Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 in Northern Territory of Australia - Case Study Example

Work Health Safety Act Name Institution Date Work Health Safety Act Introduction This essay discusses the Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 in Northern Territory of Australia. The key purpose of this Act is to give a balanced as well as a nationally consistent framework to ensure that the health along with the safety of employees and workplaces through protection of employees, including other individuals against injury to their health, safety in addition to wellbeing by eradicating or minimizing the risks that result from work or from specific kinds of substances or plants. In addition, the Act provides for fair and efficient workplace representation, consultation, collaboration as well as solving of disputes allied to work health and safety and also ensuring that there is conformity with the Act through efficient and suitable conformity and enforcement measures among other purposes1 (Walters, Frick & Johnston 2011). Duties of Employers and Employees under the Act The Act provides that employees are supposed to take reasonable care for their own health as well as safety and also take reasonable care to ensure that their actions or errors do not have a negative impact on the health and safety of other people. Employees are also supposed to oblige as much as they can to any reasonable instructions that are provided by the individual carrying out the business or activity to enable the individual to abide by this Act. Additionally, it is the duty of employees to cooperate with any reasonable regulation or process of the individual carrying out the business or activity allied to health or safety within the workplace that employees have been informed about. Employees are also supposed to take part during consultations instigated by employers and should be ready to contribute the employees’ own insights to the consultations and also they should be open to recommendations that employers make regarding health and safety matters. It is also the duty of the employees to inform employers regarding certain work practices or tasks that seem to them as risky to their health or safety2 (Walters, Frick & Johnston 2011). On the other hand, the duties of employers under this Act include employers consulting with employees in order for the employees to take part in decisions impacting their health or safety at work. Employers have the a duty of making sure that as far as reasonably practical, that employees as well as any other individual within the workplace are not exposed to health or safety risks resulting from the employers’ business activities. The employers also have a duty of taking all reasonably practical measures to ascertain that workplace as well as means of getting and exiting workplaces is safe and also ensure that the infrastructure or equipment being used in workplace are safe. Furthermore, employers should ensure that the risk management plans within the workplaces meet the appropriate standards and regulations to ensure that the appropriate risk management measures are in place 3(University of Wollongong 2010). According to the Act, it is also the duty of employers to ensure that information regarding health and safety matters is availed to the health and safety representatives and also that the employers are obligated to ensure that workers are offered the relevant training. The Act further provides that it is the duty of employers to facilitate the reasonable and efficient exercises through appropriate health and safety representatives. The employers are also required to maintain records of all health and safety representative as well as setting up of a health and safety committee where necessary and conforming to the committee’s requirements. The Act also provides that employers have a duty of monitoring the health of the employees. The Purpose of Consultation, Representation and Participation and how this is conducted in the Workplace Stewart (2011) provides that the purpose of consultation is to make sure that there is sharing of pertinent information regarding occupational health and safety between the employers and the employees and that the employees have a chance of expressing their views regarding health and safety matters and that they take part during resolutions on occupational health and safety matters at workplace4. Moreover, consultation ensures that the views of employees are taken into consideration and are valued by employers (Walters, Frick & Johnston 2011). Basically, consultation should occur during assessment or review of risks to health and safety emerging from work or during decision making regarding measures that should be implemented in elimination or control of these risks. Consultation occurs when processes of monitoring these risks are being introduced or changed or during decision making regarding the satisfactoriness of facilities for health and safety of employees (University of Wollongong 2010). On the other hand, the purpose of representation is for the health and safety representatives to examine health and safety matters impacting workers and assisting employees in their activities with management along with workplace safety officials regarding health and safety matters. Still, representation ensures the management is informed of employees’ health and safety issues and also acts as the mediator between employees and management regarding health and safety matters and during resolution of problems impacting employees’ health and safety. In addition, the representation guides employees when they are required to stop work if there is a grave and immediate risk to their health and safety and also issues notices of safety risk in suitable situations5 (Stewart 2011). Employers avail representative information when requested by the health and safety representative and this enables the representative to access health and safety matters that affect the employees. Nonetheless, employers should not disclose private information regarding the condition of health of employees except if employees consent. Employers are supposed to notify the representative regarding any reportable event that takes place at workplace 6(CCOHS 2010). The Role of HR in Relation to the Implementation of the OHS and Act in the Workplace Human resources play a crucial role in implementation of the OHS and Act within the workplace because they are aware of the workplace, workers, as well as the demands of the employees’ jobs. HR is supposed to be aware of when and how to utilize existing resources in responding to workers’ health and safety concerns. Accordingly, the HR has the role of understanding the health and safety duties of workers, managers, supervisors as well as workers and as a result HR should implement staff management policies and regulations to make sure that everybody within the workplace is aware of their duties (Stewart, 2011). The HRM has the responsibility of setting up and maintaining OHS consultation arrangements in the organization. Decisions consist of: the workgroups to be represented, number of employee OHS representatives to be chosen in addition to if a level 3 OHS Committee is supposed to be established. The HR should also make sure that election of worker OHS Representatives is carried out in a consistent way with acknowledged democratic principles (Stewart, 2011). The HRM also should make sure that all elected OHS representatives as well as members of OHS committees undertake a WorkCover-accredited OHS training course. HRM should ensure that Planning for, in addition to provision of training should be according to Northern Territory of Australia OHS Training procedure. In this regard, the HRM has the responsibility of providing the required training resources. In addition, HRM should provide adequate time and resources to OHS representatives to carry out their role. According to the law, workers should be trained in the appropriate procedures of operating equipment and in workplace procedures devised for protecting their health and safety (Stewart, 2011). The HRM should be familiar with the actions required to be taken to conform to OHS legislation and ensure that the implemented policies ensure a safe environment for the workers and everybody else within the workplace. The new employees should be trained regarding safety and they ought to be familiarized with the working setting and work processes in place for controlling workplace risks. Additionally, the HRM should ensure that induction training is offered to any worker who changes jobs or departments to make sure they know the health and safety procedures within that area (Stewart, 2011). The HR is also responsible for making sure that the health and safety policies as well as organizational procedures are in conformity with the appropriate occupational health and safety legislations along with best practices within comparable organizations. The HR also establishes procedures that enforce organizational safety rules and assists in reducing costs allied to losses resulting from absenteeism injuries, worker’s compensation disability in addition to healthcare. Again, the HR maintains injuries, illnesses as well as employees’ compensation records and coordinates first aid training and provision of first aid to workers and also advices workers along with employer regarding occupational health and safety issues and the Act’s provisions as well7 (Leo et.al, 2011). Conclusion In conclusion, the Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 in Northern Territory of Australia provides that the employers have a duty of ensuring the health, safety and welfare of their workers while at work through various ways and in turn the employees have the duty of ensuring that they take care of their own health and safety, follow the required safety regulations and that they follow the appropriate procedures when performing their job to ensure their own health and safety as well as of their fellow employees and that of any other person. Consultations between employers and employees are important in ensuring that occupational health and safety information is shared appropriately and the health and safety representatives represent workers in organizational health and safety issues. Finally, the HR plays a very important role in implementing the OHS and Act within the workplace, for instance in setting up organizational policies and regulations in accordance with the Act. Bibliography Books CCOHS, 2010, Health and Safety Guide for Human Resources Professionals, The Canadian Center for Occupational Health and Safety, Canada. Leo, R, et.al, 2011, WHS: A Management Guide, Cengage Learning, New Jersey. Stewart, A., 2011, Stewart's Guide to Employment Law, Federation Press, Austria. University of Wollongong, 2010, Roles and Responsibilities for Occupational Health & Safety, University of Wollongong, Wollongong. Walters, D, Frick, K, & Johnston, R., 2011, Regulating Workplace Risks: A Comparative Study of Inspection Regimes in Times of Change, Edward Elgar Publishing, Sydney. Legislations Northern Territory of Australia, Work Health and Safety Act 2011 Read More