Getting staff involved in making sure the workplace is safe gives you a head start in preventing accidents and injuries that have the potential to undermine productivity and put you on the wrong side of WHS laws, not to mention the consequences for seriously injured workers. Management has a major role in driving this process, which starts with an understanding of your WHS legal duties.
In each state and territory, responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace are set out in an Act of parliament and regulations under that Act.
The regulations address specific WHS issues such as first aid, safety with machinery, equipment, and chemicals, hazardous manual tasks, working at heights, confined space entry, and others. Responsibility for meeting their legal obligations rests with organisations, whether they are large, medium, or small. There are also responsibilities for the rehabilitation of people injured in the course of work, and workers' compensation requirements.
Many businesses are well aware that the costs to a business will increase if resources such as time, materials, energy, and people are wasted. The cost of failing to implement safety measures to minimise injury is reflected in the worker's compensation premiums that you pay.
There are also hidden or indirect costs associated with accidents and these have been estimated to be 10 times the direct or financial costs, and include lower productivity, damaged equipment, machine downtime, investigation and administration costs, and many others.
This is not to say that the prevention of accidents is impossible, indeed, it is not.
Following some basic steps simplifies the process of achieving a safe workplace and minimising these costs.
There are many specific actions that can be taken to improve work health and safety, including regular workplace inspections, safety training of employees and contractors, involving managers and workers in finding the solutions to safety hazards, identifying hazards that can be assessed and managed, and discussing your workplace with a WHS specialist.
A systematic approach is recommended, especially for larger businesses. This will mean a work health and safety management plan is developed following an initial benchmarking exercise to identify the current level of risk.
A WHS plan can then be implemented and could include specific programs. If the WHS plan in an organisation is appropriate and implemented, then the level of workplace safety will increase.
Gaining commitment in the workplace
Commitment to WHS is generated by involving everyone in the process.
This commitment is driven by management, and therefore the success of a safety plan will be dependent on management involvement, and leadership being demonstrated.
In all states, there is provision in the health and safety legislation to encourage consultation between employers and employees in addressing work health and safety issues. For example, health and safety committees, representatives, or alternative forms of representation.
'Tool box' meetings are a useful method of involving workers and raising awareness of safety issues and these are being used throughout Australia quite successfully.
Many businesses are incorporating safety issues in management meetings as a valuable method of gaining management commitment to work health and safety, which is critical in larger organisations.
Another method of gaining commitment from workers and management is by including WHS performance objectives in annual accountabilities, key performance indicators, and job descriptions. In this way, the WHS function becomes integrated into other management functions.
