October is National Safe Work Month

National Safe Work Month urges individuals and organisations to prioritise work health and safety (WHS) and take proactive measures to reduce work-related injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

The campaign’s goal is to foster a positive safety culture and highlight the significance of effective WHS practices.

Each year, National Safe Work Month focuses on a specific safety theme, with each week dedicated to a different WHS topic.

This initiative is as important as ever, as recent data from 2022 shows that 195 workers in Australia lost their lives due to work-related incidents, and there were 127,800 serious workers’ compensation claims.

Every job should be safe, and no death or injury is acceptable. National Safe Work Month is a vital opportunity to raise WHS awareness and underscore the collective benefits of safe and healthy workplaces for individuals, organisations, and the broader community.

This week, we’re returning to the basics by exploring the core principles of effective WHS practices.

Understanding WHS fundamentals is crucial for everyone. These principles include proactively managing WHS risks, engaging in genuine consultation with workers, and providing training and support to ensure workplace safety.

Incorporating WHS fundamentals into every action and decision helps emphasise the importance of health and safety. When workers see your commitment to safety, they are more likely to adhere to safety procedures and voice any safety concerns – making safety a shared responsibility.

During National Safe Work Month, take the opportunity to discuss WHS with your team. Delve into the fundamentals and integrate WHS into your business practices year-round.

Ai Group has a range of WHS resources, outlined below, to help.

 

Proactively managing your WHS risks

As an employer, you have a duty to eliminate or minimise health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable. When was the last time you systematically assessed what hazards might exist in your workplace or whether any new processes or changes might have introduced any risks? Being proactive about health and safety gives you an opportunity to identify hazards before an issue arises and for you to put measures in place to eliminate or minimise the risks.  

Introduction to hazard management – Health and safety laws require the identification of hazards that workers (and other persons) may be exposed to. Having identified the hazards, appropriate steps must be taken to eliminate or reduce the associated risks.

 

Identifying hazards

There are various ways of identifying hazards and you can start off by doing a walk around the workplace, talking to your employees, and following up exit interviews and discussion notes with employees if they raised any issues. Most employers already have information and data to help in identifying what hazards exist in their workplace. Use that information to assess and determine the priorities for identified hazards based on the level of risk.  

For further information, refer to: 

Hazard Helper Tool – Organisations are required to identify, assess and control hazards in the workplace to ensure the safety of their workers.

Identifying hazards – Hazard identification is the first step in the risk management process. Hazards must be identified and reported. Most organisations use either a hazard report or incident report to report hazards. Hazard reporting should align with the organisation's issue resolution procedure.

Toolbox Talk: Risk Assessments – Risk management is a critical part of every organisation's safety management strategy with risk assessment playing a vital role.

 

Controlling risks

Using the hierarchy of controls, start by looking at how to eliminate the risks (e.g. stop doing the task or re-design the work) if possible or minimise the risks as far as reasonably practicable by looking at control measures that could be implemented. Consult with workers during this process.  

For further information, refer to: 

Controlling risks – Risks in the workplace must be controlled as part of managing health and safety. The aim of controlling risks is to eliminate or minimise them so far as is reasonably practicable.

Managing risks through purchase or design – Persons involved with the purchase, hire, lease or design of plant, equipment or substances must ensure that all aspects of safety, including legislative requirements, have been considered. 

Measure, monitor and review – Measurement is part of the 'plan–do–check–act' management process. Measuring performance is as important to health and safety management as it is to financial, production or service delivery management.

 

Consulting your workers

Consultation is a legal requirement under WHS legislation. It is important to ensure that everyone involved with the work has a shared understanding of the risks and is given the opportunity to provide feedback. This two-way process is how consultation is different to communication. The best way to do this is by involving your employees in discussions relating to WHS matters as they are the ones doing the work and might give better insight into how the work is done in practice as opposed to how you might think it is happening.  

Introduction to consultation, communication and reporting – Consultation and communication in the workplace are not only good practice, but a legislative requirement.

Consultation and communication – Consultation is a two-way process between management and workers.

Effective consultation and communication – The aim of consultation is to obtain sufficient information to make well-informed decisions, and to enable affected workers to have their views heard and to understand the reasons for the decisions.

Consultation – getting it right! – Check out this video: Employee consultation is the life blood of any business. Whatever the size or nature of the business, people need to talk to each other to exchange views and ideas and discuss problems.

Further resources to assist with consultation on key topics are available in the Toolbox Talks section of the Health and Safety Resource Centre.

 

Training and supporting your workers 

Under WHS laws, employees must be provided with information, instruction, training and supervision to ensure that each employee is safe from injury and risks to health. It is part of the employer's duty of care. 

Ai Group offers a range of training topics to assist Employers in meeting this duty of care, including:

Safety Training for Managers and Supervisors – Digital Classroom – This one-day course provides a 'what you need to know about safety and more'. Roles and responsibilities, consultation, risk management and communication are several of the key topics. The course concentrates on the skills and knowledge specifically required to implement relevant WHS requirements.

Train the Trainer: Staff Induction – This program is designed to educate employees on the basic workplace legislative requirements of WHS and employment law (Discrimination, Harassment, Bullying) and equip them with training skills to train others. 

 

Psychosocial hazards are aspects of work and situations that may cause a stress response, which in turn can lead to psychological or physical harm. Psychosocial hazards are different in every workplace and even between teams and depend on the type of work being done, the actions taken, and workers' skills and attributes.

WHS laws require duty holders to implement control measures to eliminate psychosocial risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks, they must minimise psychosocial risks that may harm workers' psychological or physical health and safety, so far as is reasonably practicable.

 

Psychosocial Resources

Psychological health and safety – this artice provides fundamental advice on the management of psychosocial hazards in the workplace, including an ‘on-demand’ webinar offering 'A Practical Approach'. 

Are you doing enough to manage workplace psychosocial hazards? – Conducting a thorough risk assessment of psychosocial hazards in the workplace is not an option for employers – it’s a must.

Toolbox Talk – Recognition (From Thank You to Thriving: Building a Recognition Driven Workplace) – In today's dynamic work environments, recognition of performance plays a crucial role in fostering employee engagement, satisfaction, and overall wellbeing. Inadequate reward and recognition is a psychosocial hazard, and can cause psychological and physical harm. It means there is an imbalance between the effort that employees put in and the recognition or reward they receive. 

Further resources on Recognition and Reward: 

Reward and Recognition – The Reward and Recognition sub-topic in the Ai Group Health & Safety Resource Centre provides an understanding of the reward and recognition process and how it fits into the broader remuneration strategy. It provides key information on the core elements and how employers can effectively use it to build success, engagement and retention.

Brains, like hearts, go where they are appreciated – In today's competitive business environment, employee reward and recognition have emerged as key strategies in attracting and retaining talent. They play a crucial role in fostering a positive and productive work culture, driving employee engagement, and promoting superior performance.

Here's How to Recognise and Reward Remote Employees – Out of sight should never mean out of mind. Your top employees may be postcodes away, but these workers are more important than ever before. In a world where remote work has become the norm and not the exception, it is imperative that employers consider how they can reward and recognise team members – irrespective of their physical location.

 

Psychological Safety Awareness Training for Managers/Supervisors 

Psychological Safety in the Workplace (Digital Classroom) – Ai Group Digital Classroom training to introduce participants (HR, H&S, Management) to the benefits of developing a strategy to manage psychological safety in the workplace and what needs to be included to ensure the strategy's successful implementation.

Safety 101 for Employees (Digital Classroom) – The purpose of this topic is to establish strategies to allow participants to identify and manage workplace health and safety issues.

Safety Awareness for Workers (e-Learning Training Module) – Ai Group's Safety Awareness for Workers online training program is designed to educate workers about workplace safety fundamentals. Our program will provide your workers with an understanding of safety basics so that they can do their part in contributing to making the workplace a safer place. 

 

Further assistance 

Psychosocial Hazard Identification Survey – Undertaking a survey in your workplace can help you to understand any underlying themes across the workplace regarding how the management of health, safety and wellbeing is perceived, including the attitude, beliefs and values employees share, and its impact on the business culture.

Managing Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace – Ai Group's WHS Consulting Services can assist you with your Psychosocial hazards in the workplace. A psychosocial hazard is anything that could cause psychological harm (e.g. harm someone's mental health).

For assistance with managing psychosocial hazards in your workplace please contact Ai Group's WHS Consulting Service.

As an employer, you have a duty to eliminate or minimise health and safety risks so far as is reasonably practicable.

Understand your organisation’s critical risks

Does your organisation have a regular practice of reviewing what hazards might exist in the workplace or whether any new activities, processes or changes might have introduced any risks?

By undertaking a WHS Gap Analysis (audit) Review, you can identify opportunities to improve operational activities and performance and check if your current workplace practices meet legislative compliance and consider ways to improve your safety culture.

This is a proactive way of assessing what current practices you already have in place are working well and show how you are performing in relation to health and safety. It also helps identify any significant health and safety liabilities associated with activities and operations that are being undertaken by the organisation.

Safety Management Systems

Does your organisation have effective and appropriate systems to comply with health and safety legislation?

Do you find yourself struggling with hard copy documents all over the place and copies of documents in our computer drive that have been edited or changed over time? The result is no one really knows which version to use and end up not using the right document.

An online safety management system can be easily accessible and mobile to ensure that employees have access to the current forms, procedures and policies on a single platform at all times.

If you are looking at bringing your systems in-house and no longer want the hassle of dealing with multiple subscription platforms, Ai Group can assist you to build and fully customise your online safety management system. We can review and further simplify your current system or build a system from scratch into a new ISO45001 compliant system.

Take a digital journey to enhance your WHS systems - This blog provides an overview of how Ai Group can help with implementing a WHS online management system.

Need some ideas for activities in your workplace?

• “Stretch for 5” – Get your team to submit a list of relaxing music tracks you can play in the background and gather around to do some stretches before the day kicks off.
• Manual Handling Training and Workshops – Conduct manual handling workshops to demonstrate correct lifting and handling techniques. Make it an interactive session by including typical objects or holding the session in the usual working environment so participants can demonstrate their learnings and practice in real time. It is also a good opportunity for them to show what might be some obstacles and issues they face and encourage them to raise these hazards.
• Ergonomic Assessments – Arrange for workstation assessments using an onsite health provider on safe manual handling techniques to further educate your team members and asses to ensure desks and workstations are set up correctly. Provide each team member with guidelines on correct posture and workstation set up.
• “Ergonomic Champion” Challenge – Encourage team members to submit photos of their workstations or safe manual handling techniques. The best manual handling technique or ergonomically set up wins a prize and the photos can be shared as an article in the company newsletter.
• “Spot the Hazard” – Set up different workstations with different ergonomic or manual handling hazards (screen distance, chair height, tight working space, etc.). As a group, team members must identify the hazards in each workstation and suggest solutions and the winning team is the one that identified the most hazards and solutions in the shortest timeframe.
• Lifting Technique Obstacle Course – Set up a room with various obstacles where team members have to demonstrate correct lifting and carrying techniques. They might even need to stop and think and readjust obstacles. Get creative!
• “Pass the Parcel” – Arrange for a very big and large box that you mark with “HEAVY” and that requires a team lift. Each time the box is passed around the room, it opens up to a smaller box with a Manual Handling or Ergonomics Safety tip that the team members opens up and reads out to the group, and so on.
• Ergonomics and Safe Lifting Quiz – set up an online link for team members to watch a quick tutorial and have a list of questions based on examples in the video.
• Safety Bingo – Create a bingo card with squares that represent different safe practices (e.g. adjusted hair height, used proper lifting technique, reported ergonomic hazard). Team members can mark off the squares as they complete the different tasks
• Risk Assessment Competition – Gather teams and have them conduct risk assessments on manual handling and/or ergonomics in their work areas. Make it more fun and challenging by getting them to assess other departments with fresh eyes!
• Conduct a Toolbox Talk: Correct Lifting Technique - This toolbox talk is a tool that organisations can use to raise awareness on correct lifting techniques.

 

Ai Group Resources

• Manual tasks and musculoskeletal disorders          
• Webinar - Manual handling & musculoskeletal disorders
• Manual Task Hazard Identification Form
• Toolbox Talk: Correct Lifting Technique