Safe Practices Safety Management System II (Steps 1-5)

Transcription

1 SUBJECT 6 Safe Practices Safety Management System II (Steps 1-5) studymassage.com.au HLT50307 Diploma of Remedial Massage HLT40312 Certificate IV in Massage Therapy Practice Evolve College Pty Ltd, 2015 This document is copyright. No part of this document may in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, micro copying, photocopying, recording or otherwise) be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted without permission Subject 06 Safe Practices - Safety Management System II (Steps 1-5) v15.03

2 STEP 1 Know your Responsibilities As a business owner, you are ultimately responsible for safety in your workplace. Find out the legal work health and safety requirements that apply to your business. Then write a health and safety policy to demonstrate your commitment to a safe workplace. The policy should be simple, it should state your intentions, set objectives and allocate specific responsibilities to managers, supervisors and workers in the organisation. Many small organisations make the mistake of thinking that a policy is not needed because close personal contact with just a few people makes it easier to say what is wanted. But without a clearly defined set of written directions, it is difficult to hold people accountable for their safety duties and responsibilities and ensure that nothing is falling between the cracks. Display your policy and discuss it with your employees. Support the policy with an action plan for continually improving health and safety in your workplace, and encouraging your employees to give feedback to you. To help you write a health and safety policy, consider the following: Employer responsibilities Provide a safe and healthy working environment, including equipment, materials and systems of work Provide the resources to implement and support safe work practices Provide ways for workers to be informed about and involved in health and safety issues Ensure the health and safety policy and all safe work procedures are kept up-todate Manager/Supervisor responsibilities Manage day-to-day health and safety issues Ensure new employees receive information, training and appropriate supervision Ensure employees receive training before starting new tasks or using new equipment Ensure safe work procedures are followed Investigate accidents and incidents and maintain records relating to the health and safety of staff Employee responsibilities Follow safety procedures and instructions and participate in safety training Use equipment provided by the employer to protect their health and safety Report any workplace incidents or potential hazards to their supervisor Actively participate in the resolution of work health and safety issues Protect their health and safety and that of others by not working while under the influence of alcohol or other drugs Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 2

3 Not interfere with, or remove any safety guards, safety devices or protective equipment provided by the employer Contractors and visitors Clearly state what you expect of any contractors and visitors to your business. In general this would include that they comply with safety instructions while in your workplace and ensure that their actions do not place other people at risk. Depending on the nature of your workplace, you may post a sign in a visible area with such expectations listed. For instance, building worksites often have such signs placed at the entrance to the worksite, stating that a hard hat and certain other equipment or clothing is required before entry. Reviewing your policy State how often you will review the policy, e.g. once a year, to ensure it remains relevant to any legislation or business changes. A review at least annually is recommended. Health and safety responsibilities for things such as induction training, first aid, emergency procedures, workplace inspections, etc, can also be incorporated into job descriptions or duty statements. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 3

4 Business Health & Safety Policy At (name of business) the health, safety and welfare of all employees and visitors is of equal importance to all other operational considerations. The employer, supervisors and employees work together to create a safe working environment and ensure compliance with the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Cth) and equivalent state legislation. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 4

5 STEP 2 Involve your Workers This important step involves communicating and consulting with your workers. When considering all of the tasks that are undertaken in your business, it is important to involve workers in any decisions that may affect their health and safety. As stated earlier in the manual, consultation with workers is actually a requirement under the WHS Act. Often the people doing the job are best placed to offer advice on the hazards they face and ways to work safely. Clear and open communication channels at all levels in the workplace will encourage everyone s support for and participation in health and safety activities. Workers will be more likely to follow safety procedures if they have been involved in developing them. To communicate effectively with your workforce you need to be aware of differing skills in language, literacy and culture. Adapt your communication style where necessary. Keep communication simple Consultation between employers and workers can be achieved in many ways and you should choose the style that best suits your business. For most small businesses this may simply mean having regular direct discussions, which could involve: Gathering workers at the start of work Encouraging workers to raise any safety concerns they may have Reporting on action taken to address any identified hazards Informing workers about any planned changes that may have implications for their health and safety Discussing any new hazards and possible safety measures Conducting a walk around safety inspection Health and Safety Representatives As stated earlier in the manual, in the section on the WHS Act, consultative arrangements are required under the WHS Act. Employees may elect a representative to speak for them on WHS matters; such a representative is called a Health and Safety Representative (HSR). Refer to the section above on legislation for more details, including the fact that if an HSR is properly trained, they may actually issue compliance notices to the PCBU about noncompliant areas. Hence the HSR plays an important role in relation to WHS matters at a business. Other Designated persons Other designated persons for raising WHS issues may include: Team leaders or supervisors Officers HSRs (as described above) Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 5

6 Health and Safety Committee (HSC) members PCBUs Nominated WHS personnel within an organisation (such as a warden or an WHS officer) Any other person designated by the organisation. Employees should know who the designated persons for raising WHS issues are, and how and when to contact them. It is important to encourage employees to raise WHS issues if they arise. Management meetings Effective health and safety systems rely on good management, therefore safety should be considered as part of every agenda item at management meetings and appropriate action taken to implement any decisions made. Shift meetings Consultation is very important where changes of work-shift are involved. Safety issues should be included as a routine item in the hand over between staff starting and finishing shifts. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 6

7 Record of Safety Discussions Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 7

8 STEP 3 Identifying Hazards A hazard is anything that could cause harm. Some examples include noisy machinery, a moving forklift, a chemical solvent, a repetitive job, a badly designed workplace. Hazard identification is very important to any workplace. There are a number of ways to find hazards in the workplace: Walk around and look at your workplace and at how work is done. Talk to your staff to find out what they consider unsafe. Think about what could possibly go wrong and don t overlook the things that people may have worked around for years. Ask yourself What if? Review any information you may have on a particular piece of equipment (manufacturer s manual) or chemical (Material Safety Data Sheet) to see what it says about safety precautions. Check your accidents, near misses and workers compensation records. Talk to others in a similar industry to find out what sort of accidents they have had. Make a list of all the hazards you can find, including the ones you know are already being dealt with. Use the sample Health and Safety Checklist following to help you identify common workplace hazards. In terms of timing of hazard identification, in order to ensure work health and safety you may need to identify possible or actual sources of harm in the following circumstances: Before new forms of work and organisation of work are implemented Before changes are made to workplace, equipment, work processes or work arrangements As part of planning major tasks or activities, such as equipment shutdowns Following an incident report When new knowledge becomes available At regular intervals during normal operations Prior to disposal of equipment or materials. Hazard identification checklist: When looking for hazards you should consider: Your working environment whether it is a building, office, yard, laboratory, trench, tanks, roof, delivery van How suitable the things you use are for the task and how well they are located How people might be hurt directly by equipment, machinery and tools How people might be hurt indirectly through noise, fumes, radiation, etc Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 8

9 How people might be hurt by using chemicals and other materials (paints, solvents, petrol, toner, oils, plastics, acids, pesticides, gases, biological samples, waste) Whether people are using equipment and materials correctly Imagine a child coming into your workplace: what would you warn them about, keep them away from? Examples may include: chemicals not labelled or stored according to directions noise level too high unguarded machinery mobile equipment things that they could trip or fall over, or that could potentially fall onto them if knocked Also think about hazards that you might bring into your workplace as new or hired goods: If you hire a vibrating rammer, are there aids to lifting it? If you hire a welding set, is the insulation worn? If you use a second hand chip fryer does it have splash guards? Think about the way you do things. If you have developed a shortcut, is it as safe as the way it was intended to be done? Be aware of shortcuts and make sure that no compromise is made to safety as a result. For instance, look at the following - are cleaning agents mixed according to instructions? Are gloves always used to handle sharp objects or chemicals? Do you still take as much care as when you first started? For instance, do you not use respirator for small spray jobs anymore? Obviously, many more examples could be given but the above gives a flavour of the depth of inquiry you should be making. Consider carefully the Health and Safety Checklist on the following page. Risks requiring management in a direct client care work environment In addition, consider the following types of risks or hazards that may exist in your area of work, and include any applicable risks in your identification process: Worker fatigue or burnout requiring appropriate supervision and stress management Injury or damage resulting from violent or aggressive behavior, requiring strategies to defuse or avoid behaviours of concern Risks relating to working in clients homes, requiring appropriate worker education and associated strategies Fire in clients homes requiring workers to provide basic information on home fire safety. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 9

10 Health & Safety Checklist This checklist is a guide to help you identify common workplace hazards. You will need to add or delete issues relevant to your workplace. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 10

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12 STEP 4 Assess the Risks How bad are the hazards? Once you have identified the hazards in your workplace, you need to judge how dangerous they are. This allows you to make decisions as to what hazards need to be addressed and to set priorities for introducing controls. A risk is the likelihood of a hazard actually causing harm. To determine the level of risk you need to consider what can happen if someone is exposed to a hazard and the likelihood of it happening. As you identified each hazard in your workplace you possibly made a judgement of the risk on the spot. This is an efficient way to do it keep notes as you go. Automatically, you would probably have used the process described here. What can happen? Think about the consequences of exposure to each hazard you have identified in terms of: Injury what would be the consequences if any of the following occurred: A broken finger? Someone is killed? A chronic bad back? Someone is off work for a day, a week, a month? Illness what are the consequences of the following? -- Permanent lung damage? Headaches? Hearing loss? Stress? Public safety consider the public safety consequences of any hazard or injury, asking: Could Customers be harmed? Are any other people likely to be affected? Extent consider how far consequences could go: How many people could be hurt? Could ramifications or consequences occur even outside your workplace? How likely is it? Judging how likely it is that something will happen is like predicting the future. You cannot be sure, but you can try to estimate likelihood by considering the following: How often do you do the job does this make it more or less likely? How often are people near the hazard? How close do people get to it? Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 12

13 Has it ever happened before, either in your workplace or somewhere else? How often? Has this hazard caused any near misses? Has anyone else you know of had a near miss? What level of training do workers need to do the job? How complex is it? Use the Risk Assessment Table to translate your assessments of likelihood and consequence into levels of risk. By doing a risk assessment you can determine if there is: very low risk the possibility of risk, but controls already in place a risk where action needs to be immediately taken a need for more information or assistance Uncertain about the level of risk? The following may be useful sources of information to help you assess the risks: Codes of Practice and guidance material Australian Standards Industry journals, associations WHS consultants, occupational hygienists, ergonomists, engineers Monitoring and measurement (e.g. atmospheric contaminants, noise levels) If the problem is obvious and the risk of injury is high, act to control the risk immediately in some way, as an interim measure. Then do the research required to assess the risk and decide on the most appropriate control option. This accords with the important principle in the WHS Act that safety must come first. Eliminate the hazard first, or minimise it. Then if there is further work you can do, go ahead and do it or find out what can be done to take it further. Five key points about assessing risk The WHS Act requires all risks to be dealt with, whether the risk is serious or mild and whether controlling it is difficult or easy. Assessment must include risks to non-workers (including contractors, and the public) who may be affected by your activities. Where groups of workers are especially at risk (for example, the young, inexperienced or disabled workers), they must be considered as part of the assessment. Review the original assessment before introducing new work practices, equipment, machinery or chemicals. Never rely solely on common sense in determining safe behaviour, as it is much less common that is generally assumed. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 13

14 Risk Assessment Table Follow these steps using the Risk Assessment Table below to translate your assessments of likelihood and consequence into levels of risk. 1. Determine the potential consequences, or severity of harm: Fatal Major Moderate Minor May cause one or more deaths Extensive injuries, serious damage to health which may be irreversible, requiring medical attention and ongoing treatment. Reversible damage to health, requiring medical treatment Requiring first aid only with little or no lost time 2. Determine the likelihood or chance of each of the situations or events actually occurring: Very likely Likely Unlikely Highly unlikely Is expected to occur in most situations May happen occasionally Could happen, but only rarely Extremely rare may occur only in exceptional circumstances 3. Determine the level of risk by plotting the consequences and likelihood on this table: Fatal Major Moderate Minor Very likely Extreme High High Medium Likely High High Medium Medium Unlikely High Medium Medium Low Highly unlikely Medium Medium Low Low Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 14

15 Hazard List & Risk Assessment Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 15

16 STEP 5 Control the Risks Now that you have assessed the risks to health and safety, you need to decide what needs to be done to control them, starting with the high risks first. Risk controls include the devices and methods to, where practicable, eliminate the hazard or, where this is not practicable, minimise the risk associated with the hazard. In the process of identifying hazards and assessing risks, you will probably see a solution to controlling many of them quite quickly. Some solutions are better than others. Always try to use the most effective solution possible. Use the hierarchy of risk control in controlling risks, which means the best solution is the safest one, which is to eliminate the risk (Level 1), then the next best thing is to substitute, isolate or use engineering controls (Level 2), whilst the last preference is to use administrative controls or personal protective equipment (Level 3). Use the Risk Control Plan following to list what needs to be done, who is going to do it and when. Refer also to the Hierarchy of risk control, as described on page 19. First try to eliminate the hazard The best thing you can do is to eliminate the hazard completely. This could mean removing trip hazards on the floor of a corridor, disposing of unwanted chemicals, etc. If it is not practical to get rid of the hazard, you can try to reduce the risk as much as possible by adopting the following control measures, in order of effectiveness. Examples are given below for how you may introduce further controls to minimise the risk. These are particular to certain types of workplaces. Adapt and extend the principles as needed to suit your particular workplace. The examples are given to offer you a grounding principle of how risk minimisation works. Substitute with something that is safer For example: use smaller packages to reduce the weight of items that have to be manually handled, use a less toxic chemical, or use scaffolding instead of ladders to reduce the risk of falls. Isolate the hazard For example: use sound proof barriers to reduce noise levels, use an enclosed spray booth for spray painting, use remote control systems to operate machinery, or store chemicals in a fume cabinet. Modify tools, equipment or systems of work (engineering controls) For example: use trolleys or hoists to move heavy loads, place guards around moving parts of machinery or fit cut-out switches, or install residual current devices (electrical safety switches). Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 16

17 Use administrative control measures For example: use permit-to-work systems for hazardous work, provide training and supervision, regular maintenance of machinery and equipment, or limit exposure time by introducing job rotation. Use personal protective equipment (PPE) PPE protects the worker s body from hazards, e.g. gloves, hard hats, hearing and eye protection, safety harnesses, high visibility clothing. It is the least reliable form of protection. In most cases, it should only be used in the short term until you have got a better method of control. If you are providing PPE, ensure that: The right type of PPE is selected for the job PPE fits properly and is comfortable under working conditions Workers are trained in the need for PPE, its use and maintenance PPE is stored in a clean and fully operational condition PPE is adequately maintained, including checks, to ensure it is safe and suitable for its purpose. Remember that PPE may be what stands between a worker and an injury. The use of PPE may be a hazard in itself, for example by restricting movement or hearing when these are critical to safety or well-being. Emergency signals, alarms and required responses Emergency signals and alarms play an important role in ensuring people are warned about emergencies or dangerous situations. Workers should know how to take initial action to control or confine an emergency according to the organisation s procedures and always taking into account the nature and the scope of the emergency at hand. Workers should also be trained in how to implement emergency response procedures within the scope of their training and competence. An emergency may consist of any of the following: Serious injury events Any event requiring evacuation Fire or explosion Hazardous substance or chemical spill Explosion or bomb alert Security emergency, such as loss of power or water supply, or structural collapse External emergencies or natural disasters, such as flood, storm and traffic accident impacting on the organisation Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 17

18 Emergency signals and alarms may include the following: Signal/alarm Machinery malfunction alarms Fire alarms Evacuation alarms or announcements Reversing beepers on mobile plant Meaning and response These may be triggered when a piece of machinery malfunctions. Workers should be educated as to what alarms have what meaning in relation to equipment they use at work, so that they can respond immediately and as required in order to avoid injury or accident You should ensure you are aware of the type of fire alarm installed in your workplace. A fire alarm may be similar to the Evacuation alarm, below. On hearing the fire alarm, all employees are to evacuate, avoiding lifts and using stairs. Assemble in the assembly point. The designated person for each area/floor is to check all people have evacuated and know where to go. There are two types of alarms: ALERT: Beep-beep o Response: all WHS representatives or wardens to respond; check immediate area for signs of danger and stand by. If outside working hours, immediately evacuate. EVACUATION: Whoop-whoop o Response: All staff to evacuate via the nearest exit and proceed to the assembly area. Mobile equipment such as forklifts is fitted with reversing beepers, which sound when the equipment is placed into reverse gear. This warns people around the equipment that it is going to reverse, so that they can get out of the way. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 18

19 Use safety signs Where hazards exist, safety signs are an important means of ensuring people are informed, and warned about risks. Common safety signs are as follows, and their meanings are described below: Sign Meaning Dangerous class sign goods Emergency equipment Personal protective equipment (PPE) Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 19

20 Sharps Radiation In many cases a combination of the above control measures will be necessary to adequately reduce the level of risk. Residual risks After controls are implemented, any residual risk should be identified, assessed and documented. A residual risk is any risk that remains following the implementation of the control. Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 20

21 Risk Control Plan Subject 06 Safe Practices Evolve College 2015 Page 21