Health and Safety Duties
The HSAW Act (2015) requires employers (PCBUs) to ensure safe workplaces and collaborate with other PCBUs. Officers are liable for resourcing safe work and policies. Workers must care for their own and others’ safety and follow employer instructions.
Awareness of Hazards
The PCBU (employer) must provide systems to identify hazards, eliminate or minimise H&S risks, and inform workers. Officers are expected to understand work undertaken by the PCBU and minimise knowable hazards. Workers must also take care to identify new or uncontrolled hazards at work. Human behaviour can be a hazard.
Understanding Risks
Work environments, work activities, and worker behaviours combine to create risks that change throughout the project lifecycle. Organisational systems should detect new or changing risks, and demonstrate that the employer is managing risks to an acceptable level. The law requires active cooperation between employers and workers through worker engagement and participation.
A safe workplace means facilities and work areas are healthy and accessible; information and training; safe structures, plant, and equipment; safe systems of work; health monitoring; PPE; and emergency response plans.
Safe behaviour: Workers follow HS policies and manage risks if they can do so safely (or report them).
Unsafe behaviour: workers risk harm to themselves or others through their actions or inactions. Health conditions (impairment, incapacitation, immobility, or disability) are ignored that increase safety risks.
Eliminate or Minimise Risks
Risk controls focus on either the hazard or the behaviour of workers and others.
Eliminate the hazard. PCBUs remove an environmental, activity based or behavioural hazard.
Substitute the hazard. PCBUs continuously improve organisational systems and worker engagement. PCBU adopts new and safer equipment or systems of work.
Isolate the hazard. PCBU actively identifies risks and applies controls.
Use engineered modifications. PCBU provides safe and reliable plant and equiptment and emergency response resources.
Focusing on human behaviours include:
Administration of safe systems of work. PCBU engages and cooperates with workers. Officers perform due diligence when assessing risks to workers. Workers are informed of risks, are trained to work safely, and follow reasonable instructions. Visitors are informed of risks and policies.
Personal protection equipment (PPE). PCBU provides PPE.
businesses are Site Safe members.
SiteWise members.
people trained every year.