Occupational Health, Safety & Environment Training OHS Responsibilities and Duty of Care

Understand the responsibilities of Employers & Employees Understand key OSH legislation Accept your individual responsibility within your working environment Understand the principles of Risk Management Initiate Initial Incident Response Outcome

Our Safety Culture requires

The Western Australian OSH Act has distinct objectives OSH Act 1984 (WA) Promote & Secure the health and safety of people Identify & Reduce hazards Protect people against risk Facilitate cooperation and consultation

OSH Act 1984 (WA) OSH Regulations 1996 (WA) Hazardous Substances Manual Handling Noise Excavation Powered mobile plant OSH Legislation

Duty of care is a legal obligation which must be upheld. You must NOT act in a way that could foreseeably harm others Duty of Care defined

Employers

Employer - General Duty of Care Section 19 of OSH Act 1984 (WA) EMPLOYERS must, as far as practicable, provide a work environment in which employees (including subcontractors) are not exposed to hazards. This includes providing: –Information; –Instruction; –Training; and –Supervision.

Definition: What can reasonably be done to ensure the health and safety of personnel, taking into account: (a) the likelihood of the hazard or risk occurring (b) the degree of harm that might result (c) what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, (d) the ways to eliminate or minimise the risk, and (e) the cost associated with eliminating or minimising the risk, Practicable ??

An employer must provide a work environment where personnel are not exposed to hazards. Refers to a safe system of work; –Identify the hazards –Assess the risk –Implement controls –Review the effectiveness of the controls Employer - Work environment

Employees

EMPLOYEES must take reasonable care for their own health and safety – including others Employee -General Duty of Care

Section 20 of OSH Act 1984 (WA) –Follow instructions given –Use protective clothing and equipment provided as instructed –Do not misuse equipment –Report hazards and incidents, even potential incidents. Employee - Reasonable care

Penalties – Directors, Managers, Supervisors. Statutory Obligations and Responsibilities. OSH Act 1984, OSH Regulations 1996 Section 22. Duties of Persons who have Control of Workplaces. Section 22A Breaches of Section 22(1) Level 1 $5000 Level 2 $100,000 2 nd Offence $ 125,000 Level 3 $ 200,000 2 nd Offence $ 250,000 Level 4 250,000 & 2 years imprisonment. 2 nd offence ( Level 4 ) $312,500 and 2years imprisonment.

Fair Work Australia has ruled that an employer can dismiss an employee due to personal OHS breaches. Penalties – Employee

Incident Reporting & Investigation All injuries, incidents, spills, work related illness and near misses regardless of how minor the impacts, are required to be promptly reported and documented. Some incidents require notification to Work Safe depending on severity.

Incident Reporting & Investigation It is the responsibility of the Site Manager/ Supervisor in control of any site or area where an incident/injury has been reported to: Take appropriate and immediate action to secure the scene and prevent recurrence; Ensure any injured person receives the appropriate treatment; Report the incident/ injury to OHSE Department immediately; Complete the incident investigation report; OHSE Department will assist in the investigation; Provide feedback to the workforce (via toolbox meeting).

Risk Management Risk management is one of the most important activities that a business can undertake to ensure that it reduces the likelihood and consequence of harm to people, or company assets.

Risk Management “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Our risk management processes are structured around having a sensible work plan and sticking to it. There must be a SWMS for all high risk works. Everyone doing the work must be signed on and understand the plan.

Conclusion Most people recognise an employers duty of care to its employees, but we frequently overlook our own duty of care to ourselves and those around us.