Better Workplace Health And Safety Standard example essay topic

1.0 Introduction The following audit report will detail the finding of a Workplace Health and Safety Audit and Policy Analysis conducted at the duty free shop located on Surfers Paradise of Gold Coast on the 28th July 2000. The shop!'s name is! ^088 Australian Products Property Limited! +/-. The audit was conducted with the two employers and some staffs in the shop through the interview with them.

The aim of the audit was to identify the current level of workplace health and safety in the duty free shop. This audit report can examine and access the extent to which the duty free shop is meeting legislative requirements and practicing the safety management policies. From the result of the audit, it found that the duty free shop could achieve the basic standard of the workplace health and safety level to ensure its employees has a good working environment. In order to achieve a better workplace health and safety standard, several recommendations have been made.

For example, they need to pay more attention to manual handling. 2.0 Establish Baseline for the Workplace 2.1 Nature of Workplace (Organisational Structure) 88 Australian Products Property Limited is owned by two Hong Kong people. The shop!'s location is on Gold Coast Highway in Surfer Paradise. Its business hour is from 1: 30 pm to 10: 30 pm everyday. They mainly sell skin care product, aromatherapy products, lanolin cream, pure wool carpet, toys, honey and a range of grocery items. There are four full-time staffs and two part-time staffs.

Full-time staffs have one-day holiday per week and need to work from 3: 30 pm to 10: 30 pm, and the part-time staffs approximately work about three days per week and they will work from 6 pm to 10 pm. All the staff will be under the direct supervision of those two employers. 2.1. 1 Identify Safety responsibilities and legislative requirements! ^0 The legislation imposes positive duties on employers, employees, self-employed persons, manufacturers, suppliers and designers.! +/- (Gibson, Fraser, 2001) In the Work Health and Safety Act (WHSA) 1995, it has listed all the obligations and requirements of both employers and employees. Within all workplaces, employers and employees have their level of responsibility for workplace health and safety under this legislation (refer Part 3, ss.

23-36; WHSA) Besides the WHSA, Ryan, Gibson, Rigby, Tamsitt (2001) said that under common law duties of the employer, employer need to ensure the safety of employees in the workplace. 2.12 Safety Information Systems Throughout the areas of the shop, there are several signs posted on the wall about the health and safety information. For example, they have post! ^0 no smoking! +/- signs in the shop.

Also, after they clean the floor, they will put a warning board to warn the staff! ^0 be aware of the wet floor! +/-. When they employ a new staff, they will have a short briefing with the employee to introduce the working environment and the machine that used in the shop. It can ensure that the employee clear about the working environment.

Therefore, workplace accident rate can be minimized. 2.13 Emergency systems for treatment and evacuation The shop has installed the fire extinguishers in several areas of the store and the maintenance of all fire protection equipment is up to date (AS 1851: 2). Besides, they have provided a first aid kit to the employees in the staff area (Advisory Standard for First Aid, 1999: 3). 2.14 Analysis of OH&S data for workplace They have no record for the workplace accidents and injuries. Through the interview with those staffs, they said that one staff has a minor cut to the fingers two months before when cutting some tester.

It only required first-aid treatment only. Furthermore, all the commodities fell down from shelves three months before. Their shelves are made of glasses but glasses are not heavy enough to bear the weight of those commodities. Luckily, there is no people get hurt in this accident. Lastly, they almost get a fire broke out last year.

They sell some aromatherapy products, and they have an oil burner inside the shop. At that day, many children inside the shop and playing around, and they make the oil burner turnover. They use water to fight the fire immediately. Employers said that when an accident occur, they must have a meeting as soon as possible to discuss the accident, in order to prevent the accident happen again. 3.0 Audit and Assessment of Workplace Safety In order to get more information about the current level of the workplace health and safety in the duty free shop, a focus group with all staffs have been constructed. It can help to identify and access any hazards in the workplace.

3.1 Hazard Identification and Characterisation The following table lists all the hazards identified as a result of the audit. Each of them has been categorized in terms of potential risk, and more detail will be given with those hazards rated with a level of! ^0 Moderate Risk! +/- or above... Hazard Potential Risk Armed Hold-up Moderate Risk Fire / Explosion Low Risk Manual Handling High Risk Ergonomic (work design) Moderate Risk Noise Low Risk Electrical Low Risk Sharps Moderate Risk Stress Low Risk Vibration Low Risk Radiation Low Risk 3.1. 1 Armed Hold Up Most of the transactions in the duty free shop is pay in cash; it is a high cash flow business. It will expose to a high incidence of crime.

To ensure that the female staffs are safe during work, when employers arrange the shift time, they must arrange one male staff with the female staffs. 3.1. 2 Manual Handling Manual handling is a serious risk in the duty free shop. Cartons containing heavy items such as lanolin cream and honey were found stored on shelves in the storage room well above shoulder height. It will harmful to their muscles, ligaments. (Manual Tasks Advisory Standard, 2000: 1.2). 3.1. 3 Ergonomic (Work Design) All staffs need to work six days every week and they need to stand for seven hours everyday.

They are required to perform their job in a standing position expect for their dinnertime. It can pose several ergonomic hazards. Some of these hazards include muscle strain and lower back injuries (Manual Tasks Advisory Standard, 2000: 1.2). 3.1. 4 Sharps Nougat (a kind of candy) is sold in the duty free shop. They will ask the staff to cut some tester for the customers. When the staffs repeat to do the same work, they will easily get hurt.

3.2 Exposure Assessments and Evaluation of Health Risks to Employees All staffs in the duty free shop share the same workload, so they are equally exposed to most of the identified hazards. The most serious risk they faced is the manual handling. 4.0 Analysis and Evaluation of Existing Workplace Health Policies 4.1 Health and Safety Policy An! ^0 employee handbook! +/- has given to every staffs before they work in the duty free shop. In the handbook, it include their responsibilities and some health and safety issues. 4.2 Nature of Policy Implementation 4.2.

1 Programs in Place When they employ the new staff, a training program will be provided. In the training program, they will learn how to use the equipment and the safety rules in the duty free shop. In addition, when new machines has installed, employers must has a meeting on introduce the new machines. They need to ensure that all employee can use the machine properly to prevent the accident. 4.2. 2 Communication and reporting structures In the duty free shop, they will have a meeting every three months to talk about their job.

It will include their performance, health and safety issues and discuss their future action plan. Employees can give feedback about all issues during the meeting. This can help employers know the problems that employees have and they can find some methods to solve it. 4.3 Effectiveness of Policy Implementation A regular audit program will be conduct every year to ensures that all health and safety management are effective for their staffs. 5.0 Recommendations and Action Plan Although, the accident rate in the duty free shop is low, there were several issues identified during the audit process that could be improved further. 5.1 Improve Manual Handling "C Cartons should be as compact as possible.

The two longest dimensions should not exceed 750 mm for light loads. (Guide to Manual Handling in the Retail and Wholesale Industry) 5.2 Shorter the staff!'s working time "C Staffs will have more energy to work when they have more rest. The result is that accident rate will decrease. 5.3 Appoint a Workplace Health and Safety Representative "C Workplace Health and Safety Representative can help them further improve their workplace health and safety standard within the duty free shop. 6.0 Conclusion From this audit report, it found that the duty free shop could achieve the standard level of the workplace health and safety.

They do not have high accident rate and they will provide training and have meeting with their staff about the workplace health and safety issues. It appears that the duty free shop is meeting the legislative requirements. However, they still have space to improve their level of workplace health and safety. This can help them to continue the high performance and increase the employee!'s incentive to work.

Reference Advisory Standard for First Aid (1999). Department of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations- Workplace Health and Safety. Gibson A, Fraser D Business Law, 1st ed, 2002, Prentice Hall Sydney Guide to Manual Handling in the Retail and Wholesale Industry (1993). Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra Manual Tasks Advisory Standard (2000). Department of Employment, Training and Industrial Relations- Workplace Health and Safety (Qld). Ryan H, Gibson A, Rigby S, Tamsitt G, Commercial law in principle, 1st ed, 2001, Law Book Co, Sydney Workplace Health and Safety Act (1995).

Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra. Workplace Health and Safety (Miscellaneous) Act (1995).