Introduction
Occupation health and safety is a discipline focused on minimizing injury and mitigating risks in the workplace. The underlying principle fostering the increased popularity of this concept is that safe and healthy work environments increase efficiency and productivity. When workers get protection from injuries or diseases arising from work activities, they can focus on their tasks and enhance the productivity of the workplace. OHS can offer protection to family members, co-workers, customers, employees and all others who can get affected by the work environment.
In some cases, when an employee suffers an injury, some other people who depend on them might as well suffer. Injury to a breadwinner can result in the loss of the ability to earn income either permanently or temporarily. For this reason, the safety of all workers needs to get taken seriously at all times within the work premises.
Community health expectations
Organizations have a responsibility to provide safety to workers. They must deliver this social obligation. Protection involves prevention of physical injury and adverse health effects of the work environment. Currently, it is an inalienable right for all workers to get such protection.
Legal obligations
All jurisdictions have some form of a law aimed at protecting workers. These laws start from the national level all the way to the local by-laws. They stipulate the rules that all organizations must follow when dealing with workers. The laws mainly affect industries such as manufacturing, chemical research and mining.
Insurable costs
When the occupational performance of a firm is high, the insurance premiums reduce. This fact shows that OHS is an efficient tool for managing the cost of insurance of a company. The type of insurance involved in this case is the workmanship compensation scheme.
Non-insurable costs
Some costs do not get any insurance cover. Such costs include lost time due to injury. The insurance only covers the treatment costs. Otherwise, the losses caused by the absence of the worker will get felt by the firm. Other expenses include a reduction in productivity due to reduced number of workers. When workers come back from injuries, there might be some retraining costs involved.
SOLD Pty Ltd., is an auction agency that focuses on liquidation and closing down businesses. During one of their auctions, an employee, John, is injured after falling from a ladder. After the employee is healed, he calls his boss as he wishes to return to work, but is instead fired. One of the principal issues in this case is whether the firm is indemnified from liability arising from the injury. Part of the company's documentation highlights that, during auctions, the buyer is responsible for transporting whatever is purchased. In John's case, the first step is to identify whether he was injured while performing duties within his job description. This incident prompts an OHS audit to establish whether there is conformity to the regulations and AS 4801 standards. The audit form is shown below.
AUDIT OF: _____________________SOLD PTY LTD___________________
AUDITORS:
____________________________________________
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Audit Participants:
LIST OF DOCUMENTS REVIEWED:
This report provides an overview of the OHS Management System specifying whether the system conforms to the standards objectives. Should there be an element that does not conform; the degree of non-compliance is stated.
For a more in depth review the identification of shortcomings are presented within the “Comments” section of Part B of this report It is intended that this information will assist the organisation in the continuous improvement of its OHS system.
PART A -Assessment and Rating Table – Summary of Findings
Part B – As 4801 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems Audit
Conclusion
SOLD Pty Ltd's., and its management are liable to reinstate John back to his job; in addition, the company should compensate him for medical bills incurred in treating the injury. A critical issue that is evident from the audit is that the organization lacks a document and precise OHS policy. The corporation has a variety of operations, and thus a generalized OHS statement is ambiguous and cannot sufficiently cover all employee activities. Furtherance, the firm should train its employees on safe practices: John's injury could have been avoided if he had been trained on how to work using ladders without putting himself at risk. The managing director, Jack, is oblivious of AS 4801 parameters that his company should fulfil as part of its statutory obligations.
References
"Workplace health & safety" (2016). Business.gov.au. Retrieved from https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/workplace-health-and-safety#state
