Workplace Health and Safety Management Systems
D.I.Y Guide
by
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Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) is adopted by workplaces all over the world to keep people healthy and safe from working conditions, plant and equipment, business processes and other people.
People can be direct or indirect to a business and are defined as employees (full-time, part-time, and casual), contractors, sub-contractors, consultants, sales people, visitors, bystanders and community members.
People are kept safe and healthy by the business adopting safe work practices, given a safe working environment, provided with adequate plant, tools and equipment and offered ongoing training and education.
By law, businesses must control risks within their business to ensure people’s health and safety. This is done by identifying the risk, putting controls in place to eliminate the risk, evaluating the effectiveness of the controls and educating people about the risk.
An effective workplace health and safety management system will empower employees, eliminate injuries and illness, improve the culture of the business as a whole and ensures legislative compliance.
Safe culture is a way of life and should not stop when a person leaves work.
A WHS management system is almost always included in larger businesses that have the money to invest in the system, people to manage the system but cost tens of thousands of dollars or more. Systems that are adopted for larger businesses have intricate programs and databases that can manage their data, which attracts most of the cost.
Small to medium businesses who do not have the dedicated resources or finances to implement WHS management systems sometimes do not implement anything at all. This comes from the perception that they cannot afford the expensive systems or do not have the knowledge to build the systems themselves.
WHS management systems are available “off the shelf” but mostly do not cover your specific business risks, your industry or your workplace. “Off the shelf” solutions are also expensive and can end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars - the same as a custom designed system.
The fact of the matter is if you have injuries or fatalities at your workplace, you cannot blame the person who designed your management system. The onus is on your business, management and people. So it makes sense that you, as a business have 100% input into your management systems and you have 100% control.
D.I.Y (Do It Yourself) management systems may seem daunting and time consuming - but if you have a full understanding of the process, you can better implement, review and improve your systems.
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About the Book
Workplace Health and Safety Management Systems – D.I.Y Guide offers practical, simple, compliant solutions in developing, implementing, maintaining, evaluating and managing your own systems - never outsource again! Do it Yourself! Don’t pay thousands of dollars for systems that may not fit your business, your risks and your people. Integrating Workplace Health and Safety, Human Resources and Training and Development management systems is very powerful in managing all people within your business, not just your workers. “Keeping people free from harm by identifying potential risks, putting controls in place to eliminate or prevent risk and evaluating the success of the controls”. Is your business ready for the new Workplace Health and Safety Act 2012?
About the Author
Jessica Urquhart has over fourteen years building management systems for many different industries, businesses and business functions. She has predominantly worked in the mining and construction industries which encompass many employees, contractors and visitors and almost everything is high risk. Jessica’s guide to building management systems is based on cost effective, simple, functional and compliant strategies that can be adapted by any size business.