OH&S (Issue 27)

Steps to Prevent Fatalities

Safety and health statistics need equal priority with profits and productivity.

Safety equals profit
Fatalities should be focused on with the same intensity and reporting as profit.

Show respect
Directors should attend funerals of all fatalities, subject to privacy and family permission.

Focus on catastrophic risk
Having a low LTIFR doesn’t make an airline safe to fly with. Similarly, a mine having a low LTIFR may not necessarily be a safe place to work.

Communicate
Communication of critical information can always be improved. Crosscheck information by by-passing the normal chain of reporting to seek information directly.

Where there’s smoke
Hazard reports and subsequent action plans to address the identified hazards are a proactive weapon in the fight to eliminate fatalities.

Report on the indicators that something is amiss or things are starting to drift outside safe parameters (ie. hazard reports).

‘Incident’ not ‘Accident’
Replace the work ‘accident’ for ‘incident’ at all times.

Predict and be proactive
All incidents are preventable if they are predictable. Focus on predicting incidents.

Personalities
Risk-averse personalities do not seek employment in hazardous industries. Pre-employment psychological and personality assessment is a proactive measure.

Measure against KPIs
KPIs ideally should be numerical and time-based so that percentage variance can be calculated and results graphed to provide a quick visual assessment (ie. turnover of hazard reports).

Follow-up
Action plans need to be signed off.

Strategic intervention
Safety and health audits should be conducted annually but unexpectedly. The external auditor should outrank the Manager.

Automate where feasible
People cannot be injured or killed if they are not present when an incident occurs.

Information provided by Reed Business Information

Smoking in the Workplace—Part 2

In addition to a site’s obligations under the Tobacco Act 1987, there are further obligations under section 21(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004.

To meet this duty, sites are encouraged to take all necessary steps to ensure that those on site are not exposed to environmental tobacco smoke, whether or not the workplace is enclosed.

Guidance on how this can be done is detailed in the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission’s Guidance Note on Elimination of Environmental Tobacco Smoke in the Workplace. This can be downloaded from a link on the CMPA website.

In summary, the Guidance Note recommends that the following controls be considered:

• Prohibiting smoking in the workplace including indoors, in vehicles, and anywhere where smoke can drift into the workplace
• Ensure that designated outdoor smoking areas have adequate ventilation
• Promote ‘Quit’ smoking programs in the workplace

Such controls need to ensure that they are universally applied, are non-discriminatory, involve wide consultation and are well communicated.

Many measures (such as mechanical ventilation and administrative controls) used in the past to protect people from environmental tobacco smoke have limited demonstrable effects.

What about enforcement?

These new laws will be enforced by the Department of Human Services. If there is a breach, fines may be charged between approximately $105 and $524.

The person in change of the enclosed workplace at the time smoking occurs will not be guilty of an offence if they can prove that they did not provide an ashtray, matches, lighter or any other item designated to facilitate smoking and that:

• They were not aware and could not reasonably be expected to have been aware that smoking was occurring; or
• They requested the person to stop smoking and informed the person that they were committing an offence

Where to from here?

For further information:
Department of Human Services—1300 136 775
www.health.vic.gov.au/tobaccoreforms/WorkSafe
www.worksafe.vic.gov.au

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