Workplace Safety & Health Literature Review

This assignment presents a collection of scholarly articles focusing on various aspects of workplace safety and health. The papers cover topics such as personality traits and workplace safety, the effectiveness of safety management systems, financial reporting implications for companies in China, and the role of sociotechnical systems in promoting safety. Additionally, there are articles discussing public engagement with workplace safety, foundational safety competencies, information dissemination within trade associations, and the legal obligations regarding overseas work assignments. Finally, the collection includes research on health and safety representatives in the Australian coalmining industry and the social impact of prostitution legalization.

Running head: ENSURE A SFAE WORKPLACE
WHS Management system of VTI Group Mining and Minerals
Name of the student:
Name of the university:
Author note

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Table of Contents
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................2
Importance of WHS management system:.............................................................................2
Relevant legislations for WHS:..............................................................................................2
Four changes in the existing policies of WHS:......................................................................2
Individuals responsible for WHS:..........................................................................................3
Financial and human resource required by WHS...................................................................3
Responsibilities of financial and human resources:...............................................................4
Changes in requirements in WHS policies:............................................................................4
Amendments in WHS policies:..............................................................................................5
Process to meet the legal requirements by WHSMS:.............................................................5
Process to meet the organisational requirements by WHSMS:..............................................6
Task 2.........................................................................................................................................6
Development of Hazard Management Procedure...................................................................6
Development of a Risk Management Process........................................................................7
Hierarchy of Control...............................................................................................................7
Control and Protection against New Hazards.........................................................................8
Development of a procedure for the selection and implementation of Risk Control.............9
Identification of Loopholes....................................................................................................9
Listing Down Resources.......................................................................................................10
Expert Advice.......................................................................................................................10

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TASK 3....................................................................................................................................11
Development process of WHS training program for workers:.............................................11
Record keeping process:.......................................................................................................11
Measurement and Evaluation of the WHS Management System........................................11
3 improvements to develop the WHS Management System................................................12
Steps to ensure Compliance with WHS legal Policies.........................................................13
Reference:................................................................................................................................14

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TASK 1
Importance of WHS management system:
The nature of mining industry is hazardous and there is a need to provide safety
manual to the workers. The safety procedure is governed by Work Health Safety
Management System (WHSMS) (Martinov-Bennie et al., 2014). It ensures the safe operation
in workplaces including the mine. In this case, the provision of WHSMS will be applied as
the company has expanded the mining fields at a very fast pace and has not maintained the
required safety mandates (Bianchini et al., 2015). Therefore, there is possibility for health
injury and application of safety provisions is mandatory.
Relevant legislations for WHS:
Australia is a federal country and there are different Acts are prevailed in different
states. In state of Victoria, the health and safety of the workers are governed by Work Health
and Safety Act 2011 and Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic.). The occupational
safety Act is supported by Occupational Health and Safety Regulation 2017.
Both the Acts are providing safe work premises and try to assess the risks with an
intention to control them. The main objective of the Act is to ensure security to the workers
and provide safe mandates for using the machines. The regulations are set out certain
standards for particular hazards (Grasso, 2016).
Four changes in the existing policies of WHS:
There are certain policies present to implement the WHS mandates effectively.
However, the program should include certain provisions to avoid hazards and chalk out
strategies for developing the standards (Men & Tsai, 2016).

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 The policies should be part of all the processes and objective should be resolved the
work and health related problems;
 The method to standardise a work should be described particularly;
 A systematic approach should be made to the policies;
 The necessary equipments should be provided to the workers and training should be
given to them.
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).

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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.

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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.

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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.
Task 2
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;
a. 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
b. 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.
c. 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.

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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;
a. Establishment of Context- Identification, assessment and documentation of risks.
b. Identification of Possible Risks- The identification of the risks by inspecting the
facilities.
c. Assessment of Risks- Assessing the amount of damage that the risks possess.
d. Potential Treatment of Risks- Formulation of measures that will help to avoid, retain,
mitigate and transfer the risks.
e. Creating a Risk Management Plan- Formulating a compact plan to deal with the
risks.
f. Implementation of the Plan- Properly implement the plan in the workplace.
g. 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

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Figure 1- Hierarchy of Controls
Source- (Carayon et al. 2015)
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.
a. Elimination
b. Substitution
c. Engineering Controls
d. Administrative Controls
e. 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

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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;
a. 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.
b. Communicating clearly and consistently- There should be transparent and regular
communication between the project leaders, management and the employees of
each and every department.

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c. 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.

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TASK 3
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

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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.
3 improvements to develop the WHS Management System
Figure 2- Development of WHS Policies
Source- (Walters et al. 2016)
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.

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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;
a. Provide and maintain a safe workplace
b. Ensure the safety of the machine and the equipments
c. Develop necessary procedures for acting promptly during emergencies
d. Involving staff in health and safety processes

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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.

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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.
Men, L. R., & Tsai, W. S. (2016). Understanding the why and how of public
engagement. Public Relations and Participatory Culture: Fandom, Social Media and
Community Engagement.
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.

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