Title: OHS Workplace Inspections Guideline

Transcription

1 Title: OHS Workplace Inspections Guideline Version 2.0 TRIM file number Short description Relevant to Approved by Responsible officer Responsible office 07/XXXX Guidelines on conducting Workplace Health and Safety Workplace Inspections All workers Executive Director, Division of Human Resources Manager, OHS Division of Human Resources Date introduced 29, June, 2007 Date(s) modified 12 April 2013 Next scheduled review date April 2016 Related University documents Occupational Health and Safety Policy Occupational Health and Safety Objectives and Responsibilities OHS Workplace Inspections Policy Related legislation Workplace Health and Safety Act 2011 Key words Workplace Health and Safety Regulations 2011 Guidelines, occupational health and safety, OHS, work health and safety, WHS, workplace inspections, action sheets.

2 1. PURPOSE This guideline describes how to undertake occupational health and safety (OHS) workplace inspections. 2. ELIGIBILITY These guidelines apply to all Workers (employees) of Charles Sturt University (CSU). 3. BACKGROUND 3.1 The purpose of conducting workplace inspections is to take a systematic approach to the identification of hazards in the workplace and to either eliminate the hazards or reduce the risk of injury from them. Regular inspections can be the key to the prevention of workplace incidents. 3.3 The OHS workplace inspections are designed to ensure all areas of CSU are able to translate their duty of care under WHS legislation into the management of risk. 4. CONSULTATION WITH EMPLOYEES An important element of successfully implementing OHS workplace inspections involves meaningful and effective communication with workers aimed at achieving commitment from all areas and levels within each organisational unit. Managers need to plan for how consultation will be achieved and how ideas and actions will be communicated. For assistance or guidance on WHS consultation at CSU refer to the CSU Consultation Statement. 5. CONDUCT OF OHS WORKPLACE INSPECTIONS 5.1 Managers / Supervisors of facilities that are shared need to arrange for the assignment of investigation responsibilities to ensure that duplication of effort does not occur. Using a joint team with members from each area, or rotating the responsibility for the conduct of the inspection between areas are possible methods for managing shared facilities. 5.2 Where workplaces are geographically large or where there are a large number of facilities, then it may be prudent to carry out inspections on the separate locations and then combine them into a single report. This approach can be carried out over a number of months and still meet the recommended reporting schedule. 5.3 Managers / Supervisors should enlist the aid of their employees to assist in the conduct of inspections. Where relevant, these assistants may be chosen for their knowledge or expertise in particular areas. The number of persons needed to carry out an inspection is generally limited to about three (3) persons, but the employees carrying out the inspection may be rotated to ensure the involvement of as many employees as possible in the workplace inspection program over a number of years. 5.4 Managers / Supervisors are encouraged to use and develop workplace inspection checklists to enable efficient inspections of workplaces to be conducted. The aim of developing checklists for particular facilities or operations is to ensure that inspections meet any specific local needs. Basic/generic checklists are available on the Human Resources, Health Safety and Wellbeing website. These basic/generic checklists may be adapted by business units according to the specific local needs of a work area. Modified checklists can be discussed with the Manager, OHS prior to use to ensure they are adequate in assessing all areas of the physical work environment and/or safety management systems for the particular area.

3 5.5 Health and Safety Representatives (HSR) have a legal right to inspect workplaces and may schedule this activity. Managers / Supervisors may find it beneficial to conduct inspections with their HSR and should keep in contact with their representative. 5.6 The purpose of a workplace inspection is to detect hazards and as such the inspection should not deteriorate into an exercise in simple nit-picking. The approach of the inspection team should be more to determine that everything is satisfactory rather than to determine how many things are wrong. For further information on the completion of workplace inspections, please refer to the Health, Safety and Wellbeing website for presentations on how to conduct inspections or Workplace Inspections Guidance Notes 5.7 Items identified during the inspection need to be rectified and the workplace inspection action sheet is the document designed to assist this process. Regular reviews are necessary to ensure that the required actions are being undertaken and the identified problems rectified by the responsible person(s). 5.8 Once all the hazards have identified during the inspection they will need to be prioritised for rectification. 6. PRIORITISING PROBLEMS 6.1 The purpose of prioritising your OHS issues is to ensure that serious problems are dealt with immediately, regardless of cost. The Hazard Scale in Clause 7 (adapted from WorkCover NSW) will help you to prioritise the hazards within your workplace. In order to prioritise the issues you will need to: a) Determine the likelihood of an incident occurring as a result of the identified hazard. You must decide if the likelihood is very likely, likely, unlikely or very unlikely. b) Determine the severity of an incident stemming from the identified hazard. What would happen to a person if an accident happened because of this hazard? Would they be killed, severely injured, would time off work be needed or would first aid be appropriate? Select the most severe outcome for each hazard; and

4 6.2 Serious hazards (denoted S ) require immediate action regardless of impact on the operations of the workplace. 6.3 ER indicates that a risk is easily resolved and, as such, should receive immediate attention, eg moving packing crates that have been stacked in front of an exit. 6.4 All risks in between the two extremes above are prioritised as Priority 1 Priority 5 ( P1-P5 ) and should be dealt with as quickly as possible, with Priority 1 being the highest. 7. HAZARD SCALE SEVERITY LIKELIHOOD Could it hurt someone? OR How ill could it make someone? Very likely Could happen any time Likely Could happen sometime Unlikely Could happen, but very rarely Very unlikely Could happen, but probably never will Kill or cause permanent disability S S P1 P2 Long-term illness or serious injury S P1 P2 P3 Medical attention and several days off work P1 P2 P3 P4 First aid needed P2 P3 P4 P5 8. RESPONSIBILITY Delegation of the issues to be resolved should be assigned to appropriate employees. Assigning different issues to other employees will ensure as many employees as possible are included in the plan. Details of employees and the actions they are required to complete should be clearly spelled out together with target dates to complete actions. These dates should be realistic. 9. RESOURCES In order to effectively manage OHS and to action issues, adequate resources must be made available. These resources are not only financial but also physical (i.e. facilities and equipment) and human. Generally your greatest resource challenges will be time and personnel, not financial.

5 10. TRAINING Workplace inspection training presentations are available from the Human Resources website. 11. OHS WORKPLACE INSPECTION WORKFLOW DIAGRAM Table of amendments Version Date Short description of amendment number Version April 2013 Amended with up to date legislative references, Safety Management Plans removed from document to create stand alone and specific Workplace Inspections Guidelines.