OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

• Occupational Health and Safety
• in Offices

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Session Aims

• Brief overview of general requirements of the OHS
  Act
• Overview of what we mean by hazards and risk
• Get you thinking about what hazards might exist
  in offices
• Think about how you can contribute to improving
  OHS at your workplace

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What does the Act cover?

• Victorian workplaces
• Any place where employees work, including
• self-employed
• outworkers
• contractors
• employees of contractors
• employees in State Government departments

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What are the objects of the OHS Act 1985?

• Secure the health, safety and welfare of persons
  at work
• Protect persons at work against risks to health
  or safety
• Help ensure a safe and healthy work environment
• Eliminate, at the source, risks to the health,
  safety and welfare of persons at work
• Involve employees, employers and their
  representatives

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Employer duties (S. 21(1) (2) )

• General duty of care
• Provide and maintain, so far as is practicable, a
  working environment that is safe and without
  risks to health
• Specific duties
• Provide and maintain safe plant and systems of
  work
• Arrange safe systems of work in connection with
  the use, handling, storage and transport of plant
  and substances
• Provide a safe working environment
• Provide adequate welfare facilities
• Provide information, instruction, training and
  supervision to enable employees to work safely

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(No Transcript)
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Employer duties (S. 21(4))

• Specific duties (contd)
• Monitor the health of employees
• Keep information and records
• Engage or employ suitable people to provide
  advice on health and safety in the workplace
• Nominate appropriately senior person/s to act as
  the employers representative
• Monitor conditions at the workplace
• Provide information to employees (in appropriate
  languages)

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What is practicable?

• Four tests of practicability - all are taken into
  account when determining whether a duty has been
  met
• severity of hazard or risk
• state of knowledge about the hazard or risk and
  any ways of removing or mitigating the hazard or
  risk
• availability and suitability of ways to remove or
  mitigate the hazard or risk
• cost of removing or mitigating the hazard or risk

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Other duties (S. 22 23)

• Employers and self-employed persons must ensure,
  so far as is practicable, that health and safety
  of all types of non-employees is not adversely
  affected by their business activities (S 22)
• Occupiers of workplaces must take all practicable
  measures to ensure the workplace and means of
  entry and exit are safe and without risks to
  health (S 23)

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Employee duties (S. 25)

• Whilst at work, employees must
• take reasonable care for their own health and
  safety and for the health and safety of anyone
  else who may be affected by their acts or
  omissions
• cooperate with their employer on any actions
  taken to comply with the requirements of the OHS
  Act
• Employees must not
• wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse
  any safety equipment provided for their use
• wilfully put at risk the health and safety of
  others in their workplace

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Consultative structures
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Consultation

• The OHS Act emphasises consultation as the key to
  successful management of OHS
• The Act encourages the establishment of
  structures to assist in the consultation process
  
• initiate or establish one or more designated work
  groups
• elect health and safety representatives (and
  nominate management representatives)
• establish health safety committees

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Hazard identification and risk assessment
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What is a hazard?

• Definition
• anything with the potential to cause injury or
  illness
• Examples
• a workstation with little or no adjustment
  facility (or where these are not used properly)
• storing boxes or other equipment on top of filing
  cabinets

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What do we mean by risk?

• Definition
• an assessment of the likelihood of exposure to a
  hazard, and the possible consequences of the
  exposure
• Examples
• an incorrectly-adjusted workstation - causing
  back pain and eye strain
• moving boxes stored on top of a filing cabinet -
  resulting in back injury

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Controlling risk

• The process of working out what needs to be done
  to eliminate or reduce risk, and putting those
  measures in place
• Use the Hierarchy of Controls to work out the
  best way to control the risk
• Elimination - controlling the hazard at source.
• Substitution - eg. replacing one substance or
  activity with a less hazardous one.
• Engineering - eg. installing guards on machinery
• Administration - policies and procedures for safe
  work practices
• Personal Protective Equipment - eg respirators,
  ear plugs.

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3 steps in the process

• Hazard identification
• use checklists or other prompts
• think about types of injury or illness possible
• Risk assessment
• think about how workers are being exposed to a
  hazard, how often this happens, how the work is
  done, and any controls already in place
• Risk control
• eliminate or reduce the identified risks
• as far as practicable

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Office OHS- What can you do about it? -

• Report hazards to supervisor / manager / health
  safety representative
• Dont be afraid to make suggestions
• Make sure you (and others) use the available
  controls
• Participate in training, drills and awareness
  programs
• Look out for yourself and others

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Whats Wrong Here?
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Key hazards in offices

• Lighting, ventilation, noise
• Office / workstation layout
• Job design
• VDUs and photocopiers
• Manual handling

• Storage / housekeeping
• Hazardous substances
• Fire and emergency
• First aid
• Electricity

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Summary

• Key features of the OHS Act
• Consultation in the workplace
• The hazard identification, risk assessmentand
  risk control process
• Some of the key OHS issues you might come across
  in an office environment
• What you can do to get involved in OHS at work
• Where to go for help

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UNIT ASSESSMENT CHAPTER 2

• OHS Officer and station
• Role/Responsibility of OHS Rep
• Role/Responsibility of Workers
• 5 main OHS provisions in your company
• 3 important web site addresses for OHS and
  Workcover
• Actions/Consequences of safety breach
• Ergonomic requirements of office furniture