Organizational Healthcare | Assessment 1

Running Head: ORGANISATIONAL HEALTHCARE
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Legal Analysis of Workplace
Incident

ORGANISATIONAL HEALTHCARE 1
Introduction
In the present time, the safety of employees at the workplace is very important as the number
of manufacturing industries has been increases very rapidly. There are so many cases related
to accidents of employees, happened at the workplace in the present time (Reason, 2016).
To reduce the extent of such mishaps, it is recommended that companies should hire well-
trained employees. Also, when operating at places that are at high risk of accidents, other co-
workers should always stay active while performing tasks (Conway, et al., 2017). Still, in
case an accident occurs, it is the responsibility of co-workers to immediately rescue and help
the person who is in trouble. Moreover, in case of accidents, an organisation must take
responsibility for the accidents and take care of employees (Panagiotakopoulos, 2019).
In this essay, a real incident of a company and its consequences are highlighted related to the
workplace accident. ‘Do More’ is the trading name of this company and it buys steel coils. It
paints, slits and packs these coils to sale them according to the need of the customers. This
company has fabrication, mechanical and electrical service departments for its slitting line,
paint line and a shear line. It has 400 employees who are working seven days in the week
including night duty with rotating shifts. It has some professional engineers for designing and
maintaining the product. The company is very serious towards the safety of the employees,
for this, it has an occupational safety adviser too. Recently an accident occurred in the
company on slitting line. An employee in the company named Rob Hansen got critically
injured in that accident and died after two days in the hospital.
Managing director of the ‘Do More’ company is Harry leaves. As a PCBU, it is the duty of
the managing director to look after for the safety of the workers who worked in the company
while the working hours of the organisation. Everyone who is working in an organisation
including the owner of the firm has responsibilities to certify safety at the workplace (Noe,

ORGANISATIONAL HEALTHCARE 2
et al., 2017). It is the main duty of PCBU in the WHS Act 2011, under section 19, to make
the workplace healthy and safe as far as reasonably possible by removing the risks. If there is
no reasonable possibility to remove the risks then they must be minimised (Wynn-Moylan,
2017). PCBU has a similar duty to look after to the health of the workers, who carried the
work in may be at high risk in the business.
A self-employed or business-person should ensure its health and safety at the workplace with
reasonable possibilities (Ashworth & Perera, 2018). A PCBU is responsible to provide
and maintain the safe working environment, without any risks of health. It includes the safe
exit from the workplace in case of any mishaps, safe systems, structure and plants. By
providing active protectors on machines and working with the regularity, PCBU can avoid
the risks of safety and health (Dabee, 2017). By using, handling, storing or transporting the
toxic chemicals safely, risks can be evaded. One should provide the facilities, suitable for the
workers like dining areas, washrooms and lockers. Proper information, training, instructions
provide to the workers, can help them and to the others around them, to work with health and
safety, without risks (Kletz, 2018). A workplace should be monitored with the health
conditions of the workers to preventing the injury or the illness in the premises if needed.
A PCBU has a duty of consultation under WHS laws. By consult, co-operate and share the
duties with other workers, they can work together to safeguard the needs of workplace safety
and duty holders can make it easier to keep everyone healthy and safe (Farr, et al., 2019).
If two or more people have the same duties related to the safety of the workplace, they must
consult with each other for the proper obligation of the work (Jurisic, et al., 2017). Each
duty holder has the responsibility to clear their duties. PCBU must have to consult the duty to
the workers and the representatives. Control on the duties or management of the duties is a
responsibility of a PCBU so that anything arising, cannot create a risk workplace safety and

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health. PCBU should be responsible for the control or management of fitting or fixing the
machines in a workplace so the risk of safety can be avoided (Goddard, 2018). PCBU
should know about the activities like erects, installation or commission plant in the workplace
and must ensure all the activities of structuring.
Here, in the given scenario a duty holder a PCBU failed to comply with the duty of safety
that brought a risk to a person of death. In case of engaged in conducting without any valid
reason or intentionally put a life of a person in danger or too serious injury, the penalty will
be charged with $600000 or five years in jail or both. The penalty in case of the breach of the
duty offence of health and safety is $300000 for PCBU (Dabee, 2016). When a PCBU fails
in the duty to comply with safety then charges for the offence will be $100000. Besides it
also courts may impose substitute preparations like orders related to contrary publicity,
restoration, a project of safety and health at work, injunctions, training and undertaking of
health and safety at work.
In the given scenario, R. Heed is the manager of human resources, R. Fiddell is the plant
superintendent, C. Roach is the marketing manager and F. Hope is the safety adviser in the
company. An officer who is also known as a senior executive is the 0one who makes the
decisions that affect a part of a business or whole. Officers confirm that if a PCBU complies
or not with the duties under WHS act. Officers are required to exercise ‘due diligence’ to do
their duty (Bristow, 2018). In the ‘due diligence,’ an officer works with taking reasonable
steps to avoid the offences with working under the responsibilities of corporate governance.
Officers have to be proactive to certify if there is any failure to fulfill with the applicable duty
of safety and health of the workers, happen in an organisation. Duty of an officer comes in
section 27 with the Act of WHS (Emerson, 2017). The scope of the duty of an officer is
related directly to the significant form of the position of their work.