safety. This strategy recognises that real and sustainable improvement in workplace health and safety requires active involvement from employers and employees in identifying hazards and controlling risks. WorkSafe inspectors have the primary role of targeting unsafe workplace activity, enforcing compliance with health and safety laws, and providing guidance and advice on how to comply with those laws. Further information on workplace inspections and WorkSafe s enforcement policy is available through the WorkSafe Advisory Service ( ) or at WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 4

7 How to comply WorkSafe has a range of guidance materials to advise on the required processes and actions that duty-holders must take in order to meet their legal obligations. Compliance Codes, Health and Safety Solutions and Guidance Notes each provide detailed and specific advice for duty-holders seeking to comply with the OHS Regulations. See also the enclosed More information sheet for a listing of guidance materials related to Plant. Consult Employees expertise can make a significant contribution to improving workplace health and safety. Regular, proactive consultation can help identify issues in the workplace and build a strong commitment to health and safety by including all views in the decision- making process. Under the OHS Act, employers must consult with employees when identifying and assessing hazards or risks associated with plant, and making decisions about risk control. Employees includes independent contractors (and any employees of the independent contractor(s)) who perform work which the employer has, or should have, control over. If employees are represented by health and safety representatives, the consultation must involve those representatives see Your health and safety guide to Consultation for further information. Find When identifying hazards associated with plant in your workplace, you need to consider all aspects of the plant such as: installation (including erection) commissioning operation maintenance decommissioning and dismantling. You also need to think about the types of injuries that could occur as a result of unsafe plant. Example: Could workers get parts of their bodies trapped in machinery? Could the plant tip over and crush someone? Is electrocution a risk? Other plant hazards may arise from noise, radiation, vapours and gases, pressure, electricity, fire, explosion, moisture and extreme temperatures. Designers and manufacturers should try to anticipate the types of things that could go wrong, including plant or systems failure, ergonomic issues, and the potential for human error in all aspects of the plant operation and life cycle. The more you know about possible hazards, the better. You should get as much information as you can from a range of sources, including: advice from specialist professionals, such as engineers discussions with designers, manufacturers, suppliers or employers with similar plant incident and injury reports from health and safety organisations reports and articles from safety journals, technical standards and databases. WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 5

8 How to comply Fix Work through the following list to control risks associated with plant at your workplace. In many instances, a combination of approaches will result in the best solution. 1. Eliminate the hazard The best option is to remove the hazard completely, so you should always try to do this first. Example: Remove hazardous plant or discontinue the process involving the plant. Review It s important to review your risk controls regularly to ensure they are implemented correctly and to monitor their effectiveness. You need to review (and, if necessary, revise) your risk controls whenever any changes are made to the workplace that could increase risks, such as changes to the way work is done or to the equipment used. A review is also necessary before plant is used for the first time, if the controls aren t adequate or if a health and safety representative requests one. 2. Substitute safer plant, use engineering measures or isolate the plant from people If you can t remove the hazard, think about changing the equipment or processes that are used. Example: Provide guarding and barriers around machinery. 3. Use administrative controls or personal protective equipment If you can t change the equipment or processes, try to change the way the work is done. Example: Use of tabards in forklift traffic areas where it is not practicable to completely separate pedestrian traffic from forklifts. WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 6

9 Glossary Administrative control Employee Employer Hazard Health and safety representative (HSR) Personal protective equipment Plant Powered mobile plant Reasonably practicable Using methods such as policies, procedures, safety signs, training or supervision, or a combination of methods, to control risk. A person employed under a contract of employment or contract of training. A person who employs one or more people under contracts of employment or contracts of training. A potential source of harm or injury. The potential to cause injury, illness or disease. A member of a designated work group elected to represent employees on matters relating to occupational health and safety. Equipment or clothing used to provide protection, e.g. gloves, safety glasses, hard hats, goggles, earmuffs, safety shoes, respirators and fall arrest systems. Any machinery, equipment, appliance, implement and tool; any component of any of these things; and anything fitted, connected or related to any of these things. Plant which is provided with some form of self-propulsion which is ordinarily under the direct control of an operator. See section 20(2) of the OHS Act and the WorkSafe Position on How WorkSafe applies the law in relation to reasonably practicable. WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 7

10 In this series Hazards Your health and safety guide to asbestos Your health and safety guide to confined spaces Your health and safety guide to dangerous goods Your health and safety guide to falls prevention Your health and safety guide to hazardous substances Your health and safety guide to lead Your health and safety guide to manual handling Your health and safety guide to noise Your health and safety guide to plant Industries Your health and safety guide to construction Your health and safety guide to forestry Your health and safety guide to foundries Your health and safety guide to major hazard facilities Your health and safety guide to mines Subjects Your health and safety guide to communicating across languages Your health and safety guide to consultation Your health and safety guide to controlling OHS hazards and risks Your health and safety guide to licensing and registrations Your health and safety guide to workplace amenities and first aid Visit for online guidance on all of these topics and more WorkSafe Victoria Your health and safety guide to Plant 8

11 WorkSafe Victoria WorkSafe Agents Agent contact details are all available at worksafe.vic.gov.au/agents Advisory Service Phone (03) Toll-free Website worksafe.vic.gov.au For information about WorkSafe in your own language, call our Talking your Language service YGT009/02/06.17