PUBH6002: Workplace Health and Safety Assessment Report - Vacenti

This report assesses workplace health and safety within the aged care industry, specifically focusing on Vacenti. It begins with an introduction highlighting the prevalence of musculoskeletal injuries and other hazards in aged care facilities, referencing relevant statistics from Safe Work Australia. The report then provides an organizational description of Vacenti, emphasizing its values and services. Key sections cover the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and its implications, along with the goals of health and safety standards. The report includes a risk matrix and a risk assessment and control worksheet to identify and address potential hazards, such as manual handling, workplace violence, and stress. The conclusion summarizes the importance of workplace health and safety in aged care and suggests the need for regular safety audits. References include relevant legislation, research papers, and organizational websites. The appendix contains tables illustrating the risk matrix and the risk assessment and control worksheet.

Running head: WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Organizational description...............................................................................................................2
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................4
Reference.........................................................................................................................................5
Appendix..........................................................................................................................................6

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Introduction
In the aged care facilities, majority of the risk and injuries arises from the aged care
industry and it results from the musculoskeletal injuries like the back injuries. The back injuries
are mainly occurring due to the high risks arising from handling of the manual task like pushing
patient trolleys, moving people and lifting. The other major type of injuries is stress from the
work environment, struck by something (falling objects or sharp knives), food contaminated
floors which might have wet and slips (Mercovich, Kyle & Naunton, 2014). According to the,
safe work Australia, the health care & social assistance the number of fatalities and for the year
2016, 2017 and 5year average is 4, 4, ,3 respectively. The aim of the assessment is to select a
company named Vacenti Age Care and assess the workplace health and safety associated with
the organization (safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2019).
Organizational description
Vacenti is an excellent aged care delivery for the seniors that are living in the South-East
Queensland exceeding 40 years. Vacenti is a family owned company and family values remain at
the core of the business. Each and every resident at Vacenti is treated with understanding,
respect, integrity, warmth. The staffs and the carers at the Vacenti work hard so that they can
develop a trustworthy relationship with the loved ones so as to ensure the health care needs are
met. Vacenti is an aged care facility and it belongs to the aged care industry. The aged care
facility provides care for the aged people (vacenti.com.au, 2019).
The risk assessment was done through the risk matrix. This assessment was done through
a risk matrix and this matrix served to fill the risk assessment and control worksheet. The risk
assessment and control worksheet is used to record the hazards that are identified, what are the

3WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
existing controls in place, the relative levels of risk, and any of the controls are needed to reduce
the risk (appendix).
Work health and safety standards
The Work Health and safety Act 2011, is actually called the WHS act and it provides the
framework through which health is protected along with the welfare and safety of the workers at
the work. This act provides safety and health for all the people that might be affected by the
work. The vital part of the act is to secure the health and safety of the workers. It involves the
protection of the workers and the other workers that are required to hold the duty and minimize
of eliminate the risk; providing an effective, fair and fair representation, cooperation and
consultation; providing a proper framework for continuous improvement; ensuring appropriate
scrutiny and along with it review of the actions that are taken by the persons, functions and
powers. strengthening and maintaining the national harmonization with the WHS laws and it will
be facilitating the national approach to WHS. Promoting training for WHS, provision of
education, information, and advice (legislation.qld.gov.au, 2019).
The goals of the health and safety office standard is to minimize the hazards and the
health hazards issues that emanate when working in the aged care facilities. According to WHO,
there is a wide range of health issues that can injure a worker, staff when moving, lifting,
pushing an aged personnel from one place to another. The major injury that takes place in an
aged care facility is the injuries associated with lifting, pulling and pushing. Therefore, the main
goals are to keep the load close to the body while lifting, minimizing twisting with a load; testing
of the personal limits so that the it is 50 percent blow the lifting limit (who.int, 2019).

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Workplace health and safety Queensland is the only agency that is associated with the
workplace health and safety in aged care. The Queensland Work health and Safety is informed
by the Work Health Safety Act 2011. The main aim of the act is to provides the framework
through which health is protected along with the welfare and safety of the workers at the work
(legislation.qld.gov.au, 2019).
Conclusion
From the above study it can be concluded that the company takes the workplace health
and safety in a serious way. However, there are still issues that can be corrected by having safety
audit on a regular basis in order to minimize and reduce the workplace issues. The risk matrix
addresses the issues pertaining to the workplace environment. This can be considered as a
inclusive and the still exists room for improvement. Therefore, it is important to mention that
work and safety is a vital issue for the aged care industry and Vacenti is an aged care facility and
it belongs to the aged care industry. The aged care facility provides care for the aged people.
Work Health and safety Act 2011provides protection of the workers and the other workers that
are required to hold the duty and minimize of eliminate the risk.

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Reference
legislation.qld.gov.au. (2019). View - Queensland Legislation - Queensland Government.
Retrieved from https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/view/html/inforce/current/act-2011-
018
Mercovich, N., Kyle, G. J., & Naunton, M. (2014). Safe to crush? A pilot study into solid dosage
form modification in aged care. Australasian journal on ageing, 33(3), 180-184.
safeworkaustralia.gov.au. (2019). Work-related traumatic injury fatalities. Retrieved from
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/collection/work-related-traumatic-injury-fatalities
vacenti.com.au. (2019). Homepage - Vacenti. Retrieved from https://www.vacenti.com.au/
who.int. (2019). Occupational health. Retrieved from
https://www.who.int/occupational_health/en/

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Appendix
Table 1: Risk matrix
Impact
Very low Low Medium High Very high
Likeliness
Very
low
Someone
threatening
to hurt a
person
Low Kicking,
punching,
shoving and
pushing
Medium Unwelcomed
sexual
comments
Lifting,
pulling and
pushing
Hazardous
substance
contract
High Stress from
work
environment
Hazard from
manual
handling
Struck by
something
Very
high
Racial abuse Workplace
violence
Wet and
food
contaminated
floors
Table 2: Risk assessment and control worksheet
Task or
scenario
Hazard/s Associated
harm, e.g. what
could go
wrong?
Existing
Risk
Controls
Current
risk
rating
Use the
Risk
Matrix
Any
additional
controls are
required?1
Residual
risk
rating
Use the
Risk
Matrix
Lifting,
pushing
and, lifting
Manual
handling
hazard
Musculoskeletal
injury
Adopting not
to lift,
reporting of all
faults
Medium Improvement
of load and
workplace
design
Low
Racial
Workplace
violence
Physical injury,
mental trauma,
Assessment
of the resident
at the
Low Evasive self-
defensive
techniques
Very
1

7WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY
abuse,
kicking,
punching,
shoving
and
pushing
preliminary
stage low
Long work
hours
Manual
hazards
Trauma, stress
and anxiety
Looking for
signs of stress
Medium Appropriate
and adequate
staffing levels
Low