PUBH6002: Assessment of Work Health Safety in Australian Workplaces

This report provides an in-depth analysis of work health and safety (WHS) in the Australian context, focusing on the responsibilities of organizations in ensuring employee well-being. It examines the legal framework, including the WHS Act of 2011, and the role of key agencies such as Safe Work Australia in promoting safe working conditions. The report uses a risk assessment matrix to evaluate potential hazards, such as physical and mental injuries, and discusses the importance of implementing effective risk controls. Findings highlight common workplace hazards, including mental stress, trip hazards, and inappropriate behavior, along with recommendations for improvement, such as employee training and the establishment of comprehensive WHS programs. The conclusion emphasizes the significance of WHS policies in protecting employees and the role of Australian agencies in promoting safe and healthy workplaces. The report also includes references to relevant academic literature to support the analysis.

Running head: HEALTHCARE
HEALTHCARE
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

HEALTHCARE 1
Introduction
The Work Health and Safety or occupational health and safety in Australia is
applicable across all the industries and the places where people are employed. It targets towards
the protection off the health and the safety of the employees who are the major stakeholders of
the organization (Haslam et al., 2016). The WHS policy aims for the welfare and protection of
all the employees and the employers of the organization from the challenges towards the
exposure to any kind of risk or hazard coming from the workplace that is rising from the
employment activities. As per the work health and safety act of the year 2011, it is the
responsibility of the organization for protecting the employees and the contractors (Loeppke et
al., 2015). The thesis statement of the essay argues with the polices and the procedures of the
Australian agencies towards the practice of the safety at the workplace. The essay also explains
the findings of organization and recommendation towards the workplace for health and the safety
of the employees.
The workplace
Delta Consultancy is one of the rising business organization that is situated in
Australia. The employees of the organization belongs from diverse backgrounds and their age
ranges from 18 to 50 years. This business organization work for the perspective of maximizing
the profit and contribute to the GDP of the country. The organization utilizes risk assessment
matrix for evaluation of the upcoming risk within the organization that might target as
organizational hazard challenging the employees or the stakeholders of the organization (Potter
et al., 2017). The risk assessment matrix makes the organization easier to extract the essential set
of information from the evaluation of the risk assessments. The organization uses five of the

2HEALTHCARE
most effective steps for assessment of risk. This are locating the hazard, the decision for the
harmed, evaluation regarding the risks and the precautions, recording of findings and the review
of the assessment for updating in the case of requirements. With its own process of evaluation
and identification, Delta consultancy initiates the calculation of the risk assessment matrix. The
matrix helps the company to record the identified hazard in the workplace and also rate them as
per the harm that effects the employees of the organization (Li et al., 2016). Risk assessment
matrix complies with the WHS polices and standards of the organization on an annual basis. This
evaluation process furthermore helps the organization towards the improvement of the work
related to the occupational health and safety and the factors that area threats to the employees.
This will help the organization to identify and revise the challenges.
Figure - Risk Assessment Matrix
Source – (Votano & Sunindijo, 2014)

3HEALTHCARE
The figure above is of a risk assessment matrix explaining the categories the
organization takes for the consideration regarding the risk for the hazards and the consequences
within the organization that is faced by the employees of the organization.
WHS Standards and Key agency
Safe Work Australia leads the development of the national policy for the improvement
of the safety and health regarding the compensation of the work and the arrangements through
the vast region of Australia. Safe Work Australia does not enforce or regulate any legislation
related to WHS policies but aims in effective promotion of the essentiality of the safe and
healthy working across the agencies and working of Australia (Xiang, Pisaniello & Hansen,
2014). The Australian agency promotes the basic standards of practice regarding the healthy and
safe employment that help in the elimination of the hazards related to the workplace in Australia.
Safe Work Australia governs the safety and the work health explaining that the poor practices
can invite organizational and workplace hazards and leads to incident threatening the health and
safety of the places at the workplace (Sadgrove, 2016). It is one of the renowned national policy
organization that is responsible for the development and the evaluation of the WHS laws and
generally incudes the codes of practices and the WHS Act.
Findings
The Business organizations have several types of the hazards that might affect and
challenge the employees of the organization. The categories and the types of the employment
hazard includes physical injuries and harms that are evaluated by the risk assessment matrix.
Both physical and mental injury has been identified as factors affecting the employees of the
organization (Haas & Yorio, 2016). Some of the findings from the organization includes

4HEALTHCARE
employment hazards like mental hazard or stress, tripling due to wet floors and loose wires and
the inappropriate behavior of the coworkers and the supervisors of the organization.
Management and Recommendation
The safety and the occupational health of the employees of the business organization
are managed by compensating with extra payments and incentives (Holt & Allen, 2015). Due to
the precariousness regarding the employment together with the high risk of the dismissal of the
employees of the organization , Delta Consultancy has taken up certain measures for the
improvement of the workplace hazards and for the employee retention.
Some of the best recommendations for the improvement of the workplace hazards for
the business organization includes the recognition of the rights of each of the employees towards
safe working conditions as per the guidelines of the policy and the legislative structure by the
Australian government. The workplace safety and health program is the procedure for the
management of the prevention of the injuries that are related to work and the diseases in the
workplace (Schulte et al., 2014). The following steps are the recommended basic of the
promotion of the occupational health and safety among the organization. This includes the
creation of the plan for the promotion of workplace safety and health, inspection of the
workplace, training of the employees regarding their enhancement of their knowledge of the
essentiality of work , health and safety (Schaufeli & Taris, 2014). Furthermore talking regularly
with the employees investigation of the incidents, maintenance of records and making safety as
the key part of the business. It is important for the organization to invest in the team and assess
the current state of the hazard.

5HEALTHCARE
Conclusion
Thus it can be concluded that WHS policy aims for the welfare and protection of all
the employees and the employers of the organization from the challenges towards the exposure
to any kind of risk or hazard coming from the workplace that is rising from the employment
activities. Safe Work Australia governs the safety and the work health explaining that the poor
practices can invite organizational and workplace hazards and leads to incident threatening the
health and safety of the places at the workplace. The essay explains the polices and the
procedures of the Australian agencies towards the practice of the safety at the workplace.

6HEALTHCARE
References
Haas, E. J., & Yorio, P. (2016). Exploring the state of health and safety management system
performance measurement in mining organizations. Safety science, 83, 48-58.
Haslam, C., O’Hara, J., Kazi, A., Twumasi, R., & Haslam, R. (2016). Proactive occupational
safety and health management: Promoting good health and good business. Safety
science, 81, 99-108.
Holt, A. S. J., & Allen, J. (2015). Principles of health and safety at work. Routledge.
Li, J., Whitlow, M., Bitsura-Meszaros, K., Leung, Y. F., & Barbieri, C. (2016). A
preliminary evaluation of World Heritage tourism promotion: comparing websites
from Australia, China, and Mexico. Tourism Planning & Development, 13(3),
370-376.
Loeppke, R. R., Hohn, T., Baase, C., Bunn, W. B., Burton, W. N., Eisenberg, B. S., ... &
Hymel, P. A. (2015). Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely
aligning health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefits. Journal of
occupational and environmental medicine, 57(5), 585-597.
Potter, R. E., Dollard, M. F., Owen, M. S., O'Keeffe, V., Bailey, T., & Leka, S. (2017).
Assessing a national work health and safety policy intervention using the
psychosocial safety climate framework. Safety science, 100, 91-102.
Sadgrove, K. (2016). The complete guide to business risk management. Routledge.

7HEALTHCARE
Schaufeli, W. B., & 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, Dordrecht.
Schulte, P. A., Geraci, C. L., Murashov, V., Kuempel, E. D., Zumwalde, R. D., Castranova,
V., ... & Martinez, K. F. (2014). Occupational safety and health criteria for
responsible development of nanotechnology. Journal of Nanoparticle
Research, 16(1), 2153.
Votano, S., & Sunindijo, R. Y. (2014). Client safety roles in small and medium construction
projects in Australia. Journal of construction engineering and
management, 140(9), 04014045.
Xiang, J., Bi, P., Pisaniello, D., & Hansen, A. (2014). The impact of heatwaves on workers ׳
health and safety in Adelaide, South Australia. Environmental research, 133, 90-
95.