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Feature Article:- The benefits of Workplace Assessment Tools
By Michael Jones
Conducting safety assessments in the workplace has never been more important. Instances of litigation from work related injuries are on the rise, and more scrutiny has been placed on industry by state government legislation of which is constantly changing.
It's becoming increasingly important to develop and introduce sound workplace assessing techniques.
The benefits of using specific WAT's are far reaching and can provide useful data and ideas on developing a safer and risk free workplace. These include;
- Ensuring compliance with legislative requirements and codes of practices;
- Assisting in identifying tasks that may require a job safety analysis;
- Provide a grounding of information to be transferred into health and safety policies and procedures;
- Identifying risks that may need further attention (perhaps a detailed risk assessment) or assistance from outside service providers;
- Assisting in the development of hazard specific training; and
- Provision of valuable data in order to identify any PPE requirements.
Using a WAT should be a consultative process. Whether it's being used to gauge the legislative compliance level of a business, to assess the risk management process used by a workplace or the hazardous substance risk to employees, all levels of the workforce should be involved.
There's no need to reinvent the wheel! WAT's are available in various formats that will fit or can be manipulated to fit any situation and cover all the bases. Using tools and lists that can be found outside the workplace provide another perspective and can be like having an outside consultant assisting you. A good WAT will ask all the right questions in order to prompt the person conducting the assessment to think laterally and in turn, look at all the issues objectively.
Use these outside influences and the consultative process within your workplace to develop and continually review the way you assess your business in all the key safety areas.
There is a large list of situations within a business that need to be assessed from a safety point of view. By doing it carefully and systematically the flow on effects from the information and ideas gained will improve the safety integrity of your business. The bottom line is that injuries will be minimised and lives could well be saved not to mention the savings to capital outlay and improvement in productivity.
Michael Jones operates a Queensland based consultancy service providing safety and security solutions to all sectors. His expertise has been gained from 20 years in fire and rescue operations and more recently working in OHS management roles within large industrial and processing businesses.
Click Here to receive your free Workplace Assessment Tools.
News and Reviews
NEW OHS PLAN TO TARGET STATES
By Imre Salusinszky
March 30, 2006
THE Howard Government's push for a single industrial relations system moved up a notch yesterday as it legislated to allow companies access to a national workplace safety regime.
And in a last-minute amendment to new regulations, Workplace Relations Minister Kevin Andrews provided immunity from state-based occupational health and safety laws to companies entering the federal scheme.
The changes mean companies eligible for the federal Government's workers' compensation plan will now also be covered by its OHS laws, reducing the regulatory costs for businesses operating across several jurisdictions.
A spokesman for Mr Andrews said the states had been "incredibly tardy in introducing uniformity and consistency across their schemes". Along with government departments, corporations are eligible to join the scheme if they were once commonwealth authorities or are in competition with them.
Given the size of government until the 1980s, virtually any large company could claim inclusion under the rules.
The biggest loser from the changes is likely to be WorkCover NSW, which operates the country's toughest OHS regime and is allowed to keep half of any fines imposed as a result of its prosecutions. Uniquely, unions in the state can launch prosecutions in for OHS breaches and likewise keep half of any fines.
In the past two years, the Finance Sector Union has reaped $320,000 from three prosecutions against major banks after robberies in which staff were injured.
"In NSW, companies have to deal with an act that is really terrible," Mr Andrews's spokesman said yesterday. "We prefer to concentrate on prevention rather than blaming people after the fact."
TOYNE DENIES IGNORING NURSES' SAFETY
Saturday April 1, 01:13 PM Sourced from Yahoo!7 News site
Northern Territory Health Minister Peter Toyne has rejected state Opposition claims he laughed off calls last August to better protect nurses in emergency departments.
It comes after security footage was released last night, showing a woman punching a nurse at Alice Springs Hospital before a nearby security guard intervenes.
Dr Toyne says nothing could have been done to prevent last week's attack.
He says he takes nurses' safety very seriously.
"Far from laughing anything off, I always have a high level of concern if any of our health professionals are attacked in this way," he said.
"It's one of those incidents that regrettably, even a security presence won't prevent."
Mr Toyne says there was no way to predict the attack.
"What we are dealing with is actually the complexity of delivering health services, often in a volatile environment," he said.
"All we can promise to our health professionals working in there is there will be precautions taken to the level that we can predict the behaviour of people.
"We have and will continue to have a security presence."
Next Months Focus
Safety at your computer
# The information provided is provided as a general outline and is not intended to be a definitive statement on the subject matter.
# Professional advice should always be sought before any action is taken in relation to the any of the matters described herein.
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