Managing Occupational Risks at KFC: A Due Diligence Report

This report investigates the management of occupational risks at KFC, focusing on the responsibilities of an officer and the concept of due diligence as defined by the Work Health and Safety Act in Australia. The report begins with an overview of Safe Work Australia and the six key areas of due diligence. It then examines the definition of an officer under the WHS Act. The methodology involves an interview with a KFC officer to assess the company's adherence to due diligence practices. The results reveal deficiencies in KFC's implementation of the Act, particularly concerning training programs and communication about WHS matters. The report recommends that KFC reinforce strategies for the fullest application of the Act, emphasizing the importance of training and hazard management to ensure a safe working environment. The conclusion highlights the necessity for officers to exercise due diligence and implement strategies to mitigate workplace hazards effectively.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................................3
2. Review on the Safe Work Australia.......................................................................................3
3. The Review of the Six Due Diligence....................................................................................4
4. Review of the Who is an Officer under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act......5
5. Methods..................................................................................................................................5
6. Results....................................................................................................................................6
7. Recommendations..................................................................................................................7
8. Conclusion..............................................................................................................................7
References..................................................................................................................................8
Appendix..................................................................................................................................10

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Executive Summary
The aim of this report is to understand the responsibilities and roles of an officer of a
company and due diligence described under the section 27 of the Work Health and Safety
Act, Australia. An interview with KFC officer has been conducted. The results indicate that
there is a lack in management to develop strategy in application to the law. The report
concludes that the chosen organization should provide all the aspects of the law to its workers
and the organization should develop strategies to manage hazards related to health and safety
matters in the workplace. It is recommended that the chosen organization should reinforce
strategies for the fullest application of the Act.

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1. Introduction
The Australian Government established Safe Work Australia in 2008, which is an
Australian government statutory body, and which focuses on developing national policy
related to worker’s compensation and the regulation of the Work Health and Safety Act
(WHS) (Safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2017).
The purpose of this report is to understand the roles and responsibilities of an officer
of an organization and due diligence described under the section 27 of the Work Health and
Safety Act, Australia. The chosen organization is KFC. An interview with KFC officer has
been conducted.
The report will review the Safe Work Australia website for understanding the roles
and responsibilities of an officer, the six due diligence that an officer must follow and the
definition of an officer according to the Work Health and Safety Act model. However, for
maturing the purpose of this report, an interview with KFC officer has been conducted. The
method includes asking for one question to the officer in the application of the each
responsibility out of the six responsibilities of the designation mentioned in Due Diligence of
the legislative act. Then, the report will show the results based on the interview and search
recommendations to scopes to develop strategies for effective leadership.
2. Review on the Safe Work Australia
Safe Work Australia demonstrates the duties and responsibilities of an officer
described in section 27 of the Work Health and Safety Act, Australia. According to the act,
an officer should have responsibilities for his employees to ensure that the legislative act is
applying properly. The officer is he whose decision influences the resources that have the
capacity to allow the purposes of the Work Health and Safety norms (Australia, 2012).

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However, the Act places duty and responsibility on an officer to practice due
diligence of any business operation. The officers should take logical steps that would ensure a
healthy and safe work culture. An officer would ensure its workers and the organizational
structure that the law has acted properly and the organization are efficient enough to manage
the hazards related to the Work Health and Safety (Matsuura, 2016).
3. The Review of the Six Due Diligence
The section 27 of the Work Health and Safety Act has provided the Health and Safety
duty that an officer should follow to exercise the Due Diligence. Due Diligence is a corporate
law that allows an officer to do some steps to follow it in his company (Lawrence, 2013).
The officer should be up-to-date about the knowledge of the Work Health and Safety
related matters. The officers should have an understanding of the nature of the business
operation and the risks and hazards associated with it. The officer should also have an
understanding of what is required for ensuring the health and safety legislation. An officer
should ensure the process and the resources that eliminate the risks associated with the act.
He should also ensure it that the rule is being followed properly (Zanko & Dawson, 2012).
The officer should have known about the appropriate processes that will allow him to
receive information about the incident, hazards, risks related to Work Health and Safety and
the necessary requirement to manage the risks. The officer should have known about his
obligations that include proper reporting about the notifiable incidents that typically means
serious infectious disease, consulting with the workers. The officer should sign an agreement
that allows issues to act under the Work Health and Safety Act (. The officer should arrange
training and provide instruction to the workers regarding work health and safety matters.
Even the officer should be aware of whether the health and safety representative receives
their entitlements to the training program (Stewart, 2013).

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4. Review of the Who is an Officer under the model Work Health and Safety (WHS) Act
The section 4 of the model Work Health and Safety Act elucidate a definition of an
officer of a corporation, partnership or unincorporated association. The definition has been
stated in section 9 under the Commonwealth Corporations Act 2001 (Australia, 2015). An
officer could also mean a director or secretary of a corporation. Otherwise, an officer means
the person who participates in the decision-making process that would affect directly or
partly on the business operation. An officer is able to influence effectively on the
corporation’s financial framework (Reese, 2015). The directors use to follow the instructions
of officers. The officer also could be a receiver and a manager who handles the property of
the corporation. The officer sometimes also could be an administrator who instructs on the
business operation. The definition according to The Corporation Act provides a similar
definition of an officer for a partnership business or unincorporated association.
5. Methods
For enquiring the due diligence of the other organization such as KFC, an interview
method has been conducted. For conducting an interview with the officer of the KFC,
minimum one question about the responsibilities in due diligence of the officer of that
organization has been asked. The single interview question is picked and selected from each
of the six responsibilities of an officer described under section 27 of the Work Health and
Safety Act. The interview has been conducted for determining whether KFC acts according to
the Work Health and Safety Act or not. Based on the answers from the officer of the KFC,
another set of questions would be asked about what he is thinking that would help him to
follow the Act and the process, which he would follow for commanding over his workers to
follow the Act. The interview will also put emphasis on the process, which the organization is

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following in response to due diligence, and how the organization has reached in the process
about the concept of the due diligence.
6. Results
The results are based on the interview with an officer of the KFC organization that
has been conducted for reaching the necessary understanding about the due diligence that the
organization KFC is following or not. The results would be based on the interview. The
interview will also provide the comparison between the Due Diligence of the officer of the
KFC with the expectations of due diligence of the Australia law.
The result is showing that the organization KFC is not properly following the due
diligence process. The officer of the KFC stated that he is aware of the due diligence with
health and safety obligations and the organization is following it. The work system is safe and
it tries actively to monitor the health and safety management of the organization. According
to the officer of the KFC, he is up-to-date of the health and safety matters at work. His
organization takes necessary steps for minimizing the risks and the hazards and also the
organization develops some strategies and necessary processes that will eliminate the hazards
or the risks related to health and safety from the organization. However, the organization
could not arrange any training program that would help the workers of the organization about
work health and safety norms. Even, the organization could not have any structure that will
provide training programs to the workers. They do not have any health and safety
representatives.
According to the officer’s view, the due diligence is partly followed by this
organization. However, the officer stated that the organization has some planning to start the
training program soon and for fulfilling that, the training program has been structured and
developed. The organization would appoint some representatives also. The officer admitted

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that there is a lack of communication between the authority and the workers about the Work
Health and Safety matters. However, the organization has taken strategy (the training
program) that would help to eradicate the communication problem.
7. Recommendations
It is recommended to the organization KFC to follow strictly all the six due diligence
under the section 27 of the Work Health and Safety Act, Australia for maintaining the health
and safety matters at the workplace. Due diligence is the officer’s duty and responsibility of
an organization that should be exercised efficiently. The organization KFC is lacking to fulfil
all the due diligence mentioned in the Act. It is suggested to the organization to employ a
training program that would enable the workers of the organization to develop an idea about
the Work Health and Safety Act and the matters associated with it (Hale, Borys & Adams,
2015). The organization should organize an effective training program that would allow the
workers to develop an idea about the work health and safety norms. The training program
should be developed methodically and the officer should pay attention to individual worker
and the knowledge they have gathered from the training program (Robson et al., 2012).
8. Conclusion
It can be concluded that the officer of any organization of Australia must exercise the Due
Diligence and the legislative orders in the organization to avoid hazards related to the Work
Health and Safety Act. The chosen organization should provide all the aspects of the law to
its workers and the organization should develop strategies to manage hazards related to health
and safety matters in the workplace. It is recommended that the chosen organization should
reinforce strategies for the fullest application of the Act.

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References
Australia, S. W. (2012). Australian work health and safety strategy 2012-2022: Healthy, safe
and productive working lives. Safe Work Australia.
Australia, S. W. (2015). Managing the Risks of Falls at Workplaces: Code of Practice. Safe
Work Australia.
Hale, A., Borys, D., & Adams, M. (2015). Safety regulation: the lessons of workplace safety
rule management for managing the regulatory burden. Safety science, 71, 112-122.
Lawrence, G. M. (2013). Due Diligence in Business Transactions. Law Journal Press.
Matsuura, H. (2016). Occupational Health and Safety. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of
Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Reese, C. D. (2015). Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach.
CRC press.
Robson, L. S., Stephenson, C. M., Schulte, P. A., Amick III, B. C., Irvin, E. L., Eggerth, D.
E., ... & Peters, R. H. (2012). A systematic review of the effectiveness of occupational
health and safety training. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 193-
208.
Safeworkaustralia.gov.au. (2017). Home. Safe Work Australia. Retrieved 23 September 2017,
from https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au
Stewart, A. (2013). Stewart's guide to employment law (Vol. 3). Sydney: Federation Press.
Zanko, M., & Dawson, P. (2012). Occupational health and safety management in
organizations: A review. International Journal of Management Reviews, 14(3), 328-
344.

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Appendix
1. Does your organization exercise the due diligence?
The organization where I am the officer follows the due diligence. The organization ensures
compliance with its health and safety obligation. I am up-to-date about the health and safety
matters.
2. Do you have ideas about the hazards or risks associated with the business operation of
your organization?
Yes, I have idea about the hazards or risks associated with the business operation of my
organization. I have gathered this knowledge and taken advice from a suitable person. He has
provided me a general understanding of the risks or hazards associated with the business
operation that would reflect the legislative aspect of the responsibilities of an officer. This
organization is also uses appropriate processes that would eliminate or minimize the risks
factors. It is my responsibility to look at the matters related to it. My decision-making ability
affects the procedures and resources related to Work Health and Safety. However, I am
careful enough to ensure that the resources are being used properly.
3. Are the employees of this organization aware about the legislative act? Do they know the
Work Health and Safety matters?
The employees of this organization are aware about the legislative act. They know all the
information related to it. However, until now we are unable to provide them any training
about work health and safety matters. We are working on it. We have planned to arrange
training programs to make them aware in detailed manner. We would also entitle health and
safety representatives in our organization. We admit from the administrative part of the

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organization that we are less active in worker consultation that helps in facilitating the flow
of Work Health and Safety information.
4. What are the organization steps to follow the due diligence in KFC?
The organization KFC tries to follow the legislative aspect of the due diligence. As an officer,
I can ensure you that I play an active role in the planning and activating of the health and
safety initiative. I am aware of the technical aspect, which is directly related to the legal
obligations of the employees, and the strategic aspect, which is related to the organizational
stand based on the relevant situation.
5. What do think that your organization should follow to allow the flow of WHS information?
We need to work on the effective employee consultation. We should arrange training
program related to the act. That would allow the employees to participate in the action and
aware them about the different dimension of the legislative act. We should employ an
appropriate governance structure that would enable the flow of WHS information within the
organization.
6. Is your organization following all the aspects of the law properly?
We are trying to employ all the aspect off the law properly. However, we know that we
have lack on applying it. We need to work on that.

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