Working with business How to implement safe workplace practices A guide to workplace health and safety Safety is good for business A safe and healthy workplace is one of the keys to business success. By establishing good health and safety practices in the workplace, a business is likely to have more motivated and productive employees, lower absenteeism rates, fewer business disruptions and reductions in the costs of sick pay and temporary replacement staff. This will help to reduce the sometimes serious impacts of injury and illness on employees, families and the wider community – and improve the business’s reputation both in the business world and as an employer of choice. Contents About this guide 2 Health and Safety Improvement Cycle 4 ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices 7 Incident Investigation Process 9 Commitment 11 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 1 15 Review, plan and action 17 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 2 23 Hazard management 25 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 3 52 Information, training and supervision 55 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 4 75 Incident investigation 77 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 5 98 Employee participation 100 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 6 106 Emergency readiness 107 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 7 118 Contractor management 119 Workplace Safety Management Practices –Critical Element 8 130 Return to work 131 Definitions 138 Your complying with the Workplace Safety Management Practices Audit Standard set out in this document should not be relied on as satisfying compliance with any legal and other health and safety obligations of employers. It is your responsibility as an employer to be satisfied that legal and other obligations are met. 1 About this guide This step-by-step guide provides you with information on how to set up and support comprehensive systems and practices for effective workplace health and safety management practices. It also lets you know about: • Health and Safety Improvement Cycle • ACC’s Workplace Safety Management Practices • Incident Investigation Process. Each section is divided into two subsections. Part 1 provides: • A list of key activities associated with the particular element of workplace health and safety • Practical information on how to achieve the element in practice. Part 2 provides: • the Workplace Safety Management Practices Audit Standard – the requirements that your health and safety system must meet for your business to be able to join Workplace Safety Management Practices and receive the benefits it offers. Health and Safety Improvement Cycle The Health and Safety Improvement Cycle is a roadmap to reducing workplace injuries and illnesses. It provides useful health and safety management information for businesses. There are nine sections, which cover the following: • Commitment • Review, plan and action • Hazard management • Information, training and supervision • Incident investigation • Employee participation • Emergency readiness • Contractor management • Return to work. ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices Workplace Safety Management Practices rewards and recognises employers that have implemented effective health and safety systems and practices in their workplaces. It is best suited to medium to large employers (ie. more than 10 employees). 2 Businesses receive: • A framework for building successful and sustainable health and safety systems and practices in their workplaces • 10-20% reductions in their ACC work cover levies dependent on the health and safety systems implemented. This guide includes eight of the Audit Standards of the programme. Incident Investigation Process The Incident Investigation Process helps to analyse factors that contribute to injuries. It leads you to find the most effective injury prevention solutions. When working through the Health and Safety Improvement Cycle, it is important to understand some of the factors that contribute to injuries and illnesses in your workplace. Differences The Health and Safety Improvement Cycle and ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices have different purposes; however, they both: • Align with AS/NZS 4801:2001, the joint Australia/New Zealand Standard for Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems • Provide information on comprehensive health and safety systems. Here is a table of the differences ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices Health and Safety Improvement Cycle section Critical Element Commitment 1 Employer commitment to safety management practices Communication Embedded in all elements, not treated as a separate element Review 2 Planning, review and evaluation Plan 2 Planning, review and evaluation Action – Hazard management 3 Hazard identification, assessment and management Action – Incident investigation 5 Incident and injury reporting, recording and investigation Action – Training and supervision 4 Information, training and supervision Action – Employee participation 6 Employee participation in health and safety management Action – Emergency readiness 7 Emergency planning and readiness Action – Contractor management 8 Protection from on-site work undertaken by contractors and subcontractors Action – Injury management 3 Part of management commitment 33 Health and Safety Improvement Cycle The Health and Safety Improvement Cycle is a roadmap to reducing workplace injuries and illnesses. It is a guide for building comprehensive workplace health and safety systems. The Health and Safety Improvement Cycle provides a continuous process of improvement. By working through the Cycle, you can set up and support the comprehensive health and safety systems required to keep workplaces safe. There are three key steps involved: 1. Review 2. Plan 3. Action. The three steps of ‘review’, ‘plan’ and ‘action’ keep you working in a cycle of continuous improvement. The ‘action’ step includes all the key activities of a comprehensive health and safety programme. Commitment and communication are needed throughout. Implementing health and safety systems is an ongoing process that requires constant monitoring and adjustment, with a goal of continuous improvement. The review should lead to a plan that is then translated into actions, and these actions may in turn be reviewed and lead to new plans and actions. Health and Safety Improvement Cycle 4 Review A review is important to assess your organisation’s injury prevention performance. It will enable you to determine the value of your health and safety activities, and provide you with a basis for your planning. The main purpose of an initial review is to gather material to help develop an improvement plan. This could include: • Identifying hazards and injury factors • Identifying the effectiveness of your current systems and practices • Establishing baselines to measure future progress • Quantify the upfront and hidden costs of workplace illnesses and injuries. In later reviews you will also measure progress against activities and targets in your improvement plan. Plan Planning involves setting goals, objectives and action steps to make improvements happen. When planning, you need to: • Identify and specify goals. These are usually activities or controls designed to eliminate, isolate or minimise factors causing injuries and illnesses • Determine the resources needed (time, money, people, skills, knowledge) • Identify objectives that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely) • Prioritise actions • Identify measures and targets • Create an action plan of the specific steps needed to meet your objectives. Action Action means developing, implementing and monitoring systems and practices. The main areas of focus for action are: • Hazard management • Incident investigation • Training and supervision • Employee participation • Emergency readiness • Contractor management • Return to work. Evaluation data collected at this stage will help you to recognise successful implementation and identify opportunities for improvement when the Cycle goes to review again. 55 Commitment and communication It is vital that managers and employees are committed to the task of making the workplace safer. This can be achieved by giving safety the same status as other business and production goals. It is important to maintain good communication with staff on health and safety issues. A good approach is to use a range of formal and informal communication channels to ensure that health and safety activities are well understood. Need more information? If you would like more information about how to implement good workplace health and safety systems, there are many organisations and professionals who can help. They include: • ACC – call your local ACC branch and speak to an Injury Prevention Management Consultant • ACC-approved auditors, who are experts in occupational health and safety. For a list of auditors, see www.acc.co.nz/approvedauditors or phone ACC on 0800 222 776 • WorkSafe New Zealand. See www.business.govt.nz/worksafe • Occupational Health and Safety Consultants listed in the yellow pages (under ‘Occupational and Industrial Health and Safety’) • Training and educational institutions – ask your local or national industry body, industry training organisation or polytechnic etc about occupational health and safety training opportunities; or find out about the formal qualifications available through Massey University and the University of Otago. 66 ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices ACC Workplace Safety Management Practices recognises and rewards businesses that have implemented effective health and safety systems and practices in their workplaces. If you qualify, you will: • Have a framework for building successful and sustainable health and safety systems and practices • Receive a 10-20% ACC work cover levy reduction • Enjoy official recognition of your commitment to the wellbeing of your staff, customers, suppliers and visitors. What do the Workplace Safety Management Practices Audit Standards do and how do they work? The Workplace Safety Management Practices Audit Standards determine a business’s ability to meet the programme’s safety performance levels. There are 10 ‘critical elements’, which provide a framework for building workplace health and safety management practices. Each element comprises a number of requirements that need to be met. Eight of these relate to what ACC considers to be the fundamental components of an effective workplace safety system. The remaining two elements confirm the use of those safety systems in practice. What are the 10 critical elements? The 10 critical elements of the Workplace Safety Management Practices Audit Standards are: 1. Employer commitment to safety management practices 2. Planning, review and evaluation 3. Hazard identification, assessment and management 4. Information, training and supervision 5. Incident and injury reporting, recording and investigation 6. Employee participation in health and safety management 7. Emergency planning and readiness 8. Protection of employees from on-site work undertaken by contractors and subcontractors 9. Workplace observation – confirmation of safe systems in action 10. Focus group interviews – confirmation of safe systems in action. 7 critical element 7. Emergency planning and readiness (AS/NZS 4801:2001 Section 4.4) Objective The employer will ensure that all employees have ongoing opportunities to be involved and to have their interests represented in the development, implementation and evaluation of safe workplace practices. Achieved Safety performance levels Details of requirements Verified by yes/no 1. There is a documented 1. Evidence of identification of the range of potential These requirements are listed according to the three health and safety performance levels that can be emergency plan that identifies emergency situations in the workplace that considers the achieved in Workplace Safety Management Practices. potential emergency situations type and location of the employer (e.g. chemical spills, These are: and meets relevant emergency earthquakes, management of emergency situations for service requirements. employees working alone). • Primary level – your business meets the basic workplace health and safety performance 2. Evidence of consideration of emergency service standards. You will receive a 10% reduction in your levy requirements. • Secondary level – your business has adopted and demonstrates good standards of workplace 3. An emergency plan that includes the response required for health and safety practice. You will receive a 15% reduction in your levy the relevant identified emergency situations. • Tertiary level – your business o2.p eErmateergse an ccyo pnroticneuduoruess improvem1.e nEtv firdaemncee wthoart kth feo re mweorgrkepnclay cpero cedures have been health and safety management. Yhoavue w beileln r eimceplievme ean 2te0d% reduction iimnp yleomure nletevdy a.nd communicated (e.g. signage, and communicated with all communications, training). The health and safety performance levels are shown in the Audit Standards by shading, like this: employees and contract staff. 3. Designated employee/s or 1. List of designated employees known to all staff. Primary warden/s for each work area 2. Training schedules and records. basic workplace health atrnadin sead fteot tya kper acocntticroels in an 3. Evidence that review or refresher emergency training has emergency. been undertaken with designated employees within the Secondary previous year. good standard of workplace health and safety 4. Evidence of specific emergency training for designated practices staff according to identified potential emergencies in the Tertiary workplace (eg. civil defence emergency training, advanced continuous improvement, best practice framework first aid certificates). 4. There is periodic testing of 1. Record of emergency emergency evacuation procedures evacuation drills. at regular intervals – of no greater than six months apart. 5. There is a consultative review 1. Minutes of review meetings, particularly post critical event. of emergency response 2. Evidence of update to procedures and plans (where procedures, after any practice applicable). drills and after any actual emergency event. 18 88