MONITOR A SAFE WORKPLACE FACILITATOR MANUAL & ASSESSMENT BSBOHS407A

Transcription

1 MONITOR A SAFE WORKPLACE FACILITATOR MANUAL & ASSESSMENT BSBOHS407A

2 Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd 9 Koppen Tce, Cairns, QLD, info@precisiongroup.com.au Website: BSBOHS407A Monitor a Safe Workplace ISBN: Copyright Notice No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information retrieval system without written permission from Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd. Legal action may be taken against any person who infringes their copyright through unauthorised copying. These terms are subject to the conditions prescribed under the Australian Copyright Act Copying for Educational Purposes The Australian Copyright Act 1968 allows 10% of this book to be copied by any educational institute for educational purposes, provided that the institute (or the body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. For more information, info@copyright. com.au or visit for other contact details. Disclaimer Precision Group has made a great effort to ensure that this material is free from error or omissions. However, you should conduct your own enquiries and seek professional advice before relying on any fact, statement or matter contained in this book. Precision Group (Australia) Pty Ltd is not responsible for any injury, loss or damage as a result of material included or omitted from this material. Information in this course material is current at the time of publication.

3 Table of Contents 2 Legend 3 Qualification Pathways 4 Qualification Rules 5 Introduction 7 BSBOHS407A/01 Provide Information to the Workgroup about OHS Policies and Procedures Key Points Accurately explain relevant provisions of OHS legislation and codes of practice to the workgroup Provide information to the workgroup on the organisation s OHS policies, procedures and programs, ensuring it is readily accessible by the workgroup Regularly provide and clearly explain information about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control to the workgroup 17 True or False Quiz 19 BSBOHS407A/02 Implement and Monitor Participative Arrangements for the Management of OHS Key Points Explain the importance of effective consultative mechanisms in managing health and safety risks Implement and monitor consultative procedures to facilitate participation of workgroup in management of work area hazards Promptly deal with issues raised through consultation, in accordance with organisational consultation procedures Promptly record and communicate to the workgroup the outcomes of consultation over OHS issues 25 True or False Quiz 27 BSBOHS407A/03 Implement and Monitor the Organisation s Procedures for Providing OHS Training Key Points Systematically identify OHS training needs in line with organisational requirements Make arrangements to meet OHS training needs of team members in consultation with relevant individuals Provide workplace learning opportunities, and coaching and mentoring assistance to facilitate team and individual achievement of identified training needs Identify and report to management the costs associated with providing training for work team, for inclusion in financial plans 35 True or False Quiz 37 BSBOHS407A/04 Implement and Monitor Procedures for Identifying Hazards and Assessing Risks Key Points Identify and report on hazards in work area in accordance with OHS policies and procedures Promptly action team member hazard reports in accordance with organisational procedures 43 True or False Quiz 1

4 45 BSBOHS407A/05 Implement and Monitor the Organisation s Procedures for Controlling Risks Key Points Implement procedures to control risks using the hierarchy of controls and organisational requirements Identify and report inadequacies in existing risk control measures in accordance with the hierarchy of controls Monitor outcomes of reported inadequacies, where appropriate, to ensure a prompt organisational response 51 True or False Quiz 53 BSBOHS407A/06 Implement and Monitor the Organisation s Procedures for Maintaining OHS Records for the Team Key Points Accurately complete and maintain OHS records of incidents of occupational injury and disease in work area in accordance with OHS legal requirements Use aggregate information and data from work area records to identify hazards and monitor risk control procedures in work area where appropriate, to ensure a prompt organisational response 59 True or False Quiz 60 Summary 61 Bibliography 63 Assessment Pack Use considered risk taking in your grey area...and others will follow you! Legend This symbol indicates the beginning of new content. The bold title matches the content of the competency and they will help you to find the section to reference for your assessment activities. Activity: Whenever you see this symbol, there is an activity to carry out which has been designed to help reinforce the learning about the topic and take some action. This symbol is used at the end of a section to indicate the summary key points of the previous section. This symbol is used to indicate an answer to the Candidate s questions or notes to assist the Facilitator. 2

5 Qualification Pathways There are always two choices. Two paths to take. One is easy. And its only reward is that it s easy. Source Unknown This unit of competency is provided to meet the requirements of BSB07 Business Services Training Package although it can be used in a range of different qualifications. The BSB07 Business Services Training Package does not state how a qualification is to be achieved. Rather, Registered Training Organisations are required to use the qualification rules to ensure the needs of the learner and business customer are met. This is to be achieved through the development of effective learning programs delivered in an order that meets the stated needs of nominated Candidates and business customers. 3

6 Qualification Rules You re either part of the solution or part of the problem. Eldridge Cleaver Qualification requirements include core and elective units. The unit mix is determined by specific unit of competency requirements which are stated in the qualification description. Registered Training Organisations then work with learners and business customers to select elective units relevant to the work outcome, local industry requirements and the qualification level. All vocational education qualifications must lead to a work outcome. BSB07 Business Services Training Package qualifications allow for Registered Training Organisations (RTOs) to vary programs to meet: Specific needs of a business or group of businesses. Skill needs of a locality or a particular industry application of business skills. Maximum employability of a group of students or an individual. When packaging a qualification elective units are to be selected from an equivalent level qualification unless otherwise stated. 4

7 Introduction Whether as an individual, or as part of a group, real progress depends on entering whole-heartedly into the process and being motivated to make you a more deeply satisfied human being. Source Unknown This unit of competency is all about being able to monitor the safety within your workplace. It will help you with the skills you need to demonstrate competency for the unit BSBOHS407A Monitor a safe workplace. This is one of the units that make up the Certificates in Business. This training is broken up into six distinct sections. They are: 1. Provide information to the work group about OHS policies and procedures. 2. Implement and monitor participative arrangements for the management of OHS. 3. Implement and monitor the organisation s procedures for providing OHS training. 4. Implement and monitor procedures for identifying hazards and assessing risks. 5. Implement and monitor the organisation s procedures for controlling risks. 6. Implement and monitor the organisation s procedures for maintaining Occupational Health and Safety records for the team. When you have finished this training you will be asked to complete an assessment pack for this unit of competency. The information contained in this resource will assist you to complete this task. On conclusion of this unit of competency you will have demonstrated your knowledge of the OHS responsibilities of employees with supervisory responsibilities to implement and monitor the organisation s Occupational Health and Safety policies, procedures and programs in the relevant work area to meet legislative requirements. 5

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9 PART 1: Provide Information to the Workgroup about OHS Policies and Procedures Key Points Section 1 All organisations have a set of responsibilities and obligations under the law with regard to Health and Safety. All employees have the right to be in a workplace that will not endanger their safety in any way. Health and Safety legislation is broken up into Acts, Regulations and Codes of Practice. Information on your organisation s Occupational Health and Safety policies, procedures and programs should be provided in a readily accessible manner to your work group. Information about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and control must be regularly provided and clearly explained to the work group. 7

10 In order to establish a suitable Health and Safety management system, it is important that you and your staff are fully aware of the requirements for Health and Safety set both by your organisation and by the government in general. In this section, we will examine each of these and look at how you can go about ensuring your staff are kept fully aware. The Health and Safety Environment Here in Australia, we have a set of Health and Safety laws that aim to give everyone who works the same basic rights with regard to the environment within which we work. Essentially we all have the right to be in a workplace that will not endanger our safety in any way. Before we move on to the specifics of the legislation, let s examine the overall structure of the legislative framework. ACTS Set overall principles & philosophy REGULATIONS Expand on particular issues from the Act CODE OF PRACTICE Practical guidelines for putting regulations into effec t STANDARDS Provide details Health and Safety Framework Note that as you move down the framework more and more details and practical advice is provided. One of the key aspects of all Health and Safety legislation is that it places legal obligations on employers, managers and even you as an employee in an organisation. These obligations are aimed at ensuring that a workplace is kept as safe as possible - and they ensure that all staff at all levels of an organisation work towards building a safer and ultimately more effective workplace. 8

11 Focusing on the Cost of Injury Why exactly is it that Health and Safety is so important in the modern workplace? There are of course ethical considerations that must be taken into account - but it is also important to realise that accidents have a significant effect on the bottom line in any organisation. The costs associated with an accident include: Medical compensation insurance Time spent on accident investigations Time lost due to injury Time lost in repairs Cost of replacing injured workers, and on training replacements Cost of rehabilitation Production costs resulting from delays in the return to normal operations Loss of production due to worker absence Damage to property, materials and equipment Repairs Transport to hospital Increase in workers compensation levies Legal or witness fees Fines To put these costs into perspective, consider that one in twelve (12) individuals is likely to suffer from a work related illness or accident in the next year. This means that about 650,000 people in Australia are likely to be injured in the workplace and that approximately 170,000 people will need to take more than five days off work. The Legislative Framework We have already outlined the fact that as an employee or manager you have a number of obligations that you will be required to meet under Health and Safety legislation. But what legislation are we talking about? Here in Australia, the legislation that covers Health and Safety in the workplace is both state and territory based. In general this means that each state or territory has their own Health and Safety legislation. For the most part - the differences between each are minor and in this manual we will focus on the general themes that are present in each state s legislation - which are for the most part quite similar. It should be noted that there is a national piece of legislation that covers all staff that are working for the Commonwealth no matter which state they are working in. As well as being set out in legislation - some of the obligations that you must meet are also outlined in the regulations. Regulations take specific items within legislation and flesh them out in more detail. We will examine what regulations are in more detail later in this section. All legislation and regulations are legally binding on all Australian businesses - as an employer, manager or employee it is your duty to obey them. 9

12 Also present in the legislative framework are standards and Codes of Practice. Standards provide detail, while Codes of Practice give practical guidelines for putting specific regulations into effect. Generally these are just recommendations - however some standards may be legally enforceable. Health and Safety Acts As we previously mentioned, there is not just one piece of legislation covering Health and Safety in Australia - rather each state and territory has its own piece of law covering the subject in the form of its own Occupational Health and Safety Act. The acts of each State are: Legislation Work Health Amendment Act 2007 Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995 Workplace Health And Safety Act 1995 Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 Health and Safety Act 2004 Occupational Safety, Heath and Welfare Act 1986 Occupational Health and Safety Act 1985 Occupational Health and Safety Act 1984 State Northern Territory Queensland Tasmania ACT New South Wales South Australia Victoria Western Australia For the most part, the central tenet of the legislation is very similar - they all strive for the same main objectives - however it is important that you determine where any differences may lie. You can get more information on the legislation that covers your specific workplace by referring to the legislative and Workplace Health and Safety websites, or gov.au/otherrelatedsites/. For the most part, you will find that the major differences between states and territories lie in terminology and the processes that each Act puts in place. As just mentioned, all Health and Safety legislations have the same major intention. That intention is twofold. They first establish the fact that the major obligation for keeping staff safe lies with the Employer, and second they encourage a cooperative approach to Health and Safety. It is important to remember that the Acts work to protect all people in an organisation. You may not realise this, but as well as protecting staff, managers and employers the legislation works to protect volunteers, customers, clients, contractors and visitors to a workplace. This means that any Health and Safety plans must encompass processes to protect each of these groups of people. 10

13 The Acts also look to build a consultative, proactive approach to managing Health and Safety in the workplace. Rather than imposing the will of the manager on all employees, Health and Safety legislation attempts to build consultation with staff into the process of developing policy and processes for Health and Safety. Working towards a proactive approach means that the legislation looks to preventing accidents in advance identifying risks, and taking action rather than waiting for an accident to occur and then establishing means of preventing the accident from occurring again. The Duty of Care A central tenet of all Health and Safety legislation all over the world is the establishment of a duty of care. This is one of the key obligations that is established in all OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) Acts. State and territory OHS Acts contain obligations to exercise a duty of care in relation to Health and Safety in the workplace. Essentially the duty of care means that employers must attempt to do everything that they can to remove or minimise risks in the workplace put another way they must exercise as much care as possible in attempting to prevent workplace accidents, injuries and illnesses. This goes back to the proactive approach. It is much better to have a fence on the edge of a cliff preventing people from falling off than it is to have an ambulance waiting at the bottom to care for those who have fallen. Responsibilities and Obligations As we mentioned earlier employers and employees each have a specific set of responsibilities that they have in relation to Health and Safety in the workplace. Even though employees do have some responsibilities (which we will address later in this section) it is the employer (and managers who act on their behalf ) who have the majority of the responsibility. The key responsibilities that an employer has are: Employer Responsibilities Ensuring that health and safety staff are qualified. Providing safe buildings, equipment and work processes. Keeping health and safety records. Providing safety equipment. Giving information regarding health and safety to employees. Providing access to and from a workplace that is safe. Protecting the health and safety of staff. Providing training where needed. 11

14 As well as your employers having responsibilities and obligations, you as an employee also have obligations that you must adhere to. These include: Employee Responsibilities Cooperate with your employer in their attempt to manage risks and hazards. Do your work without endangering yourself or others. Do not interfere with or misuse safety equipment or machinery. Use safety and protective equipment that is provided to you. Be involved in the process of checking out and reporting hazards, assessing them and controlling risks. The Regulations Referring back to our legislative framework - you will remember that the regulations pick up particular issues from the Acts and add extra detail to them. Generally you will find that the regulations cover a single specific aspect of Health and Safety, and they will give detail to each of these issues - providing duties and procedures specific to the issue being examined. These issues are often related to a specific type of hazard - such as noise or machinery. Some of the key regulations in Australia are: Key Regulations Workers Compensation Regulation 2003 Workers Compensation (Insurance Premiums) Regulation 1995 Workers Compensation Transitional Regulation 1997 Workplace Injury Management and Workers Compensation Regulation 2002 Workers Compensation (General) Regulation 1995 Occupational Health and Safety (Clothing Factory Registration) Regulation 2001 Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2001 Workers Compensation (Bush Fire, Emergency and Rescue Services) Regulation 2002 Dangerous Goods (General) Regulation 1999 Dangerous Goods (Gas Installations) Regulation

15 Codes of Practice Let s now examine what a Code of Practice is. Essentially a Code of Practice is used to give detailed advice on how an employer can attempt to build systems and procedures that will allow them to meet the requirements of specific legislation or regulations. They are used as practical guidelines giving advice on how an organisation can comply with the Acts and Regulations. They can also be used to suggest ways in which risks in a specific workplace can be remedied. Some examples of Codes of Practice that are used are: Noise Manual Handling Provision of Health and Safety information in languages other than English First Aid Standards These are produced by Standards Australia and deal with specific workplace problems such as noise or exposure to chemicals. The standards themselves are used to provide technical guidance in relation to a specific problem. They are often used in the design of new products. For example if you were producing a new desk for children you would need to refer to standards for safety of children as well as all other standards related to the manufacture of furniture. The standards are not legally binding however most generally regard them as being good practice. Precaution is better than cure. Edward Coke 13

16 Internal Rules and Procedures As well as the external rules that are provided on a federal and state level, there are rules that are put in place managing Health and Safety on an organisational level. These rules, policies and procedures are important for all staff to be aware of. We will examine these rules and procedures in this section. Policy and Procedure In order to develop a Health and Safety plan for any organisation - it is crucial that you begin with developing a policy that encompasses everything that you wish to achieve. You will find that the sites mentioned previously can be of much assistance in the process of developing an appropriate policy. They have information available that you can use to provide you with the guidelines you need to develop a policy that is in line with the responsibilities and obligations that you, as an employer or manager, have in protecting your staff. Briefly put, a policy can be defined as a statement on an issue that affects an organisation. This statement is used to define exactly what a particular organisation hopes to achieve in dealing with a given subject. In the case of OHS policy - the policies will define the organisation s intentions with regard to the issue of OHS and how they plan to deal with it. Essentially the OHS policy of an organisation should define: What standard is to be achieved. What objectives the organisation hopes to achieve. A specific time frame for the achievement of the objectives. What plans the organisation has in place to review the policy. Commitment by management to the policy (we will address this shortly). How the policy will be implemented. What is expected of staff. Commitment by Management It is vital to the success of any policy that senior management commit to the plan. That is they must understand the principles that underlie the need for the plan and they fully commit to its implementation within the organisation. They must be willing to enforce the policy if it is broken and work to ensure the effectiveness of the plan - reviewing it continually and making improvements where deficiencies are noted. Consultation A strong principle of Health and Safety legislation in Australia is consultation - that is wherever an OHS issue is concerned, a supervisor should work with the team to find solutions using each team member s detailed knowledge of the areas within which they are working. Regular consultation allows you to keep your staff members informed of the issues, as well as get detailed information from those who work in the areas on a day to day basis. Your staff 14

17 members are in the best position to give advice as they are on the front line - operating in the area and thus they know what risks there are, what hazards are being faced and what could be done to eliminate the hazards. You should also note that if you work with your team on the development of a Health and Safety plan, your team members are more likely to be cooperative since they were involved in decision-making from the start. Health and Safety Committees and Representatives One useful way of consulting with your staff (and in fact ways that the OHS Acts state as being required) are the use of OHS committees and OHS representatives. You will need to examine the Act for your state or territory to decide whether or not your organisation is required to establish a committee - however even if it is not required they can be a useful way of providing a means of consultation between management and employees. There is also an important role in representatives and committees with regard to communication - having committees or representatives allows you to get Health and Safety information out to the staff. Representatives sitting on a committee will receive information regarding hazards and policies and they can go back to their work areas and provide this information to them. Communicating Identified Hazards Whenever a hazard is identified in the workplace you need to do something that will let other staff members know about the hazard. If you do not - you will be placing your staff in danger. We will examine the process of identifying and dealing with hazards in more detail later. However it must be noted that as an employer you must make the workplace as safe as you possibly can which means ensuring that it is free of risks to your employees safety or health. In order to accomplish this you need to first identify which hazards are present in your workplace, then establish ways of controlling them. There are a range of ways which can be used to control a hazard. Crucially you must not stop here. Once you have identified the hazard you must then communicate the hazard and any control methods that you have in place to your staff. You may communicate this using signs, passing information through representatives, updating procedure manuals or training. It is important that all staff are aware of what hazards exist in the workplace Training Once again, we will be dealing with training in much more detail in a later section, however at this stage, it is important to consider how training can be used as a communication method in OHS. As we stated earlier you and your staff have certain responsibilities and obligations with regard to OHS in the workplace. Training is one method that you can use to communicate this information to your staff. You can use it to provide information on obligations, policies or even to improve knowledge with regard to hazards and improving overall safety in the workplace. 15

18 Activity One - Legislation What legislation does your organisation have to follow? Facilitator s Notes for Activity One The Candidate must have listed the relevant pieces of legislation that their organisation must follow. This should include the relevant Act, as well as any Codes of Practice and legislation that are applicable to their organisation. 16

19 Section 1 - True or False Quiz True False OHS requirements come from both internal and external sources. OHS legislation aims to provide basic rights to all employees. OHS legislation places no obligations on employees. Both employees and employers have obligations they must meet. There is a single piece of OHS legislation. It is made up of a number of Acts, Codes of Practice and Legislation. The broadest piece of legislation is the regulation. Acts are the broadest type of legislation. Regulations add detail to Acts. Policy and procedure are different words for the same thing. Policy states an objective, procedure states how it will be achieved. Policy requires commitment by management to be taken seriously. Signs are a way of communicating a hazard. You are not required to provide OHS training. Where gaps exist you must provide training. 17