MGB229: Workplace Health and Safety Job Role Analysis Report

This report provides a detailed analysis of the job role of a Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) specialist, focusing on the context of BHP Billiton. It explores the responsibilities of the role, including ensuring workplace safety and formulating safety legislations. The report examines employer options for employment, including the required qualifications and skills, as well as the company's approach to diversity and work-life balance. It further investigates employer obligations at the macro (legal and legislative), meso (industry and organizational), and micro (individual policy) levels. The analysis includes recommendations for the WHS specialist role within the organization, providing a comprehensive overview of the position's importance and the factors influencing its effectiveness.

Running head: JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
Name of Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
Executive Summary
Job role refers to all the activities that a person does or the duties and responsibilities of a
particular job is known as the job role. A job role discusses about the importance of a particular
position within the whole organization and job description on the other hand discusses about the
job position, roles and responsibilities of a particular position. The job role that I wish to occupy
is that of a workplace health and safety specialist. The main purpose of this job role is to prevent
any types of workplace accidents, illness and other factors. The WHS specialist helps in
formulation of different strategies or legislations in accordance with the state legislation to
ensure the safety of the people in the organization. The organization selected for the purpose of
this study is BHP Billiton Company that is an Australian multinational organization that is
engaged in mining activities, petroleum and metal production and others. The main aim of the
paper is to discuss about the job role of a WHS specialist or the Workplace health and safety
officer or specialist and his role in the chosen organization (BHP., 2019). The paper will discuss
about the chosen job role or the job role of WHS specialist and the organizations which offers
the same job position in the industry, the employer options for the chosen job roles, the employer
obligations in terms of macro, micro, meso factors and others, recommendations related to the
same.

2JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussion........................................................................................................................................3
Job role and the Organization..........................................................................................................3
Employer options for the type of employment................................................................................4
Employer Obligations within employment......................................................................................6
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................11
References......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15

3JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
Job role and the Organization
The organization that offers the job role of WHS officer or specialist is the BHP Billiton
Australian mining company. The job role chosen is workplace health and safety officer or
specialist whose main role is to ensure that there are no job related accidents, or job related
illness or other similar activities in the organization thereby providing safety to the people of the
organization. Further the WHS officer or specialist is also required to formulate legislations that
are in accordance with the government regulations in order to avoid any organizational safety
problems (Blackburn, 2016). The company belongs to the BHP group which is a mining,
petroleum, metal company. It is ranked as the largest mining company of the world. The
company presently has about 62000 employees and it basic products includes coals, petroleum,
natural gas and others (Caesens et al., 2016). The main qualifications required to become a WHS
officer or specialist is that of an international diploma in the same field, must have some
knowledge related to NCRQ or the national compliance and risk qualification and other
qualifications are required.
Employer options for the type of employment
The organization under study provides vacancy for the role of a workplace health and
safety officer or specialist in its organization. BHP or BHP Billiton supports the learning,
growth, development of skills, and other potential of the people working with them. With
operations being carried out globally, the company believes in offering career opportunities to its
employees by provision of an inclusive and diverse environment. The company has a strategy of
providing a safe environment for work to its employees where the employees can feel connected
to their objectives, values and the organization believes that without the people the organization

4JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
cannot achieve success. However, the company requires a specialist for ensuring the health and
safety of the organization’s people and for that purpose it also has a separate department called
the Health, safety and environment department that is situated in the south walker of the Bowen
Basin. The person occupying the role of HSE in the organization will be required to report to the
HSE superintendent. This job role requires the job applicant to have good relationship building
skills, people management skills and other skills in order to provide proper services to the
customers (De Boeck, Meyers & Dries, 2018). Moreover the job role is a flexible one and can be
suited to the working style of the person holding the job such that the candidate can easily meet
the operational requirements. The job role requires a DIDO position or the drive in and drives
out position and the candidate is further required to work 5 days in a week and two days off or 4
days’ work and 3 days off roster, with accommodation being provided onsite.
The job role requires the candidate holding the position to be able to manage all job
related or non-work related accidents, illness or injuries properly, provision of expertise related
to health initiatives and promotions. The job role further requires creation of management plans
of health individually, mentoring the team of nurses and other paramedical and also providing
leadership activities. Ensuring activities for maintaining the occupational hygiene through
support on the site being provided to people (Furci & Sunindijo, 2018). The person who is
applying for the position needs to have an exposure to various sub-functional departmental
aspects. The candidate who is chosen for the job position will also have to carry out the role of
providing leadership to a team of action oriented and supportive people.
The person seeking the job is required to have a qualification related to tertiary education
in a discipline related to health such as occupational therapy, exercise physiology, nursing or
physiotherapy and various other fields with a preference to the mentioned occupations. The

5JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
candidate applying for the job needs to have proper knowledge of the Queensland health
legislations related to coal mining. The candidate occupying the job position needs to have
proper influencing, communication skills, should have the capability to provide coaching to
people and should be able to drive a positive attitude among in terms of wellbeing and health
outcomes for people and operations. The candidate is required to have some experience with a
large structured organization and should be able to manage workforce diversity (Gunningham,
2016).
The company recognizes the importance of a diversified workforce and the way they
provide strength to the organization. The company believes in providing a work environment
where everyone is treated equally without any discrimination and everyone is treated with
respect and dignity. The company accepts application from indigenous groups and women
therefore proving that they give equal opportunity to all (Regan & Fettell, 2017). The
organization recognizes the fact that there are different aspects of a person’s life, and work is
only one aspect and therefore the organization believes in providing benefits and opportunities
that fits with the lives of the people and such that they can have a proper work life balance.
These benefits includes various options such as flexible working hours, parental leaves that are
paid, any other type of extended leaves and others. Some of the major skills required for this job
role are communication skills, interpersonal skills, should be able to maintain the confidentiality
of all information of clients, the person occupying the role of the WHS officer needs to have
integrity and honesty. They are also responsible for making all those regulations that can help in
maintaining the safety of organizations (McCann, 2019).

6JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
Employer Obligations within employment
An organizations obligation towards employees refers to the training, promotion, fair
wages, proper selection, safety of the employees and other comfortable obligations towards the
company. The employees need to be taken into consideration when any decision is affecting their
interest in the organization. Similarly the organization under study also has some obligations
towards the employees these are related to the workplace health and safety, equality of treatment
of all the employees in the organization, for business travel, it also provides guideline for solving
any conflict of interest and others. These obligations of the organization towards the employees
can be understood at three levels such as Macro level, meso level and at the micro level.
Macro level obligations-
It basically comprises of all the legal or the legislative and social employer obligations
towards the employees and these obligations apply to all the employees and the organization also
takes steps to ensure that these are met. There are different laws and legislations that all the
organizations are required to follow. Some of these are: the employment and labour act 2019 and
fair work legislation. The Employment and labour act 2019, covers various employment issues
such as employment terms and conditions, representation of the employees, industrial relations,
maternity leaves and family leaves and various other issues. In order to look after the
employment terms and conditions the fair work act 2009 is practices (Sutherland, 2015). Various
industrial instruments are used to look after various employment issues such as the fair work
commission is there and there are many rewards looking after these issues and that covers
specific industries. In order to maintain and look after the relationship between the employer and
the employees there is fair work legislation in place. The fair work legislation includes- the fair
work regulation of 2008 and the fair work act of 2009. These legislations look after the minimum

7JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
entitlements for the salary, provide flexibility to the arrangements of work, fairness of work is
also considered in it and it also prevents any form of discrimination against the Australian
employees. Therefore these legislations are to be followed in all organizations. BHP ensures that
it provides a healthy and a safe working environment and also carries out proper measures to
provide protection to the employees from all hazards that are related to the work. All these
activities are mentioned in their corporate social responsibility. The company has also taken a
step towards change by publically calling people for its carbon pricing. The political climate in
Australia is continuously changing and the new government is requiring mandate for agendas
related to anti-climate. The company’s code of conduct includes care for society, cares for its
people, working properly with others, providing protection to the company and includes various
other policies. Their code of conduct is aimed at improving the company’s relationship with all
the suppliers. The company has policies for looking after not only its employees but also external
stakeholders who can complain about any misconduct carried out on part of the company by any
employees.
Meso level obligations-
It includes firm level obligations of the employers towards the employees. It includes all
the modern awards that are applicable to the industry in which the organization operates and is
applicable to the organization. The organization should ensure that these obligations are being
met by the organizations. The organization should make sure that these obligations are being met
by them. A modern award is one that lays down the terms and conditions related to the
employment in case of national employment standards. It looks after entitlements such as- pay,
rosters, breaks, allowances, work hours and others. This modern awards covers all the employees
who are looked after by the workplace systems for maintaining relationship nationally. There are

8JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
awards are basically given on the basis of occupation or the industry, and it is applicable to all
those employers and employees who are covered under the act. However these modern awards
do not include all those employees and the managers who earn higher salaries all though there
may be an act that is applicable to their industry. The modern awards are applicable to all those
employees and employers who are working under a specific industry however in case of
registered agreements, the modern awards are not applicable. However in case there is a
registered agreement where the rates of wage payment is given at a lower rate than the rates as
given in the modern awards, the rates of the modern acts will be applicable to that organization.
However there can be scenarios in which an employee or the employer are not covered under
both modern awards or any registered agreement it means that such employees and employers
belong to the award and agreement free category.
The Enterprise agreements refer to enterprise level collective agreements that are
generally made between the employees and the employers and therefore include the employer’s
obligation towards the employees. The agreement includes the employment terms and conditions
of the employees and the obligation of the employer in this respect. The Australian fair work act
is mainly confined to agreement of employment relations in the organizations. BHP BILLITON
also has an agreement that basically includes various employee entitlements such as wages,
employment conditions and various others. There are various industrial actions that can be
carried out the board of directors in case these agreements are not followed. These actions help
in providing protection to the employees. There are arrangements dependent upon individual
flexibility. The Australian fair work act makes it necessary to include terms of flexibility in the
agreements. This provision was included such that the objectives of flexibility can be achieved
by maintenance of the standards. There are various green field agreements also that have been

9JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
undertaken by BHP Billiton. Greenfield agreements can be entered into by the company in order
to take advantage of better decisions making for the purpose of making proper investment and
thereby overcoming any form of industrial pressure. Therefore in order to ensure that the terms
and conditions of the employment relation for the employees of the company BHP Billiton is
maintained and fulfilled various agreements are there and there are also industrial actions that
can be taken in case the same in not followed. The company therefore tries to meet the needs of
the employees through the various industrial agreements as has been laid down by the Australian
fair work act. The company also ensures the same through its code of conduct which helps the
company in maintaining good relationship with all its stakeholders. The company has policies of
caring for its employees, its society and others and therefore tries to fulfil all the obligations as
pert the agreements.
These people are covered by the NES or the national employments standards and their
terms and conditions related to employment will be set by the national employment standards.
Similarly in the case of the organization under study or the BHP company there are awards such
as the mining award and also the black coals and the mining awards which lays down the
conditions of work, the timings of work, the overtime chart, the safety and health related issues
for the organization and various others. The terms and conditions determine the work to be done
on the basis of whether the employees are permanent or on a contract basis and various other
conditions. The organization under study follows the same and therefore determines the terms of
contract dependent upon the different awards because if it pays it employees less than the rate
mentioned or if the employees area asked to work for more than they are responsible and in case
of any other violations the employees can complain to the fair work ombudsman which will then
look into various issues and take action accordingly. The ombudsman ensures that all the

10JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
requirements and obligations mentioned in the awards have been duly complied with by the
organization.
Micro level obligations-
It includes employer obligation towards the job role of the employees. The organization
should also make sure that these are being met. A safe work environment is required by all the
people of the organization. Therefore it is necessary to have a safe environment, free from any
types of health hazards as far as it is practically possible. Therefore it is necessary to have a plant
that is safe, there is a need for safe working systems, there is need to ensure storage, safe use and
transportation of substances and others. There is also a need to have a safe workplace that is free
from any health hazards. For this purpose necessary information, training and other activities
need to be ensured. At BHP or BHP Billiton Company also the same is ensured. The company
under study believes that it is a responsibility of all the people, and everyone needs to look after
the physical and mental safety of the employees. There is also employee assistance program. In
order to ensure the same in the organization, the workplace has to be free from illegal drugs,
alcohol and others. These are not to be consumed if offered at office premises to avoid any form
of injuries or accidents. Using e-cigarettes or cigarettes is allowed only in particular areas. The
organization has a separate department to look after these issues as far as possible called the
health, safety, environment and community reporting. This organization also understands the fact
that a few people are suffering from illness related to drug use and to help those people there is a
department. The organization ensures that all these issues are met through the existence of
agreements and awards and the employees have the authority to report to the fair ombudsperson
in case the employees feel that the organization is not fulfilling its obligation towards the
employees. There are a variety of agreements that the industry to which the company belongs is

11JOB ROLE ANALYSIS
covered under the act that provides for the obligation of the company towards the employees.
The company policy ensures that these obligations are met and the company code of conduct
also ensures that the employees can report about issues to the management.
Recommendations
The obligations of the companies towards the employee’s is in respect of different
aspects such as employee benefits, leave, providing safety to them by improving working
conditions, by removing any form of health hazards from the organization. The macro level
obligation includes all obligations related to the national employment related laws and
legislations and in this case it is the fair work legislation that looks after the terms and conditions
of the job and helps in maintaining relationship between the employees and the employers. The
Meso level obligations include all those obligations of the organization that are applicable
industry wise or depending upon particular industries. There are presently various modern
awards that covers different issues of employees related to their employment and the award that
will be applicable in this case is mining award and others that ensures the safety of the
employees working in all the mining industries. The micro level employer obligations include
obligation related to the job role for instance the obligations of the employer towards the
workplace health and safety officer is that it should ensure that all the requirements of the WHS
officer is being met diligently and the organization is made free from any health hazards.
In order to ensure that the organization complies with all the employment relations
legislation, they HR practices includes conducting regular audit to identify any non-compliance,
the HR manger needs to look after the management of compensation and benefits programs to
ensure that all the regulation are being complied with. The HR manger should inform the fair
work ombudsman about any grievance of the employees related to unequal payment or any other