BSBWHS403 Contribute to implementing and maintaining WHS consultation and participation processes Assessment Questions Satisfactory Yes No 1 Explain what WHS participation and consultation is in a...

BSBWHS403 Contribute to implementing and maintaining WHS consultation and participation processes
    Assessment Questions
    Satisfactory
    
    Yes
    No
    1
    Explain what WHS participation and consultation is in a workplace?
    
    
    
        WHS refers to ‘Work Health and Safety’ at workplace. The WHS Participation and Consultation aims to encourage a cooperative association between business Owners and the workers to minimize the risks of health related injuries and providing a safe environment for the workers at the workplace. The workers who experience the safety and health related issues on daily basis at the workplace can suggest valuable solutions to the senior management to resolve them. The guidelines and Code of practice for WHS participation and consultation imparts practical directions to the Business Owners to effectively consult their workers and encourage their participation in improving the safety of their workplace. It is a mandatory legal requirement to be followed by all the PCBUs in South Australian workplaces through Work Health and Safety Act,2012 or the WHS Act. The benefits of WHS consultation involve helping to minimize accidents and injuries at workplace, keep away from unnecessary expenditure and downtime, increasing the participation of workers in decision making, providing adequate opportunities to everyone to express their views and improving the relationship of workers with senior management. The whole initiative aims to to provide a safe environment at workplace(Government of South Australia, 2017).
    
    
    
    2
    Identify and discuss five common workplace ba
iers to effective health and safety consultation and participative processes.
    
    
    
    1. COST: The high rate of accidents and injuries at workplace occur due to lack of safe and efficient equipments at workplace. Due to insufficient funds, the resources and facilities to allow safe working practices are not readily available in small business organizations. Often the business survival becomes the foremost priority of management rather than the safety of workers (Hon et al,2012).
2. COMPACT PROJECT DEADLINES: The business emphasizes on completing the projects on time and often neglects the issues about the workers’ safety and security (Silva & Wimalaratne,2012). The tasks are targeted to be completed before time and to encourage more projects to regulate maximum business. The workers have to work hard for longer timings ignoring many health concerns. It causes fatigue and poor concentration at work thus increasing the risk of accidents at workplace (Silva & Wimalaratne,2012).
3. LACK OF WHS AWARENESS & TRAINING: Due to strict timelines of projects and shortage of funds, there is often poor implementation of training sessions for the workers. It consistently keeps their level of awareness as low and poor, rendering them inefficient to learn new and better work practices. The workforce is generally transient and temporary at the workplaces which impede the performance WHS policies. The business companies do not prefer to invest its time and resources on safety. instead the management holds the employee responsible for risk control.
4. UNDERESTIMATION OF RISKS: Most of the time the experienced workers neglect the safety issues due to their perceived over confidence and under estimation of hazards. It results into negligence in effective adaption of WHS recommendations. Sometimes the business owners also ineffectively analyse the risk factors leading to ignored performance and increase the probability of injuries.
5. LACK OF NATIONAL CONFORMITY: The implementation of WHS is not uniformly adapted by all the parts of the countries. There are differences in the implementation of policy. For example in Australia, the nine jurisdictions recommend different levels of compliance for the organisations. The State and federal governments also have dissimilar regulatory impact on different industries which often leads to controversies and confusion (Choi et al, 2012).
    
    
    3
    Outline worker rights under WHS/OHS law in relation to being consulted. What do Codes of Practice (aka Compliance Codes) say on this point?
    
    
    
    The workers have three main rights associated with WHS and OHS laws. They are: Right to reject the unsafe work, Right to participate in WHS activities effectively, and Right to be aware about all the potential risks or hazards of the environment of their workplace.
The codes of practice impart awareness about how the employees and employers can achieve the standards specified by the WHS policies. They are the guidelines a nd instructions which tell us what to do and when. It makes the implementation easier (Safework NSW,n.d.)
    
    
    4
    Why is it important that workers are consulted on WHS matters?
    
    
    
    The workers are the people who directly face the problems and issues at workplaces. They are exposed to the risks of workplace environment at the highest level. Without the coordination and suggestions of workers, the policies and laws cannot be framed to satisfy their requirements. The law makers and owners of the business often have no idea about the potential health and safety vulnerabilities that the workers face. That’s why their involvement is mandatory to design efficient safety measures for their welfare.
    
    
    5
    Under Health & Safety legislation, when are PCBUs required to consult with workers? Reference your work
    
    
    
    The PCBUs are required to consult their workers whenever they are assessing and analysing the risks of workplace environment, opting for some changes in workplace which may affect the safety of workers, or conducting the initiatives prescribed by WHS Regulation. The PCBUs are required to share the information with workers about the matters relevant to their welfare and safety and accept their opinion on relevant matters(Queensland Government,2018).
    
    
    6
    What are the responsibilities of workers, supervisors, officers and PCBU (as duty holders) in relation to participation and consultation?
    
    
    
        Workers must work in accord to WHS regulations. They must use all they safety equipments and clothes while working. They must inform all the perceived risks and hazards to the employer.
    Supervisors must work on behalf of the employers to ensure that the workers follow all the prescribed safety standards and use their safety equipments as per the recommendations of WHS.
    Officers should play an advisory role to recognise the risks, recommend measures to resolve them, act as a mediator to the health and safety management to suggest recommended actions.
    PCBUs must create a health and safety committee, and must ensure that the workplace is safe for the workers. They must allocate resources for proper training of workers about WHS provisions and provide all the safety equipments and devices to the workers for safe working. They must report all the injuries and accidental incidents to the govt departments responsible for WHS implementation (CCOHS,2016).
    
    
    
    7
    You’ve become aware that a number of workers are not fulfilling the requirements of their role in relation to health and safety. Write a memo communicating their duties and responsibilities under WHS encouraging them to be proactive in meeting their obligations to themselves and fellow workers. Refer them to the appropriate sections of the Act.
    
    
    
        It has been observed that many of the workers are not fulfilling the requirements of their role in relation to work and safety, as expected. You are expected to work in accordance to the WHS act, 2012 and regulations thereafter as been intimidated to you in your training sessions. It is reminded to all the workers to follow the following points compulsorily.
1. Use personal protective safety equipments while working in the Company.
2. Work carefully to prevent any incident of accident and misfortune.
3. Inform your supervisor immediately about any defective instrument and equipment.
4. If you suspect any danger at the workplace, immediately inform your supervisor.     
    If any worker found to be not following the above mentioned regulations, will have to face serious outcomes (CCOHS,2016).
    
    
    8
    Explain the duties of employers in relation to establishing and supporting a Health and Safety committee. Under what conditions might a H&S committee not be established?
    
    
    
        The employer must frame a Health and Safety Committee within the time of two months after they are recommended to establish it. The Committee must include half members from the Senior Management and half from the workers. The HSC meetings must be conducted and attended by all the members at least twice in three months.
If the number of employees working in the company is quite small, the safety and health regulation can e implemented and enforced by selected representatives of the workers before the management. In these cases there is no need to create a committee (OHS REP,2015).
    
    
    9
    You’ve been elected as your workplace HSR but your PCBU refuses to help you obtain training. What would you do?
    
    
    
        I will put my problem before the committee in written form and would like to
ing it under the attention of workers. As half of the committee is made of workers, they will help resolve my concern and will express their opinion in the meeting about my candidature.
    
    
    10
    Why do organisations need to develop policy and procedure documents, how should these be written? Discuss the difference between policies and procedures in a WHS context?
    
    
    
        Written form of policies and procedures help the employees understand what exactly they are expected to do to remain at their position of designated jobs. The policies prescribe the mission and guidelines of the company while the procedure reflects step by step process involved in practical implementation of the policies (Su
hi,2015)
    
    
    11
    What are DWG’s, and what considerations are applicable in establishing them?
    
    
    
        Designated Work Groups (DWG) is a group of workers who perceive same safety and health issues at the workplace. They work in coordination with each other under the same working environment. These groups must be established according to the standards of Health and safety Act. The DWGs select their representative member from their group as their HSR who supervisors them and communicates their perception to the Management(OHSMS,2009).
    
    
    12
    What information should be communicated to workers in relation to Health and Safety committee meetings? How should this information be communicated?
    
    
    
        The timing, duration and venue of the monthly HSC meetings must be informed to the workers. This information must be communicated through the HSRs. The conduction of next meeting can be informed at the present meeting (Government of South Australia, 2017).
    
    
    13
    What training requirements for workers and HSRs ensure effective WHS consultation?
    The workers and HSRs must be aware of the unsafe environment conditions that may expose the workers to serious health hazards. They must cease to work in such conditions once identified. They must report about all the risks to their HSR. Moreover, they must follow all the precautions effectively (Safe work NSW, n.d.).
    
    
    14
    What skills and attributes do supervisors need to fulfil their consultation roles and responsibilities for their work area to ensure proactive WHS behaviour?
    Supervisors must understand the work place requirements and health issues of individual workers. They must be friendly, should respond timely, responsible, compassionate and visible in behaviour with workers. They must have excellent communication skills to act as a mediator between workers and the Business Owners. They must have leadership qualities and must be ready to take initiative to effectively lead the workers (Scoop, 2013).
    
    
REFERENCES
CCOHS (2016). OH&S Legislation in Canada. Retrieved from https:
www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/legisl
esponsi.html.
Choi, T. N. Y., Chan, D. W. M., & Chan, A. P. C. (2012). Potential difficulties in applying the Pay for
Safety Scheme (PFSS) in construction projects. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 48(0), 145-155
Ying,J., Wong,Y., Gray,J & Sadiqi,Z.(2015) Ba
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www.researchgate.net/publication/281495184_Ba
iers_to_Good_Occupational_Health_Safety_OHS_Practices_by_Small_Construction_Firms [accessed Apr 16 2018].
Government of South Australia,(2017). Consultation. Retrieved from https:
www.safework.sa.gov.au/show_page.jsp?id=115179.
Hon, C., Chan, A., & Yam, M. (2012). Empirical Study to Investigate the Difficulties of Implementing
Safety Practices in the Repair and Maintenance Sector in Hong Kong. Journal of Construction
Engineering and Management, 138(7), 877-884.
OHS REP(2015). Health & Safety Committees. Retrieved from http:
www.ohsrep.org.au/law-rights/ohs-legislation/the-ohs-act/health-and-safety-committees.
OHSMS,(2009). OHSMS Implementation Guide. Retrieved from http:
www.education.vic.gov.au/Documents/school/principals/management/ohsmsguide.pdf.
Safework NSW,(n.d.). Codes of Practice. Retrieved from http:
www.safework.nsw.gov.au/law-and-policy/legislation-and-codes/codes-of-practice
Scoop (2013). 5 qualities of effective safety leaders. Retrieved from http:
www.scoopmae.com/5-qualities-of-effective-safety-leaders/.
Silva, N. D., & Wimalaratne, P. L. I. (2012). OSH management framework for workers at construction
sites in Sri Lanka. Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, 19(4), 369-392
Su
hi,S(2015). Policies Vs Procedures. Retrieved from https:
keydifferences.com/difference-between-policies-and-procedures.html.
Queensland Government (2018). Consultation. Retrieved from https:
www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/laws-and-compliance/workplace-health-and-safety-laws/consultation.