Health and Safety Risk Management » Employees Safety

Worker responsibility under OHS law: When is it not the employer’s fault?

Riskex — Sun, 22 May 2011 05:27:00 +0000

Worker responsibility under OHS law: When is it not the employer’s fault?

It is not common to hold workers responsible for workplace injuries but what happens when an employee arrives to work so drunk and is injured attempting to do his work with the knowledge of co-workers?

In fact, this was the scenario in a recent court case. Norton Rose law firm partner Aaron Anderson will explain the new responsibilities faced by everyone in the workplace at the Queensland Safety Show, which runs from June 21 to June 23. We asked for his analysis of the implications for employers now and once the new national model Work Health and Safety Act is adopted by Australian states at the end of this year.

It is generally accepted under statutory occupational health and safety laws across Australia that employers and other obligation holders cannot escape liability for failing to put in place a safe system of work even though a worker may have been wilful or neglectful in carrying out their duties.

This was recently highlighted in a decision of the Magistrates Court of South Australia in Symons v Clean Seas Aquaculture Growout Pty Ltd [2011] SAIRC 17 in which the employer pleaded guilty of an offence under the Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Act 1986 (SA) in circumstances where an employee affected by alcohol “blacked out” whilst performing a diving activity.

While the employee’s actions and behaviour were contrary to the employer’s policies, the employer acknowledged that there was a failure on its behalf to enforce compliance with those policies. In this case, the employer was let down by the actions of another employee, second-in-charge of operations, who was drinking with the other worker on the evening before the incident and dropped him off at the worksite that morning.

This case is illustrative of the ongoing requirement for employers and other obligation holders to be vigilant in ensuring that they develop appropriate systems of work, having regard to the nature of their activities and enforcing compliance with those policies. Only then will obligation holders be able to discharge their statutory OH&S responsibilities.

This position will not change as the model occupational health and safety legislation is enacted across Australia over the coming months. Under the model Work Health and Safety Act, workers will be required to take reasonable care for their own safety and for the safety of others but those obligations are concurrent with the obligations of persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) who must also take reasonable practicable steps to ensure the safety of their workers.

Accordingly, we are likely to see similar outcomes in prosecutions under the new law once it commences.

Employers will also find that under the harmonisation process many tasks will be covered by specific regulations and, with them, compliance standards will change. Height safety and, coincidentally, diving, are examples.

Obligation holders under the model Work Health and Safety Act will need to consider whether the new regulations will apply and put in place appropriate procedures to ensure compliance.

Aaron Anderson’s free seminars addressing the model WHS Act forms part of a line-up of very practical free manufacturing and workplace safety seminars at the Queensland Safety Show. Experts from Safe Work Australia, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Queensland, Queensland Fire and Rescue Service and Enterprise Connect are among those who will explain how to attract funding, what to expect from new WHS laws, how to meet obligations manageably and within budget.

Sponsored by myosh, the Queensland Safety Show, Materials Handling Show and co-located Queensland Manufacturing Show run from June 21 to 23, 2011, at the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. For more information, visit qldsafetyshow.com.au, email safetyvisitor@aec.net.au or phone Australian Exhibitions & Conferences Pty Ltd on 03 9654 7773.

Encouraging Employee Involvement in Safety

Riskex — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 04:09:32 +0000

Safety: Encouraging Employee Involvement

Employees are your first line of defense against safety concerns. They are on the front lines and the assembly lines, and they witness more safety offenses and violations than even their managers can catch. They also often have the best ideas for improving safety. So, how do you help employees help your safety program?

Reward Safety Records

Recognition is often the highest form of praise and the highest form of motivation for other employees. Publicly recognizing safety records is a key to developing better safety practices. Some other reward systems that may help employees follow safety procedures and remain safe in their jobs include:

Monetary rewards. Everyone likes money, and a monetary reward for safety records can encourage employees to strive for perfection.
Competition. Offering employees a competition for a large reward can encourage employees to maintain and improve safety numbers.

Encouraging Employee Involvement

Another way to make safety more interesting to employees is to encourage employees to assist in safety procedure development. Some tips to encourage involvement follow:

Offering employees free time away from their assigned jobs to assist in safety procedure development teams can increase safety drive. Being involved in larger tasks encourages employees to implement or continue safety practices.
Offering rewards for management-chosen safety suggestions through a suggestion box or on-line suggestion system can encourage employees to become involved in safety and make them more cognizant of current safety practices.
Encourage employees to point out areas in which employees may not be safety-conscious, either willfully or un-willfully, can assist the safety team in addressing unknown issues. A reward system or a discretionary guarantee for safety whistle-blowing may be necessary since employees often do not want to “tattle” on persons or groups.

Having Fun with Safety

Safety can be fun, and annual safety meetings can be interesting. The following suggestions can make safety more interesting to employees:

Show funny slides of safety issues. There are a lot of safety pictures on the internet that will make employees laugh. Showing some crazy pictures can lighten a safety meeting mood.
Holding a theme meeting can also make meetings more fun. The themes can be anything from safety-related themes to tiki party themes. Music, contests, and theme related games before your safety presentation can also lighten the mood.
If you feed them, they will come. Food and drinks often draw even the most resistant employee or placate a resistant employee.
Encourage managers to have fun. Employees will follow suit.

If your employees are not excited about safety management, encouraging involvement, rewarding safety, and having fun with safety management can help your employee get on board with safety management.

Effective Safety Committees

Riskex — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 09:17:29 +0000

An effective safety committee is one in which motivated committee members communicate problem solving ideas and promote general safety in all employees. A fully comprehensive safety team demonstrates the company’s commitment to safe and healthy employees, and the team builds upon effective safety practices to encourage further injury prevention.

Committees should be formed with ideally five to seven members, consisting of employees, managers, and safety professionals. All departments should have one representative, and membership should be voluntary. Setting up committees based on a voluntary basis with a wide range of representatives will produce the most effective and comprehensive communication.

A truly effective committee will provide the following:

Enthusiasm for safety as a business building venture and as an employee health venture
Commitment to the company morale by both managers and employees
Committee teamwork and employee teamwork
Direction and goals for the safety procedures
Continued commitment to safety through leadership, teamwork and follow up

Committees will be most effective through an effective leader, often a manager with proven leadership ability, although some entry-level employees may seek the leadership role as a business opportunity and can do quite well in leading the team. The team leader should establish the safety needs and/or safety percentages in the first meeting. Establishing these cues will help guide the team in the direction(s) needed.

Discussions can be effectively lead by a team leader through minutes and typical structure, however, it is often helpful to have direction from a safety professional, either as a leader or as a team member. Reviewing the most recent accident percentages, to which a safety professional will have access, will assist the team in determining the most effective safety regulations necessary. As the team reviews this safety data, the team can brainstorm safety procedures, and a safety professional can help guide the team through safety history and newly introduced procedures.

Communicating the new safety procedures to all other employees can be accomplished through memos and/or meetings. Effective communication is usually found in face-to-face meetings, and the following suggestions can help make meetings more interesting:

Bring in a guest speaker
Offer refreshments – free donuts and coffee can draw a crowd
Present awards
Show safety slides or movies
Play games and/or set up safety demonstrations
Encourage employee interaction – ask questions

Meetings can be followed by occasional memos and/or safety facts, and a follow up plan should be established. Most often, managers will be the best resources for safety follow up, so quarterly meetings with the management team can assist the safety team in assessing the effectiveness of safety management.

Safety affects every member of your business team. Effective safety management can be established and continued through safety committees consisting of employees and managers. As the team leader helps direct the safety committee through brainstorming, establishment, and continuation of safety rules and procedures, and effective safety committee can increase your company’s safety ratios.

Job Hazard Analysis – Assessing Training Needs – Part 2

Riskex — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 01:03:02 +0000

Job Hazard Analysis – Assessing Training Needs – Part 2

By James Roughtonand Nathan Crutchfield

In part 1 we discussed that developing an effective Job Hazard Analysis is only the first step in hazards and risk identification and that we must assess the proper levels of training to ensure that everyone is on the same page. In part 2 we will discuss how to apply six basic training techniques and applications that will help everyone to meet the facility objectives.

Learning Retention

The learning curve shows that our retention of information drops quickly in a matter of hours and the details of training can be forgotten quickly without immediate use or reinforcement. Too often, refresher or follow-up training is not provided and the knowledge learned becomes vague or subject to unwarranted influence from the pressures of the workplace. To be effective, training should use a blending of information transfer styles such as, hands on practice, demonstration, application during the initial session, group exercises, games, etc.

Data gathered from research shows us the effectiveness of a range of training methods. According to the experts, the following are average retention rates based on the type of training:

Lecture – 5%
Reading -10%
Audio/Visual – 20%
Demonstration – 30%
Discussion Groups – One-on-One – 50%
Practice by doing – 75%
Instructing others, Immediate use of learning, Use of pictures for demonstration – 90%

To ensure that training has accomplished its objectives, we can use six basic training principles as a guide:

Communicate the purpose of the training: All employees must understand the purpose of the training. At the beginning of each training program, the main focus should be on why specific safety training is required and important as well as how everyone can personally benefit from the training. In addition, the nature of the hazards and the potential severity of the risk (frequency of exposure and its severity) must be communicated, not just “because the regulations say we have to do this stuff.” In some cases, trainers use the governmental regulations to conduct training without regard to a real reason. The main object of safety training is to provide detailed information for employees so that they know how to protect themselves and their co-worker from recognized hazards.
Organize the training documents to maximize understanding: The sequence of events in which the material is presented must match specific steps that must be taken to accomplish a task as well as the hazard control measures necessary for that task.
Provide appropriate work practices: Arrange for employees to practice and apply their new skills and knowledge as soon as possible. The key is that we learn best when we immediately practice and apply our newly acquired skills and knowledge. Training time should be used to provide a blending of information such as, hands on practice, demonstration, application during the initial session, exercise, etc. Our human learning curve drops quickly in a matter of hours and the details of training can be forgotten without immediate use or reinforcement.
Provide immediate feedback (knowledge of results): Sometimes, we make the mistake of thinking that employees taking the training have the same perspective and core understanding of the topic as we do. If the training requires doing (hands on), practicing correctly creates the correct desired action(s) and behavior(s) that will help to reduce injury or loss. Immediate mentoring enhances the experience and encourages formation of the desirable safe behavior.
Account for individual differences: To be more effective, training programs should incorporate a variety of learning techniques from written instruction, audio-visual, lectures, hands-on, coaching, even some fun or other emotional content to better imprint the specific knowledge into the participants. We must remember that everyone learns at different speeds and the pace of the training should recognize the differences between individuals. Therefore, the attention span and focus of individuals must be taken into account. Brief sessions allow the trainee to incorporate the information. Long sessions tend to lose the attention of most of us. Dr John Medina’s book, “Brain Rules,” addresses issues on how to establish a better learning environment.
Keep the employees involved and active in the training:An effective way to imprint learning is by having employees personally instruct each other in a controlled environment. After the initial instruction and practice, divide the group into teacher/learner teams, pairing a rapid learner with a slower learner giving them a chance to learn.

Caution – Training is not the “Magic Bullet”

Training professionals may face the misconception that all problems are training problems and that developing a training program can solve them. We must remember that training is not the answer to all operational safety problems. We must determine what other obstacles or behavioral consequences are driving behavior towards risk-taking actions. A classic book that should be on your bookshelf is Robert Mager and Peter Pipe’s “Analyzing Performance Problems”. These two authors provide a great road map to follow in assessing training needs.

Assuring employees understand how to improve and use their knowledge regarding the necessary controls for workplace hazards is the mission of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System. In the development of a Job Hazard Analysis process, consideration of the requirements for implementing effective training should be ongoing as the Job, its steps and task are continually analyzed for hazards and risk.

The following comments were adapted from “Job Hazard Analysis” by James Roughton and Nathan Crutchfield. Also review ANSI/ASSE Z490-2009, Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training for further insights.

I am very passionate about developing an effective Job Hazard Analysis process. I am on a journey of discovery and want to spread the word about Job Hazard Analysis, the proposed OSHA I2P2, ANSI Z10 2005, and other related-safety ideas.

Job Hazard Analysis

Assessing Safety and Health Training Needs

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=James_Roughton
http://EzineArticles.com/?Job-Hazard-Analysis—Assessing-Training-Needs—Part-2&id=5165991

Very Gruesome Safety Video

Riskex — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 11:31:20 +0000

This is one of the most gruesome and gory safety videos we have seen. Contains very realistic reenactments of serious incidents including interviews with those involved.

WARNING – THIS VIDEO WILL SEND A VERY STRONG SAFETY MESSAGE BUT MAY UPSET SOME VIEWERS:

Blaming the Victims of Workplace Accidents Wacky Willie 1934 Civilian Conservation Corps CCC

Riskex — Sat, 02 Oct 2010 05:58:11 +0000

Blaming the Victims of Workplace Accidents Wacky Willie 1934 Civilian Conservation Corps CCC

As in this clip, many employers today (and in the past) blame workplace accidents on workers rather than look at hazardous job conditions. In the past, based on this attitude, workers were often openly called stupid, careless and accident-prone and blamed as the cause of their injuries. With this approach, the result of most accident investigations is to blame the injured worker and the solution is to tell the worker to be more careful. This approach ignores the role of managers and employers in making key decisions in the workplace they control. However these days, this older harsh language is replaced by so called behavior-based safety programs based on the claim that 80 to 96 percent of job injuries and illnesses are caused by workers' own unsafe acts. This number has been discredited by many other studies which identify the key role of the work environment in safety and health. Behavior-based safety programs focus attention on worker carelessness and conscious or unconscious unsafe behaviors, and place the onus for a safe workplace on workers themselves. The "unsafe worker" statistics espoused by behavior-based safety consultants and repeated by employers purchasing or developing behavioral safety programs were derived from the work of insurance investigator HW Heinrich in the 1930s. Heinrich's research into injury causation consisted of his review of supervisors' accident reports, which critics pointed out naturally blame workers for accidents and injuries. He …
Source: Blaming the Victims of Workplace Accidents Wacky Willie 1934 Civilian Conservation Corps CCC (Youtube).

Sydney Safety Show

Riskex — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 00:12:15 +0000

THE SAFETY SHOW SYDNEY is to be held from Tuesday 26 October – Thursday 28 October 2010 at Sydney Showground, Sydney Olympic Park. The show is sponsored by WorkCover NSW and there is no cost to register.

With more than 350 leading manufacturers and suppliers exhibiting, the Show is a great resource of new ideas, products and solutions. You will find the experts you need to meet your OHS obligations.

The Show also provides these useful features:

Free Safety Seminars & Free WorkCover NSW Workshops, with new and innovative safety solutions.
Dedicated Feature Areas providing in-depth information on Rescue & Emergency Safety, Technology & Training and Corporate Health.
Co-located Sydney Materials Handling Trade Show with all new materials handling solutions

The Trade Show is held concurrently with THE SAFETY CONFERENCE featuring more than 50 Australian and international speakers, presented by the Safety Institute of Australia (NSW). More details on the Conference can be found at www.thesafetyshow.com

Click here to register. Your Visitor Access Card allowing immediate entry will be mailed prior to the Show or can be collected at the Registration Desk on arrival.

Beijing worker risks his life to demolish part of a building

Riskex — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 10:55:24 +0000

Beijing worker risks his life to demolish part of a building

Demolition crew in Beijing improvise to get their job done. I took this from my living room window. This demolition project is 200m away from the tallest building in Beijing in the heart of the CBD. As you will see the developer who has bought the land, Soho China, is knocking down the existing building while trying to save as much money as possible and with little regard to the safety of the workers. They need to get the job down as quick as they can with very few men and machines. The only way is to risk their lives ad as shown in this video.
Source: Beijing worker risks his life to demolish part of a building (Youtube).

Safety Jokes

Riskex — Mon, 03 May 2010 23:48:25 +0000

Great selection of Safety Related Jokes From www.safetyphoto.co.uk

Some examples: (remember: just jokes!)

WHEN, WHAT, HOW

Q: When does a person decide to become a Safety Manager?
A: When he realizes he doesn’t have the charisma to be an undertaker.

Q: What do safety Managers use for birth control?
A: Their personalities

Q: How can you tell an extroverted safety Manager?
A: When he talks to you, he looks at your safety shoes instead of his own

Behaviour Based Safety

Riskex — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 03:30:18 +0000

Real Life Drama in the World of Behavior-Based Safety

Article from Warriors 4 Safety

by: Thomas Allgood of Allgood Solutions
A Behavior-Based Safety Company

Most of us spend our days at work doing the same task over and over. All too often, it becomes such a routine that we adopt a “nothing to it” frame of mind. Before we know it, we are daydreaming of our times spent with our families. We may even witness someone being injured on the job or at least know of someone who has, and still continue with the routine. Witnessing an injury in the workplace can bring our safety awareness to an all time high only to be replaced over time by complacency again.

Sometimes only when we actually witness the effects that a workplace injury plays on the other person’s family do we stop to consider that it could have been me?

I have witnessed the after effects of a disabling workplace injury and seen the tremendous impact and burden that it brings on an entire family. I have also experienced the personal benefits of a Behavioral Based Safety process at my workplace that continues to have a lasting impact on my safety as an individual. However, not all companies teach and practice the behavioral observation approach with their workers.

In our everyday lives in the work force, we can usually find several opportunities to observe potential dangerous situations that require a specific type of safe behavior that has to be taken to avoid an injury. However, without the proper training and a systematic approach to hazard recognition, our eyes become calloused making it difficult to consistently practice the technique of making safe behavioral observations. At my job site, I have been trained to practice this proactive approach to my safety, but many sites around the country do not have this process in place, and end up depending far too much on basic luck. I would like to tell you of a real life incident where one such work site process called “luck” existed.

It was early one morning at the start of the workday. My brother-in-law, Robert, was going about his usual duties at a concrete plant that made septic tanks. Robert’s job was to feed the rolls of reinforcement wire in-between 2 rollers that would unroll the wire and flatten it out. Then, the sheet of wire would be bent into the forms of the septic tank.

That Monday morning at 6:30 am in October of 1998, Robert had no idea that at 6:45 am that morning, his life was going to change forever. Like any other day, he began feeding the wire into the 4-inch rollers, which I might add, had strings of beads welded along the rolls to grab the wire to make sure that the rollers would bite the wire and keep feeding it into the machine. Fourteen minutes into the process, the machine’s appetite was relentless as it pulled the heavy gage wire in between the rollers. Then in the blink of an eye, it happened. Roberts little finger on his left hand momentarily hung up in the wire mesh and the feeding action of the rollers began pulling his hand into the rollers. The cold realization that his left hand was not coming back out hit the pit of his stomach, so instinctively, he moved his right hand into position to try to free his left hand. For a moment, he thought that he could save his left hand, but then it went from bad to worse. His right hand had now become entrapped in the rollers and Robert was immediately facing the gruesome prospect of being completely pulled into the machine head first. At this point Robert was trying desperately to somehow pull himself free from the grip of the machine. As the rollers snatched the fingers off his left hand he continued with his right hand to free the left. All this time the kill switch was located on the other side of the machine and all he could do was screaming for help. By the time help arrived and the machine was shut down, Robert had lost most of both hands and continued
to be pinned in the machine until the ambulance arrived on site.

Now where has that gotten us from there? After many painful surgeries, Robert has only 2 thumbs, one in which they help make from a toe. His life remains changed forever. Even the simple task of buttoning his shirt must be done with help.

Having a behavioral safety process at ones work site is not a complicated matter.

Without such a process at Robert’s workplace, consider the personal loss and at what cost. Reflecting back, Robert believes that he had performed this task over 20,000 times in the course of his employment. So what happened? Why could he not see the danger, or did he see the danger and simply no longer recognized it as such? Repetition and slowly loosing sight of the hazard after doing the same thing over and over soon begins the process of setting one up for an incident. Then, it simply becomes a matter of time. That’s why it’s so important to have others observe you doing your task and then getting feedback from another set of eyes. Robert told me himself, “There is no telling how many close calls I had before and didn’t realize it. Not to even mention the kill switch on the opposite side”. With a behavior safety process in place, Robert would have not only had more eyes on him doing the task, but his own visual perspective would have become more focused to see for himself the hazards around this task.

After going and looking at the place where Robert was hurt, I was left with such a gut wrenching feeling inside. It was so obvious to see how easily this disabling experience could have been avoided. An inexpensive modification to the equipment combined with a basic safety observation process would have prevented this injury.

Behavior-based safety prevents incidents because it provides a systematic approach to working safe. Would it have saved Robert? Absolutely! One observation by a trained observer could have spotted several at-risks spots to eliminate the exposure. That’s exactly what I meant earlier by stating why a proactive approach to safety is preferred over a reactive one. The at-risk situation would have been eliminated and the equipment improvements would have been made instead of waiting to fix the problem after Robert had been injured.

The key to a truly effective safety process is total involvement. I have had the good fortune of helping other work groups start a behavioral safety process at several different sites, and the first thing I express is the need for engagement from all the employees.

This is what my company preaches from the start. The first step is for us to come in to do an assessment of you site to evaluate and see if your employees are ready to embrace such a process. After employee interviews we do an inspection of injury reports over the past year to access what behaviors should be addressed. Once we have established that a process will not only work, but will definitely reduce the amount of injuries, we meet with management to plan forward for our second step which is the steering team training. This training will take 3 to 4 days.

The training we do is a very cost effective way to not only reduces injuries but to engage employees in taking a role in eliminating the barriers that keep them from working safe. It helps management in their daily work schedule by hourly employees taking a role in eliminating 90 % of the barriers that they were dealing with each day that keeps them from working safe. The bottom line in the process we set up is that management’s workload is reduced and hourly employees are engaged in safety. A win-win situation for all involved.

I am convinced that a mature behavioral safety approach is the key to long term safety success. Remember, start your process with a core group of employees and nurture it. Watch it grow and build momentum and with it will come engagement. I guarantee it.

For more information contact:
Thomas Allgood
Ph. 251-296-0226
Cell Ph. 251-236-0423
e-mail: awgud@yahoo.com

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Safety Gear For Women

Riskex — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 22:27:56 +0000

This article was inspired by my wife who has been worked in the construction industry for sometime. Her main concern was that she was required to wear hard hat, steel capped boots, gloves and high viz clothing but all the safety equipment available was obviously designed for men.

I’ve had a look around at what women’s safety gear is available online. There still isn’t much but hare are some things I found:

McGrath Foundation

PINK SAFETY VEST

pink hi vis safety vest

Workers across the nation can now add a McGrath Pink Safety Vest to their McGrath Work Safety Wear. The vest, which meets all Australian safety standards, not only helps increase breast awareness but also helps prove one of Jane’s favourite sayings that ‘it takes a real man to wear pink’. Plus, just like the McGrath Pink Hard Hat, donning the McGrath Pink Safety vest will help fund additional McGrath Breast Care Nurses across the country, with a donation made to the McGrath Foundation for every vest sold. So go on, kit yourself, colleagues, friends and loved ones out today!

McGrath Foundation

McGrath Pink Hard Hats

pink hard hat image

Workers across the nation now have the chance to play an integral role in increasing breast awareness by wearing a McGrath Pink Hard Hat, proving one of Jane’s favourite sayings, that it takes a real man to wear pink! Donning the McGrath Pink Hard Hat will not only help increase breast awareness in your workplace but will also help fund McGrath Breast Care Nurses. So go on, get in the pink!

McGrath Pink Hard Hats are not available in their online store. To place an order, please download the order form here and send an email to merchandise@mcgrathfoundation.com.au.

Safety Girl

Ladies Hard Hats, Safety Glasses and Gloves! (NB This is a US site and safety equipment may not comply with Australian Standards)



Women’s Hard Hats	Pink Safety Harnesses for Women	Pink Tool Belts for Women



Ladies Gloves *Super Prices!*	Safety Glasses and Sunglasses for Women	Pink Gardening Tools and Gloves

Pink isn’t the only thing that makes our selection of women’s safety gear unique. Although the color is pervasive through all pieces we carry, our selection of products is geared specifically for women. While construction and other industrial fields are still male-dominated, women work in such occupations, as well, and need appropriate protection for their size and build. Many safety gear manufacturers, such as Carhartt and Pyramex, carry safety supplies in sizes appropriate for women. From hard hats to suspensions, all basic types of safety gear can be found in sizes and shapes for women.

Hard hats are required for various workplaces, and our selection includes all types in sizes for women. While pink is the main color for our hard hats, we carry blue and purple, as well. In terms of protection, our women’s hard hats range from standard polyethylene to aluminum hard hats and bump caps. All hats meet ANSI Z89.1-2003 standards and come with suspensions, some of which have an adjustable ratchet.

Other women’s safety gear in our selection is designed with pin in mind. This includes safety harnesses, lanyards, glasses, and tool belts. Pink may be a common color across all of these, but shades range from a light pink to magenta. Safety glasses for women, in addition, come in more than pink, with blue, yellow, and green options available in our store.

Although most of our safety supplies are geared toward industrial occupations, other supplies and kits we carry are for gardening. This includes a set of gardening tools – also colored with pink handles and a case – and appropriate work clothing like aprons and gardening gloves made with micro-suede palms.

Whether you’re going to work or tending a garden at home, our safety gear for women covers a number of options for protection in your work situation.

More New Ideas for Safety Committee Meetings

Riskex — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 10:08:18 +0000

Our articles about how to inject new life into your safety committee meetings and tool box talks to make them more effective have been extremely popular. Here are a few more ideas. If you have any others please share them:

Allocate the committee a small budget to spend on whatever they want – could be training, health awareness, new PPE, surveys etc
Invite a couple of different non members to each meeting so they can see what you do. The committee will no longer be a secret society and they may have valid points to raise. Get them to rate how effective they thought the meeting was.
Have a them or a particular topic for each meeting. take it in turns to research the topic and how improvements could be made in your workplace. Examples could be manual handling, electrical safety, test and tag, PPE, UV exposure, noise, ladders, forklifts, smoking, health, eye safety. Have a brain storming session
Subscribe to safety newsletters, RSS feeds or check out the Workcover or WHS websites for any new safety alerts and talk about how they relate to your work site.
Invite a sales rep from a big safety supplier like Setons, Blackwoods or RSEA to come out and show you the latest safety equipment or PPE.
Invite a Safety Inspector or Safety Consultant to come and talk about any changes to safety legislation or recent incidents or claims
Pick a recent incident (one that had “Counsel the employee to be more careful” as the action), do a thorough root cause analysis from it to see if more could have been done to prevent it
Attend a committee meeting at another workplace to see how they do things. get them to come to your site and do a hazard inspection as a “fresh pair of eyes”.
Get every member to bring a workplace health and safety newspaper article to discuss.
Update your site safety plan.
Invite a Senior Manager from Head Office to talk about the corporate commitment to OHS.
Start on time and stick to an agenda.
Do a hazard inspection before the meeting and talk about the results.
Send out another copy of the last minutes as a reminder and stand a better chance that actions are completed.
Organise a penalty system for people who don’t turn up without a really good reason.
Hire out a safety video or DVD.
Critique the committees performance at the end of the meeting. Work out what you did well, how effective you were and what could be improved next time.

Find more ideas at Safety Directory

Still stuck for ways to improve your safety meetings and toolbox talks? Checkout the new range of Safety Meeting Guides and Safety Quiz Cards from Work Safety Solutions

Safety for Event Volunteers

Riskex — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 22:26:37 +0000

Volunteering Australia is the national peak body working to advance volunteering in the Australian community. Its role is to represent the diverse views and needs of the volunteer sector while promoting the activity of volunteering as one of enduring social, cultural and economic value.

Their website provides a number of guides, booklets and articles about topics of interest for volunteers and volunteer organisations including risk management, safety and insurance issues.

Risk Management for cultural and sporting events is currently quite a hot topic and effective selection, training and management of volunteers for these events is crucial to the success of the event.

Event volunteering is a form of volunteering that is attracting people in increasing numbers. There are significant differences between the event volunteer experience and ongoing volunteer experience, and these have implications for organisations’ recruitment strategies, the management of risk, and skills development and training. Some resources in this guide use the terms ‘short-term volunteering’ or ‘episodic volunteering’, rather than ‘event volunteering’. Whichever one is used, all the resources listed are about issues to do with event volunteering, rather than ongoing volunteering. SEE THE FULL GUIDE

Safety Committee Charter Example

Riskex — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 21:29:13 +0000

Safety Committee Charter

In accordance with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act NSW (2000), OHS Regulation NSW (2001) and the WorkCover NSW OHS Consultation Code of Practice (2001).

1. Represented workgroup

(a) The workgroup comprises all employees who .

2. Objectives

(a) To make sure that all members of the workgroup have the opportunity to provide input to occupational health and safety and operational safety matters.

(b) To make sure that timely safety information is provided to workgroup members.

(i) this Charter

(ii) RailCorp Safety Policy

(iii) OHS Regulation 2001

(iv) WorkCover NSW OHS Consultation Code of Practice (2001).

3. Committee membership

(a) This Safety Committee will have members, comprising:

(i) elected Employee Representatives

(ii) Management Representatives.

(b) At least one Management Representative will have decision‑making powers.

Note
Management Representatives may make decisions only in accordance with their authority and delegation.

4. Function of the Safety Committee

The Safety Committee will:

(a) Be consulted by management before decisions are made that could affect the health, safety or welfare of:

(i) workgroup members

(ii) visitors to workplaces

(iii) contractors at workplaces.

(b) Investigate any situation that may be harmful to health, safety or welfare if the situation has been brought to the attention of:

(i) the committee, and

(ii) the relevant manager or supervisor, and where appropriate action has not been taken.

(i) meeting agendas and minutes

(ii) committee member details

(iii) correspondence sent and received by the committee.

(d) Help develop a safer workplace and safer work practices by:

(i) regularly inspecting workplaces to identify changes and potential hazards

(ii) regularly reviewing work practices to identify changes, potential hazards and risk management

(iii) assisting the implementation and review of the Safety Management System.

(e) Monitor the incident investigation process by:

(i) monitoring and providing feedback on incident investigation findings, proposed controls and incident trends

(ii) acting as an observer during any formal in-house investigations of incidents requiring Notification to WorkCover

(f) Accompany a WorkCover Inspector as an observer on an inspection

5. Issue resolution

(a) If a workgroup member becomes aware of a safety issue, the issue resolution process outlined in the System procedure: Managing safety consultation arrangements will be implemented.

6. Meeting attendance

(a) The number of Management Representatives at a meeting must not exceed the number of Employee Representatives.

(b) Meetings will not proceed unless there is:

(i) a quorum of at least members and deputy representatives

(ii) at least 1 management representative.

(i) that person can contribute to discussion on an agenda topic

(ii) agreed by a majority of Safety Committee members

Non‑member meeting attendees must not be present for discussions about other matters, unless invited to do so by the Committee.

7. Absences and casual vacancies of committee members

(a) If agreed by the workgroup, the workgroup may elect alternate employee Committee member(s) during initial employee Committee member elections to act on the Committee in the event of an employee representative’s absence. The alternate Committee member(s) will:

(i) Be elected in accordance with the System Procedure – Conducting Safety Committee and Safety Representative Elections

(ii) Act on the Committee only during the absence an elected employee Committee member

(iii) Undertake the WorkCover accredited OHS Consultation Committee training course as soon as practicable if permanently appointed to the Committee to fill a vacancy

(b) If there are no alternate employee Committee members, employee Representatives may nominate a Deputy Representative to represent them at a single meeting (this arrangement however should extend for a maximum of one consecutive meeting).

(d) If an Employee Representative position becomes vacant mid-term, and there are no alternate employee Committee members, an election must be held to select a replacement for the remaining term of office.

(e) If the Chairperson will not be present for a meeting, an employee representative will be selected as the replacement Chairperson for that meeting:

(i) if possible, before the meeting by the Chairperson, or

(ii) if the Chairperson did not select a replacement Chairperson, by the Employee Representatives of the committee.

8. Terms of office

(a) An Employee Representative’s term on the Safety Committee is 2 years.

(b) Employee Representatives can be re-nominated for subsequent terms.

9. Election of Chairperson and Secretary

(a) Employee Representatives will elect an Employee Representative as Chairperson:

(i) at the first meeting of a new committee

(ii) if the Chairperson position becomes vacant, at the first meeting thereafter.

(b) The committee will elect a Secretary:

(i) at the first meeting of a new committee

(ii) if the Secretary position becomes vacant, at the first meeting thereafter.

(c) If the Chairperson cannot attend a meeting, a temporary stand-in will be elected from and by Employee Representatives.

(d) If the Chairperson or Secretary cannot attend a meeting, a stand-in will be elected from and by the committee.

10. Agenda

(a) The Chairperson will develop meeting agendas with the Secretary’s assistance, and in consultation with the workgroup manager.

(b) Meeting agendas will be prepared using the Standard Safety Committee Agenda Form

(i) be written

(ii) have been presented to the employee’s supervisor or manager for resolution.

Note
The committee member receiving an agenda request must confirm with the employee that the employee’s supervisor or management has been told about the issue and had sufficient time to resolve it.

(iii) be related to safety.

Note
The committee chairperson in consultation with the workgroup manager should make sure that agenda requests are safety related.

(d) Agenda items must be given, in writing, to a Safety Committee Member or Chairperson at least 7 days before a meeting.

(e) If asked to include an agenda item by an employee they represent, Committee members must record the request and ask the Chairperson to add the item to the agenda.

11. Meetings

(a) Regular meetings will be held:

(i) for the first after a committee is formed, and

(ii) thereafter.

(b) The Chairperson may call an emergency meeting at any time, with management’s approval, provided a quorum is available.