Occupational Safety and Health Policy Analysis in Australian Education

This essay provides a comprehensive analysis of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) policy within the Australian education sector, focusing on its development, implementation, and evaluation. It examines the policy-making process under the OSH Act 1984, highlighting the roles of site managers and executives in ensuring compliance. The essay discusses the importance of communication with internal and external parties for effective policy implementation, along with the strengths of the policy, such as its focus on preventing health hazards associated with tobacco use and providing training to employees. It also addresses weaknesses, including the lack of attention to children's safety and the absence of specific penalties for individual non-compliance. Recommendations are made to enhance the policy's effectiveness, such as incorporating peer appraisals and community involvement, and emphasizing the safety of children. The conclusion emphasizes the policy's potential to create a healthier and more secure work environment within the education department, promoting positive relationships and a sense of value among employees.

Running head: DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 1
Developing Social Policy
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 2
Developing Social Policy
Introduction
The occupational safety and health policy in the department of education in Australia is
the policy according to which all the educational setups are legally bound to maintain a safe
environment for all those present and working at the educational workplaces. This policy
prohibits the use of tobacco and its smoke because of its damaging outcomes on human health.
Law provides direction and guidelines as to how to follow the safety and health procedures at the
educational workplaces and all the employees, employers and visitors are bound to obey the
procedures provided by the Federal Government (Department of Education, 2019). According to
the policy process, this document will cover how the policy was formed, implemented and what
are the monitoring and evaluation criteria of this policy. This also involves the strengths and
weaknesses of this policy along with the recommendations on how to improve the policy. “The
development of the social health policy is significant to develop a healthy society in which the
members of the society are less likely to develop diseases because certain measures are identified
and devised under the law for the control of the health concerns, hence, giving rise to a healthy,
stress free and efficient pool of people in the society".
Body Paragraphs
Policy-Making Process
Occupational Health and Safety Policy are developed according to the policymaking
process in the educational department of Australia under Federal law. A policy-making process
refers to the development of the policy based on the schema and a definite purpose to solve out a
problem. Then a policy is chalked out and adopted for the specific needs and after its
implementation, frequent monitoring and evaluation is done. If the policy is successful, it is

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 3
continued in the future and if it fails, it is terminated at the end (Federation University, 2019).
This policy is developed under the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act 1984 and
occupational safety and health regulations 1996 (Department of Education, 2019). OSH rules in
Australia have been long into existence but the recent attention has been given to stop the usage
of smoke for the bad health effects and also to avoid any mishappenings which may arise due to
smoke and fire of the tobacco. After the development of the policy, all the schools and
educational departments have to follow the instructions provided and if anyone fails, they will
face a non-compliance notice for not meeting the criteria. A non-compliance notice is sent to a
person or an organization not following the legal guidelines (Fair Work, 2019). Hence, the
policymaking process has been taken into account. Whenever any educational institute is not
fulfilling the OSH rules, a non-compliance notice is sent to them to rectify all the actions being
performed in the institute.
The Policy Implementation and Compliance
The policy implementation and compliance are performed by the site managers and
Executives in the educational setups. Site managers include all principals, line managers and the
administrative staff in the schools who are liable to ensure the OSH rules in the workplace
(Riley, 2019). Occupational health of the old aged people is also at stake because of the low
immunity that they develop as they age. For the prevention of the risks, OSH policies are
designed and implemented and highlight the need to provide preventive measures (Macdonald,
Driscoll, Stuckey, & Oakman, 2012). Principals are provided a specific training according to
which they can take certain measures in the schools to ensure whether the rules are being
followed or not. All the site managers will be liable to oversee the activities of the policy and the
monitoring of the activities and judging whether the policy meets a compliance criterion or not is

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 4
the responsibility of the Directors. Site managers and Executives also have to follow a formal
pattern which guides them as to how to communicate with the internal and external parties for
the successful implementation and compliance.
Communication
Communication with the internal and external parties is necessary because it will create a
positive environment and suitable for all to get the maximum benefits (Gwynn, 2017). The OSH
policy is implied to all the people who are working in the educational department. All of them
are given training properly to save themselves from an unsafe environment and to identify if
there are any threats available in the workplace. These pieces of training are provided by experts
and professionals in this field who are best known as occupational safety and health
professionals (Provan & Pryor, 2019). After getting pieces of training, the employees are
responsible to make the environment safe for themselves and the other peers because if someone
acts carelessly, he may create room for mistakes and dangers. This is immediately measured to
comply with the OSH rules. Visitors are also responsible to carefully observe the rules and to
make them aware, it is written outside the schools and at prominent places that smoking is not
allowed within the premises of the schools. If they still do not stop, it is advised to request them
not to smoke or to leave the school building because it is not permissible to make any smoke
areas within the premises of the schools. If any employee or visitor is not willing to accept the
procedures suggested by the policy, Executives must inform the relevant federal department to
take further action otherwise, the uniformed choices will lead to non-compliance and a notice
may be received at the school. So, effective communication is made to avoid any weaknesses
and to strengthen the policy in the education department.

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 5
Strengths
The strengths of social health policy can be measured through the guidelines,
implementation and the professional attitude of the concerned parties in the successful
development, implementation, evaluation, and compliance of the policy (Hopwood, 2016). The
strengths of this policy include the concerns of the Western Australian Department of Education
to control the excessive use of tobacco and to prevent the people present at the workplace from
the hazards of the smoke and to control and prevent all the diseases which are faced due to the
smoke. The smoke causes damage to the nerves, vision, thyroid, muscles, lungs, heart, bones,
mind, reproduction, respiration, mouth and teeth (Martin, 2019). To avoid this danger and
realizing the social responsibility, the federal government in Australia has made OSH rules
because the increased use of smoking is causing cancers and other acute ailments in the society
and this has become important to stop the bad effects of the smoking. The strengths of the policy
are that it involves all the employees and for their safety, complete education and training are
provided to them to equip them with all the resources and a pattern is told to them in which they
are advised to deal with the hazardous equipment and to avoid the use of smoking. The safety is
ensured at all levels in the educational setups to develop a safe environment for the workers
(Child Australia, 2012). If anyone at work is facing any difficulty to stop such acts or is getting
offended, he has a right to report to the administration to stop the acts for the overall safety of
everyone. The administration provides supports and also is in the position to act accordingly
within the jurisdictions to comply with the rules.
Jurisdiction of America, UK and Australia Jurisdiction of the other countries like
America are proving occupational and health services to the labor class and people from many

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 6
other fields including private and public sector (United States-Department of Labor, 2019). But
in America, educational safety and health are still undermined. British Council in the UK is also
making attempts to provide occupational health and safety to the people working in the
educational setups (British Council, 2019). Now Australia has also paid attention to the
educational sector and developed social health policy to rescue the people at work. This policy
also intends to provide training to the workers to know what to do in the emergencies and for this
purpose, smoke detectors are also placed and the exit ways are known to them in advance. It is
the responsibility of the administration to keep surveillance of the buildings and to detect any
smoke. All the equipment is also tested from time to time to consider the security perspectives
and to lessen the weakness of the policy at all stages.
Weaknesses
Weaknesses of a social plan or policy emerge when one component is missing or the well
being of a party is compromised (Spicker, 2019). The weakness of this policy is that it does take
into account the kids in the school and the focus is completely put on the workers. In the whole
policy, the dangers that can be faced by the kids are not mentioned anywhere in the policy. The
secondhand smoke is extremely toxic and dangerous for the kids and their development is badly
affected, too (Martin, How Secondhand Smoke Hurts Children, 2018). Another weakness of the
policy is that it does entail any penalties which should be given to the prospects who do not
comply with the policy procedures. For the individuals, no penalties are discussed but the
penalties which have to be faced by the institutions are notified by sending them a non-
compliance notice. So, the weaknesses can be revised in the coming years to make this policy a
better one than its existing shape.

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 7
Recommendations
The social health policies are designed to make the general public aware and to educate
those who may be prone to certain dangers at the workplace and the policies are devised to make
further interventions and to prevent the danger from happening (Mariona Vigués, 2014). There is
an increased need for complete awareness to properly monitor the workers at the workplace. For
this purpose, appraisal of the workers needs to be done and peers must also do an appraisal
which can make sure the presence or absence of rule-following criteria. Peer Appraisal removes
the barriers to the bad performance because everyone knows that he is accountable of his acts
and his acts may be rated low if he does not work professionally and does not fulfill his job roles
efficiently (Martin, 2017). For the effectivity of this system, it is also mandatory to include the
safety of the kids in the schools. Engagement of the community workers in this policy can also
make it stronger because social workers can make sure the necessary arrangements for the safety
of the policy. So, the more thoughtful this policy becomes, the more strength it will get and
everyone present at the educational workplaces will be safe and sound.
Conclusion
To sum up, it is concluded that the occupational safety and health policy in the
department of education in Australia is a well thought out policy and it has highlighted the needs
for the effective development, implementation, monitoring and compliance stages of the
policymaking. There was a need to protect the workforce in the education department and a
proper mechanism has been devised to protect them. The policy entails the details as to how to
implement it. Though it has certain weaknesses they can be removed with the help of the
jurisdiction. The strengths of this policy are making it worth implementation and to make the

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 8
workplace safe and sound. The communication of the site managers with the employees and the
other agencies, the federal government and a few other departments are increasing the rates of its
success because any gaps in the areas where improvement is needed are made immediately. The
recommendations are made to further improve the policy and to make it a better one. The
purpose of this policy is to make the workforce healthy and satisfied which I turn will promote
healthy relationships at work. This peace of mind and a sense of being cared will enhance an
understanding that their employer is giving them value. When people will be working in stress-
free environments, it will mead towards the formation of a society which will be healthier and
happier than today.

DEVELOPING SOCIAL POLICY 9
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