BSBWHS501 WHS Management System of VTI Group Mining and Minerals

1. Define and Expain relevant legislation For WHS.
2. Identiy human resources and financial resources required by WHS.
 

Individuals responsible for WHS:

Duties and responsibilities are imposed on the following persons under the WHS law: PCBUs such as public or private companies, corporations, local authorities or government departments; executive officers and the workers.

It is the utmost duty of the entire above named person to create a safe workplace for the betterment of the future of the employees and the business or authorities. The responsibilities have two faces; first to eliminate the threat to the health of the workers and minimise the risks if not possible eliminate them.   

Financial and human resource required by WHS

Both the institutions are important in case of proper implementation of the WHS. Human resources members are employed to generate guidelines for proper WHS policies (Becker & Smidt, 2016). The HR management should include safety officer, safety engineer, HR employees, external WHS consultant or trainer.

Financial department is also plays an important role in case of human resource plan implementation. The required financial resources for WHS are amount allocated by the finance department, loans taken for the banks to put up the work health and safety conditions in the organisation (Bu, Wen & Banker, 2015).

Responsibilities of financial and human resources:

It is an easy job for the human resource department to take effective role in the WHS as they know the workplace and the employee’s demand. However, the human resource employees are required to understand the WHS responsibilities of the management staffs to prevent the injuries (Becker & Smidt, 2016). It is also their duty to implement necessary policies to achieve the motto.

Finance department is playing an important role in case of WHS. The reason behind the same is that the policy implementations need money and the financial department gives clean chit regarding the same. In case of reckless conduct, all the costs are generated by the financial department.  

Changes in requirements in WHS policies:

In case of Queensland, changes in the WHS policies are:

• Safety officers will not hold the legal position in a workplace having employees less than 30.
• Duty of care of the visitor and the employees are quite similar in nature.
• The name of the health and safety representatives is changed and it replaced with workplace health and safety representatives.

In Western Australia, certain provisions of the WHS policies have been changed such as:

• Penal provision;
• Entry right of the unions;
• Capacity of the safety representatives in case of cessation of works;
• Proof regarding discriminatory matters.

Amendments in WHS policies:

Certain amendments have been taken place in the Queensland regarding the WHS Act. The stated amendments are observed in the portion of following:

• The entry permit holders can enter into a workplace immediately in case of any controversy in the workplace;
• A health representative can direct a worker to do work in cessation if there is reasons to work by remove the risk factor and secure their health interest (Sullivan, 2016).
• Penalty cannot be charged due to failure to serve notice. 

Process to meet the legal requirements by WHSMS:

The legislative requirements can be met by WHSMS by changing the responsibilities of account officers, manager, supervisor, WHS team and also the workers.

The account officer can be able to look through the notices and ensure the resources for effective implications. It is duty of the managers to see whether the employers and employees are following all the safety health requirements and also will try to improve the standard of WHSMS. The WHS team can get advice from the manager and he will assess the risk to reduce the possibility of health hazard (Fewster, 2015). The supervisors will inform the manager about any infringement of notice and he will also be responsible for make any visit to the workplaces. The WHS team will assist the managers and supervisor for effective application WHS policies. They have the power to investigate any safety related matters. Any worker can serve notice to the supervisors regarding any violation to the WHS policies. 

Process to meet the organisational requirements by WHSMS:

  The organisational requirements can be met by involving the managers, supervisors and employees actively in the safety program. All the risk hazards should be identified and proper training should be given to the employees so that they can maintain all the safety requirements effectively. Except these, an effective WHSMS framework is important to achieve the organisational requirements and that requires proper commitment and planning.

Development of Hazard Management Procedure

A hazard is a situation in the workplace that has the capability to harm the health and safety of the workers as well as damage to the plant and equipment of the organization (Carayon et al. 2015). Hazard management is a continuous process that continues regularly to ensure that no risks occur. The management of the hazards in an organization involves different steps like;

1. Identification of Hazards-Identification of the hazards involve the sorting out of the potential risks involved by inspecting the work facilities or talking with the employees
2. Assessment of the Risks-Risk assessment involves the calculation of the potential risks that is the amount of damage that the risks can cause and the likelihood of occurrence.
3. Risk Control Process- Controlling the hazards is the last step in the hazard management process. Control measures can be ranked according to the level of the risks.

Development of a Risk Management Process

Risk Management is the process by which an organization follows to save itself from any potential risks that threatens its existence along with a potential threat to its staff, management and employees. Some of the steps in the risk management process are as follows;

1. Establishment of Context- Identification, assessment and documentation of risks.
2. Identification of Possible Risks-The identification of the risks by inspecting the facilities.
3. Assessment of Risks- Assessing the amount of damage that the risks possess.
4. Potential Treatment of Risks- Formulation of measures that will help to avoid, retain, mitigate and transfer the risks.
5. Creating a Risk Management Plan-Formulating a compact plan to deal with the risks.
6. Implementation of the Plan- Properly implement the plan in the workplace.
7. Evaluation and Review-After the implementation of the plan the management must evaluate the risk and review whether the plan is delivering positive results.

Hierarchy of Control              

The following term refers to the systems used in the different industries to mitigate or eliminate the exposure to hazards. It is one of the most widely used systems promoted by numerous safety organizations (Smith & Lee, 2015). The above diagram clearly shows the order of the hierarchy which is formulated by the decreasing levels of effectiveness.

1. Elimination
2. Substitution
3. Engineering Controls
4. Administrative Controls
5. Personal Protective Equipments

Control and Protection against New Hazards

According to, Scholl, Okun & Schulte (2017) effective Control helps to protect the workers as well as the employees from workplace hazards. It helps to avoid any form of injuries, illness, incidents, accidents and health risks. The management of the organizations or the operational management to be precise must follow some effective steps to reduce the risks, this includes;

1. Development of different emergency plans during emergencies
2. Use different hazard control plans
3. Identification and evaluation of different options to control the hazards
4. Involvement of the workers who have the experience of hazard management 

Development of a procedure for the selection and implementation of Risk Control

The selection and implementation of a risk management plan depends totally on the management of the particular business. A large company dealing with a number of different businesses has relatively more risk compared to a small company (Beus, Dhanani & McCord, 2015). For example a mining company in Australia has huge risk than compared to a retail business in Australia. Thus the risk implementation plan for both the companies will be quite different from each other. However the planning process is more or less similar for every company which involves;

1. Present Value- The amount of money invested at the beginning has a much greater present value just because there has been an addition of the interest rates.
2. Net present Value- The present value of the cash inflow minus the present value of the cash outflow.
3. Third Party Administrator- An administrator who has been hired by the employer to handle the claims of the employee benefits.
4. Risk Management Policy- Planning or action followed for the purpose of securing consistent action over a certain period of time.

Identification of Loopholes

The loopholes in the risk management process can be eliminated by;

1. Ensuring the presence of the right tools for the job-The management of the business must make it a point to provide the right equipments for the job. The use of the obsolete tools increases the chance of risk.
2. Communicating clearly and consistently- There should be transparent and regular communication between the project leaders, management and the employees of each and every department.
3. Being Agile- The team that executes the project needs to be agile and should complete every work within time.

Listing Down Resources

There are different risks in the company that are listed accordingly. These risks can be minimized by applying some special risk control measures. They are;

1. Business Interruption-This includes different hindrances like fire, unforeseen events and some same kinds of interruptions. This can be avoided by appropriate measures like installation of fire safety devices, insuring the following property.
2. Property Loss-As mentioned earlier the property loss is one of the main loss that can be mitigated only by insuring the property against possible losses.
3. Injury-Injury can hamper the work of the organization as well as it can hamper the life of the workers.

Expert Advice

Expert advice is often essential for the well being of the company and the workers regarding the management of risk (Safety, 2016). An expert advice is often essential for the proper organization of the operations of the particular organizations. There are many organizations that are specialized in offering expert advice for the mitigation of the different risks. Some of them are;

1. Advice-Offering expert advice by telephonic conversations or by inspecting the workplace.
2. System-Audits- A full audit of the WHS policies is performed to determine and eliminate any form of loopholes within the policies.
3. On-Site Assistance- Safety issues are directly dealt with during a visit in the workplace.

Development process of WHS training program for workers:

Following things are required to develop the process of training to the workers:

• Initially it is important to analyse the risk and communicate with the workers (Grasso, 2016).
• All the work related demographics are to be collected.
• The training records should be maintained that should have to show name of the program and trainees.
• The working area should be specified.

Record keeping process:

Following guidelines should have to maintain in case to keep the records to identify the injuries or diseases:

• All the incident reports should be reviewed and all the wrongs done in the previous reports should be corrected.
• All the safety precautions are to be checked with the intention to avoid the risk or injury.
• Request the workers to ask questions on safety matters.
• To keep a review on the standard procedure regarding safety aspects.
• Resolving the dispute between workers and suggest advise regarding health and morality. 

Measurement and Evaluation of the WHS Management System

According to, Okun, Guerin & Schulte (2016) the measurement and evaluation of the WHS Management system is utmost necessary as because it helps to determine whether the company is using the correct risk management methods to ensure a safe workplace. The management of the company must ensure to take the correct steps according to the policies of the system. It is their duty to take the preventive and corrective actions in case the steps are seen to be violated by the particular organization.

Improvements to develop the WHS Management System

The development of WHS policies should be formulated by the management at the beginning after which a meeting concerning all the parties must be conducted to incorporate the best possible laws for ensuring the safety of the workplace (Cheema et al. 2014). The risk control strategies should be created and then promoted by various means to ensure its success in the organization.

Steps to ensure Compliance with WHS legal Policies

One of the most significant amendments to the Health and Safety Employment ACT 2002 was done in 2003. The amendments included the provision for work related stress within the definition of “harm”. The act mentions that each and every organization must;

1. Provide and maintain a safe workplace
2. Ensure the safety of the machine and the equipments
3. Develop necessary procedures for acting promptly during emergencies
4. Involving staff in health and safety processes 

Reference:

Becker, K., & Smidt, M. (2016). A risk perspective on human resource management: A review and directions for future research. Human Resource Management Review, 26(2), 149-165.

Beus, J. M., Dhanani, L. Y., & McCord, M. A. (2015). A meta-analysis of personality and workplace safety: Addressing unanswered questions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 481.

Bianchini, A., Donini, F., Fanelli, M., Pellegrini, M., & Saccani, C. (2015, September). Effective implementation measurability in a health and safety management system. In Proceedings of the 25th European Safety and Reliability Conference, Zurich(pp. 3191-3199).

Bu, D., Wen, C., & Banker, R. D. (2015). Implications of asymmetric cost behaviour for analysing financial reports of companies in China. China Journal of Accounting Studies, 3(3), 181-208.

Carayon, P., Hancock, P., Leveson, N., Noy, I., Sznelwar, L., & Van Hootegem, G. (2015). Advancing a sociotechnical systems approach to workplace safety–developing the conceptual framework. Ergonomics, 58(4), 548-564.

Cheema, L. J., Hussain, N. M., Ishaq, M. I., Asim, A. I., & Ullah, A. (2014). Antecedents of Workplace Safety and Performance in Emergency Service Provider Company: An Empirical Investigation. Archives of Business Research, 2(3), 30-41.

Fewster, A. (2015). Human Interaction within OHS Management Systems. his Editio, 23(1), 12.

Grasso, M. (2016). Work health and safety resources and advice.

Martinov-Bennie, N., O'Neill, S., Cheung, A., & Wolfe, M. K. (2014). Issues in the assurance and verification of work health and safety information.

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Okun, A. H., Guerin, R. J., & Schulte, P. A. (2016). Foundational workplace safety and health competencies for the emerging workforce. Journal of safety research, 59, 43-51.

Safety, W. (2016). Workplace Safety and Health Report 2015.

Scholl, J. C., Okun, A., & Schulte, P. A. (2017). Workplace safety and health information dissemination, sources, and needs among trade associations and labor organizations.

Smith, M., & Lee, C. (2015). Workplace: Overseas assignment?: Work health and safety obligations will apply. Proctor, The, 35(1), 36.

Sullivan, M. L. (2016). Legitimizing Prostitution: Critical Reflections on Policies in Australia. Prostitution, Harm and Gender Inequality: Theory, Research and Policy, 141.

Walters, D., Johnstone, R., Quinlan, M., & Wadsworth, E. (2016). Safeguarding Workers: A Study of Health and Safety Representatives in the Queensland Coalmining Industry, 1990-2013. Relations industrielles/Industrial Relations, 71(3), 418-441.