Occupational Safety and Health in the Workplace

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of Occupational Safety and Health (OHS) within organizations. It explores methods for staying updated on OHS legislation, identifying and recording hazards and risks, implementing effective risk control measures, and utilizing consultation methods to manage OHS hazards. The importance of staff safety training, maintaining OHS records, and fostering a safe work environment are also highlighted.

Running head: ENSURE A SAFE WORKPLACE
Ensure a Safe Workplace
Name of the Student
Name of the Organization
Author note

1ENSURE A SAFE WORKPLACE
Introduction
Occupational safety and health is a field that is concerned with the health, safety and
welfare of every employees and supervisors at workplace. This report deals with several factors
that are associated with OHS system of organizations.
Discussion:
a. Methods of staying up-to-date with occupational health and safety legislation,
regulation and industry practice
 Subscription to Work Safe eNewspaper: Various eNewspapers are designed in order to
inform the employees about latest news and developments in health and safety practices
and regulations (Friend and Kohn 2014).
 Accessing Health and Safety podcasts: The mentioned podcasts allow professionals to
listen to listen to the latest news about OHS legislation and practices in their way to
office or returning home. Thus professionals can stay up-to-date with the latest news even
when they have a busy schedule.
b. Methods of identifying and recording hazards and risks within the workplace
 Collection and review of information about present as well as future risks of the
organization.
 Conduction of periodic inspection in order to identify recurring or new risks (Bahn
2013).
 Investigation of illnesses, close calls, injuries and incidents to determine the underlying
risks and shortcomings of health and safety practices in the workplace.

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 In order to record the risks, similar incidents need to be grouped and trends of illnesses,
hazards and injuries required to be identified.
c. Discussion about risk control within the workplace
In order to implement effective risk control the following methods needs to be followed:
 Reorganization of work system and equipments in order to minimize hazards.
 Removal or substitution of hazardous materials.
 Isolation of hazards by introducing barriers or strict work area.
 Minimization of the risks through engineering and administrative control.
 Proving OHS training and personal protective equipments to employees.
d. Consultation methods to manage OHS hazards within the workplace and usage of
the same to ensure safety in the workplace
4 crucial steps are involved to conduct an effective consultation between managers,
supervisors and employees. These steps are:
 Detailed discussion about health and safety issues in the organization.
 Listening about the raised concerns attentively (Reason 2016).
 Seeking and sharing views and relevant OHS information.
 Consideration of the views of employees and providing them with the opportunity to
contribute in the decision making process.
The information obtained from the consultation is analyzed and rules, regulations and
practices are implemented in order to deal minimized the major issues OHS issues.

3ENSURE A SAFE WORKPLACE
e. Identification and facilitation of staff safety training
 Analysis of the current skill level of the employees
 Identification of knowledge gaps
 Assessment of the safety training options.
 Finally, training requirements should be reported along with recommendation of training
plans.
 Necessary financial and technical supports should be provided by the managers of the
organization.
f. Maintenance and importance of OHS records within the work team
The maintenance of OHS record involves:
 Acts and practices of employees.
 Keeping track of overall hazard caused by or to the employees.
 Keeping track of action taken against the hazards.
OHS recording is important since it helps enforcing authorities to identify and take effective
measures to reduce the hazards.
Conclusion:
From the above report it can be concluded that enforcement of OHS in workplace is
highly crucial since it not only assure the safety of the employees as well as supervisors in an
organization, but also prevent future hazards and risks of the company.

4ENSURE A SAFE WORKPLACE
Reference List:
Bahn, S., 2013. Workplace hazard identification and management: The case of an underground
mining operation. Safety science, 57, pp.129-137.
Friend, M.A. and Kohn, J.P., 2014. Fundamentals of occupational safety and health. Bernan
Press,pp.23-46
Reason, J., 2016. Managing the risks of organizational accidents. Routledge,pp. 20-40