Workplace Health and Safety in Australia

This assignment delves into Australian workplace health and safety standards. It examines relevant acts, regulations, and codes of practice governing safe working environments. The focus includes defining the term 'PCBU' (Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking) and outlining their primary duty of care towards employees. It differentiates between the roles of a PCBU and an employer, emphasizing the proactive approach expected from a PCBU in mitigating workplace risks.

Running head: WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
Workplace Health and Safety
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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Assessment 1
Part A
Introduction
The report deals with analyzing the different health and safety policies and procedures in
the retail store in Australian State branch. The different provisions relating to health and safety
procedures has to be maintained in the retail store as this will help in providing accurate
information to the team members. The work health and safety procedures are essential in nature
as this will help in understanding the issues that are faced by the team members and resolving
such issues with proper legislations.
The main aim and purpose of the report is to analyze the performance of the entire team
in ensuring proper safety as well as in maintaining proper techniques of handling as well. Proper
monitoring is required in order to implement the different policies and procedures of handling
techniques.
The structure of the report includes ascertaining the different policies and procedures that
has to be maintained by the organizations in order to monitor the team performance. Proper
control measures is required to be maintained as this will help in maintaining proper records
related to OHS regarding different kinds of diseases as well as injuries.
Discussion
Proper and healthy environment is a part of the management system of the organization.
Proper planning is required and it is essential in nature, as the workplace needs to formulate
different plans that will help in fulfilling the policies related to health and safety set out in the

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safety statement as well (Flannigan, Samson and Miller 2017). Proper and effective structure of
management is essential as this will help in delivering the policies properly and it is set for the
employees and the managers as well.
The team members needs to be properly informed about the policies and procedures of
the store regarding health and safety as this will help the members of the team in understanding
about the safety procedures that can be implemented by them during emergency. Proper
guidance has to be provided to the team members regarding the issues that can be faced in retail
stores and proper implementation can be done in order to solve such issues as well.
Proper implementation of OHS policies is required, as this will help them in maintaining
proper operations at workplace. Proper formulation is required by the employers at workplace to
minimize the risks through implementation of effective policies. This will help the employees at
workplace to have proper access about the OHS policies.
The performance of the employees has to be measured thoroughly as this will help the
managers in explaining the provisions of the legislation of OHS as well as the codes of practice
that needs to be followed by them in case of hazardous events at workplace.
The provisions such as health and safety procedures along with different codes such as
determining the priorities such as proper cleanliness along with maintaining proper temperature
in the factories are essential in the factories, as this will help in providing the workers a clean and
pollution free environment.
The identification of the hazards is essential to be done by the employees in the
organization, as this will help them in making them aware about the various rules and regulations
that are essential in overcoming such hazards.

3WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
The team members need to properly be provided with different opportunities regarding
OHS issues, as this will help in providing different problems or hazards that are faced by them in
their workplace. The employers of the office needs to make them identify the different
opportunities regarding safety at workplace that includes safety regarding cleanliness as well as
the proper usage of spittoons will be helpful for them in making as well as keeping the
workplace clean and safe.
There are different issues that have been raised by the employees in the retail store such
as the drinking water, the overtime working without proper payment is such issues that created
huge pressure on them, and it decreased the morale of the employees as well. The other issues
were relating to the credit policies as they were poor in nature and they do not have any
hierarchical manager for their support in order to verify the costs of accepting different cheques
that are bad in nature (Schaufeli and Taris 2014).
The top management officials are solving the outcomes for the issues that have been
raised by the employees in the organization. This helped them in maintaining proper support to
the individuals and tried handling it by resolving issues by paying them wages or salaries for
extra hours that has been worked by them along with other issues such as cleanliness or credit
policies that are solved with maintaining proper legislative policies and procedures (Zhang et al.
2014).
The potential hazards that require proper attention by the employers in the organization
as this will help them in providing proper guidance to their employees in the organization in
order to resolve such hazards with proper protection and safety policies and procedures. The
policies and procedures need to be properly ascertained and proper provisions regarding welfare

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of the women as well as their children are the basic issues that have to be solved in order to feel
them safe in their work environment. Proper risk control measures need to be ascertained, as this
will help in controlling the issues related to the prevention of hazards at the workplace. Proper
handling as well as storing of hazardous goods in such a place that it cannot harm the life of
individuals. Proper safety alarms need to be available at the workplace, as this will help them in
maintaining proper rules and regulations relating to OHS/WHS. The hazardous equipments need
to be properly kept at a safe place, as this will help in reducing the fear of hazardous substances
in the workplace (Zohar 2014).
The performance of the team has to be properly ascertained and monitored by the
employers of the organization. The performance can be measured with proper and agreed
standards as self-monitoring the safety guidance that are provided to the employees for ensuring
proper safety at workplace.
The issues relating to health and safety policies and procedures need to be properly
reviewed by the organization, as this will help them in maintaining safety procedures to the
organization. The organizational authorities need to analyze such issues that contain specific
description of the hazards that can be caused by utilizing different elements in the workplace. It
should be seen by the higher authorities in the organization that the person who are working
around high or heavy machineries could control the risks and handle the risks as well (Cooper
and Quick 2017).
Proper implementation is required for emergency policies, procedures in the retail store
as the health and safety of the employees in the organization are the first priority, and it should
be properly followed as well (Donham and Thelin 2017). The training needs that are essential in

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nature are for providing the employees the safety measures and procedures that has to be taken
by them while working with hazardous substances (Clarke 2013). It should be made clear to
them that if there are any issues that are faced by them in the future can be properly sorted out
with proper training as this can help them in overcoming such situations. There are different
techniques such as proper ways to control the temperatures in the organization, whether proper
ventilation is provided to the employees while they are working or not. These are the trainings
that has to be provided to the employees in the organization as this will help them in providing
proper view on the different issues or hazards that can be faced by them in the future in
organizations (Baum 2016).
Proper training programs needs to be provided to the employees in the organization, as
this will help them in getting a proper view of the issues that can be faced by them in the
organizations in the future. Proper and complete OHS records has to be maintained by the
employees in the organization in order to get a proper and accurate views on the different issues
such as occupational injuries or diseases that can be caused to them. The records need to contain
proper policies and procedures that are regarding occupational injuries or other injuries that is
following the legislative as well as store policy requirements.
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded that proper health and safety measures has to be followed
by the organizations as this is required for the safety and security of the individuals working in
the organizations. The issues of the employees in the organization regarding the policies and
procedures of health and safety have to be properly ascertained by the higher officials in the
organization. This will help them in sorting out the issues with proper training of the employees

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as well as making them aware about the different rules and regulations that has to be ascertained
by the employees in the organization. This will help them to be aware and to handle hazardous
substances or objects without much difficulty.

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References
Baum, F., 2016. The new public health (No. Ed. 4). Oxford University Press.
Clarke, S., 2013. Safety leadership: A meta‐analytic review of transformational and transactional
leadership styles as antecedents of safety behaviours. Journal of Occupational and
Organizational Psychology, 86(1), pp.22-49.
Cooper, C.L. and Quick, J.C. eds., 2017. The Handbook of Stress and Health: A Guide to
Research and Practice. John Wiley & Sons.
Donham, K.J. and Thelin, A., 2016. Agricultural Medicine: Rural Occupational and
Environmental Health, Safety, and Prevention. John Wiley & Sons.
Flannigan, B., Samson, R.A. and Miller, J.D. eds., 2016. Microorganisms in home and indoor
work environments: diversity, health impacts, investigation and control. CRC Press.
Schaufeli, W.B. and Taris, T.W., 2014. A critical review of the Job Demands-Resources Model:
Implications for improving work and health. In Bridging occupational, organizational and
public health(pp. 43-68). Springer Netherlands.
Zhang, Y., Punnett, L., Gore, R. and CPH-NEW Research Team, 2014. Relationships among
employees’ working conditions, mental health, and intention to leave in nursing homes. Journal
of Applied Gerontology, 33(1), pp.6-23.
Zohar, D., 2014. Safety climate: Conceptualization, measurement, and improvement. The Oxford
handbook of organizational climate and culture, pp.317-334.

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Part B
1.
From the virtual office, the room that has been selected is Kitchen. The sub categories of
kitchen are:
 Proper ventilation
 Emergency procedures
 Food hygiene
 Proper and clean floor
 Proper and accurate electrical appliances
Regarding, the food hygiene, in the respective company, everything is being properly
followed that includes proper cleaning of the utensils along with there are different tea towels
and proper cloths for washing the dish as well. The housekeeping is done properly as in the
respective hotel, proper textured surface flooring has been done, as this will help the employees
in reducing the hazards that happen on the floor. Proper units of boiling water are present as
well along with proper portable kitchen appliance (Fan et al. 2014).
However, there are certain issues that are faced by my hotel such as emergency first aids
are not up to the mark and proper measures need to be taken, as this will help in improving the
conditions (Mirabile et al. 2014). The kitchen electrical are not up to the mark as there can be
electric shocks due to inserting different objects such as knives in the appliances that are live in
nature. Similarly, there are liquid spillages and this is causing short circuit in the system as well
(Quinlan, Bohle and Rawlings-Way 2015).

9WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
2.
The acts, regulations as well as the codes of practice that are followed at the workplace
are as follows:
Acts: The Occupational Health and Safety Act, Australia
Regulations: The proper protection against the different hazardous situations in the workplace is
reduced, as this helps in reducing the hazards that are caused due to handling hazardous
substances in the workplace or when the employees have to handle heavy substances or
dangerous substances at workplace as well (Shea et al. 2016).
Codes of practice: It helped in providing advises to the employees in the organization about the
different codes in order to meet the regulatory requirements. Secondly, the codes are legally
enforceable in the company, as this will help the company in meeting the legal requirements. The
codes of practice are essential in nature as this will help in controlling the risk in the workplace
and this will help in providing proper responsibilities to the workers in organization (Zohar
2014).
3.
Definition of PCBU
PCBU has primary duty of proper care in order to ensure proper health and safety of the
employees or workers wherever they are working. It also needs to check that the works that are
performed by individuals need to check that there are no risks involved in such works.
Duties of PCBU

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 The PCBU needs to analyze proper health and safety of the individuals at workplace
 It has to check that there are no risks involved in the activities performed by workers
 PCBU needs to check different substances handled by the workers
PCBU needs to enhance health and safety policies in workplace, as this will help in
generating proper benefits towards organization.
Difference between PCBU and Employer
PCBU helps the employees as well as the organization by maintaining proper legislations
in the workplace. The PCBU needs to check whether there are risks involved in the business that
can be controlled by them without much difficulty. On the other hand, employer in the
organization just casually checks about the risks involved in the organization while using
hazardous substances, however no proper care is taken by them to reduce such issues from the
organization.

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References
Fan, D., Lo, C.K., Ching, V. and Kan, C.W., 2014. Occupational health and safety issues in
operations management: A systematic and citation network analysis review. International
Journal of Production Economics, 158, pp.334-344.
Mirabile, M., Boccuni, F., Gagliardi, D., Rondinone, B.M. and Iavicoli, S., 2014. Workplace
exposure to engineered nanomaterials: The Italian path for the definition of occupational health
and safety policies. Health policy, 117(1), pp.128-134.
Quinlan, M., Bohle, P. and Rawlings-Way, O., 2015. Health and safety of homecare workers
engaged by temporary employment agencies. Journal of Industrial Relations, 57(1), pp.94-114.
Shea, T., De Cieri, H., Donohue, R., Cooper, B. and Sheehan, C., 2016. Leading indicators of
occupational health and safety: An employee and workplace level validation study. Safety
science, 85, pp.293-304.
Zohar, D., 2014. Safety climate: Conceptualization, measurement, and improvement. The Oxford
handbook of organizational climate and culture, pp.317-334.