7 simple steps to manage work health and safety

Summary

This presentation outlines seven steps for managing work health and safety in businesses. It emphasizes leadership's role in fostering a safety culture, the importance of involving everyone to understand and fulfill their responsibilities. Effective consultation with the team, addressing both physical and mental health, is highlighted. Hazard management involves identifying and controlling risks. Training and regular communication are key to maintaining safety. Records of safety activities are crucial for demonstrating management efforts. Continuous monitoring and improvement ensure evolving safety needs are met. Guidance materials and free advisor visits are offered for further assistance.

Takeaways

• 👨‍💼 Leadership sets the tone for safety culture, emphasizing the importance of management's commitment to health and safety.
• 🤝 Involvement from all employees is crucial for effective safety management, highlighting the need for collective responsibility.
• 🗣️ Effective consultation with the team is key to raising awareness and improving safety outcomes, including mental health considerations.
• 📝 Following up on worker suggestions and maintaining records of safety discussions is essential for continuous improvement.
• 🔍 Identifying and managing hazards is a fundamental part of workplace health and safety, starting with eliminating potential risks where possible.
• 🏢 Training and workplace inductions are vital for ensuring workers understand risks, safety policies, and emergency procedures.
• 👥 Communication between management and staff is critical for maintaining safety as a priority, suggesting regular updates in meetings.
• 📚 Keeping written records of health and safety activities and incidents is important for demonstrating proactive safety management.
• 🔄 Ongoing monitoring and reviewing of safety processes are necessary as workplaces evolve, requiring dynamic risk management.
• 📚 Guidance materials and templates are available to support businesses in managing health and safety, offering additional resources for improvement.

Q & A

What is the key to initiating a successful safety culture in a business?

A successful safety culture is led from the top, where the actions and attitudes of leaders demonstrate to workers that health and safety are taken seriously.

Why is the involvement of everyone important in workplace safety management?

Everyone's involvement is crucial because it ensures a collective effort towards safety, with each person understanding and meeting their responsibilities.

How can effective consultation improve safety outcomes in a workplace?

Effective consultation raises awareness of safety issues, encourages worker input in decision-making, and shows that their health and safety are valued, leading to improved outcomes.

Why is it important to consider mental health alongside physical health in workplace safety?

Mental health is as important as physical health because it affects workers' well-being and performance, and addressing it can lead to a safer and more productive work environment.

What should be done with workers' suggestions regarding safety?

Workers' suggestions should be followed up on, and improvements should be made based on their feedback, with records of safety discussions kept for reference.

How can a business control the risks associated with workplace hazards?

Risks can be controlled by first identifying potential hazards, considering if they can be eliminated, and if not, assessing the risks and implementing practicable measures to manage them.

What role does training play in ensuring workplace safety?

Training, including workplace inductions, informs workers about potential risks, safety policies, and procedures, and teaches them how to work safely and handle emergencies.

Why is it necessary to maintain open communication between management and staff regarding safety?

Regular communication helps keep safety a priority, allows staff to raise issues as they arise, and fosters a culture where safety concerns are openly discussed and addressed.

What is the significance of keeping written records of work health and safety activities?

Written records are important for demonstrating the efforts made to manage safety, and they can be crucial for investigations in case of incidents.

How can a business ensure ongoing management and improvement of health and safety?

By actively seeking to identify hazards, informing, training, and supervising the team, a business can manage risks and ensure continuous improvement in health and safety.

What resources are available to assist with Work Health and Safety in a business?

Guidance material and templates are available to provide more information, and businesses can request a free visit from Small Business Safety Advisors for personalized assistance.

Outlines

00:00

🛠️ Work Health and Safety Management

This paragraph outlines the importance of leading a safety culture from the top and ensuring everyone's involvement in workplace safety. It emphasizes the need for understanding individual responsibilities and the significance of effective consultation with the team. The paragraph also highlights the importance of considering mental health alongside physical health and the necessity of following up on worker suggestions to improve safety.

Keywords

💡Work Health and Safety

Work Health and Safety (WHS) refers to the practices and procedures put in place to ensure the well-being of employees and to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. In the video, it is the central theme, emphasizing the importance of managing WHS proactively in a business. The script outlines steps for creating a successful safety culture, starting from the top with leadership commitment and extending to all employees.

💡Safety Culture

Safety culture is the collective attitudes, values, and priorities that shape the behavior of individuals within an organization regarding health and safety. The script highlights that successful safety cultures are led from the top, where leadership actions and attitudes demonstrate a serious commitment to worker health and safety, setting the tone for the entire organization.

💡Responsibilities

In the context of the video, responsibilities refer to the duties and obligations of individuals within an organization to contribute to a safe work environment. The script stresses that everyone needs to understand their responsibilities and how to meet them, which is crucial for effective safety management.

💡Consultation

Consultation in the workplace involves seeking input and feedback from employees, particularly regarding health and safety issues. The script notes that effective consultation can lead to greater awareness and improved safety outcomes, showing that workers' opinions are valued and considered in decision-making processes.

💡Mental Health

Mental health is the state of well-being in which an individual can realize their potential, cope with the normal stresses of life, work productively, and contribute to their community. The video script emphasizes that mental health is as important as physical health in the workplace, and concerns about workers' well-being should be addressed as part of a comprehensive safety approach.

💡Hazard Management

Hazard management involves identifying, assessing, and controlling risks in the workplace. The script explains that part of managing health and safety includes controlling risks by identifying potential hazards and deciding whether to eliminate them or implement measures to control the associated risks.

💡Training

Training in the context of the video refers to the process of acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills to perform tasks safely. It includes workplace inductions and provides workers with information about potential risks, safety policies, and emergency procedures. The script highlights the importance of training in ensuring a safe work environment.

💡Supervision

Supervision involves overseeing and guiding the work of employees to ensure that tasks are performed safely and in compliance with safety policies. The script suggests that actively seeking to identify hazards and supervise the team is a key aspect of managing risks and ensuring worker safety.

💡Communication

Communication in the workplace is essential for sharing information, updates, and concerns related to safety. The script mentions the importance of regular communication between management and staff to keep safety a priority and to ensure that staff feel comfortable discussing any issues that arise.

💡Records

Records in the context of work health and safety refer to the documentation of activities, near misses, and incidents. The script states that maintaining written records is important for demonstrating the efforts made to manage safety and can be crucial for investigations in the event of an incident.

💡Monitoring and Reviewing

Monitoring and reviewing are continuous processes aimed at assessing and improving health and safety practices. The script explains that safety processes and operations evolve over time, and ongoing monitoring and reviewing are necessary to manage changing risks and ensure ongoing improvement in workplace safety.

Highlights

Successful safety cultures are led from the top, emphasizing the importance of leadership in promoting health and safety.

Everyone's involvement is needed for effective safety management, highlighting the collective responsibility for workplace safety.

Understanding individual responsibilities is crucial for meeting safety requirements in the workplace.

Effective consultation with the team can improve safety outcomes by raising awareness of issues.

Seeking worker input in decision-making demonstrates a commitment to their health and safety.

Mental health is as important as physical health in the workplace, emphasizing the holistic approach to worker well-being.

Following up on worker suggestions and making improvements is key to continuous safety enhancement.

Identifying potential hazards is a fundamental part of managing health and safety in the workplace.

Elimination of hazards should be the first consideration in risk control.

Implementing practicable measures is necessary when hazard elimination is not possible.

Training and workplace inductions are essential for ensuring worker safety and understanding of risks.

Providing information about safety policies and procedures helps workers to work safely and handle emergencies.

Understanding the work environment, job expectations, and employment conditions is facilitated through training.

Maintaining a safe workplace is a shared responsibility that requires regular communication between management and staff.

Incorporating safety discussions in regular meetings allows staff to comfortably raise issues as they arise.

Keeping written records of safety activities and incidents is vital for demonstrating management of safety in the workplace.

Monitoring and reviewing health and safety is an ongoing process that adapts to changes in the workplace.

Actively seeking to identify hazards and supervise the team builds confidence in risk management.

Guidance material and templates are available to support these safety management steps.

Free visits from Small Business Safety Advisors can be requested for assistance with Work Health and Safety.

Transcripts

This short presentation will provide you with seven simple steps to manage your work health and safety in your business.

Getting started.

Successful safety cultures are led from the top, where your actions and attitudes send a message to your workers

that you are serious about their health and safety.

Effective safety management in a workplace requires involvement from everyone to make it safe.

To do this successfully, people need to understand their responsibilities and how they can meet them.

Talking with your team.

Effective consultation encourages greater awareness of issues and can lead to improved safety outcomes.

Seeking workers input when making decisions shows them that you take their health and safety seriously.

This includes concerns about your workers well-being because mental health is as important as physical health.

Follow up on your workers suggestions and make improvements with a record of safety discussions.

Managing hazards.

Part of managing health and safety in your workplace is controlling the risks.

To do this you will need to accurately identify potential hazards.

Having identified potential hazards, you'll need to first consider if they can be eliminated.

If this is not possible, then consider the risks involved and put practicable measures in place to control them.

Information, training and supervising your team.

Training, including workplace inductions, is one of the best ways to ensure that the

people in your business are safe while at work.

It provides workers with information about the potential risks associated with their work,

the safety policies and procedures you have in place,

as well as how to work safely and deal with emergencies.

It also ensures that your workers understand their work environment, their job expectations and employment conditions.

Maintaining a safe workplace.

It is everyone's responsibility to maintain a safe workplace.

Regular communications between management and staff is crucial to keeping safety a priority.

Add safety as an item to your regular meetings so staff feel comfortable bringing up any issues as they arise.

Keeping records.

Written records of your work health and safety activities, near misses and incidents are important for your business.

These records can help demonstrate what you have done to manage safety in your workplace.

This can be important if an incident occurs requiring investigation.

Monitoring and reviewing to improve.

Managing and improving health and safety needs to be ongoing.

Safety processes and operation evolve with time, and workers and equipment can come and go,

changing the risks in your workplace.

When you actively seek to identify hazards, inform, train and supervise your team,

you can be confident that you are managing the risks and the people exposed to them.

Guidance material and templates are available to complement these steps and provide you with more information.

For assistance with Work Health and Safety in your business,

you can request a free visit from our Small Business Safety Advisors by calling 1800 019 115.