New Features Guide Health & Safety

Transcription

1 New Features Guide Health & Safety

2 Fergus Health & Safety Guide Version 1.0 Published 11/05/16

3 click a section to jump straight there 1. INTRODUCTION 5 2. THE LEGISLATION 6 3. WORKFLOW 9 4. HEALTH & SAFETY SETTINGS JOB HAZARDS THE MOBILE APP 23

4 Introduction 1 Fergus 1 INTRODUCTION Welcome! This is a Fergus New Features Guide. Fergus has a major new feature set to help you better manage your Health & Safety obligations within your business. This guide will help you understand the basic requirements, and walk you through how Fergus can help you to fulfil these requirements. Thanks for choosing Fergus, your trade management partner. How This Guide Works We recommend that you work through this guide from start to finish, to make sure you don t miss any essential elements. You can print this guide, we recommend double-sided colour printing to produce the best result. When you see a blue link like this you can click on it to go somewhere else. You can click on the section contents to jump straight to that part of the guide. Any time you see an image with pointer bubbles, click them to jump straight to that part of the guide. Click Help at the top right of the Fergus Menu Bar if you need assistance. From this menu you can lodge a support ticket with our team, watch help videos, or go to our training site. If you need to call us, we re here during business hours on (+64)

5 Fergus 2 The Legislation 2 THE LEGISLATION SECTION CONTENTS 2.1 Overview 2.2 Core Concepts Actively Managed Hazard Assessment Mitigating Hazards Accidents and Near Misses 2.1 Overview It's important for all businesses to understand their country's Health & Safety legislation, and especially those in the construction industry. The following are some helpful links for Fergus users in New Zealand and Australia: NZ H&S Legislation Worksafe NZ Information for NZ Company Directors Australian H&S Legislation whs-acts-regulations-and-codes-of-practice.aspx#state Safe Work Australia DISCLAIMER All guides, processes, and comments are purely the opinion of Fergus. In no way is this guide to be taken as professional legal advice to base your Health & Safety procedures and policies upon. It is up to each individual firm to manage their own Health & Safety as they see fit. Fergus recommends employing an appropriately trained consultant to review your business and come up with an individually tailored plan to ensure that you meet your obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act Fergus cannot be held responsible for issues arising under the Act if you decide not to seek professional advice on this matter and choose instead to base your Health & Safety policy around our suggestions. 5

6 The Legislation 2 Fergus 2.2 Core Concepts There are a number of core concepts that are key to understanding and meeting the requirements of the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015 (Health & Safety) in New Zealand. The Act simply sets out the Health & Safety requirements. It doesn't identify or recommend specific methods of meeting those requirements. Businesses are free to fulfil the intention of the Act in many different ways Actively Managed The core principal behind Health & Safety is the concept of Active Management. All people involved in the workplace are now responsible for Health & Safety and this responsibility can't be outsourced or transferred to employees on the work site. Health & Safety management must flow from the directors to supervisors to on site workers. If someone gets hurt in a workplace and there was a clear way to identify and mitigate the hazard, then the responsibility for this accident travels upwards through the management hierarchy of the business. EXAMPLE At an example company, employees are required to fill out checklists while on site to manage the hazards. If the employee chooses not to complete the checklist on site, then proceeds to hurt themselves, the company is still responsible for the accident. The company is at fault for not actively managing the Health & Safety of staff on site. To keep staff from harm, all hazards on a job have to be managed. If the hazards aren't managed then the company is in breach of the intention of the new legislation. A checklist is a handy way of letting your employees know what they are supposed to check when they are on a work site, but that can't be the extent of your Health & Safety system. The only way to actually comply with your Health & Safety obligation is to log all hazards on site and then enact a plan to actively manage and mitigate the hazards Hazard Assessment To meet the intention of Health & Safety legislation, a firm must manage the hazards that their employees will be or could be exposed to in the course of their work. Best practice in hazard assessment usually consists of categorising a hazard to make it easy to understand and explain what is required to make the hazard 'safe'. Hazards are commonly classed in one of the following three categories: Eliminate, Isolate, or Minimise. In your Health & Safety policy there should be a section on how to deal with hazards. The best way to comply with the legislation is to document the procedure of how to deal with each hazard. For instance, the hazard of working at heights on ladders can only be minimised, and a document should be produced and shared with staff detailing how to best minimise the risk from ladders in the workplace. 6

7 Fergus 2 The Legislation In Fergus we call these hazard documents Safe Work Method Statements or SWMS as we believe this accurately describes their function. Once you have a library of SWMS that cover all your workplace hazards, you can begin to train staff on how to understand and action them. WHO CAN ASSESS HAZARDS? Your Health & Safety policy should identify who is trained to manage hazards and how. The best way to train staff on hazard management is by having a teaching and upskilling process in place. Current common best practice is the concept of Toolbox Meetings. In these toolbox meetings staff should be trained on policy and procedures and also guided through the SWMS so that they are understood. Once staff have been inducted through a training regime the firm can have confidence that they are trained to identify and manage hazards on site Mitigating Hazards This is the most difficult aspect of any Health & Safety system. The aim of all this training and policy is to ensure that hazards are safely mitigated on site. It's important to have a system around recording and reporting on compliance with the hazard management processes Accidents and Near Misses There is a legislative requirement to have a documented information trail around the events that led to a workplace safety incident, and then the subsequent actions that have been taken to reduce the likelihood of that event happening again. Managing accidents and near misses is where your Health & Safety policies, plans and implementation are tested in the real world. It is critical that staff log accidents and near misses. Once these are logged it is the management's duty to investigate hazards and adjust procedures and policies to prevent scenarios from reoccurring. If there is ever a legal review of a firm's Health & Safety processes, the approach taken by the reviewing agency aims to find out if all practicable steps were taken to remove and protect employees from harm. Correct logging of all accidents and near misses and their follow up hazard mitigation will help to show that your firm takes these steps. 7

8 Workflow 3 Fergus 3 WORKFLOW SECTION CONTENTS 3.1 Overview 3.2 Information Feedback 3.3 Health & Safety Policy 3.4 SWMS 3.5 Data Sheets 3.6 Meetings 3.7 On Site 3.8 In The Office 3.9 Reporting 3.1 Overview These are the most important aspects to manage in your Health & Safety workflow. Policy Assessment Management Training On Site Incidents Reporting Developing detailed processes for hazard management How to identify hazards that do or could arise How to mitigate hazards that have been identified How to train staff to implement hazard mitigation On site hazard management processes Recording incidents and then adapting relevant processes Managing staff compliance with policy 8

9 Fergus 3 Workflow 3.2 Information Feedback Information learned through the active management of Health & Safety flows back into the system, improving future processes to mitigate harm. 3.3 Health & Safety Policy Your Health & Safety Policy is a written document that details your firm's approach to Health & Safety, and is the backbone of the system. You can upload your Health & Safety Policy document into Fergus. This document is accessible by all staff, and it is a standard requirement that your policy be accessible at all times by your staff. You can also easily print your policy in the office to have hard copies on site for any sub-contractors to view if they do not use Fergus. 3.4 SWMS Safe Work Method Statements are a guideline for identifying and reducing the risk of specific hazards. You can upload your SWMS into Fergus for easy access by your staff. You can also easily print them in the office to have hard copies on site for any sub-contractors to view if they do not use Fergus. Many companies sell standardised SWMS online, and you may wish to purchase ready made SWMS appropriate to your business. 9

10 Workflow 3 Fergus 3.5 Data Sheets Data sheets contain the background information needed to understand a hazard or use a tool/product. Data sheets can contain important first aid information and material handling information. Many of these are available from the material manufacturer or supplier, usually on their website. You can upload your data sheets into Fergus for easy access by your staff. You can also easily print them in the office to have hard copies on site for any subcontractors to view if they do not use Fergus. 3.6 Meetings Toolbox meetings are where you implement your Health & Safety policies. They should record all the appropriate meeting information such as attendees, minutes, and any actionable tasks arising from the meetings. Tool Box meetings are the best way to record which Health & Safety training and documentation your staff have received. 3.7 On Site Managing hazards on site is a multi step process which covers identifying and describing hazards, attaching the appropriate SWMS, and documenting the hazard with photographs before and after it is mitigated. 3.8 In The Office Your Health & Safety officer in the firm can review hazards and incidents to ensure that staff are implementing the hazard management plan as laid out in your Health & Safety Policy and reinforced through your toolbox meetings. This is a critical step in the process as the legislation calls for continuous monitoring of the Health & Safety process (active management). 3.9 Reporting Reporting is an important way to gather information on Key Performance Indicators and ensure staff are following Health & Safety protocols. The concept behind reporting is to set the staff targets for hazard identification and mitigation. Often with a KPI an incentive is offered for achieving targets. You may wish to reward your staff for achieving targets and help ensure that your Health & Safety Policy is followed correctly. 10

11 Fergus 4 Fergus Tools 4 HEALTH & SAFETY SETTINGS SECTION CONTENTS 4.1 Menu 4.2 Meetings 4.3 SWMS 4.4 Data Sheets 4.5 Incidents 4.6 Hazard Templates 4.7 Settings 4.8 Compliance Report 4.1 Menu You ll notice an icon in your Fergus menu for managing Health & Safety. Health & Safety Manage Health & Safety Health & Safety is divided into five areas: Meetings, SWMS, Data Sheets, Incidents, and Settings. 4.2 Meetings (a) Click Meetings in the side menu to see the Meetings tools. This feature is for recording meetings that have occurred, not for scheduling future meetings. (b) Past meetings are listed in the Meetings list. Click a meeting for more details. Click the cog on the right to edit or delete a Meeting. 11

12 Fergus Tools 4 Fergus (c) Click the New Meeting button to add a new meeting to the list. (d) Set the key meeting details at the top. (e) Add meeting minutes in the text box. (f) Add actionable tasks to meetings in the Tasks area. These will show up on an employees to do tasks for follow up. 12

13 Fergus 4 Fergus Tools 4.3 SWMS (a) Click SWMS in the side menu to see the Safe Work Method Statement tools. (b) Click the file area, or drag and drop files here to add SWMS. Files can be in PDF or DOC format. (c) Added SWMS appear in the list. Click a SWMS to view it, or click the cog on the right to download, rename, or delete a SWMS. 4.4 Data Sheets (a) Click Data Sheets in the side menu to see the Data Sheet tools. (b) Click the file area, or drag and drop files here to add Data Sheets. Files can be in PDF or DOC format. 13

14 Fergus Tools 4 Fergus (c) Added Data Sheets appear in the list. Click a Data Sheet to view it, or click the cog on the right to download, rename, or delete a Data Sheet. 4.5 Incidents (a) Click Incidents to record accidents and near misses on site. (b) Past incidents are listed in the Incidents list. Click an incident for more details. Click the cog on the right to edit or delete an incident. (c) Click the New Incident button to add a new incident to the list. (d) Set the key incident details at the top. (e) Add details in the text box. (f) Add photos of the incident by clicking on the photo area. 14

15 Fergus 4 Fergus Tools 4.6 Hazard Templates (a) Click Hazard Templates in the side menu to add, edit, and review hazard templates. Hazard templates allow you to set up common hazards to save time when identifying and recording job hazards. (b) Hazard templates are listed below. Click a hazard template to review it. (c) Click New Hazard Template to add a new hazard template to the list. This template will be available for use on job card hazard management. (d) Click the text boxes to set the hazard title and description. (e) Hazards can have photos attached. Hazard templates cannot have default photos as the specific instance of the hazard will differ slightly from job to job. You can add actual hazard photos when you add a template hazard to a job. (f) Use the drop down menu to add SWMS and data sheets to a hazard template. 15

16 Fergus Tools 4 Fergus 4.7 Settings (a) Click Settings in the side menu to see the Health & Safety settings. (b) Click the file area, or drag and drop a file here to add a Health & Safety Policy. Files can be in PDF or DOC format. (c) The nominated Health & Safety Officer is listed here. Click the drop down menu to change the Health & Safety Officer. (d) Medical Centres that you've added are listed here. (e) Click the New Medical Centre button to add a new Medical Centre to the list. (f) Add the medical centre contact details in the appropriate boxes by clicking and typing in each box. 4.8 Compliance Report The Compliance Report provides an easy overview of your employees and their progress with hazard management in active jobs. You can track the number of jobs each employee is assigned to, the number of hazards, and the proportion of hazards that have been mitigated. 16

17 Fergus 5 Job Hazards 5 JOB HAZARDS SECTION CONTENTS 5.1 Hazards on Job Card 5.2 New Hazard 5.3 Mitigating Hazards 5.1 Hazards on Job Card Hazards are logged and managed on the job card. Tracking hazards allows for the active management of Health & Safety by identifying risks and mitigating them. There are several hazard categories that it is important to identify and manage: Physical Chemical Ergonomic Radiation Psychological Biological e.g. noise, electricity, heat and cold e.g. toxic gases, noxious fumes and corrosive liquids e.g. the height of a workbench, the shape of a confined space e.g. from x-ray machines, infra-red beams, microwave ovens e.g. stress from using equipment without proper training e.g. bacteria and viruses from exposure to sewage Hazard templates can be set up with the Health & Safety tools to standardise common job hazards. Day to day hazard management takes place on the job card, where hazards can be added, edited, and mitigated. (a) On the job card, click Hazards in the Tools menu to view the job hazards. 17

18 Job Hazards 5 Fergus (b) Hazards are listed. If no hazards have yet been added to a job, an employee has the option of marking the job as having no hazards: (c) Click the drop down menu to add a preset hazard template to the job. Choose a hazard template from the list to add it to the job. See 4.6 Hazard Templates for more information on setting up hazard templates. (d) Click the green + New Hazard button to add a new hazard to the job. See 5.2 New Hazard for the steps involved. (e) Click the cog to perform additional actions on a hazard: edit the hazard mitigate the hazard (see 5.3 Mitigating Hazards) add the hazard to your hazard templates for later use (see 4.6 Hazard Templates) delete the hazard 18

19 Fergus 5 Job Hazards 5.2 New Hazard (a) Click the green + New Hazard button to add a new hazard to the job. (b) Click the text boxes to set the hazard title and description. (c) Add photos of the hazard by clicking on the photo area. (d) Use the drop down menu to add SWMS and data sheets to a hazard template. EXAMPLE A hazard on a job identifies a specific instance of a safety concern and flags it for further management. For instance, use of a ladder on an uneven slope might cause a hazard. A new hazard is added to the job with photos to show the unmitigated hazard. A Safe Word Method Statement (SWMS) concerning safe ladder use can be attached, and a Data Sheet outlining the risks, policies, and background information. In this way, the hazard is identified and managed all in one place, and it's easy to attach documents from a central library. 19

20 Job Hazards 5 Fergus 5.3 Mitigating Hazards (a) Click the cog next to a job hazard to mitigate the hazard. mitigate the hazard (b) Click the text boxes to set the mitigation type, responsible employee, and description. Eliminated Take all practicable steps to eliminate the hazard, particularly if it presents a significant injury or health risk. EXAMPLE Replace noisy machinery with a quieter process, or swap a toxic chemical for safer product. Isolated If you can t eliminate the threat then try to isolate it. EXAMPLE Fit a guard around dangerous machine parts. 20

21 Fergus 5 Job Hazards Minimised If you can t eliminate or isolate the hazard then minimise it. EXAMPLE Training, safety manuals, checklists, and using protective equipment such as ear muffs. If you can only minimise the hazard then you have additional duties to inform and train staff about the hazard controls, frequently measure the level of the hazard, and monitor the exposure of employees to the hazard (including the health impacts on the employee). (c) Add photos of the hazard mitigation by clicking on the photo area. A mitigated hazard will show the employee's icon next to the hazard. 21

22 The Mobile App 6 Fergus 6 THE MOBILE APP SECTION CONTENTS 6.1 New Menu Incidents Medical Centres Health & Safety Policy 6.2 Job Hazards New Hazard Mitigating Hazards Health & Safety on the Fergus Mobile app is split between the new Health & Safety menu, and a new Hazards area on the job card. The menu deals with top level documentation and information: Incident Reporting, Policies, and access to Medical Centres. Often this means information that is loaded up in the office for later use on site and in toolbox meetings. The job card Hazards area deals with job level hazard management and mitigation. 6.1 New Menu Tap the menu key in the top left corner of the Fergus mobile app to access the main menu. 22

23 Fergus 6 The Mobile App Tap Health & Safety in the main menu to access the mobile Health & Safety features. The Health & Safety menu gives you access to the top level Health & Safety information you need on site. Reference information is stored in the Health & Safety menu, including SWMS, Data Sheets, the company Health & Safety policy, and the contact details of nominated Medical Centres. The Health & Safety menu is also where accidents and near missed are recorded. 23

24 The Mobile App 6 Fergus Incidents Tap Near Misses & Incidents in the Health & Safety Menu to view details about incidents that have occurred, or to record a new incident. Past incidents will appear in a list. Tap the + symbol to add a new incident. Tap an existing incident to see more details. Enter the details of the incident. You can add a date, title, description, incident type, involved employees, and photos. 24

25 Fergus 6 The Mobile App Medical Centres Tap Medical Centres in the Health & Safety Menu to view details about the recommended Medical Centres. Add Medical Centres in the office through the Health & Safety Settings. Medical Centres will appear in a list. Tap a Medical Centre to view more details or tap see a map. 25

26 The Mobile App 6 Fergus Health & Safety Policy Tap Health & Safety Policy in the Health & Safety Menu to view the company Health & Safety Policy. Add a Health & Safety Policy document in the office through the Health & Safety Settings. 26

27 Fergus 6 The Mobile App 6.2 Job Hazards Tap on a job in the Fergus mobile app to bring up the Job Card. Hazards are managed on a job specific level, either using existing Hazard Templates or adding new hazards from scratch. The hazard management system encourages the use of before and after photos to demonstrate active management of hazards. A hazard in Fergus is composed of a title and description, along with photos and attached files like SWMS and Data Sheets. Tap Hazards on the mobile Job Card to view, add, and edit hazards on a job. Hazards can be added via the mobile app or back in the office. The hazard management screen lets you add and edit job hazards and mitigations for that job. 27

28 The Mobile App 6 Fergus New Hazard Hazards are listed on the hazard screen. Tap the + symbol to add a new hazard. Tap an existing hazard to see more details. Enter the details of the hazard. You can add a title, description, photos, SWMS, and Data Sheets. Once you've added a SWMS or Data Sheet you can tap on it to open it. 28

29 Fergus 6 The Mobile App Hazard Mitigation Hazards are listed on the hazard screen. Tap an existing hazard to see more details. Unmitigated hazards are listed above, and mitigated hazards below. Tap the + Mitigate Hazard button to mitigate a hazard. Each hazard should be mitigated to ensure you are actively managing on site Health & Safety. Enter the details of the hazard mitigation. Choose a mitigation type, identify the responsible employee, and add a description and photos of the hazard mitigation. 29

30 The Mobile App 6 Fergus Mitigated hazards move from the unmitigated hazards list into the mitigated hazards list. Each hazard on a job should be identified and mitigated to demonstrate active management of Health & Safety on site. 30

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