Transcript Document

SAFETY OBLIGATIONS
OBJECTIVE
1. To introduce
participants to the
safety obligations of
various pieces of
statutory legislation
2. To explain / consider
the impact of statute
law on employees
methods of work
SELF INTRODUCTION
 WHAT YOU HOPE TO GET FROM
THIS TRAINING SESSION
 SOMETHING INTERESTING ABOUT
YOURSELF
Quotable Quote
“A health & safety problem can be
described by statistics but cannot be
understood by statistics. It can only be
understood by knowing and feeling the
pain, anguish, and depression and
shattered hopes of the victim and of
wives, husbands, parents, children,
grandparents and friends…
Quotable Quote
…and the hope, struggle and triumph of
recovery and rehabilitation in a world
often unsympathetic, ignorant,
unfriendly and unsupportive, only those
with close experience of life-altering
personal damage have this
understanding"
Effects of accidents-Employer
 Loss of productivity
 Time spent in investigation and admin.
 Increased compensation costs
 Damage to equipment / morale /
reputation
 Closure of business
 Overtime
 Replacement costs of skilled worker
Effects of accidents-Worker
 Loss of income
 Pain & suffering
 Loss of future earnings
 Medical / Travel costs
 Loss of physical and mental abilities
 Disfigurement
 Psychological damage
INITIATING CHANGE
When initiating change remember
“People support what they create”
Average Annual Deaths (I.L.O.)
 Work
 Road
 Violence
 War
 HIV / AIDS
1 000 000
999 000
563 000
502 000
312 000
NOHSC 2004
Cost of personal damage 1992-93
$82.8 billion
SAFETY OBLIGATIONS
STATUTE LAW
COMMON LAW
SAFETY LEGISLATION
How does safety
legislation impact
on your work?
What should you do
in response to
safety legislation?
Causes of the Black Death
 Excessive
masturbation
 Conjunction of the
planets
 Wrath of God
 Evil spirits
Plague Regulation, Rouen,
France 1507
 Do not gamble,
drink, fornicate or
curse
 Avoid other sinful
excesses that are
likely to arouse the
anger of God
British Health & Morals of
Apprentices Act 1802
 No night work
 Not over 12 hours of work
 Separate sex sleeping
accommodation
 Religious instruction provided
 Toilets provided
 Clothes to be provided
Factories Act 1844
 No children under 8 employed
 Meals not in work rooms
 Dangerous machines fenced
 Alternate days of school & work
 Hours by public clock
 8-13 to work a max. of 6.5 hours a day
Objective of WH&S Act 1995
The objective of the Act is to prevent a
person’s death, injury or Illness caused
by a workplace, by workplace activities
or by specific high-risk plant.
WORKPLACE
 A workplace is any
place where work
is, or is to be
performed by a
worker or a person
conducting a
business or
undertaking
WORKER
 A person is a worker if the person
does work, other than under a contract
for service for or at the direction of an
employer
 A person may be a worker even if not
paid
HEALTH & SAFETY
REPRESENTATIVES
 Inspect
 Be informed of incidents
 Be present at incident investigations
 Review incidents
 Be consulted about safety change
 Help in resolution of safety problems
 Report safety problems to W.H.S.O.
HEALTH & SAFETY COMMITTEE
 Encourage an
active interest in
safety
 Consider safety
training
 Tell workers about
safety rules and
procedures
WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY
OFFICER
 30 or more employees
 Tell employer about the state of safety
 Conduct inspections
 Report hazards
 Establish education programmes
 Investigate incidents
 Assist inspectors
WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY
OFFICER
 Safety is a line management
responsibility
 W.H.S.O. is the management adviser
not the doer of the safety programme
 Safety is not the W.H.S.O.’s
responsibility at law (specifically
excluded from prosecution)
What Category is your
Obligation?
Supervisor: Person in Control of the
Workplace
Why?
The staff you supervise are your
responsibility as you are supervising the
work on behalf of the employer or owner.
Obligation of Employer
 Ensure the WH&S of each of the employers workers in
the conduct of the employer’s business;
 Ensure the employer’s own WH&S in the conduct of
the employer’s business; and
 Ensure other persons are not exposed to risks to
their health and safety arising out of the conduct of
the employer’s business.
Obligation of a Worker
 To comply with the instructions given for WH&S at
the workplace by the employer at the workplace and, if
the workplace is a construction workplace, the principal
contractor for WH&S at the workplace;
 Use PPE if the equipment provided by the workers
employer and the worker is properly instructed to do
so;
 Not to wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse
anything provided for WH&S at the workplace;
 Not to wilfully place at risk the WH&S of any person
at the workplace; and
 Not to wilfully injure himself or herself.
How do I Comply with an
Obligation?
There are 2 ways to comply with an
obligation:
Follow a Regulation, Advisory Standard
or Code of Practice, and
Take reasonable precautions and
exercise proper diligence to ensure the
obligation is followed.
Specifying keys to meeting the
obligation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Identify hazards and assessing risks that may
result because of the hazards;
Deciding and implementing control measures to
prevent, or minimise the risks;
Reviewing the effectiveness of the control
measures;
Providing and maintaining a safe and healthy work
environment.
Providing and maintaining safe plant.
Ensuring the safe use, handling, storage and
transport of substances.
Ensuring safe systems of work.
Providing information, instruction, training and
supervision to ensure health and safety.
Penalties for Breach of
Obligations
WHS Act 1995
Individual
Imprisonment
Corporation
Multiple deaths
$150,000
3 years
$750,000
Offences causing
Death or Grievous
Bodily Harm (GBH)
$75,000
2 years
$375,000
Exposure to a
substance likely to
cause death or
GBH
$56,250
1 year
$281,250
Offences causing
Bodily Harm
$56,250
1 year
$281,250
Other offences
$37,500
6 months
$187,500
BREAK
 HAVE A 2 MINUTE
BREAK
WORKPLACE HEALTH & SAFETY
ACT
Amenities-Lunchrooms, toilets etc
Manual handling of people
Hazardous substances
Personal protective equipment
Harassment
Stress
Asbestos
STATUTE LAW
Risk Management
First-Aid
STATUTE LAW
Workplace Health & Safety ActNumerous sections Fire Safety Act -Alarms, extinguishers,
fire drills, evacuation plans etc.
Workcover Act -reporting injuries,
processing claims, rehab. Programmes
Traffic Act -Speeding, drink driving,
seat belts, condition of vehicle
STATUTE LAW
Electrical Safety ActCondition of electrical
appliances, fitting of
R.C.D., testing of R.C.D.
Health Act
RISK MANAGEMENT
Risks must be managed
High risk activities can
be safe with good risk
management
SAFETY OBLIGATIONS
What do you think your
safety obligations are
as a worker?
What do you think your
safety obligations are
as a supervisor /
representative of the
organisation?
SAFETY APPROACH
 Increasingly litigious
society
 What ever you do in
safety must be
auditable &
defensible in court
 Document,
document, document
SAFETY OBLIGATIONS
 Thoroughly investigate and action
complaints
 Signs / instructions adequate
,reasonable, properly communicated
 High quality P.P.E-Train &maintain
 Adequate trained supervision
 Set safety example
SAFETY OBLIGATIONS
 Consider all options with incompetent
employees
 Regularly examine work area and
operations
 Purchase high quality equipment and
maintain it
 Keep up to date with modern work
methods