Work Health and Safety System Implementation Report: Merica

This report details the implementation of a Work Health and Safety (WHS) system at Merica Outlet, a food retail establishment. The report outlines strategies for informing employees about WHS policies, including using various communication channels such as organizational meetings, safety induction...Read More

Running head: WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY SYSTEM
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Implementing Work Health and Safety System
Name
Institution Affiliation

WORK HEALTH AND SAFETY SYSTEM
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Introduction
Merica outlet is a food retail joint located at 106-109 Berkeley in Melbourne. The café operates
on a 24-hour system with a specialty in black coffee, roasted chicken, and toasted eggs. The
retail employs 50 staffs in production, service and the management department. As the acting
officer working on the work health and safety system, this is how I will guide the organization.
I will ensure the team working in the cafe learns that the WHS policies and procedures cover
workers, clients, premises, equipment and the building. I will ensure the team members access
the WHS policies and procedures through organizational meetings and workers’ safety induction
guidebook. Moreover, the policies and procedure will be uploaded to the organization websites.
The same policies and procedures will be placed on strategic workplace notice boards and
regular newsletters. Considering the growth in the use of technology I will ensure the team
members get the documents through personal emails as safety alerts as well as develop workers
Whatsapp group and have a regular post of the documents.
Every stakeholder has the responsibility of ensuring a healthy and safe workplace (Government
of New South Wale, 2015). I will inform team members about WHS legislation and code of
conduct. Members will learn about the duties of employers’ of providing safe work environment
such as accessible floors and safe handling equipment in the organization, the mandate to avail
clean and adequate facilities such as washrooms and drinking water and protect the general
public. The workers will know about their duties of protecting themselves by following
instructions and using the provided equipment. The members will learn about the contractors’
responsibilities to develop and implement WHS policies to protect their workers.

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I will ensure team members are in a position to identify the possible hazard such as chemicals in
the store, hot liquids, and steam, injuries that can occur as a result of electrical appliances, harsh
clients, heat, and cuts. I will communicate to the staff on how to control the possible risks
through wearing of protecting gears effectively handling of chemicals. I will ensure the
management and the workers consult and contribute in policies and regulations development
through staff meetings, HS representatives and WHS committees that will ensure staff and
management meet regularly to discuss the WHS issues in the organization.
I will ensure any raised concern about the store WHS hazard is resolved in a manner such as
ceasing operations in areas that may cause injuries. The communication about the issue will be
issued immediately through memos’, notice board and personal emails.
Moreover, I will design a hotline to report and notify the management of the possible hazardous
occurrence and a standby team to address the concern. I will set up a responsive team office that
will address immediately any reported concern at the workplace. I will set up an investigation
team to probe the occurrence of the reported hazardous incident to identify the contributing
factors. I will head the investigation team that will include the injured parties and the Health
Safety Representative to get to the cause and designs the solution strategies.
Depending on the contributing factors e.g. the electrical wires, I will ensure removal of any fault
installation and regular electrical inspection. If the incident was triggered by human error, I will
lead in the designing of protocols of behaving in specific areas to ensure the procedures are
followed. All hazardous goods will be handled with care. Dangerous chemicals will be clearly
labeled, well stored and have staffs trained in handling them. All equipment will be safely kept to

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curb the risk of harm from carelessly stored gadgets. I will ensure there are safety switches to
curb electrical appliances from causing injuries to users.
I will design emergency policies to ensure safety in case of an emergency. In case of fire, I will
ensure there are smoke detecting alarms, exit doors, and emergency vehicles. I will put in place
emergency reporting procedures and measures to offer immediate first aid services. Furthermore,
I will identify the gap in workers ability to achieve WHS objectives and specify training to
address the gaps. Every retail organization will be required to train members on dealing with
hazardous occurrences (The Sydney Morning Herard, 2009).The training will focus on
individual responsibilities and, address how to avoid specific hazards in the workplace. I will
keep all the record of any hazardous occurrence, the investigation and resolve according to the
legislation and the WHS store policies. I will keep records on training, first aids, compensations
and workplace inspection forms.
Conclusion
The above will ensure that every team member recognizes the need for developing WHS policies
and implementation. The workers will feel included in the process and will ensure total
compliance. Team members will see the need to train in handling hazardous incidents and will be
proactive in reporting and preventing the occurrence and, this will ensure a healthy and safe
work environment in the store.

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PART B
1. The Merica kitchen has ventilation that safeguards the cooks from excess heat. The kitchen
has a fire gas that would be used to put-off any fire. There are first aid emergencies in the kitchen
to address knife injuries or headaches. Additionally, the kitchen floor is regularly washed to
make the environment clean and fight bacteria on the floor. The kitchen also provides a table to
sort out the food safety and allergies and safety locations where kitchen appliances are stored
safely to curb the injury risks from careless misplacement of appliances.
However, the Merica kitchen lacks a place to safely and hygienically store the domestic cleaning
products and this would lead them to collect bacteria.
2. Merica Outlet has adhered to the WHS acts, regulations and code of conducts. Business
organizations must adhere to WHS acts and regulations (Government of South Australia, 2014).
The outlet has a regularly updated WHS policy and procedure and communicated to every
stakeholder on a personal and organizational level. The store provides protective gears to all the
staffs to curb any risk in handling hot liquids, knives, and even chemicals. The store facilities
such as wash room’s floors are healthy and cleaned every short span of time. The joint adheres to
the code of labeling all chemicals and have first aid room in the building. The store plays low
volume music to guard people against excessive noise that would cause hearing problems.
3. A PCBU is a person conducting a business. A PCBU is any entity that is legally operating a
business and not a specific person (Sherrif & Tooma, 2011). A PCBU derive its duties from the
control it has on a work environment and ability to assert influences and work directions to
workers. A PCBU has the responsibilities of ensuring a healthy workplace by identifying
hazards, monitoring the health and safety of workers and providing necessary equipment and

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facilities for the members of the organizations. Additionally, a PCBU monitors the working
environment, consult workers on identified hazards, develop and implement WHS policies and
keep any record of the occurrences in the organization. As opposed to the employer who is an
individual involved in business, a PCBU makes decisions that ensure compliance of workers
health and safety.

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References
Government of New South Wale (2015, September 1) Work Cover has changed. Retrieved
March 5, 2018 from http://www.workcover.nsw.gov.au/
Government of South Australia (2014, July 4). Community Workers: Work health and safety
guidelines. Retrieved March 5, 2018, from
https://www.safework.sa.gov.au/uploaded_files/CommunityWorkers
Sherrif, D. & Tooma, M. (2011, May 4) Identifying the primary duty holder under the Work
Health and Safety Act. Safety Connect. Retrieved from
https://www.safetysolutions.net.au/content/business/article/identifying-the-primary-duty-
holder-under-the-work-health-and-safety-act-783249563
The Sydney Morning Herard (2009, December 18). OH&S/WHS Acts, Regulations and Codes of
Practice | Occupational health & safety. Retrieved march 5, 2018 from
https://www.smh.com.au/business/small-business/ohswhs-acts-regulations-and-codes-of-
practice--occupational-health--safety-20091218-l0j9.html