Overview

Under occupational health and safety legislation, the employer and all staff have a responsibility to ensure safety in the workplace. As a manager/supervisor you have a particular obligation to monitor work practices and ensure that your team is trained to work safely. Failing to comply with the legislation can lead to serious penalties — large fines or even imprisonment — for your employer or you.

Complacency and accidents in the workplace are often caused because employees do not understand the reasoning behind the work practices required of them. You have an obligation to ensure that staff are regularly consulted about safety and security issues and that they understand the procedure for identifying and reporting workplace hazards.

Through your regular monitoring of staff you may identify a need for training. Sometimes training is required by law and other times it is required to perform a specific work function. It is important to identify staff knowledge and skill gaps so that you can arrange for training that is appropriate for their needs.

Maintaining OHS records is another important area of your responsibility. Not only is it a legal requirement, it is an important means of monitoring health and safety standards in the workplace.

In this unit you will learn how to:

• Provide information on health, safety and security
• Monitor safe work practices
• Coordinate consultative arrangements for the management of health, safety and security issues
• Implement and monitor procedures for identifying hazards, and assessing and controlling risks
• Implement and monitor health, safety and security training
• Maintain OHS records and reports.