Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Essay
Added on 2020-04-13
6 Pages1423 Words291 Views
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ESSAY2Occupational Health and Safety (OHS), which is commonly known as Workplace Heath andSafety (WHS) includes the evaluation and mitigation of the risks which have an ability ofimpacting the welfare, the health and the safety of the ones in the place of work. This not onlyincludes the employees but also the consumers, volunteers, suppliers, contractors and visitors(Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, 2017). In the following parts, an attempt hasbeen made to analyse the status of OHS in Australia, in terms of its historical background, therole of OHS legislation and the challenges which require improvements to be brought in OHS. Before 2012, each and every state and territory of Australia had its own health and safety act,where requirements were set out for making certain that the place of work was safe and healthy.Through these acts, the requirements were set out for the general responsibility which relates tothe groups of people regarding their role at the workplace. To support these acts, regulationswere forced, and these helped in setting the standards which had to be attained for managing thehazards at workplace in terms of manual handling, chemicals, noise and machinery. However, in2008, the government of Australian Commonwealth, in addition to the governments of state andterritory signed an intergovernmental agreement for agreeing upon the harmonization of thehealth and safety laws in the nation. After a lot of consultations, each jurisdiction brought out itsWHS acts which were mirrored in the legislation of the other states and even in thecommonwealth act (Archer et al 2014). Through harmonised law, the stakeholders were able to obtain a legislative clarity irrespective ofthe state they operated it and particularly at such instances where the work was spread acrossdifferent states. This also helped the government in reducing the expenditure for developingseparate OHS laws. Most importantly, the business became clear on these laws despite the statethey operated in, which resulted in lower compliance costs as the laws divergence only in
ESSAY3minimal aspects, reducing the need of training and the need of local subject experts was alsoreduced (Hattingh, Low and Forrester, 2013). As a result of the applicability of WHS regulations, obligations are raised for the individualsworking in business and majorly for the person running the business. These obligations are owedto themselves and to their workmates by the people working in the workplace. As a result of this,the individuals are required to follow the instructions which are given in the matter of WHS, theyhave to ensure that there is no wilful injury to self and also the others are not put at risk. Theworkers are to be provided the requisite personal protective equipment, in addition to be trainedin using these, and have to refrain from recklessly or wilfully interfering with or misusing thethings which are provided for WHS at workplace (Stoll, McGill and Ritchie, 2013). As a result of these legislations, the health and safety of the workers is ensured and in such caseswhere the same is compromised, a system of rehabilitation and compensation is adopted whichensures that the workers are not put at disadvantage in case they are injured at workplace. TheOHS legislations help in creating a surety for the workers that they would be properly protectedat workplace, which allows them to enjoy the standards at the highest levels in terms of theirbasic human rights being accessible in an easy manner to them. Irrespective of the workundertaken by the workers, particularly based on its nature, the workers are required to carry outtheir obligations in a secure and safe working environment, which is free from hazards (Safe AtWork, 2017). Thus, these legislations help in shaping an attitude in the public regarding WHS.These are coupled with the high compensations which have to be paid by the business owners incase the provisions of WHS legislations are not upheld.
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