What WHS information should be conveyed to Staff

You need to provide new and young workers with sufficient information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure that they are competent to work safely.

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Workplace behaviour
Effective Ways to Communicate Workplace Safety

An induction into the business, including working through your current policies and procedures, is a great way to convey safety standards and expectations to new workers.

It is your responsibility, so far as is reasonably practicable, to ensure that your workers are not put at risk from the way you conduct your business or the work undertaken by your business. This duty also extends to others in their workplace, such as clients, visitors, customers and volunteers.

You are required to provide:

a safe work environment
safe plant and structures
safe systems of work
safe use and handling of plant, structures and substances
adequate facilities to support the welfare of workers
information, training, instruction and supervision
monitoring of workers’ health and workplace conditions to prevent illness or injury.

Induction

You must ensure your new workers receive effective induction, training and information. An induction is where you explain how you manage work health and safety at your workplace. You should cover:

your workplace's health and safety policies
the hazards and risks specific to your workplace and your employees job, and how they can control these
who your employee should speak to if they are concerned about a health & safety matter
the safe work procedures
your emergency procedures
who the first aiders, fire wardens and health and safety representatives are in your workplace
the incident or hazard reporting procedures
other work matters such as who to tell (and how) if they’re sick, pay and time keeping, working hours, eating and parking facilities, and any social matters.

To make your induction effective:

pace your induction over several days; as new workers they may feel overwhelmed with too much information at once
give clear verbal and written instructions
demonstrate and explain how to perform tasks safely; watch them do it and correct any mistakes
encourage them to ask questions
involve their supervisor and health and safety representative
follow up with support visits and training sessions
be patient.

Workplace behaviour

Workplace behaviour is a health and safety matter. Inappropriate behaviour in the workplace is not acceptable. You can eliminate or minimise the risk of inappropriate behaviours in your workplace by introducing proactive approaches and policies that create a co-operative respectful culture.

Young workers, particularly those starting a job for the first time, are usually unaware of how to deal with bullying, discrimination and other inappropriate behaviours. Be aware that some new or young workers may be afraid or reluctant to speak up about discrimination, harassment and bullying, until it’s too late. It’s vital that you create an environment where young workers feel comfortable raising these issues.

Employee safety should a priority in every workplace, and a subject that all workers should be well educated on. Workplace injuries not only cost the employers' money, but they also decrease worker productivity, cause workers to take long periods of leave, and in extreme cases of death can cause great heartache.

Creating a safe workplace is the responsibility of both employer and employee, and the best way to achieve this is to ensure that your workplace safety procedures and protocols are communicated effectively throughout the entire company.

Effective Ways to Communicate Workplace Safety

Here are 9 easy ways to communicate safety in your workplace.

Send an email/newsletter. You should be communicating regularly with your employees ensuring that they are kept up to date with news and information, and changes to safety procedures or protocols. Try having a monthly safety focus, or send out a ‘safety snippet’ with every paycheck.
Ensure you have adequate signage throughout the workplace. Have engaging posters or infographics in places where all employees go ie where they sign on/off, or the lunchroom. Make sure as well there are adequate signages in high-risk areas, or where extra PPE may be needed.
Use pictures and videos. In both the above points, you need to be engaging your employees, and using visuals is the best way to do this. Try using images and videos to get the message across, and to demonstrate the correct procedure.
Hold regular meetings. Make workplace safety a priority for everyone, by engaging them and asking them if they have any concerns, and to review safety procedures. Making safety meetings mandatory will also help keep safety at the top of the employee’s minds.
Require appropriate training. Safety training should be a mandatory requirement for new employees and regular training sessions should be scheduled to refresh existing staffs skills and knowledge.
Make it part of the employee review process. Show employees that you take workplace safety seriously, by incorporating it in their review process, and hold them responsible for unsafe activities. Don’t forget to also reward those who help create a safe workplace.
Don’t skimp on the safety gear budget. Saving yourself a little bit of money on cheaply made PPE could cause you big money in the long run. Investing in the right gear will protect your workers, and show them that you care.
Routine safety checks. It’s better to find a safety threat earlier, than when it’s too late and a worker has been injured. Make it part of the supervisor’s role to undertake routine safety checks, ensuring all workers are wearing correct PPE and using equipment safety.
Share case studies and incident reports. Help workers really understand the danger and consequences of workplace injuries by showing them real-life case studies and putting real people behind the statistics and warnings. Doing so will bring the message closer to home, and will stay at the back of their minds when working.

ALSO READ: 7 Steps to create a PPE Program that Really Works

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seep Contributor

Posts: 193 Joined: Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:40 am

Post by seep » Sun Jul 03, 2016 6:30 am

Hi Lorina!

I am back with a break with my diploma assignments

Please Have a look on following and let me know, thanks Q1-how will you identify existing and potential hazards and record them according to workplace procedures? There are a number of ways hazards can be identified in the work place, these include: • Work place inspection • Consultation between employees and employers • Monitoring injury and illness records • Health and environment monitoring • Recording complaints • observation (how to record them) -------------------------------------------------- Q2-in what ways can you contribute to the development of strategies for implementing risk controls in line with workplace procedures and policies? Complete daily WHS checklists of the environment before children and families enter the education and care service. Educators will identify any potential hazards and note these on the checklist, rectifying any risks immediately where possible. Any identified hazards that cannot be immediately removed or rectified must be reported to the nominated supervisor immediately. • Not put themselves or others at risk at any time when seeking to reduce or remove potential hazards. • Be encouraged to complete first aid training and professional development to increase their awareness of risk management. • Implement emergency evacuation/lockdown procedures to ensure the welfare of children, families and educators -------------------------------------------------- Q3-What risk controls will you implement in line with the hierarchy of risk control and workplace and legislative requirements? 1. Regularly provide information about WHS policies and procedures to the work team 2. Provide information about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and risk controls to the work team 3. Monitor housekeeping practices to ensure that WHS policies and procedures are followed 4. Maintain WHS incident records in the work area according to workplace procedures and legislative requirements ---------------------------------------------- Question 4. In what way can you regularly provide information about WHS policies and procedures to the work team? You can do this by:- 1-explaining policies and procedures during induction training. 2-including information on policies and procedures during refresher trainings 3-filming and presenting information in a video. ---------------------------------------------- Q5-In what way can you support workplace consultation procedures and encourage work team participation in consultative activities? 1 Support workplace consultative procedures by encouraging work team participation in consultative activities 2 Report health and safety issues in line with workplace procedures and legislative requirements 3 Encourage and assist work team members to contribute to WHS --------------------------------------------------------- Q6-How can you encourage and assist work team members to contribute to WHS? 1 Regularly provide information about WHS policies and procedures to the work team 2 Provide information about identified hazards and the outcomes of risk assessment and risk controls to the work team 3 Monitor housekeeping practices to ensure that WHS policies and procedures are followed

4 Maintain WHS incident records in the work area according to workplace procedures and legislative requirements