Obligation pertaining to work health and safety (WHS) Act 2011 in Queensland Australia

Leadership and Management
1

1 Obligation pertaining to work health and safety (WHS) Act 2011 in Queensland Australia
Employee
Employees need to take care that they use all equipment as per norms and with proper safety
gear (Queensland Government, 2019).
Supervisor
It is the duty of the supervisor to check if the equipment is being maintained and monitor any
misconduct in the processes of WHS norms. (Queensland Government, 2019).
Manager/ Business owner-
Ensuring safety of all employees and equipment including electrical equipment is a duty of
the business owner (Queensland Government, 2019).
2 In a managerial role I would provide written information on all the WHS policies to the
staff so that all the policies and procedures are clear to them (Hughes, 2013). I would also
provide an oral briefing so that they can ask their questions and queries. Additionally, I
would conduct a periodic review of the policies and procedures with the staff and monitor the
implementation of all the processes.
3 WHS information systems
WHS management system- This system is based on feedback from pervious incidents and
continuous improvement so that incidents are not repeated (Archer, 2011).
Management information system for WHS- This system involves continuous flow of all
information within the organisation (Archer, 2011). This system can be used to exchange
safety related information and improving risk mitigation.
Decision support system for WHS- Through this system all relevant information can be
gathered by managers pertaining to work health and safety and managers can take decisions
on risks and safety issues (Archer, 2011)
Knowledge management system for WHS
Through this information system information can be gathered and shared pertaining to all
safety risks
2

Transaction processing system for WHS
Under this system repetitive transactions can be mapped and risks pertaining to safety in
these can be avoided.
4 Hierarchy of control is a systematic approach to risk and safety management. It provides a
structure to select the most effective measures to control safety hazards (Manuele, 2014). It
has six levels. These are
Elimination- It can be used to completely remove a safety threat
Substitution-Substitutes a risky equipment with a less risky one. This can be used to change
high risk equipment
Isolation- By isolating a risky system contact most of employees with that system can be
avoided
Engineering- This can be used to change or remake faulty parts of a risky machine.
Personal protective equipment - Helps reduce physical risk to an employee for example
rubber gloves while handling electric equipment
5 Apart from the WHS Act other regulations are-
Work health and safety regulation 2011-. This regulation binds the employer to create and
maintain a safe work environment (Safe Work Australia, 2019).
Safe work Austinian Act 2008 ensures improvement of work health and safety conditions.
Safe work Australia code of practice -moral code of conduct to guide employers, staff and
other stakeholders with regards to WHS. (Safe Work Australia, 2019). This includes safe
work environment, periodic equipment maintenances etc.
6 Work health and safety committee can be established in Queensland as per work health and
safety Act 2012 (Queensland Government, 2019). This committee can be established by a
medium to large organisation with more than 20 employees. As per regulation the committee
can be established as per request of 5 workers or on own initiative of business owner (Safe
Work Australia, 2019). Committee members need to be elected. The members or
representatives are supposed to identify work hazards and suggest way to improve work
health and safety.
3