Workplace Health and Safety Policies and Procedures in Australia

This essay discusses the workplace health and safety policies and procedures in Australia, focusing on the housekeeping job profile. It explores the agency governing work health safety, policies related to safe working environment, findings of the organization, and recommendations for improving occupational health and safety.

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Introduction
Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) is basically the discipline that aims and is
concerned with the protection of the safety and the health of all the employees who are the major
stakeholders in the workplace from the exposure from any of the hazards and the risks or any of
the challenges that results from the activities related to the work (Ackermann et al., 2014). WHS
includes the policies and the specific procedures for ensuring the health and the safety of the
employees at the workplace as per the government standards. As per the work health and safety
Act of the year 2011 it is the responsibility of all the organization towards the protection of the
employees and the contractors. The thesis statement of the essay argues with the work place
health safety policies and the procedures of an Australian agency governing towards the
workplace safety. The essay furthermore explains the findings of the organization and the
recommendation regrading the workplace for the housekeeping job in Australia.
Agency governing work health safety
The agency of Australia, Safe Work Australia leads towards the development of the
national policy for the improving of the health and the safety of the compensation of the work
together with the arrangements across the vast area of the Australia. Though the agency does not
regulate or enforce any of the legislations related to WHS, it promotes the essentiality of safe
working across the organizations and the agencies of Australia (Xiang, Pisaniello & Hansen,
2014). The essay highlights the safe working conditions related to the housekeeping job in
Australia. The Safe Work Australia promotes the basic standards of the effective housekeeping
that can help or control or the elimination of the hazards related to workplace. The agency

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governs the work health safety highlighting the fact that the poor practices of the housing
frequently contributes to the incidents that leas to further threat to the health and the safety at the
workplace for the employees.
Policies related to safe working environment
Each and every individual has the right to be safe at the workplace that includes the
volunteers as well. The employees and the stakeholders of the organization play a very essential
role in the business organization for maximizing the profit and taking are of the GDP of the
economy of the country (Xiang, Pisaniello & Hansen, 2013). The scope of the Work Health
Safety policy is applied to all the members and is committed towards the provision of the safe
and health environment for working. The vision of this policy by the government is harm free
and it aims to achieve the responsibility for keeping the individuals and the other colleagues
from any sort of organizational harm and hazard (Carey et al., 2014). The occupational health
and the safety policies aims to continuously making the working environment safe by the
identification of the hazards, the assessment of them taking of the actions for their reduction and
checking their actions towards the effectiveness.

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Figure - The WHS design
Source – (Ackermann et al., 2014)
The figure above illustrates the occupational health and safety design which each and
every organization needs to follow for the effective and the safe practices related to the
housekeeping jo within the organization for the safety of the employees and the customers.
Findings of the organization
According to Quinn et al. (2015) the housekeeping job profile is one of the most
strenuous job profile within the organization of Australia. The employees of the housekeeping
job needs to vacuum, dust, scrub the bathrooms, distribute the amenities, tale out the trash and
clean the are and more. While these works sound undemanding the employees of the
housekeeping departments undergoes both physical and psychological stress adding up with

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serious risk towards the health and the safety. Some of the findings from the organization at
Australia with the housekeeping job includes the following.
The study indicated that workers who are the housekeeping staffs of the organization
have the higher tendency to suffer from the highest rate of the injury regrading the occupation
and the rate of the injury varies from gender and ethnicity (Hsieh et al., 2013). Some of the
health hazards of the includes musculoskeletal disorders including the injury related to acute
trauma.
Management of risk
The occupational health and the safety of the housekeeping staffs of the organization are
often managed by compensating their salaries and their leave balances. Furthermore due to the
precariousness of the employment together with the increased risk regrading the dismissal for the
employees , the organization often encourages the housekeeping staffs to leave the job and find
some of the other cheap labor (Behroozy & Keegel, 2014). The old aged employees of the
housekeeping employment faces high issues due to their age and the physical wear outs and are
often replaced by the new and the younger ones.
Recommendations
Compensation and termination are not a solution. This is because the occupational health
and safety for the housekeeping staff is their basic and the fundamental right enshrined in the
guidelines of the legislative structure by the government of Australia. Recommendations include
the notion of the co-operation together with the practice of the safety and the healthy practices. It
is the duty of the employers of the organization to ensure that the housekeeping staffs are not

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exposed to the hazardous conditions that can harm them (Sanon, 2014). They should not also
force them regrading any of the unhealthy practices that will affect the OHS policies as
prescribed by the government of Australia. It is thus recommended that the employers and the
employees (the housekeeping staffs) shall work collaboratively for designing, implementing and
following up the provisions that are related to the health ,environment and the safety.
Conclusion
It can thus be concluded from the above essay that Work Health Safety policy is
committed towards the provision of the safe and health environment for working. The vision of
this policy by the government is harm free and it aims to achieve the responsibility for keeping
the individuals and the other colleagues from any sort of organizational harm and hazard. The
essay argues with the work place health safety policies and the procedures of an Australian
agency governing towards the workplace safety in the context of the housekeeping job profile.

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