Workplace Health and Safety: WHS Act and Regulations for Building Block Pvt Limited

This article discusses the Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Act and regulations applicable to Building Block Pvt Limited, the role of the regulator, importance of reporting notifiable events, and more.

Running head: HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORK
Health and safety at work
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
1. WHS act applicable for building block Pvt limited
The following acts are applicable for construction organizations like Building block Pvt
Limited
 Civil and Administrative Tribunal act 2008
 Architect act 2004
 Architect regulation at 2004
 Boilers an special vessel regulation ACT 1952
 Building (general) Regulation 20081
 Building and construction industry (Security and payment)2009
 Construction and Occupation act 2004
 Construction Occupational regulation 2004
 Dangerous goods 2009
 Dangerous substances regulation 2010
 Discrimination act 1991
 Electrical safety act 1971
2. Who is the regulator
A regulator is referred to a public authority or government agency which is responsible for
exercising autonomous authority over some area of human activity within a supervisory or a
regulatory capacity2. The chief purpose of a regulator is to implement as well as enforce laws
enacted by legislatures. The regulator of the above mentioned company can be considered as
unique government entities since they are empowered with legislative, executive as well as
judicial functions.
1 Sanchez, Fabian Alberto Suarez, Gloria Isabel Carvajal Pelaez, and Joaquin Catala Alis. "Occupational safety and
health in construction: a review of applications and trends." Industrial health 55, no. 3 (2017): 210-218..
2 Adeyemi, O., Adejuyigbe, S., Akanbi, O., Ismaila, S. and Adekoya, A.F., 2013. Manual lifting task methods and
low back pain among construction workers in the Southwestern Nigeria. Global Journal of Research In
Engineering.

2INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
3. Importance of reporting notifiable events to the regulator
It is required to report notifiable element to the regulators that the issue can be handled by the
same in an emergency basis and the risk of major mishappening can be prevented. The regulator
after obtaining the report attends the injured worker and provides first aid to the same. The first
aider determines if the injury obtained by the worker’s is severe enough to require external medical
attention. Secondly, the worksite is secured in order to prevent further accident.
4. Powers that the regulator must have in order to access information
As being discussed earlier, a regulator as been empowered with empowered with legislative,
executive as well as judicial functions so that he can assess a situation associated with workplace
safety completely an act keeping accordance to greater good3. The chief power of the regulator
includes power to conduct audit, power to enforce the deed and power to implement regulation on
an emergency basis.
5. Duty holders in the company and legislative requirement for providing information and
WHS information required to comply their duties
The chief duty holders of the Building Brick company includes
a. Contractors
b. Project supervisors
c. Designers
d. Labors
And the legislative requirements that needs to be provided to the stake holders includes
 Registered Business Name
 State and Local Taxes
 Federal Taxes
3 Kvorning, Laura Veng, Peter Hasle, and Ulla Christensen. "Motivational factors influencing small construction
and auto repair enterprises to participate in occupational health and safety programmes." Safety science 71 (2015):
253-263.

3INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
 Business Permits and Licenses
 Business Laws and Regulations
6. Review of the WHS/OHS Act and regulation for the compilation of the checklist
with the types of records according to the legislation
Work health and safety laws are generally based on the legislations of the national models
that target towards the protection of the people’s health and safety at the workplace. In the above
case study or the case scenario, types of records like the codes of practices, guidance in case of
critical accidents and the records of the fatal accidents resulting into serious injuries and deaths
must be ensured and kept in record according the regulatory measures.
7. List of the people who are the users of the WHSIS
Work health and safety information system aims to support the health and safety of the
workplace. In the case scenario of the Building Blocks Pty Ltd, the WHSIS is applicable to the
individuals who provide end to end contribution to the management of the WHSIS. These include
the managers, supervisors, health and safety inspector and the employees or the staffs of the
services.
8. Factors supporting the people towards their access and usage of the required information.
In the above case study of the construction company which deals with the renovation
module of the primary and the secondary schools in the country, the implications of the WHSIS is
a big question4. To deal with this scenario health and safety inspector visited the unit and had
proper access to the hardware usage in the unit, the cultural background of the employees in the
workplace, the skills and the trainings received by the staffs for the usage of the dangerous
equipments in the construction industry for the analysis of the health and safety norms. Together
with these, access to the software for the data on last accidents and the data format are some of the
main tools to determine the workplace culture of the construction firm.
4 Graeve, Catherine Utecht, Patricia Marie McGovern, Bruce Alexander, Timothy Church, Andrew Ryan, and
Martha Polovich. "Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic Agents: An Analysis of Health Care Workers and Their
Environments." Workplace health & safety 65, no. 1 (2017): 9-20.

4INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
9. Explanation on how WHSIS users should be consulted
The users of WHSIS should be consulted to achieve effective health and safety policy at
the construction unit. They should be consulted before the implication of the policy at the
workplace and the measures to follow and undertake to avoid fatal accidents and staff injuries.
10. Checklist for the determination of the requirement of the users of WHSIS
The WHSIS users require updated data base that will include relevant data n the past
accidental records of the construction company, together with the proper co-operation with the
construction company workers to know and learn about their experiences and issues working in the
construction unit and the hazards they face in their daily schedule while dealing with the dangerous
construction equipments.
11. Workplace factors affecting the development and the design of the WHSIS
The poor unhygienic workplace environment, the director approach towards the
maximization of the profit of the company with minimum workplace safety and expenditure over
the employees. Furthermore lack of proper sanitation place, proper on job trainings of the
employees for the safety usage of the construction equipments and the lack of awareness of the
staffs towards the workplace health and safety policies contributes to the factors affecting
development.
12. Describe the process of identification of deficiencies in WHSIS
The major identification procedure of the deficiencies of WHSIS in the construction unit
is the number of the fatal accidents in the unit in the past few years, death due to dangerous
equipments at workplace, degrading health of the staff members and the lack of health and safety
norms in the company together with the lack of any medical benefits for the employees.
13. Recommendations for the optimization of the usability and the accessibility of WHSIS
Some of the basic recommendations for the usability and the accessibility of WHSIS in
the construction company include the propagation of the health and the safety policy according the
state legislations, development of safety culture at the workplace, recruitment of the WHS/OHS

5INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
officer for the assistance and introduction of the medical benefits and the insurances for the
workers in the company5.
14. Support needed for each role to use WHSIS
The chief users of WHIS includes Health and safety inspector, Director of the company,
Supervisors and employees. The role of the health and safety inspector will be to inspect the
efficiency of the WHS policy in the organization and identify the loopholes if any. The role of
the directors and supervisors of the building brick company is to eradicate the loopholes
identified by the inspector. Finally the chief role of the employees is to abide by all the
instructions provided in the context of WHS.
15. Coaching provided to an employee who cannot read or write English
The chief support that can be provided to the employee is to translate the necessary
information that he is unable to access. For this an employee will be recruited who will translate
the massage to him. Along with that, he will provided with a English learning session as a part of
his on job training so that he can cope with the issue and develop the ability to read the WHS
information by himself without the help of a translator
16. Agenda for OHS committee to discuss, monitor, evaluate and improve the WHSIS.
In order to improve the OHS policy, the followings are agenda that needs to be followed:
1. Creating a plan to promote workplace health and safety
2. Inspecting the workplace to find out loopholes in the current OHS policy
3. Conducting a meeting with the employees in order to understand their issues associated
with the OHS policy6.
5 Xiang, Jianjun, Peng Bi, Dino Pisaniello, and Alana Hansen. "Health impacts of workplace heat exposure: an
epidemiological review." Industrial health 52, no. 2 (2014): 91-101.
6 Chi, S., Hampson, K.D. and Biggs, H.C., 2012. Using BIM for smarter and safer scaffolding and formwork
construction: a preliminary methodology. Modelling and building health and safety.

6INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
4. Provide effective training to the employees in order to ensure they are abiding by all the
rule s and regulations associated with OHS policy
5. All the accidents that had happened earlier will be assed in order to understand the issues
associated with them.
17. Informal methods for gaining feedback on the WHSIS
In order to gain feedback for WHSIS, a coffee session with the employees can be conducted.
The nature of informal feedback can be accentuated as taking place in everyday interactions, as
an unplanned or spontaneous event, or ‘in the moment’ feedback7.
18. Data Collection in the workplace
In case of the above scenario of the construction company, the WHSIS users will collect
the data from the software including past years record regarding the number of fatal accidents,
questions and effective communication with the workers and the staffs in the construction unit,
personal talk with the staff of the company who has been previously injured or had been the victim
of unhealthy working environment. These records must be kept for demonstrating the legal
compliances and he conformity level with the legislative needs in the aim of preserving workplace
health and safety norms according to the WHSIS records and implementation.
19. Development of the privacy statement in the company
Ethical consideration is one of the major factors while collection of the data while
conducting any research or query on the workplace environment. Hence proper development of the
statements of the privacy that addresses the clauses of privacy, confidentiality, commercial in
7 Phillips, Jennan A., Michael G. Holland, Debra D. Baldwin, Linda Gifford-Meuleveld, Kathryn L. Mueller, Brett
Perkison, Mark Upfal, and Marianne Dreger. "Marijuana in the workplace: Guidance for occupational health
professionals and employers: Joint guidance statement of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses
and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine." Workplace health & safety 63, no. 4
(2015): 139-164.

7INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
confidence in the field of health and safety are the necessary elements for the storage of the data
ethically.
20. Incident involving accident at workplace
In the above case study, the incident involving the staff of the construction company
being splashed by the hydrochloric acid in his eyes is a sheer example of the violation of the
workplace health and safety laws and regulations. Hath and safety of each and every employee is
important and thus actions should be taken in case of violation. While documentation of the legal
files in the court case of the above scenario, the construction company will be required to
demonstrate and display the evidences in support of the company like the necessity of the working
condition with the hydrochloric acid, the lack of personal safety measures of the staff and the
innocence of the company measures and the construction equipments in the scenario.
21. Issues and recommendations for the improvement in the workplace
With the increasing rate of the injury at the workplace in the construction company, the
OHS Manager noted that the absentee rate of the employees of the construction unit has been
increasing. This has been comparatively higher in case of the employees working in the
bricklayers. In this scenario, information on the reason behind the absentee rates, the issue faced
by the staffs working in the hazardous environment and the degrading health status of the
employees are some of the important thing to be reviewed8. In this case, some of the
recommendations includes implementation of the workplace health and safety norms, looking for
the employee issues and properly addressing their issues and introduction of the insurance and
medical benefits for the injured employees.
22/ 23. Monthly medical treatment cases in 2016 of Building Blocks Pty Ltd and Houses r US
Pty Ltd
Building Blocks Pty Ltd – Employee 23 workers
Houses r Us Pty Ltd – Employees 50 workers
8 Guo, Brian HW, Tak Wing Yiu, and Vicente A. González. "Predicting safety behavior in the construction industry:
Development and test of an integrative model." Safety science84 (2016): 1-11.

8INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Each worker in both organizations works 2000 each year
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Building
Blocks Pty Ltd
2 1 2 0 2 1 2 0 1 3 2 3
Houses r US
Pty Ltd
2 3 5 1 3 1 2 6 4 5 4 6
The ascending representation of the series
Building Blocks
Pty Ltd
0 0 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3
Houses r US Pty
Ltd
1 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6
Mean for Building Blocks Pty Ltd =
= 1.58
Median of the Building Blocks Pty Ltd = (2+2)/2= 2
Mode of the Building Blocks Pty Ltd = (3*2)-(2*1.58) = 0.834
Annual medical treatment frequency of Building Blocks Pty Ltd = (0.834*12)/23= 0.435
Mean for Houses r US Pty Ltd (42/12) = 3.5
Median of the Houses r US Pty Ltd = (3+4)/2= 3.5
Mode of the Houses r US Pty Ltd = (3*3.5)-(2*3.5) = 3.5
Annual medical treatment frequency of Houses r US Pty Ltd = (3.5*12)/50= 0.84
Annual medical treatment frequency of Houses r US Pty Ltd is higher than Building Blocks Pty
Ltd
19
12

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Monthly medical treatment cases in 2016 of HiRise Pty Ltd
30 people in branch 1
10 people in branch 2
Each worker in both branches works 2000 hours each year
J F M A M J J A S O N D
Branch 1 0 2 3 0 2 2 3 4 1 1 3 2
Branch 2 0 1 0 0 1 1 2 2 1 1 2 1
The ascending representation of the series
Branch 1 0 0 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 4
Branch 2 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2
Mean for Branch 1 =(23/12) = 1.91
Median of Branch 1 = (2+2)/2= 2
Mode of Branch 1 = (3*2)-(2*1.91) = 2.18
Annual medical treatment frequency of Branch 1= (2.18*12)/30= 0.872
Mean for Branch 2 (12/12) = 1
Median of Branch 2 = (1+1)/2= 1
Mode of Branch 2 = (3*1)-(2*1) = 1
Annual medical treatment frequency of Branch 2 = (1*12)/10=1.2
Annual medical treatment frequency of Branch 2 is higher than Branch 1

10INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
24. a) List of WHS information for the role HSR
Health and safety representatives represent and address the health and the safety
requirements of the staff or the workers in the company9. It is the role of the HSR to look after the
health and the safety issues as an integral component for the maintenance of safe workplace and
healthy workplace environment.
b) Evaluation of the areas for improvement
Reasonable practice on health and safety matters, associated risks related to hazards,
workers consent, and facilities or assistance for the work group, workplace inspection.
c) Recommendations for improvement for WHS manager
 Creation of the plan for the promotion of the workplace health and safety
 Workplace inspection and employee trainings
 Investigation of incidents10
 Making safety a key part of the business
25.
a) Knowledge and skill required to use WHSIS system - Ability to use word processing,
spreadsheet and database, interpersonal and communicational skills
b) Development of training matrix- A 3 month long computer training session where
employees will be taught appropriate usage of Microsoft word and Microsoft excel.
c) Recommendation:
9 Barrett, R., Mayson, S. and Bahn, S., 2014. Small firms and health and safety harmonisation: Potential regulatory
effects of a dominant narrative. Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1), pp.62-80.
10 Bong, S., Rameezdeen, R., Zuo, J., Li, R.Y.M. and Ye, G., 2015. The designer's role in workplace health and
safety in the construction industry: post-harmonized regulations in South Australia. International Journal of
Construction Management, 15(4), pp.276-287

11INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
 The management should recruit employees with better computer knowledge so that they
can dandle computer database and system efficiently.
 Apart from computer related training, employees will be provided with training for
effective interpersonal and communication skill development
26. a) Analysis of the data for the identification of the area of improvement
In consideration of the analysis among the frequency of the medical treatments of the
workers among Houses r US Pty Ltd and Building Blocks Pty Ltd, it has thus been found that the
former construction unit spends much more on the medical facilities and treatment of their
workers and thus have implemented the OHS policy at their workplace more efficiently.
b) Options for the actions
Introduction of medical facilities, measures for injury management and implication of the
health and safety policy.
c) Report for health and safety committee
Annual medical treatment frequency of Houses r US Pty Ltd is higher than Building
Blocks Pty Ltd
Annual medical treatment frequency of Branch 2 is higher than Branch 2 in consideration to the
data of cases in 2016 of HiRise Pty Ltd
27. Development of the three measures appropriate to the selected workplace
Three measures for the consideration of the selected workplace of the construction site
includes
 Construction hazards
 Hazards related to the use of chemicals like hydrochloric acid
 Unhealthy working condition with the lack of hygiene in the water and the sanitation

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The evaluation of the validity of the measures includes the definition of the measures, the
method of collection and the relevant analysis of the measured data set.

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Bibliography
Adeyemi, O., Adejuyigbe, S., Akanbi, O., Ismaila, S. and Adekoya, A.F., 2013. Manual lifting
task methods and low back pain among construction workers in the Southwestern
Nigeria. Global Journal of Research In Engineering.
Barrett, R., Mayson, S. and Bahn, S., 2014. Small firms and health and safety harmonisation:
Potential regulatory effects of a dominant narrative. Journal of Industrial Relations, 56(1),
pp.62-80.
Bong, S., Rameezdeen, R., Zuo, J., Li, R.Y.M. and Ye, G., 2015. The designer's role in
workplace health and safety in the construction industry: post-harmonized regulations in South
Australia. International Journal of Construction Management, 15(4), pp.276-287.
Chi, S., Hampson, K.D. and Biggs, H.C., 2012. Using BIM for smarter and safer scaffolding and
formwork construction: a preliminary methodology. Modelling and building health and safety.
Graeve, Catherine Utecht, Patricia Marie McGovern, Bruce Alexander, Timothy Church,
Andrew Ryan, and Martha Polovich. "Occupational Exposure to Antineoplastic Agents: An
Analysis of Health Care Workers and Their Environments." Workplace health & safety 65, no. 1
(2017): 9-20.
Guo, Brian HW, Tak Wing Yiu, and Vicente A. González. "Predicting safety behavior in the
construction industry: Development and test of an integrative model." Safety science84 (2016):
1-11.
Kvorning, Laura Veng, Peter Hasle, and Ulla Christensen. "Motivational factors influencing
small construction and auto repair enterprises to participate in occupational health and safety
programmes." Safety science 71 (2015): 253-263.
Phillips, Jennan A., Michael G. Holland, Debra D. Baldwin, Linda Gifford-Meuleveld, Kathryn
L. Mueller, Brett Perkison, Mark Upfal, and Marianne Dreger. "Marijuana in the workplace:
Guidance for occupational health professionals and employers: Joint guidance statement of the
American Association of Occupational Health Nurses and the American College of Occupational
and Environmental Medicine." Workplace health & safety 63, no. 4 (2015): 139-164.

14INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT
Sanchez, Fabian Alberto Suarez, Gloria Isabel Carvajal Pelaez, and Joaquin Catala Alis.
"Occupational safety and health in construction: a review of applications and trends." Industrial
health 55, no. 3 (2017): 210-218..
Xiang, Jianjun, Peng Bi, Dino Pisaniello, and Alana Hansen. "Health impacts of workplace heat
exposure: an epidemiological review." Industrial health 52, no. 2 (2014): 91-101.