CONTENTS
Chapter / Subject / Page1 / USING THE MANUAL / 1.01-1
2 / INTRODUCTION TO THE MANUAL / 2.01-1
3 / PLANNING FOR SAFETY
· Safety Management Plan
· Risk Management
· Auditing
· Internal Auditing
· Gap Analysis / 3.01-1
3.02-1
3.04-1
3.05-1
3.06-1
3.07-1
4 / LEGISLATION
· The Act
· The Regulation
· Codes of Practices
· Standards / 4.01-1
4.02-1
4.03-1
4.04-1
4.05-1
5 / WHS POLICIES & PROCEDURES
· Content of WHS Policies & Procedures
· Sample General WHS Policy
· Sample Manual Handling Policy / 5.01-1
5.01-1
5.02-1
5.03-1
6 / MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES
· Roles & Responsibilities
· General Manager
· Supervisor/Line Manager
· WHS Representatives
· Employee
· Grievance Discipline
· Consultation
· Sample Consultation Statement
Training
· Training Need
· Trainee
· Training Session
· Trainee’s Risk Mgt Workbook / 6.01-1
6.01-1
6.01-1
6.01-3
6.01-4
6.01-5
6.02-1
6.03-1
6.04-1
6.05-1
6.06-1
6.07-1
6.08-1
6.09-1
7 / OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES
· Manual Handling
· Slips/Trips/Falls/ Work at Heights
· Electricity
· Drugs/Alcohol
· Emergency Response
· First Aid
· Injury management
· Return-to-work Coordinator guidelines / 7-1
7.01-1
7.02-1
7.03-1
7.04-1
7.05-1
7.06-1
7.07-1
7.08-1
8 / CONTRACTOR MANAGEMENT / 8-1
9 / CHECKLISTS/FORMS
· WHS Inspection Checklists
· Office
· Workshop
· Chemical storage and handling
· Emergency control gear
· Personnel views – Management
· Personnel views – Staff
· Job Safety Analysis & Safe Work Procedures
· Incident/injury reports
· Injury Management Flow Chart
· Workplace Safety Rules
· Visitor Sign-in Sheet
· Manual Handling Worksheets / 9-1
9.01-1
9.02-1
9.03-1
9.04-1
9.05-1
9.06-1
9.07-1
9.08-1
9.09-1
9.10-1
9.11-1
9.12-1
9.13-1
10 / WHS ENCYCLOPAEDIA / 10-1
IMPORTANT NOTES
1 TIDY ME UP!!!
The information here is quite extensive, and though you could do a ‘find and replace’ of ‘XYZ’ to be replaced by your business name, and have a viable manual, some of it may not resonate so well with your extant systems. For example, some terms may be at variance such as ‘JSA’ (job safety analysis) and ‘SWP’ (safe work procedure). Your business may already be using the term ‘SWMS’ (safe work method statement) and achieving similar outcomes.
Be sure to patiently go over the term and adjust as appropriate.
2 THROUGHOUT THIS MANUAL, DEFINITIONS AS USED WITHIN THE WHS ACT 2011 WILL APPLY. (Also refer to the WHS Encyclopaedia at the end of this manual.)
For example:
· PCBU
· Officer
· Worker
· Other
· Reasonably practicable
· Due diligence
These terms are defined below:
PCBU
Section 5 of the Act defines the meaning of the ‘person conducting the business or undertaking’ (PCBU). It states:
(1) For the purposes of this Act, a person conducts a business or undertaking:
(a) whether the person conducts the business or undertaking alone or with others; and
(b) whether or not the business or undertaking is conducted for profit or gain.
(2) A business or undertaking conducted by a person includes a business or undertaking conducted by a partnership or an unincorporated association.
(3) If a business or undertaking is conducted by a partnership (other than an incorporated partnership), a reference in this Act to a person conducting the business or undertaking is to be read as a reference to each partner in the partnership.
(4) A person does not conduct a business or undertaking to the extent that the person is engaged solely as a worker in, or as an officer of, that business or undertaking.
(5) An elected member of a local authority does not in that capacity conduct a business or undertaking.
(6) The regulations may specify the circumstances in which a person may be taken not to be a person who conducts a business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act or any provision of this Act.
(7) A volunteer association does not conduct a business or undertaking for the purposes of this Act.
(8) In this section, volunteer association means a group of volunteers working together for 1 or more community purposes where none of the volunteers, whether alone or jointly with any other volunteers, employs any person to carry out work for the volunteer association.
In many cases, the PCBU will not be a ‘human being’ but a ‘corporate body’. This is reflected in the types of fine that may apply in a H&S system failure, where a prosecution is successful. Even though the fine for a PCBU can be as high as $3,000,000, no gaol sentence can be attached, whereas an ‘Officer’ (see below) of a PCBU can receive a penalty up to $600,000, as well as a possible gaol sentence up to 5 years.
Officer
Section 4 of the Act defines an Officer as:
(a) an officer within the meaning of section9 of the Corporations Act 2001 other than a partner in a partnership; or
(b) an officer of the Commonwealth within the meaning of section247; or
(c) an officer of a public authority within the meaning of section252;
other than an elected member of a local authority acting in that capacity.
The ‘Officer’ is usually a senior manager (CEO, Managing Director, Chief Financial Officer, etc.) who can significantly alter the way the business functions on a day-to-day level. If a Board becomes too closely involved in the way a business functions in its day-to-day operations, it can become accountable for failures. At a line-management level, if a supervisor gives instruction for a task and a damaging occurrence happens, that supervisor is unlikely to be prosecuted as an ‘Officer’, but will still face prosecution as a ‘Worker’ who failed to apply good safety practice, etc.
Worker
Section 7 of the Act defines a ‘Worker’ as follows:
(1) A person is a worker if the person carries out work in any capacity for a person conducting a business or undertaking, including work as:
(a) an employee; or
(b) a contractor or subcontractor; or
(c) an employee of a contractor or subcontractor; or
(d) an employee of a labour hire company who has been assigned to work in the person’s business or undertaking; or
(e) an outworker; or
(f) an apprentice or trainee; or
(g) a student gaining work experience; or
(h) a volunteer; or
(i) a person of a prescribed class.
Note an ‘Officer’ will always also be a ‘Worker’, but a ‘Worker’ may not necessarily be an ‘Officer’. This can be of importance to volunteer officers of not-for-profit organisations, since unpaid ‘Officers’ will not be prosecuted as ‘Officers’, but they are still liable for prosecution as ‘Workers’.
3 TWO IMPORTANT TERMS TO UNDERSTAND FROM THE ACT ARE ‘REASONABLY PRACTICABLE’, AND ‘DUE DILIGENCE’:
Reasonably practicable
Section 18 of the Act defines ‘reasonably practicable’ as follows:
In this Act, reasonably practicable, in relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety, taking into account and weighing up all relevant matters including:
(a) the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring; and
(b) the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk; and
(c) what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about:
(i) the hazard or the risk; and
(ii) ways of eliminating or minimising the risk; and
(d) the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk; and
(e) after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk
Due diligence
Section 27(5) of the Act defines ‘due diligence’ as:
…taking reasonable steps:
(a) to acquire and keep uptodate knowledge of work health and safety matters; and
(b) to gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the business or undertaking of the person conducting the business or undertaking and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations; and
(c) to ensure that the person conducting the business or undertaking has available for use, and uses, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work carried out as part of the conduct of the business or undertaking; and
(d) to ensure that the person conducting the business or undertaking has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding incidents, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information; and
(e) to ensure that the person conducting the business or undertaking has, and implements, processes for complying with any duty or obligation of the person conducting the business or undertaking under this Act; and
(f) to verify the provision and use of the resources and processes referred to in paragraphs(c) to (e).
Examples: For the purposes of paragraph(e), the duties or obligations under this Act of a person conducting a business or undertaking may include:
(a) reporting notifiable incidents;
(b) consulting with workers;
(c) ensuring compliance with notices issued under this Act;
(d) ensuring the provision of training and instruction to workers about work health and safety;
(e) ensuring that health and safety representatives receive their entitlements to training.
4 DUTIES UNDER THE ACT
All stakeholders – PCBU, Officers, Workers and Others - have duties under the Act:
Sections 19 to 26 of the Act covers the various aspects of PCBUS;
Section 27 covers the duties of Officers;
Section 28 covers duties of Workers;
Section 29 covers duties of Others.
Failure to comply with a duty may result in a penalty, and/or a gaol sentence.
CHAPTER 1: Using the Manual
Part 1.01 Finding the page
Reading the Contents page will reveal the various Chapters and the sections that deal with issues relating to the particular chapter. The manual opens with an overview of WHS, a legislative perspective, various management and staffing requirements, nuts-and-bolts procedural requirements, a programme for contractor management, followed by a collection of various checklists and forms, and finally, a useful general WHS encyclopaedia. The Manual is divided into 10 basic sections (apart from the Contents list).
The page numbering system (see the ‘footer’ at the bottom of the page) begins with the chapter number, then the part number, then the page number for that part of the chapter. Therefore, if I were on a page numbered 6.02-1, this would be Chapter 6, Part 2, Page 1. That is the chapter headed “Management Procedures”, sub-heading ‘Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures’, page 1.
This numbering system allows the manual to be added to – or subtracted from – from time-to-time, without having to replace every page. This numbering system – along with the use of ring-binder - at least reduces the number of pages to be replaced whenever a change is made.
a) Putting the manual to work:
“EVERY SYSTEM IS IN A STATE OF DECAY WITHOUT AN INPUT OF ENERGY”
Any manual describing the operation of a machine, mixing of ingredients, the mechanics of a system, and so forth, is an integral part of that machine, recipe or system. Over time - sometimes short, sometimes long - the manual is put on the shelf to gather dust as those persons who operate the machines, mix the ingredients or use the systems become familiar with the operation, etc. However, whenever an upgrade or change happens, an alteration or addendum must be made, and the manual overhauled. At this point administrative controls must ensure the operators, etc., revise their practices to match the new requirements.
A WHS manual is no different in its function, and, as in other manuals, there will be sections that one reading will suffice to pass on all there is to know about that part of the operation. There will also be other sections requiring multiple references to master, and, as in systems where high specialisation in tasks is required (eg nursing personnel vs maintenance personnel), there may be operators who need to know only that part of the manual relevant to the specialty.
Thus, we can infer the WHS Manual will serve two main purposes. It will be used as:
· a day-to-day reference (Management will obviously be more concerned with a section dealing with legislation, whereas employees will be concerned with the procedures relevant to their tasks), and
· as a tool to be referred to when drawing-up work method statements to suit various job descriptions.
Secondary purposes will include use at induction of new staff or contractors, and as a legal proof of commitment-to-safety by senior management.
Personnel may be assigned a particular task they feel needs an WHS perspective beyond their common knowledge, so may refer to a relevant programme in the Manual. [If what they are looking for does not exist, they should suggest improvement, using the business’s consultation mechanism (outlined in the Consultation Statement).]
Job descriptions and their associated safe work procedures (SWP) need to be reviewed, and relevant sections of the WHS manual referred to in those SWP. For example, all job descriptions might include a reference to the drugs and alcohol programme, and the grievance and discipline procedures.
Finally, note this manual is a ‘living’ guide. Should the business extend its operations, other sections may need to be added that cover the new operations. For example, a larger organisation interested in quality control would need a section covering ‘document control’, and processes in place to ensure ‘controlled document’ pages are not to be photocopied unless the photocopies are marked as ‘uncontrolled documents’, and so forth.
WHS Manual for XYZ Copyright Doug Wakefield Sydney 2005
(May be reproduced for use within XYZ’ facility only)
Issue: 140616 1: Using the Manual Page 1.01–2
CHAPTER 2: Introduction to the Manual
Part 2.01 Introduction
This WHS Manual has been prepared for XYZ using – so far as is possible – the latest information on WHS legislation contained within the so-called ‘harmonised’ WHS legislation within the WHS Act 2011, as it is applied within Australia federal jurisdictions, and in its states and territories except for Western Australia and Victoria (at the date of this edition – June 2014). Note the majority of the information will still fulfil much of what is contained in WA and Victorian OHS requirements. The preparation also draws from both general and commercial enterprise data. The approach has been to use 'best practice' procedure at all times, so XYZ may aim to exceed the expectations of all stakeholders, including the various statutory WHS bodies (eg the various states’ Workcover/Worksafe/etc.).