Work Health and Safety Assessment Report: Canberra Hospital, PUBH6002

This report presents a comprehensive work health and safety (WHS) assessment of a hospital in Canberra, focusing on the identification of hazards and the recommendation of mitigation strategies. The assessment begins with an introduction to the importance of WHS in healthcare settings, emphasizing the Duty of Care and the need for a safe work environment. It then outlines the key agencies and institutions governing WHS, specifically Safe Work Australia and the ACT government's regulations, and discusses the relevant policies, including the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT), the Duty of Care, and policies related to nursing practice and fair work. The report details the findings of the WHS assessment, highlighting hazards such as aggressive patient behavior, microbiological risks, ergonomic hazards related to patient handling and equipment use, and psychosocial hazards like bullying and long working hours. Recommendations are provided to address these hazards, including training programs, improved equipment, workplace procedure revisions, and counseling services. The report concludes by emphasizing the importance of implementing these recommendations, along with regular auditing, to ensure a safer and more effective healthcare environment for both staff and patients.

Running head: WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT
WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
ORGANIZATION
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
Introduction
To ensure adequate functioning and quality associated excellence at the workplace,
organizational managers must ensure the prevalence of an occupational environment which is
safe and free from hazards. As per regulations of the Duty of Care, organizational managers have
a responsibility towards the safety, functional capacity and health of workers, so as to ensure that
the key occupational inhabitants and staff gain access to their right an appropriate work
environment (Vreugdenhil, 2017). While every organization and occupational sector poses a
wide range of susceptibilities towards acquisitions of hazards and risks to safety, the organization
which will be focused here is the health and healthcare organization (Foley & Christensen,
2016). The following paragraphs of this paper will aim to shed light on the standards of work
health and safety followed at a local hospital located in Canberra which caters to a wide variety
of patients suffering from physiological as well as psychological health issues. The first section
of this paper will focus upon the key policy standards and institutions associated with
governance of the concerned healthcare organization while the second section focuses
extensively on the summary of work health and safety (WHS) assessment results as well as the
key recommendations on mitigating the identified hazards.
Discussion
Key Agencies/ Institutions
The primary agency responsible for governing work health and safety (WHS) in the
chosen healthcare organization is Safe Work Australia. Safe Work Australia is the key
organization responsible for ensuring key developments in the WHS associated policies and

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regulations for every territory and state of Australia, which in this case, considering that the
chosen healthcare organization is a hospital in Canberra, will include the Safe Work Australia’s
‘SafeWork ACT (Australian Capital Territory)’ territorial sector. It is worthwhile to note that
Safe Work Australia is not responsible for regulation or enforcement of WHS associated
legislations. Hence, to comply with WHS regulatory standards, the chosen hospital will require
to work in collaboration with the WHS regulations and legislations associated with the local
government of the concerned state, which in this case would be the Australian Capital Territory
(ACT) government’s sector in Canberra (McInnes et al., 2019). Hence, taking insights from the
same, the chosen hospital organization must comply to the ACT Government’s WHS
requirements by working actively with the WHS site officer who will engage in timely risk and
hazard assessments and risk management audits to ensure that the chosen workplace is free from
hazards and promotes a safe occupational environment for workers (Lower, Rolfe & Monaghan,
2017). Additional, departments within the chosen workplace may also contribute actively to
WHS governance and compliance. Hence intra-departmental organizations like the quality
management department may also ensure of the hospitals WHS compliance by conducting audits
as well as developing extensive reports on hazard managements and risk assessments (Arnetz et
al, 2018).
Policies
To ensure that a safe working environment is maintained by the chosen healthcare
organization, that is, the hospital located in Canberra – there must be compliance with WHS
regulations and policies specific to the ACT government and Safe Work Australia’s ACT
territorial branch. These include: the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (ACT) and ACT
Codes of Practice, which are regulated by the WorkSafe ACT. Additionally, the managers of the

3WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
healthcare organization must comply to additional policies like the Duty of Care – under which
they hold a key responsibility to not only ensure the provision of safe working environment to
their workers but also provide options for compensation if workplace safety is hindered or
workers are met with any form of potential harm (Kaine, 2016). Considering the discipline of
healthcare and nursing associated with the chosen hospital, the organization also needs to comply
with certain the policies specific to the same. Hence, the ensure patient safety and the
maintenance of a generally safe occupational environment, the nurses of the chose hospital must
comply with the Codes and Standards of Practice highlighted in the Nursing and Midwifery
Board of Australia as well as comply with nursing ethics such as beneficence, maleficence and
patient privacy and confidentiality. Additionally, the hospital or any type of healthcare or
occupational organization whatsoever must ensure the presence of a working environment which
is fair, just and adheres to the needs of all workers and also ensures a working environment free
from psychosocial hazards such as bullying or inappropriate behavior (Nagle et al., 2017). Hence
considering the same, the organizational managers of the hospital must comply to policies
underlying the Fair Work Act 2009 in accordance to the legislative standards set out by the Fair
Work Commission and the Australian Human Rights Commission (Power, 2017).
Summary of WHS Assessment Findings
A detailed WHS assessment of the chosen hospital revealed the presence of a wide range
of detrimental hazards. In terms of vulnerable populations, of which, the identified group
includes nurses, the major hazard is associated with nurses handling patients with mental health
issues (Shea et al., 2017). Due to the deficits in cognition and logic prevalent in such patient
groups, nurses are often susceptible to physical hazards in the form of aggressive and violent
behavior from such patients and the associated injuries, as well as psychological hazards in the

4WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
form of nurses experiencing distress, anxiety and fear prior to handling of such patients
(Jutkowitz et al., 2016). This risk must be managed with utmost priority since it increases the
vulnerability of nurses acquiring mental health issues, injuries and workplace insecurity as well
as disrupts regular workplace functioning and loss of functional quality. Along with nurses,
patients have also been identified as a vulnerable population. Due to frequent handling and
exposure to disease condition, nurses and patients are also susceptible to acquiring
microbiological hazards in the form of infections which if not managed can result in loss in
nursing workforce functioning as well as difficult to ensure positive health outcomes in the
patient (Shahabinejad et al., 2017). Further, nurses as well as other staff associated with the
hospital, are often required to engage in transporting patients to various departments using
stretches or wheelchairs, adjust their settings of elevation of patient beds as well as transport
necessary hospital supplies using trolleys or carts. Lack of adequate training on usage of such
equipment especially among novice nurses may results in falls and injuries and harm to both
patients and nurses (Aluko et al., 2016). Similarly, the trolley and associated equipment, if left
cluttered and unorganized can result in trips and falls and hence, long term as well as short term
injuries. Hence, these major occupational and physical hazards must be corrected immediately
since lack of management of the same results in ergonomic hazards among nurses resulting in
long term aches, pains, sprains and chronic loss of mobility and further progresses to disruption
in normal nursing and hospital oriented working procedures (Ndejjo et al., 2015). Further, a key
hazard has been noted in the possibilities of slipping and encountering falls while walking over
wet floors which results in associated physical and ergonomic injuries. Likewise, long hours of
work coupled with novice nurses often being bullied by seniors resulting in ergonomic and

5WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
psychological hazards such as anxiety, distress, fatigue, loss of satisfaction and aches (Bekele et
al., 2015).
Recommendations
As per the WHS assessment, several recommendations have been made which can be
used to mitigate the hazards. Firstly, it is recommended that an organizational training and
educational plan is administered which will aim to increase the level of awareness among
vulnerable populations like nurses on the importance of current usage of equipment for patient
safety as well as conductance of patient and personal hygiene standards in order to reduce
possibilities of biological and microbiological hazards like infections (Olds et al., 2017). Further
considering the presence of clutter and wet floors which may result in falls and injuries, there
must be establishment of warning signs and symptoms and usage of footwear with adequate grip
to further check movement and enhance awareness. Considering that long working hours have
contributed to psychological and ergonomic hazards among nurses, the managers must consider
a revision of existing workplace procedures which may ensure flexibility to nurses and provide
time for rest and recuperation (Graban, 2016). It is recommended that nurses are educated
extensively on management of aggressive patients along the hospital establishing a separate
patient handling workforce so that nurses are not alone in their management of aggressive and
violent patients. Likewise, to manage issues associated with bullying, it is recommended that the
hospital establishes a counseling and grievance center which can provide counseling and
psychological services to nurses encountering mental health issues associated with stress and
bullying (Mullen, 2015). There must conductance of risk assessment audits by the hospital’s
quality department as well as the WHS site officer in compliance to the WHS regulations of the
ACT government and SafeWork Act. It is also recommended that the organization’s managers

6WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY ASSESSMENT: HOSPITAL/HEALTHCARE
comply to the legislations of Duty of Care as well the standards of Fair Work Act 2009
established by the Fair Work Commission and Australian Human Rights Commission (Sharwood
et al., 2019).
Conclusion
Hence, it can be observed that healthcare organizations like hospitals, as observed in the
chosen organization are susceptible to a range of risks and hazards which hinder safety of
vulnerable populations like nurses and patients and also hinder overall quality of work by the
concerned staff. However, with the aid of establishment of counseling services, educational
programs, adequate footwear and warning signs coupled with regular auditing the hospital can
mitigate the effect of these hazards.

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