Diploma in Business Management and Leadership

Introduction- City of Sydney

Sydney is a cosmopolitan city which is vibrant in nature and is an internationally acclaimed tourist attraction. The local government authority, City of Sydney, is responsible for the center of the city and the 30 surrounding suburbs (Dowling, McGuirk & Bulkeley, 2014). The aim of this authority is to make Sydney a global, green and well connected city. It aims to foster the society, economy, and culture of the city. The City of Sydney is the primary consent authority in the local regions and provide local services such as assessment of development applications, street cleansing, collection of waste, maintaining roads and others

WHS Policy of WHS

The Work Health and Safety (WHS) policy of “City of Sydney” are committed to the safety, health and welfare of the employees as well as the visitors who travel to the city (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2016). The City is aware of its responsibilities towards the optimum prot

The key features of the WHS policy are described below (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2016)-

• Attaining a safe work environment
• Devising safe infrastructure of work
• Promotion of optimum health among the workplace
• Promotion of workplace health as well as safety information and education to the workers
• Complying with the regulations, acts, standards and the relevant codes of practice
• Consulting with the management, workers and their representatives
• Reduction of the number of injuries and their severities in the workplace

Commonwealth WHS Legislations

The WHS legislation requires the workplace owners and the employers to manage the workplace risks so that they can protect the health as well as the safety of the workers. The primary WHS law in the Commonwealth is the “Work Health and Safety Act 2011” which is supported by the “Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011” (SafeWork NSW, 2016). This law was developed by the Safe Work Australia and applies to all forms of employment in the Common Wealth and the self-insurers for the purpose of worker’s compensation. The “City of Sydney” follows these legislations as well as the Codes of Practice that aid in the implementation of the workplace health and safety laws (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2016).

Legal Duty of WHS Practitioner

The legislative duties of the “WHS practitioner” in the “City of Sydney” are (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2016)-

• Management of the risks in the workplace, including the specific risks to all the stakeholders
• Good knowledge of the Commonwealth laws
• Every entity in the workplace is entitled to contribution in the management of risks
• Ensure safety of all the workers
• Minimize occupational hazards to the employees
• Encourage a safe and health workplace so that there is an increase in the employee productivity
• Eliminate negligence regarding the worker’s safety
• Eliminate discrimination in providing the safety measures

Potential Work Hazards

A hazard is a substance or ingredient that may cause serious harm or injury to a person, the instrument or the surrounding environment (Schulte et al., 2013). When the hazard is present inside the workplace or inside the premises of an organization, it is known as work hazards.

Some of the common work hazards are described below-

• Biological hazards- These include the hazards caused by bacteria, fungi, body fluids, blood and insect bites. It is related to the waste management activities, which is a major duty of the “City of Sydney”.
• Poor ergonomics- These types of hazards include improper workstations, poor posture, awkward movements, vibration and others that can cause trouble for the employees (Schulte et al., 2013).
• Physical hazards- These are the environmental factors such as extreme temperatures, radiation, loud noise and others, that affect the workers.
• Work organization hazards- These include workplace demand, violence, sexual harassment, lack of respect and others (Landsbergis, Grzywacz & LaMontagne, 2014)
• Chemical hazards- These include the chemical exposure of the workers such as cleaning liquids, flammable materials, gases, vapors, pesticides and others that can cause choking of the employees.
• Safety hazards- This type of hazard is dangerous as it is related to unsafe working conditions, which can cause illness, injury or death of the employees (Schulte et al., 2013). There may be electrical hazards, spills, tripping on cords, unguarded machinery and others which can affect the employees.

Risk Management Strategies

The potential hazards should be controlled by the following risk management strategies (Reason, 2016)-

• Biological hazards- The complete removal of these hazards is the only way to minimize these hazards. (Method- Elimination).
• Poor ergonomics- The implementation of safer work practices and providing sufficient training to the employees may curb this kind of hazards. (Method- Control Administratively).
• Physical hazards- This type of hazard can be controlled by removal of the person from the subsequent hazard. (Method- Isolate) (Reason, 2016).
• Work organization hazards- This can be reduced by minimizing the risk of the organizational practices. (Method- Reduce).
• Chemical hazards- This type of hazard can be controlled by promoting the use of “personal protective equipments” like safety glasses, head gears and others. (Method- Protect).
• Safety hazards- This type of hazard can be controlled by redesigning the equipments so that they are safer to use. (Method- Engineer).

Risk Assessment Table

Existing Consultation Process Of WHS

The existing consultation process “City of Sydney” consists of the health and safety committee, which comprise of the management as well as employee representatives (Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au, 2016/). The employee representatives provide their own input to the WHS program. The management personnel authorize the recommendations of the committee. The management consultants work with the employees as well as the visitors so that both the parties fulfil their individual responsibilities in WHS (Aneja, 2016). The consultative committee should be made more diversified and people from all managerial levels should be included in it.

Consultation Guideline

A good consultation guideline is dependent on good communication practice. It is important to make the employees aware of the changes in the WHS legislations because they are the primary stakeholders. The three methods of communication that can be used in “City of Sydney” are email, internal discussion forums and company chats (Mishra, Boynton & Mishra, 2014). It is true that offline or traditional tools can also be used, however, in this digital age, technology is the best tool of communication. It is important to implement collaborative strategies in the organization (Binder, 2016). The management should use a single communication tool that would inform the entire workforce rather than communicating individually (Cornelissen, 2014). This process creates unity in the organization. This also saves the precious time of the organization, which it can devote to other important jobs. 

Conclusion

The WHS policy is one of the important legal framework of an organization as it is concerned with the health and well being of the employees. The employees are the assets of an organization. If they are ill, then the organizational productivity would suffer. This report analyzed the WHS policies of “City of Sydney”, which is one of the most important governing authority of Australia. This analysis would open the door for the future research on this subject.

References

Aneja, U. (2016). Bold Reform or Empty Rhetoric? A Critique of the World Humanitarian Summit.

Binder, J. (2016). Global project management: communication, collaboration and management across borders. CRC Press.

Cornelissen, J. (2014). Corporate communication: A guide to theory and practice. Sage.

Dowling, R., McGuirk, P., & Bulkeley, H. (2014). Retrofitting cities: local governance in Sydney, Australia. Cities, 38, 18-24.

Home - City of Sydney. (2016). Cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Home. (2016). SafeWork NSW. Retrieved 25 August 2016, from https://www.safework.nsw.gov.au

Landsbergis, P. A., Grzywacz, J. G., & LaMontagne, A. D. (2014). Work organization, job insecurity, and occupational health disparities. American journal of industrial medicine, 57(5), 495-515.

Mishra, K., Boynton, L., & Mishra, A. (2014). Driving Employee Engagement The Expanded Role of Internal Communications. International Journal of Business Communication, 51(2), 183-202.

Reason, J. (2016). Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge.

Schulte, P. A., McKernan, L. T., Heidel, D. S., Okun, A. H., Dotson, G. S., Lentz, T. J., ... & Branche, C. M. (2013). Occupational safety and health, green chemistry, and sustainability: a review of areas of convergence.Environmental Health, 12(1), 1.