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Health and Safety Risk Management

Health and Safety Risk Management

• What does the law say
• Hazards and Risk
• Reasonably Practicable
• Engagement and Participation
• Risk Perception
• H&S Risk Management Process

What does the Law say

The new HSW Act 2015 requires the systematic identification, assessment and control of health and safety risks (hazards). It is the PCBU’s responsibility to satisfy themselves that this has been carried out effectively.

Hazards and Risks

Risk Management Under the new Act the is a duty to:

• Eliminate risk to health and safety so far as is reasonably

practicable

• If this is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to

health and safety , to minimises those risks so far as is reasonably practicable

Hazards and Risks

DEFINITIONS Section 30 and General Risk and Workplace management Reg’s Hazard

• Anything that can cause harm.
• A person’s behaviour can also be a hazard where that behaviour has the

potential to cause death, injury, or illness to a person (whether or not that behaviour results from physical or mental fatigue, drugs, alcohol, traumatic shock, or another temporary condition that affects a person’s behaviour). Risk Risk can be described as the likelihood certain consequences (death, injury, or illness) occur when a person is exposed to a hazard. Risks arise from people being exposed to a hazard (a source of harm).

Hazards and Risks

Five Step Test

• 1. Consequence – Seriousness of Harm
• 2. Likelihood of harm occurring
• 3. State of knowledge regarding the hazard/risk
• 4. Ways to mitigate – legislated for; regulations/guidelines/codes of

practice

• 5. Cost of Mitigation

Reasonably Practicable

Definition Section 22 “…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:

• the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring;
• the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or risk;
• what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about
• the hazard or risk; and
• ways of eliminating or minimising the risk; the availability and suitability
• f ways to eliminate or minimise the risk; and
• after assessing the extent of the risk and 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.”

Engagement and Participation

Part 3 of Act & the Worker Engagement Participation and Representation Regulations Engagement and participation are related duties. What is done to meet one duty can help meet the other. Both involve two-way communication – a conversation about health and safety. Engagement is how a business involves its workers in work health and safety matters and decisions. Participation practices are the on-going ways for workers to raise health and safety concerns, be part of making decisions which affect work health and safety, and offer suggestions for improving health and safety. Together with your workers, you can determine the best way to meet your duties. What is reasonable and practical will depend on workers’ views and needs, the size of your business and the nature of its risks. The law enables flexibility and innovation: the focus is on effectiveness rather than whether any a particular system is in place. A well-established way to support worker participation is by electing Health and Safety Representatives (HSRs), or setting up a Health and Safety Committee (HSC). If HSRs and/or HSCs are part of your worker participation practice(s), the Act sets out requirements for how they will work.

Engagement and Participation

Section 59 Nature of Engagement Engagement requires:

• Relevant information is shared with workers in a timely manner
• Workers given reasonable opportunity

– to express their view – Contribute to the decision making process

• Views of Workers taken into consideration by the PCBU
• Workers advised of outcomes in a timely manner
• H&S Reps to be involved in the engagements with workers

Engagement and Participation

Section 60 PCBU’s need to engage and consult with workers …

• When hazards are identified and assessed
• When making decisions about

– addressing risks – the adequacy of staff welfare facilities – monitoring worker health and workplace conditions – providing information and training to workers – procedures for resolving work health or safety issues

• When determining work groups
• When proposing changes which may affect the health and safety of workers

PCBU’s must also engage with workers when developing worker participation practices (ie. ways for workers to participate in improving work health or safety on a day to day basis)

Risk Perception

Will you jump?

State Perception

Risk Perception

Unsafe Feel unsafe Unsafe Feel Safe Safe Feel unsafe Safe Feel safe Which of the above is the lowest risk?

H&S Risk Management Process

The following is the process to identify, assess and manage work risks: Step 1 Identify: Identify the work hazards that could harm workers or others. Step 2 Assess: To identify the risks to be managed, think about:

• who is exposed to the hazard
• how likely could harm arising from contact with the hazard
• what could happen if the harm does occur.

Main Hazard Categories at Work and Home

• Electricity
• Hazardous Substance
• Manual Handling
• Machinery & Equipment
• Stacking and Storage
• Slips Trips and Falls
• Biological
• Noise
• RSI
• Stress and Fatigue
• Violence
• Radiation
• Transportation and Traffic

H&S Risk Management Process

Step 3 Manage: Then work out what you can do to:

• reduce how serious the harm is if it does occur
• prevent or reduce the chances of the harm occurring.
• You then must decide how you will deal with a risk – eliminate

(eg remove the hazard) or if you can’t eliminate, minimise (eg put in place control measures). Step 4 Monitor: Regularly check your control measures are still working to manage the risk. This may include workplace exposure monitoring and worker health monitoring to measure the effectiveness of your controls.

H&S Risk Management Process

Review for Continuous Improvement

• Workplaces change. You should review your work activities on

an ongoing basis to identify new risks including when new equipment or processes are to be used.

• Steps 1-4, and the ongoing process of reviewing controls are

described below.

H&S Risk Management Process