Occupational Health and Safety Issues - Assignment Example

Occupational health and safety Investigative Procedures and Policies Customer Inserts His/Her Name Customer Inserts Grade Course Customer Inserts Tutor’s Name Insert Date Here (Day, Month, Year) As the first member of an investigation team at the scene of a workplace incident involving injured people and damaged equipment, outline your first actions? . A workplace incident can be considered as a case whereby any one of the following mishap has occurred like injury to the any one or many people working on the same project or gotten ill while performing tasks, or any person or any person or group of people might have missed an accident or any chance of getting serious illness while working. This is called as near miss or any equipment which has been damaged might have been damaged and risk work force could have been exposed to or have been exposed to on account of the same. As a member of an investigative team at the scene of a workplace incident, our initial step is to make surety of the safety of the workforce and of others, bringing the incident to the notice of the first aid officer and the manager to immediately arrange for the treatment of the injured. To make sure that there are no outside disturbances to ensure hindrance free first aid to the injured, making all security arrangements for prevention of further mishap, to complete in full detail incident report form. After the precautionary measures are taken and safety of the patient is assured, as an investigative member my first task would be to study the complete area where incident has occurred and to give help where ever there is required. Not disturbing the scene of the incident does not mean posing hindrance in the path of recovery it simply means avoiding undue interference of any outside source who does not have any role in the rescue operation and let the rescue and relief work goes unhindered. To make this happen there is need to adopt the complete professional approach by complying with the professional ethics while at the same time ensuring your own safety too and to access the area thoroughly to avoid any further chance of mishap or incident. Collecting of evidences is also most important task requiring promptness and alertness, as it is quite a possibility that any critical evidence can be destroyed and the people who are witness to the incident too might forget the course of events or actions that might have provoked such incident. These evidences may be required by the regulatory authority for legal purpose and regulatory too might conduct his investigation depending on the situation the sequence of events that lead to the incident and go deep into the cause of the incident. 2. Why is site security important and how might you achieve this? The security of the site is important to make sure that further incident of similar nature or any other incident might not occur again. The location of the work place also might be the reason of the incident. The location could be in a geographically remote area where there is no access to the emergency services and adverse environment conditions could also cause hindrance on the rescue and relief operations, and even if the location is in the densely populated area then also it might cause problem because in densely populated areas a high volume of people cause obstruction, create noise and can make the environment unhygienic. Further on many occasions it becomes obligatory to notify the regulatory authority about the incident scene and in that case any thing in the site of incident should not be disturbed as it could lead to destruction of any evidence which might lead to solving of the case. The security of the site of the accident can be attained by cordoning off the whole area by putting fence walls, or if site of the incident is inside then keeping the doors locked and putting alarm systems preventing outsiders in interfering in the investigative, rescue and relief work. Further checking each and every corner of the whole area very carefully in case any hazardous material or substance is still lying there that can cause further loss to life or property. Thirdly by keeping security personal always to keep a watch at the site until the investigation is not over. There also might become a necessity to notify other agencies about the incident like Environment protection agencies who might be required to discard any hazardous or non toxic substances. For this purpose they would too investigate the whole area and will file in their report and help the investigating team to make sure there are no harmful substances that might have deterrent effect on the environment. While the regulatory authorities are conducting the study of the site it is utmost important as an investigative officer to have a knowledge about the powers of inspectors and you are legally obliged to give your full cooperation to the inspector and provide all the related facts to him. 3. How would you establish the legal obligations that will apply? Outine the key legislative instruments and information publications that will apply in your jurisdiction. There is a need to set which laws are required to be following at the workplace where incident has occurred? To find the OHS legal requirements there is a need to find whether an organization workplace could be covered under the state, territory or Commomwealth OHS legislation or not? If the incident which has occurred is not a Commonwealth government organization or if it does not fall under the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth OHS law for seafarers or offshore workers then it could be assumed that it could be covered by the state owned OHS legislation. In New South Wales, Queensland or in Western Australia there is a need to make out if the workplace is mining or non mining area. If it is a mining area then separate legislative provisions will be applied. There is also a need to understand the fundamental care principles as mentioned in the OHS legislation of Australia. In all the jurisdictions there is a provision of information and guidance for the proper care and maintenance of the sites, This information should be accessed as the initial step in the while performing the investigations. These statutory and legal obligations require Common laws on the way duties need to be performed, care o be taken, incidents to be reported. There are also provision of the requirements under the OHS legislation and the codes of practice. There is also specification about the compensation to the workers and their rehabilitation. The legal requirement also required the need for the notification obligations which requires the need of who, how and when. In other words, whom to notify about the incident, the way notification process should be carried out and when the notification should take place. These legal issues may contain any civil or criminal matters that may arise out of the incidents. Section 7.4(5)(I) of the Workplace Safety and Health Act has defined procedures for the investigation of incidents, any dangerous occurrences or any refusals to work pursuant to Section 43 of the Act. The section on Investigation of incidents has very useful information and tips to take preventive measures to avoid incidents of similar nature in future. (Work place Safety and health committee, 2003) Many changes have been undertaken by Federal and State Legislation regarding t he health and safety of workers. In any organization having around 20 or more employees must ensure Occupational Health and Safety of the workers because in case of non compliance fine of $550,000 would be imposed. (OHS, Australia.com, online). 4 Who do you notify and why? Under many of the legislation provisions there is a need to notify about certain diseases or incidents to the regulatory authority. But here there is a need to be noted that those cases which require notification should be of very serious and grave nature and where ever the incident have occurred regulatory authority should follow own investigative process which is carried out by an inspector. In such cases no changes should be made in the scene of t he incident. The necessity may also arise to notify environment protection agencies who may release the harmful or chemical substances that might have instigated the crises or might cause the same in the future. The other important persons that needs to be notified are supervisors who have the e real responsibility to look after the work area, the next ones are other workgroup members who must be constituting part of the work team or work group and though they may not have been directly affected by the incident it may have an effect on their work schedule. Senior managers should also be immediately informed about the incident as they are the persons who would take appropriate decisions according to the situation. OHS specialists should also get informed as many of the large organizations employ them for development and for monitoring safety management systems. The OHS specialists could take adequate measures after assessing the situation and follow legal procedures while following the case and even suggest preventive measures to avoid further incidents. In cases like that of the fire incident or chemical burst or sparks fire authorities and police should be called with immediate effect as both the bodies helps in controlling the fire, rescue operations and maintaining law and order. Organizational legal advisors can also be notified to take guidance regarding any legal complications that might occur in case workers are injured seriously or any death that might have occurred. Besides incidents also may involve external contractors or specialists whose either staff might have been affected or equipments damaged or destroyed. In this case notification about the incident should be send to them with immediate effect. There are many other organizations too that helps in the rescue operations as well as assuring the security and suggesting prevention measures for e.g. The Safety Institute of Australia which is a body of professionals to provide safe environment at the work place. Reference List Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists Inc. 2005. About Us. Retrieved on January 30, 2009 from W.W.W: http://www.aioh.org.au/about_obj.asp NSCA Incident Investigation Participate in the Investigation of Incidents Facilitate an Initial Assessment of a situation Workplace Safety and Health Committee, 2003 A Guide to Investigating Workplace Incidents Retrieved on February 6, 2009 from W.W.W. https://www.ucn.ca/ICSFileServer/9fd1fc33-4c44-4830-af85-b9efc72b4a6f/76205d4d-eb79-4453-890c-8ceaffae851d/0b2c9a26-0acb-4b79-b15c- ea41d3b08861/InvestigatingIncidentsGuide.pdf United States Environment Protection Agency 2000 Chemical Accident Prevention Site Security, Retrieved on February 6, 2009 from W.W,W http://www.epa.gov/oem/docs/chem/secale.pdf . Read More