Maintain Work Health and Safety: A Case Study on Workplace Safety and Hazards

This case study discusses the importance of maintaining work health and safety in an organization. It highlights the hazards present in the construction industry and the need for personal protective equipment. The report also covers the workplace health and safety duties of PCBUs and the model work health and safety hierarchy of control. The report concludes with recommendations for improving workplace safety.

Running head: MAINTAIN WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY
Maintain work health and safety
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Contents
Part 1:...............................................................................................................................................2
Part 2................................................................................................................................................5
Minutes of the meeting....................................................................................................................7
Report..............................................................................................................................................8
Introduction..................................................................................................................................9
Construction and related hazards.................................................................................................9
Workplace health and safety duties...........................................................................................10
Model work health and safety....................................................................................................11
Conclusion and recommendation..............................................................................................12
Reference.......................................................................................................................................14

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Part 1:
The agenda of the meeting will include the activities that are to be dome during the
meeting process and in a sequential way. For the particular organization named X. The agenda of
the meeting is to plan a Workplace health and Safety meeting for the organization named X. The
agenda will include the following items:
 Current programs, procedures and WHS policies within the organization X.
 WHS codes of practice, regulations, and the legislations and the legal responsibilities of
the workers and Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBUs) in the
workplace.
 Current management of the health and safety risks at the workplace and it includes the
usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).
 How the organization X responds to the different incidents and accidents that can
probably occur in the workplace?
 How to properly identify the hazards and apply the appropriate measures of control that
will meet the legislative and workplace requirements?
Current programs, procedures and WHS policies within the organization X
The work health and safety of all the workers that are present within the service include
the contractors, volunteers and employees, visitors, and the clients as well. All these are
considered for the utmost importance. The officers are the ones that will be held responsible to
meet the obligations during the work. It is also important to mention that the appropriate
resources are allocated to control identified risks. Senior management must ensure that a proper
WHS program and policy is effectively implemented in the areas of support and control and at

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the same time holding them accountable for their specific responsibilities. The workers include
the contractors, agency staff, and volunteers are required to cooperate with the WHS programs
and policies. Workers will be ensuring the health and safety of the themselves and the other
workers in the workplace. The clients and the visitors that are visiting the workplace must keep
in mind that their actions must not put themselves as well as the others in to risks and at the same
time they must be given proper and relevant information.
Current management of the health and safety risks at the workplace and it includes the usage of
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
The codes of the practice for the organization X are taken from Work Health and Safety
(How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks) Code of Practice 2015. The Code of Practice is
about how to manage the health and safety risks that fall under code of practice section 274 of
the work health and safety Act (WHS Act). It is important to mention that an approved code of
practice is actually a practical code that the emphasizes on the attaining the standards of welfare,
safety and health that are required under the Regulations of the Work health and Safety (WHS
regulation). The codes of practice will deal with the specific issues that do not cover the risks and
the hazards. the safety and the health duties highlights that the risks associated with the work are
those for which the code of practice exist.
Current management of the health and safety risks at the workplace and it includes the usage of
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
The personal protective equipment is the clothing and the equipment that are actually
worn by the visitors, employees so that they can shield their bodies and hazards that are
occurring at the workplace. Currently the personal protective equipment (PPE) are not worn by

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the employees and it is only present for the visitors that are visiting the organization X. The
employees do not use the PPE even working under critical situations. The organization
specializes in construction and therefore there are issue pertaining to the safety of the employees
because the even though there are safety issues and hazardous condition but the organization is
actually not able to follow the codes of practice pertaining to the usage of PPE and there is a lack
of proper safety provision.
How the organization X responds to the different incidents and accidents that can probably
occur in the workplace?
The organization does respond to the accidents and incidents in a proactive manner
because it is the duty of the management to consider the health and safety of the workers that are
working in a hazardous environment. It is important to mention that the organization x is not at
all in a proper condition where it can take preventive measure after the occurrence of an accident
or a incident. There are several instances when accidents have occurred, and the organization
have not taken any step to mitigate the issue that have caused the issue. Although it is important
to mention that there are first aid services, but lacks several workplace amenities and facilities.
How to properly identify the hazards and apply the appropriate measures of control that will
meet the legislative and workplace requirements?
Identification of the hazards are something that includes the situations and findings that
can potentially harm the people that are working in the workplace. It is important to mention that
hazards can arise from the work and its interactions. The different types of interactions are the
work design and management, work tasks and how they are performed, substances, material and

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equipment that are used and the physical work environment. the most common type of the
hazards that are present in the workplaces are as follows:
Table 1: List of hazards and potential harm (Straker et al. 2014)
Hazard Potential harm
Manual tasks Repetitive movement and overexertion can
cause strain on the muscles.
Gravity Trips, slips, falling objects and falls of people
can cause concussion, dislocations,
lacerations, bruises, fractures and permanent
injuries or even death.
Electricity Potential source of ignition; exposure to the
live electrical wires can cause electrocution,
burns, and even shock.
Equipment and Machinery Caught in between the moving parts, hit by
moving vehicles, bruises, fractures,
dislocations, lacerations, bruises, and
fractures.
Extreme temperature Heat can cause fatigue, heat stroke, and also
can cause burns. Hypothermia can also occur
when hypothermia or frost bite occurs.
Noise Exposure to the loud noises can cause damage
to hearing.
Psychological hazards Effect of work on the work related fatigue,
violence, bullying, and work related stress.
Part 2
Conduct the Workplace Health and Safety meeting:
A meeting will be conducted with the manager, supervisor and an employee
representative on the workplace health and safety. The meeting will be conducted for about 10
minutes and it will basically include the Work health and safety information and planning based
upon it. The meeting will be conducted inside the conference hall of the organization and it be
hosted by a manager that will speak about the major issues that is actually hinder the

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organization to consider the health and safety of the employees. The team members will be
informed about
 The location where the procedures and the policies are present
 The procedures that are to be followed during the times of emergency
 The requirement and usage of the personal protective clothing and equipment
 The ways of managing the hazards at the workplace by using the hierarchy of control
 The provision of improving the WHS knowledge as well as the skills by increasing the
availability of the learning opportunity
The meeting proceedings are as follows:
manager- The team meeting is about the issues arising due to the work place health and safety.
We are currently having issues related to workplace health and safety and due to this majority of
the employee are getting hurt and accidents are occurring in a rampant way.
Supervisor- yes, we have come to know that the personal protective equipment is not used in a
proper way and due to this it is causing extreme issues like accidents, employee getting hurt.
Employee- I agree with you. we employees are as a whole not in a good shape. The lack of the
protective equipment is lowering our confidence and increasing the chances of getting affected
by the different kinds of hazards during the construction process.
Supervisor- can I have a question? do we actually have a workplace health and safety policies?
manager- yes, we have a work place health and safety policy. However, the sad part is that we
are not following the same due to the lack of proper guidelines.

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Employee- But I disagree because I have never seen that the policy to be implemented in the
workplace and working environment.
manager- I would like to mention that the employees and the supervisors must involve in the
workplace health and safety activities. It will not only help the employee to gain a lot of
knowledge but it will also enhance the safety condition of the employee. I am glad to mention
that the Organization has taken some of the serious step to tackle the workplace related incidents
and accidents. The management will take into account of the management of the hazards that are
existing during the construction process and the different types of issues that of accident will not
go unnoticed because the WHS issues are reported.
Minutes of the meeting
The main points that have been discussed in the meeting are based on the lack of any sort
of usage of the personal protective equipment that actively reduces the accident during working
in the construction area. Employee representative have highlighted that he has never seen the
organization X to use the Work place health and safety guidelines and policies. The organization
X had several provisions in the past as it had the Work place health and safety guidelines and
policy but it was never conveyed to the employees not it was followed during the organizational
operations. It is important to mention that a supervisor raised a question regarding the presence
of the workplace health and safety policy. However, the presence of a workplace health and
safety policy is accepted and it also been acknowledged it was never followed which later on
resulted into several accidents and the incidents which could have been reduced by using the
workplace health and safety document. The main point that remains to be highlighted is that the
organization and it top management is willing to bring radical changes into the organization and
the way working process is carried out. The manager has highlighted that the workplace health

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and safety activities have been placed and it has been seen that the participating in the
management of the hazards the and reporting the WHS issues and are reported in the by the
employee is addressing the workplace issues.

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Report

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Introduction
The case study presents a perfect scenario where the organization X that already have a
workplace health and safety is still facing issues because of the lack of proper implementation
strategies. it is important to mention that the organization has recently been experiencing several
pertaining to accident and incident during the work hours and also during the time of
construction. It is important to note that the organizational has recent conducted a meeting with
the important stakeholder and this has surfaced that the organization does not facilitate the
employees with the proper personal protective equipment and at the same time this has increased
the accidents during the work hours and in the work areas. However, through this assignment I
am trying to achieve the intended outcome of the implementation of a proper work place health
and safety policy and the proper usage of the personal protective equipment that will be reducing
the effect on the employees (Almén and Larsson 2014).
Construction and related hazards
Construction work can be defined as any of the work that are carried out during the
preparation of a building, decommissioning and dismantling the structure, demolition,
refurbishment, maintenance, repair, renovation, commissioning, fitting out, alteration. Under the
purview of the workplace health and safety, the term demolition is called demonstration (Safe
Work Australia 2019).
Work related injuries
Research has found that as per the industry profile, the most common form of the work
related injuries that are present in the construction industry are the chronic muscle or joint
conditions, strains and sprains, open wound and cuts. The injuries that mainly take place are in
the falling from height, pulling objects, pushing and lifting, being hit by any object and hitting.

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fealties that occur within the construction industry is from the being trapped between the
equipment, being hit by the fallen objects, being hit by falling objects, hit by moving objects,
electrocution, and vehicle collisions.
Workplace health and safety duties
At each of the process of the construction work, it is important to mention that the
PCBUs are subjected to various type of duties and it all falls under the WHS model of laws and
they are as follows:
 The WHS regulation suggests that the person that has the responsibility of
commissioning of a project work must consult the designer regarding the safety
provisions and along with it the principal contractor must also be contacted for
considering the information regarding the safety matters (Schindeler and Ransley 2015).
 The PCBU that works in the construction area must control and manage the various type
of the risks that are associated with the construction work and the specific type of work
within it. Moreover, it must also be ensured that the construction site must be secured
from any unauthorized form of access (Safe Work Australia 2019).
 The principal contractors are also a PCBU and he must be aware of the WHS duties. it
also applies to each and every PCBUs that are carrying out construction work along with
the specific form of the duties that are imposed on the main contractors of the industry.
 The major and very specific type of the duties that are given to the constrictors are not
just limited to the one that are identified in the construction site. The major duty is to
keep, review, prepare and also inform the other people regarding the WHS management
and also plan for the construction project (Ebrahimi et al. 2016).

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 Under the model of the WHS Act, it is important to mention that the control or the
management of the workplace is to ensure theta the workplace is that the workplace is a
practicable area and it means that entering and exiting the workplace must arise without
arising health and safety of any person (Safe Work Australia 2019).
Model work health and safety
The model work health and safety (WHS) has been many times since it was published in
the year 2011 and it includes a wide range of amendments that are actually agreed in the year
2014 and 2015. However, it is important to mention that the amendments done on dated 21
March 2016 has all the necessary amendments done on it. The model suggests a hierarchy of
control and it ranks the risk from the highest to the lowest level of protection as well as
reliability. The ranking is itself called the hierarchy of risk control (Harpur and James 2014). The
duty holders of WHS has highlighted that organization must walkthrough this hierarchy and also
during managing the risk that fall under the WHS regulation. The hierarchy of control aims
towards the elimination of the hazard a the also to provide the most effective means of control. It
is also important to mention that sometime it is not practicable reasonably. It has also been
recommended that one must reduce the risks by finding out the alternatives that are present in the
hierarchy (Comcare.gov.au 2019).
Level 1 of the control measure- it is the most effective forms of controlling risk and the
eliminates the hazard that area associated with the risk. It has bene mentioned that the best way
to do this is by not introducing the hazard directly into the workplace. For example, in order to
eliminate the risks that arises from falling from height, one must do the work at the ground level.
Elimination of the hazards is often seen to not be more practicable and the cheaper as it is in the
planning stage of the product. It is important to note that the at the initial stages it is quite easy to

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remove the hazards at the early stage. For example, it is seen that a machine can be designed in
way that it produces less noose and the it is also highly effectives in comparison to providing
personal hearing protectors for each of the workers. Risks ca also be removed by removing all
the risks completely. For example, by removing the hazards of tripping from the disposing of the
unwanted chemical and the disposing. It is sometimes not possible to remove the risk entirely
and this hinder the delivery of the service or the product. It is important to mention that if the
hazard cannot be eliminated then the eliminate as many risk as possible (Legislation.gov.au.
2019).
level 2 control measure- It is reasonably practicable to remove all the risks that are
associated with the risks. The risk must be minimized using the following approaches: isolation
of the hazard form people, using of the engineering control; substitution of the hazard with
something that is safe.
Level 3 control measures- These control measures do not include the hazard at the
source. the hazard is entirely based on the supervision and behaviour. It is important to mention
that the effective minimization of risks. Using the personal protective equipment, using
administrative controls (Legislation.gov.au 2019).
Conclusion and recommendation
From the above discussion it can be concluded that, The WHS regulation suggests that
the person that has the responsibility of commissioning of a project work must consult the
designer regarding the safety provisions and along with it the principal contractor must also be
contacted for considering the information regarding the safety matters. Identification of the
hazards are something that includes the situations and findings that can potentially harm the
people that are working in the workplace. It is important to mention that hazards can arise from

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the work and its interactions. The different types of interactions are the work design and
management, work tasks and how they are performed, substances, material and equipment that
are used and the physical work environment. the most common type of the hazards The hierarchy
of control aims towards the elimination of the hazard a the also to provide the most effective
means of control. It is also important to mention that sometime it is not practicable reasonably. It
has also been recommended that one must reduce the risks by finding out the alternatives that are
present in the hierarchy. Elimination of the hazards is often seen to not be more practicable and
the cheaper as it is in the planning stage of the product. It is sometimes not possible to remove
the risk entirely and this hinder the delivery of the service or the product.

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Reference
Almén, L. and J. Larsson, T., 2014. Health and safety coordinators in building projects. Built
Environment Project and Asset Management, 4(3), pp.251-263.
Comcare.gov.au, 2019. The WHS Act. [online] Comcare.gov.au. Available at:
https://www.comcare.gov.au/the_scheme/the_whs_act [Accessed 24 May 2019].
Ebrahimi, M.H., Abbasi, M., Khandan, M., Poursadeghiyan, M., Hami, M. and Biglari, H., 2016.
Effects of administrative interventions on improvement of safety and health in workplace: A case
study in an oil company in Iran (2011-2015). Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences,
11(3), pp.346-51.
Harpur, P. and James, P., 2014. The shift in regulatory focus from employment to work
relationships: critiquing reforms to Australian and UK occupational safety and health laws.
Comp. Lab. L. & Pol'y J., 36, p.111.
Legislation.gov.au., 2019. Work Health and Safety (How to Manage Work Health and Safety
Risks) Code of Practice 2015. [online] Available at:
https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2016L00414/Html/Text#_Toc297891203 [Accessed 24
May 2019].
Safe Work Australia, 2019. Construction. [online] Safe Work Australia. Available at:
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/construction [Accessed 24 May 2019].
Schindeler, E. and Ransley, J., 2015. Normalising and Neutralising Offending—The Influence of
Health and Safety Regulation. Current Issues in Criminal Justice, 26(3), pp.305-316.

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Straker, L., Healy, G., Atherton, R. and Dunstan, D., 2014. Excessive occupational sitting is not
a" safe system of work": time for doctors to get chatting with patients. Medical Journal of
Australia, 3, pp.138-140.