Current WHS policies, procedures, and programs within the organization

 

Part 1
You are to plan a Workplace Health and Safety meeting for your organisation with at least two other contributors being there.  To prepare for the meeting, you need to research the following information and prepare an agenda (which you will attach to this assessment):
•       Current WHS policies, procedures, and programs within your organisation
•       WHS legislation, regulations and codes of practice, and the legal responsibilities of PCBUs and workers at the workplace
•       Current management of health and safety risks at the workplace, including the use of PPE
•       How your organisation responds to different accidents/incidents that can occur throughout the workplace
•       How to identify hazards and apply appropriate control measures to meet workplace and legislative requirements
•       How outcomes of discussions and actions taken to resolve WHS issues need to be promptly recorded and communicated to relevant people
Part 2
Conduct the Workplace Health and Safety meeting:
•       Limit your communication session to 10 minutes or a time agreed with your assessor/supervisor
•       Organise your information in a logical order
•       Identify the information sources you used in your plan
•       Inform team members of the following:
-         Location of the organisation’s policies and procedures
-         Location of the emergency evacuation procedures
-         Personal protective clothing and equipment – requirements and use
-         Safety requirements for using workplace equipment
-         How to manage hazards at the workplace using the hierarchy of control
-         Availability of workplace learning opportunities to improve WHS knowledge and skills

 

 

Introduction 

The entire project will revolve around planning Workplace Health and Safety meeting for the organization with which I am currently associated and there will be minimum two other contributors present in this. An agenda will be prepared for this purpose that will contain certain important elements in it. The second part of the assignment will be conducting a Workplace Health and Safety meeting. The Workplace Health and Safety is also referred as the Occupational Health and Safety that include mitigation and assessment of risks that may impact the welfare, health, and safety at the workplace. Furthermore, it may also include the safety and health of the consumer's volunteers, employees, visitors and etcetera. 

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Part 1 (Body) 

Current WHS policies, procedures, and programs within the organization 

The specific WHS programs, policies, and procedures are an absolute necessity for each and every organization present in the globe. There is general health and safety policy in the organization for providing health and safety working environment for the workers working in that specific company. The main policies of the organization are as follows: Compliance- a necessary Occupational Health and Safety Management System are implemented at the site of the company so that there no such fatal accidents. Continuous improvement- The Occupational Safety and Health management of the company is entirely based on the concept of improving on a continuous basis. The improvement is done by monitoring the health and safety performance. The no smoking policy at the workplace, housekeeping policy, and policy on no usage of alcohol and drugs The WHS programs of the company are as follows: WHS education and training, emergency drills and procedures, regular evaluations and inspections, development of safe work procedures, reporting of hazards and undertaking risk assessments, provision of training, information, and supervision of the workers. 
The current WHS procedures in the company are as follows: Resolving certain issues in the workplace in a peaceful manner, regular inspections at the workplace, and administrative activities such as purchasing and record keeping (Rosental, 2009). WHS legislation, regulations and codes of practice, and the legal responsibilities of PCBUs and workers at the workplace .The WHS codes of practice are the information in a detailed manner with regards to how an organization can achieve the minimum standards that are required to work under the WHS laws. The following are the codes of practice of PCBUs and workers at the workplace- Confined spaces, First aid in the workplace, Evacuation work, Managing electrical risks at the workplace, and managing work environment and facilities. 
WHS regulation for the workers at the workplace is as follows: There are regulations that are completely based on how the organization will meet the particular risks and hazards at the workplace such as the manual handling, noise, and machinery. The regulations also set out a certain amount of licenses that are needed for carrying out particular activities, the reports that the company needs to make and records that is needed to keep. 
The WHS legal responsibilities are as follows: A worker has the legal responsibility to take care of his own safety and health. However, a worker is also regarded as an individual who carries out work in any capacity for an employer or other PCBU. Return to work programs- all employees have the legal responsibility to return to their respective workplace that consists of the formal procedures and policies for helping out the workers that are injured. Current management of health and safety risks at the workplace, including the use of PPE .It has been stated by the WHS Regulations and Acts that an individual is required for having a specified duty for ensuring safety and health to manage possible risks by eliminating safety and health-related risks. The current management of health and safety at workplace are as follows: The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992- it ensures that the personal protective equipment that is suitable for the worker is provided at the free of cost wherever there is an indication of the risks with regards to the safety and health that cannot be controlled by any other ways. Another current management practice of health and safety in workplace is called the risk management process and generally it consists of the 4 main stages namely, identifying the risks, assessing the risks by understanding the nature of harm that could be caused by the hazard, then controlling the risk by implementing most effective and efficient control measures, and finally reviewing the control measures taken by the company for making sure that the entire process is working in a perfect way (Gunningham and Johnstone, 1999).

 

 

Response of the company on different accidents/incidents that can occur 

The different ways by which my organization responds to the accidents that take place in the workplace are as follows: Firstly, the company seeks the medical attention and provides the injured worker with immediate medical attention. It has been also observed that even if the medical injury is not at all serious still the employees are encouraged to get the medical attention as soon as possible. Secondly, feedback is always invited from the workers of the organization so that the company can continuously improve their health and safety measures and produce a safe workplace. Thirdly, the company also make sure that they have the primary first aid supplies with them always because whenever an incident occurs it has been observed that the injured employee always receives the primary medical care from the office itself. Lastly, the conditions and the people are identified on the scene because it helps the organization more to deal with the accident/incident in a well-crafted manner (Alli, 2008). 
Identification of hazards and applying appropriate control measures to meet workplace and legislative requirements 
The hazards can be identified in the following ways-
•    Reviewing and collecting information with regards to the hazards. The hazards can be any type that can harm the safety and health of a person to a great extent
•    Conducting periodic and initial inspections in the workplace for identifying if there is any new type of hazard occurred or not
•    Determining the likelihood and severity of the incidents 
•    Considering hazards that are connected with the non- routine and the emergency situations
•    The control measures for preventing the hazard are as follows:
•    The workers should be involved who have the best understanding of the conditions that generally create the hazards and have the insights on how they can be controlled in an effective manner (Lees, 2012). 
•    A hazard plan should be there for guiding the selection and implementation of controls and implementing the controls as per the plan
•    Developing effective plans with the reasonable measures for protecting the employees during the emergencies
Actions taken to resolve WHS issues need to be promptly recorded and communicated to relevant people 
After each and every risk and hazards are identified it is the duty of the workplace managers to communicate the employees about the importance of effective consultation mechanisms in managing safety and health risks at the workplace. Secondly, dealing with the issues in a prompt manner through the process of consultation and then recording and communicating to work team about the results of consultation with regards to the WHS issues. The entire procedure will take place under the implementing and monitoring participation arrangements for managing the WHS. 

 

 

Part 2 (Body) 

The safety meeting in the workplace is considered to be quite vital because it generally discusses and outlines about the general workplace safety, equipment safety, dealing with harassment and violence at workplace and every worker can contribute towards the safety of the organization. 

 

Conducting a workplace safety meeting:

Firstly, circulating the agenda to the upcoming safety meeting- It will be done two weeks before the meeting takes place. The meeting attendees will be encouraged to review the materials in the agenda and they should also come prepared with their different questions. Secondly, it will be ensured that each and every material for the meeting is in the right place so that the meeting may start on the right time (Clarke and Cooper, 2004). Throwing light on the above-mentioned statement it can be said that a memo will be included by the company so that it will start at right time. Thirdly, the safety topics will be outlined that will be covered during the meeting along with the visual representation when the meeting starts. It will be quite easier for the attendee of the meeting to understand the material in the meeting if it is accompanied by some of the visual graphics. Lastly, each and every attendee of the meeting will be introduced with the official safety policy of the company when the meeting ends along with the federal or state guidelines that need to be included. However, every participant in the meeting will receive a fair chance for asking questions at the end of the presentation. 
 
The team members will be also informed about the following:
•    Location of the companies policies and procedures is the folders in a staff or central areas, in workers manual and it is available on the companies intranet system
•    Location of the emergency evacuation procedures- It is located within the building of the company throughout each campus. The diagrams highlights the floor plans providing the locations of the emergency equipment and emergency exists
•    Personal protective clothing and equipment- Special clothing is provided by the company when the employees are exposed to the hazardous elements it is under the PPE and the company also offers their work with the respiratory protective equipment
•    Safety requirements for using workplace equipment- Running a maintenance program, checking if the personal protective exemptions apply, preventing upper limb and RSI disorders and risk assessments
•    Managing hazards at the company using the hierarchy of control 
•    The company also make sure that they have ample of workplace learning opportunities for improving the WHS skills and knowledge

 

Conclusion and recommendation 

It can be concluded that the health and safety at the workplace plays an important role. However, additional recommendations that can ensure more health and safety to the workplace for the company are as follows- creating a plan for promoting workplace health and safety, training the employees whenever it is required, inspecting the workplace at a regular interval, the company should communicate with the employees on a regular basis, records should be maintained and each and every incidents should be investigated. 

 

References 

Alli, B. O. (2008). Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety Second edition. Geneva, International Labour Organization, 15. 
Clarke, S., and Cooper, C. (2004). Managing the risk of workplace stress: Health and safety hazards. New Jersey: Routledge. 
Gunningham, N., and Johnstone, R. (1999). Regulating workplace safety: systems and sanctions. Australia: Oxford University Press. 
Lees, F. (2012). Lees' Loss prevention in the process industries: Hazard identification, assessment and control. New Jersey: Butterworth-Heinemann. 
Rosental, P. A. (2009). Health and Safety at Work. Journal of modern European history, 7(2), 169-173. 

 

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