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Western Sydney Institute of TAFE (Richmond) 10335 Diploma in Website Development Ensure a safe workplace -­‐ Assessment Task Assessment Cover Sheet Course No: 10335 Diploma of Website Development Unit(s) No: BSBOHS509A Ensure a safe workplace Assignment Title: Ensure a safe workplace – Assessment Task Student Name: Jane Gregory Student No: 223498639 Teacher/Email: Cale O’Bryan Due Date: No of Pages: 12 Date Submitted: 3.09.2014 Declaration: (This must be signed by student) I declare that the submission is my own work with respect to plagiarism and does not violate any copyright laws. In the event of subsequent loss after submission, you will be asked to tender a duplicate copy of this assignment. Please keep a copy. Student Name: Jane Gregory Student’s Signature: TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute Created: 03/09/2014 Created by: Cale O’Bryan Date Signed: 3.09.2014 BSBOHS509A.docx Modified: 03/09/2014 Page 1 of 1 Western Sydney Institute of TAFE (Richmond) 10335 Diploma in Website Development Ensure a safe workplace -­‐ Assessment Task Student’s Receipt Course No: 10335 Diploma of Website Development Unit(s) No: BSBOHS509A Ensure a safe workplace Assignment Title: Ensure a safe workplace – Assessment Task Student Name: Jane Gregory Student No: 223498639 Teacher/Email: Cale O’Bryan Cale.OBryan1@tafensw.edu.au Due Date: No of Pages: 12 Date Submitted: 3.09.2014 Assessment Deliverables Checklist: (Must be signed by teacher) The following deliverables should be produced during the course of your project and submitted: ! Report covering all of the below mentioned tasks How to submit Upon completion of this assessment, you are to complete the appropriate ‘Observation Guide’ quiz and upload your work through the WSI Online page. You are to include: • A completed cover sheet (page one of this document) • Your OHS/WHS report • If your submission contains more than one file, please Zip/Rar everything into one file only Teacher’s Name: Teacher’s Signature: TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute Created: 03/09/2014 Created by: Cale O’Bryan Date Signed: BSBOHS509A.docx Modified: 03/09/2014 Page 2 of 2 Western Sydney Institute of TAFE (Richmond) 10335 Diploma in Website Development Ensure a safe workplace -­‐ Assessment Task Ensure a safe workplace – Assessment Task Units Covered: BSBOHS509A Ensure a safe workplace Instructions: For all parts of this assignment, you should demonstrate your understanding by use real examples and scenarios. Where possible, your examples and scenarios should be based on your own workplace or organization. How to submit: Your submission is required in the form of a report that addresses each of the below mentioned tasks. Task Details: Part 1: 1. Provide a hierarchy structure showing the role and level of responsibility of the safety team or OHS Group within your organisation. 2. How does your organisation ensure that it remains compliant with its legal OHS requirements? In your response, you should consider the following: • Detail the OHS culture of your organisation • The currency of the policies and procedures • How people find out and communicate OHS changes • How active are the people in participating in OHS activities such as audits • The system used to provide people with direction and instructions on OHS matters 3. Describe why it is important for all staff to participate in OHS arrangements. What consultative measures exist within your organisation? 4. Describe how you would update your team on the following: • Changes to OHS policies and/or procedures • Changes or updates to OHS legislation or legal requirements • Changes to the location and storage of OHS information at your organisation 5. Explain how you would deal with an OHS issue that was raised to you. How are the outcomes recorded and communicated to others? If possible, include a real life scenario of where you have had to deal with an OHS issue. Part 2: 1. Provide an overview of a situation at your organisation where you needed to conduct a hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control process. This may include purchase of new equipment, new location, new vehicles and/or change of work methods. You should refer to some or all of the following: • Hierarchy of control • Safe storage of equipment TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute Created: 03/09/2014 Created by: Cale O’Bryan BSBOHS509A.docx Modified: 03/09/2014 Page 3 of 3 Western Sydney Institute of TAFE (Richmond) 10335 Diploma in Website Development Ensure a safe workplace -­‐ Assessment Task • Keeping OHS and related records • Workplace inspections • Checking of plant and equipment 2. Explain the risk control measures you selected and implemented. 3. Describe the types of external advice or information you might have tried to obtain to assist in your system, i.e. Workcover NSW website, supplier manuals, MSDS etc. 4. Using the system/procedure you’ve outlined above, develop a short, step-­‐by-­‐step program that could potentially be used to train new staff members in how to conduct the procedure themselves. Part 3: 1. Identify any area of your organisations OHS system that you think should or could be improved. For this, you will need to: • Provide an overview of the area needing improvement • Identify why the current arrangements do not meet organisational OHS objectives or legislative requirements • Detail your idea for improvement including an Action Plan for how your idea would be implemented 2. Estimate the costs involved with implementing your improvement and include this in your Action Plan. You will also need to include how you would seek approval for these new costs. 3. Describe how you would measure and record the success or otherwise if your improvement. Submission: Please refer to page two of this document for information on how to correctly submit and what components must be submitted. TAFE NSW – Western Sydney Institute Created: 03/09/2014 Created by: Cale O’Bryan BSBOHS509A.docx Modified: 03/09/2014 Page 4 of 4 BSBOHS509A Ensure a safe workplace Jane Gregory 10335 Diploma in Website Development Part 1: 1. Hierarchal structure showing the role and level of responsibility of the WHS safety team within my organisation. CEO WHS Manager Design Team Manager Development Team Manager Human Resources Manager WHS Officer Risk Management WHS Officer Safety Leader Fire Warden Fire Warden WHS Officer Risk Management Fire Warden WHS Officer Risk Management Fire Warden &HSR Fire Warden &HSR WHS Officer Safety Leader Fire Warden &HSR WHS Officer Safety Leader WHS Officer Employee Welfare •
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WHS Manager-­‐ Overall responsibility for OHS rules and policies, monitoring of OHS officers. WHS Officer Risk Management-­‐ Responsibility for WHS rules and policies within a department, reporting back to WHS Manager. WHS Officer Safety Leader-­‐ Responsibility for implementation OHS rules and procedures within a department, reporting back to WHS Manager. WHS Officer Employee Welfare-­‐ Responsibility for WHS rules and policies relating to employee welfare, reporting back to WHS Manager. Fire Warden-­‐ In the event of evacuation, responsible for the safe direction of employees. Health & Safety Representative (HSR) -­‐ facilitate the flow of WHS information between employer & employee. Reporting to their respective safety leaders. 2. Remaining compliant with legal OHS requirements: • The WHS culture of our organisation: Most people are aware of the rules regarding WHS but are also of the view that a lot of it is common sense; it’s delivery, repetitive and heavy on paperwork. • The currency of the policies and procedures: The current policies and procedures were developed in 2012, in response to new WHS laws commencing in NSW. Changes or updates occur, as they become known. • Communicating OHS changes: We have dedicated WHS risk managers who keep the other staff up to date via email updates and revisionary quizzes, from time to time. New staff are required to attend an in house induction on day 1, before the commencement of their regular duties. These are documented, kept and updated as previously mentioned. • Participation in OHS activities and audits: The revisionary quizzes are mandatory and held at the end of an appropriate whole department meeting, which all staff are required to attend. So keeping up to date and participating in audits is not something that the safety need to chase up with too many individuals, as used to be the case when staff could do the quiz at any time. • The system of WHS direction and instructions: Most new information is disseminated via email & followed up by the revisionary quizzes. When there is a breach or a specific issue, the department safety officer will have a face to face meeting with the relevant person/s, report back to the WHS Manager and proceed from there. 3. The importance of consultative measures and participation: When all staff are aware of the responsibilities and duties of everyone else, there is little room for ignorance or misunderstanding. This is particularly useful for staff that have been with the firm for sometime. Everyone is up to date on current or near current policies. Old habits and attitudes are evolved and are more reflective of a newer approach to WHS. This applies to the physical wellbeing of employees as much as the mental and social wellbeing. Our firm takes a serious view of equality, discrimination and work/social issues. Young staff are particularly mentored in an appropriate culture for conduct in and out of the work place. 4. Updating the team: • Changes to WHS policies and/or procedures: We have dedicated WHS risk managers and safety officers who keep the other staff up to date via email updates and revisionary quizzes, from time to time. New staff are required to attend an in house induction on day 1, before the commencement of their regular duties. These are documented, kept and updated as previously mentioned. • Changes and updates to WHS legislation or legal requirements: As above relevant documentation would be emailed, firstly to staff, then quizzed and asked to sign off on their understanding of it. • Changes to the location and storage of WHS information: Our safety officers, again at the end of department meetings, would physically show staff of actual changes to location of any thing relevant to WHS. Office maps are also updated and emailed to employees for information and reference. These details are also tested on if and as they may occur. 5. Real life scenario; recording outcomes and communication: A situation occurred at our firm some years ago, where there was one particular staff member (called Mary), who was quite concerned with WHS in general having come from a very large business where there were procedures in place and a heavy focus on WHS. Mary had raised a few issues with the Department Manager, who had agreed that not much was being done and that Mary might take the initiative to develop a list of rules & policies and disseminate them to other staff. There was no formal mention of this to other staff and so the efforts of Mary were largely regarded as ‘over the top, bossy and uncalled for’. One staff member, in particular, took greater exception to this and set about to create a culture of ridicule and disregard for that person. Mary went, in a very short time from being a well liked and well regarded colleague to someone who was an easy target for disrespect and humiliation. Where a culture of bullying had not previously existed, suddenly there was. This resulted in a complaint to Human Resources about workplace bullying. This then led to staff from Human Resources to interview various staff members about what was happening. Interviews were at that time informal, one on one meetings. From these meetings it was recognised that although Mary thought that she was ‘doing her job’ others did not realise that WHS policy had informally become part of Mary’s role. The Department Manager at that stage, realising he had in some part helped to create this misunderstanding and ensuing discontent, went to our CEO and asked that a formally recognised WHS team be created. This led directly to the creation and implementation of our current WHS team. Mary now heads the WHS team and ironically the other person in this tale is currently The WHS Office for Employee Welfare. These days all matters of WHS, if raised or identified through procedure audits are acted upon quickly and with adequate and appropriate communication to all staff. No one is ever out of the loop. Now, if an employee welfare concern were raised, an employee welfare officer with the necessary skills and training would conduct interviews minuted by a third person from HR. The contents of which would be communicated to appropriate parties. Conduct assessments are made. A mediation meeting may be called if deemed appropriate. Follow up meetings are held and measurements of improvement are recorded. A similar procedure would occur if it were a safety breach. The person concerned would have the breach explained to them, given an opportunity to offer any explanation for why the breach may have been unavoidable and make suggestions for change or improvement. If there were no reasonable cause for the breach, they would be required to adhere to the policy. If there was no breach but a safety issue becomes known, the safely team would consult with team members in that department as to what the issue is and ask for suggestions for change or improvement. Once changes are made, an email would be sent to all employees, notifying them of the change and subsequent revisionary testing would occur in the near future, as appropriate. Part 2: 1. Real life scenario Relocation of the workplace. Hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control process: Beforehand and following changing the office location, a whole new risk assessment and control risk process was put in place. All aspects covered; safe egress, setting up a workstation, set up of new storage areas, new hazard identification etc, Hierarchy of control: - Design or reorganise to eliminate the hazard from the workplace - Remove or substitute the hazard - Enclose or isolate the hazard - Minimise through engineering controls - Minimise the risk by adopting administrative controls •
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Workplace inspections: As part of the hazard identification, risk assessment process, workplace inspections were carried out before during and after the relocation. An initial inspection revealed that the workstations were slightly higher that at the previous location and re-­‐
alignment of chairs would be necessary. Cabling inlet/outlets were located through a demountable partition wall across the back of workstations and others were suspended from the ceiling. Previously they had been via the back of the workstation tables. Safe storage of equipment: The new storage areas are Dexion Multibay Compactus. Purpose built shelving bays on tracks with built in safety guards against self closing. Height restricted to avoid over height stacking. Keeping OHS and related records: A designated section of the filing system will house all WHS related records, including a new sign-­‐in ledger. Documentation such as notifications of changes to laws, changes to our own procedures, signatories to WHS inductions, follow-­‐up of WHS issues &WHS incident reports. Checking of plant and equipment: Just prior to the relocation all equipment underwent maintenance, tag testing etc. Some equipment was retired or issues fixed. Any new equipment purchased at the time of relocation was tag tested and checked for compliance etc. The plant was also inspected for potential hazards such as trip hazards, adequate lighting and storage capacity & loads. 2. Explanation of the risk control measures selected and implemented: The risk control measures as implemented are as follows: Safe egress was assessed and extra lighting was provided in relevant areas. Existing ergonomic chairs were re aligned to suit new workstations. Cabling was designed & installed to limit exposed cabling. Access to power points limited to avoid potential for overloading. Sub control panels for each department were installed to allow isolation of power to sections, in the event of electrical issue & to switch off at night. The Dexion storage system was chosen for it’s safe standards, appropriate design and usability. . The advise & implementation of Emerald Electrical was used for tag testing & correct setting up of workstations & running of cabling etc. An office interior design consultant was used in respect of the workstation & partitioning design, to minimise exposed cabling. 3. External advice and information: As part of our process we consulted The Workcover NSW website & their documentation, Dexion’s website & documentation, Emerald Electrical was consulted for all electrical & cabling, Bias Designs was consulted on office interior & layout of work stations etc. We also consulted The AWU and our employees for input. 4. Development of procedure for new staff members: As part of the relocation a new step by step procedure was developed to orientate the staff to the new location. This procedure is now also used in the induction and orientation of new staff. • Prior to commencement, our WHS manual is supplied to staff members with adequate time given for acquaintance. A signed acknowledgement is kept for our records. • At orientation, staff are given a tour of each area of their workplace and other procedures are explained & demonstrated, • Staff are asked to acquaint themselves with their workstation & report any areas of inadequacy or fault, immediately to the safety officer in their department. These are rectified in time for commencement. • Staff are given copies of any documentation relevant to their surroundings or duties and trained in how to report or notify an issue or incident. Part 3: 1. Identification of WHS area of improvement: • Overview of the area needing improvement: An area of ongoing concern is the businesses location in terms of safe egress. It is conveniently located opposite a railway station with bus stops nearby but the car park at rear is accessed via a narrow shared access with low lighting and poor public visibility. Patrons from a pub with a nightclub on Friday and Saturday nights also use the car park. Staff often leave in darkness and female staff in particular have been approached or have felt vulnerable enough to ask male colleagues to walk them to the car. This has become part of our standard procedure but is not always practical and is sometimes ignored. • Identification of non-­‐compliance: At present there is not adequate lighting in the rear Council car park or the narrow hidden alleyway that leads to it. This does not meet legislative requirements for several reasons. One is the personal safety of staff, particularly after dark. There are also uneven surfaces with trip hazards. • Ideas and action plan for improvement: As we are also out growing the current premises and due to the cost of modification of major structural aspects of the leased building itself, I would recommend relocation. The new location would take into account the various needs of staff at the same time as providing a safer environment. We would seek a building that already had much of what we needed and desired for our productivity, whilst solving some of the problems we currently have, in terms of the egress but also space, size and current need for more storage space. 2. Costs of implementation and approval process: As part of an overall risk management assessment, a cost analysis would be completed. The cost of rectifying the issue, in the existing premises would be weighed against the cost of relocation. • The cost analysis of rectifying the issue in situ was based on negotiation with the current lesser to refurbish the area of concern. This would be based on the signing of a new 5 x 5 lease at a rent increase of $70,000 over the next 5 years. Due to other factors, out growing the current premises, this option has been discarded in favour of relocation. • A cost analysis on the relocation has shown that a number of premises, that largely suit the precise needs of the business exist in locations that would ensure retention of current staff, deemed a very desirable factor. So the actual cost of relocation is mostly due to the physical move, estimated at between $10,000 and $12,000. Plus setup for cabling, networking etc $4,700 to $6,000. So a total of $14, 700 to $18,000 against $70,000 over 5 years in a building already too small. • The presentation of this risk assessment and cost analysis would be made by the WHS Manager and WHS Officer for Risk Assessment to the CEO for approval. 3. Record of measure and improvements: One record of measurement would be a decrease in reluctance to leave work after dark, by staff. This would be evident almost instantly. Secondly and over a longer period, a decrease in trip incidents.