Assignment on Work Health and Safety (WHS) in ICT Environment

This assignment delves into the critical aspects of Work Health and Safety (WHS) within the ICT environment. It begins by outlining the purpose of WHS policies, processes, and procedures in supporting safe work practices and adhering to standard legislation, emphasizing the roles and responsibilities of managers, supervisors, and officers. The assignment identifies key legislation relevant to Australia and highlights model codes of practice for managing various workplace hazards. It then addresses barriers to implementing WHS standards, such as inadequate information and poor communication, and suggests solutions like improved consultation and training. The assignment clarifies the roles of WHS representatives, PCBUs, contractors, and employees in ensuring workplace safety. It also provides recommendations for effective WHS procedures, including communication strategies and consultation processes, to enhance information sharing and risk management. The assignment concludes with references to support the discussed concepts, providing a comprehensive overview of WHS in ICT.

Running head: WORK SAFELY IN ICT
Work safely in ICT
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Answer to question 1:
The purpose of policies, processes and procedures WHS (Work Health and Safety) is to
support agencies and organization to implement effective safety management and work health
system that is consistent to the standard legislation. It also intends to provide information to
agencies for clarifying responsibilities and duties of managers, supervisors and officers in
contributing to healthy and safe work environment. Policy of WHS act is applicable to all
organizations under the direction and control of Minister for Health (Joss et al. 2017). Policies
are intended to create better relationship between owners and employees.
Answer to question 2:
Some of the legislation that are to be consider when working around Australia are as
follows:
 Fair work Act, 2009
 Work Health and safety act of Northern territory
 Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 of Victoria
 Occupational health and Safety regulations 1994 of Commonwealth
 There are some model code of practice that should also be complied with. This involves
managing noise and prevention of hearing loss at work, managing the facilities and work
environment, managing risks of hazardous chemicals at workplace, first aid practices and
demolition work.

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Answer to question 3:
Answer to question 3a:
Implementation of WHS standards at workplace can be faced with some barriers and they
are listed below:
 Inadequate information of WHS
 Lack of understanding on part of organizations or employers
 Inequality in consultation process
 Inappropriate methods of communication
 Lack of consultation skills on part of supervisors and representatives of WHS
 Physical barriers
 Lack of confidentiality
 Poor process of consultation
 Short term expectation and outlook
Answer to question 3b:
Poor consultation skills of supervisors and representatives of WHS- The potential value
of consultation is limited by creation of barriers due to poor communication techniques and or
consultation. Confidence should be built in consulting and communication by training and
supporting representatives and supervisors of workers. The effectiveness of consultation process
can be improved by using a variety of consultation strategies (Woolley et al. 2014).

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Answer to question 4:
WHS representatives- The responsibilities of WHS representatives is to improve
awareness and communication about requirements of legislation. They are responsible to raise
any issues concerning WHS to management on behalf of students and employees.
PCBU such as venue manager and studio owner- PCBU’s have the authority to act
within the limit of their control and to make decisions for making workplace safe. They have the
responsibility of meeting with obligations in accordance with WHS regulation 2011 NSW and
WHS Act 2011 NSW (De Cieri et al. 2015).
Contractor/Employees- Responsibility of contractor or employee is to comply with the
codes of practice, legislation and standards that are applicable to their particular scope of work.
They should follow the procedures and policies of guidelines of contractor safety.
Answer to question 5:
Answer to question 5a:
In order to create effective WHS procedures, it is suggested to create effective
communication. Some of the recommended procedures are as follows:
 Discussing work practices and other issues with managers and representatives of WHS
 Sharing and sourcing of information relating to legislations needs to be updated and
gained using the platform of intranet and internet.
 Effective communication can be contributed by considering communication barriers in
isolated and remote work locations that would help in making possibility of daily contact.

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Answer to question 5b:
Consultation is about discussing issues, raising concerns, sharing views and seeking
information in a two way framework. Consultation process should be seen as an opportunity that
helps in adding value to decision making process and it is regarded as an essential part for
managing safety risks at workplace. The process of information management is enhanced when
everyone involved at workplace communicate with each other that helps in identification of
risks, addressing safety and health concerns and finding solutions by working together. Aims of
consultation is about ensuring that sufficient information are available to organization to make
well informed decisions so that workers are provided with opportunities to understand the reason
of decision and presenting their views. Gaps in managing safety and health risks is addressed
consulting, coordinating and cooperating activities with duty holders. Process of consultation
requires sharing of relevant health and safety information at workplace (Castro and Ramos
2017). It provides workers with reasonable opportunities to make decision relating to health and
safety matters.
Answer to question 6:
a) WHS Policy

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b) WHS Procedures

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c) WHS incident form

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References list:
Castro, I. and Ramos, D.G., 2017, March. Understanding the management of occupational health
and safety risks through the consultation of workers. In Occupational Safety and Hygiene V:
Proceedings of the International Symposium on Occupational Safety and Hygiene (SHO 2017),
April 10-11, 2017, Guimarães, Portugal (p. 17). CRC Press.
De Cieri, H., Shea, T., Cooper, B., Sheehan, C. and Donohue, R., 2015. Early indicators of
workplace injuries and accidents: An analysis of leading indicators as predictors of workplace
OHS outcomes in Australian workplaces. Compensation, and Recovery Research.
Joss, N., Dupré-Husser, E., Cooklin, A. and Oldenburg, B., 2017. The emergence of integrated
approaches to worker health, safety and wellbeing in Australia. Australian journal of primary
health, 23(2), pp.154-161.
Woolley, J.E., Bailey, T.J. and Raftery, S.J., 2014. What can work health and safety learn from
road safety? (No. CASR121).