Integrated consulting and auditor

23/01/2023

MelEIBE 🇬🇶 🇬🇧 🇪🇸 🇬🇭 🇫🇷 shared a post on Instagram: "😔 ⚫️ ". Follow their account to see 88 posts.

31/03/2022

By assessing and auditing the standards, it will assist with compliance in your organisation. Contact now to discuss.

31/03/2022

https://integratedconsultingandauditor.godaddysites.com/

Helping you design success!

17/10/2021

It has been established that most PCBU are not aware of what they have to follow. Thought this may clarify.

Standards refers to the principles behind a work and values associated with it but regulations refers to the set of laws and rules that are need to be followed while performing a certain task. Both of regulations and standards need to be dominated in the contracts.

Regulation

A Rule that we must follow
Rules that the Government makes under an Act
Rules are made “real” and “enforceable” by the power that the Government gives itself under an Act
e.g. Health & Safety Act Regulation for Hearing Protection

Standards

Not written by Government
Are written by organizations such as CSA, ANSI, CGSB, etc.
Typically refer to product performance or how to do a job
Have no authority on their own, but may be adopted into regulations making them legal requirements
May be referred to specifically in a regulation or through a “General Duty Clause”
Regulatory bodies may adopt all or a part of an existing standard

16/10/2021

ISO. 45001:2018

6.1.2.1 Hazard identification

The organization shall establish, implement and maintain a process(es) for hazard identification that is
ongoing and proactive. The process(es) shall take into account but not be limited to:

a) how work is organized, social factors (including workload, work hours, victimization, harassment
and bullying), leadership and the culture in the organization;
b) routine and non-routine activities and situations, including hazards arising from:
1) infrastructure, equipment, materials, substances and the physical conditions of the workplace;
2) product and service design, research, development, testing, production, assembly, construction,
service delivery, maintenance and disposal;
3) human factors;
4) how the work is performed;
c) past relevant incidents, internal or external to the organization, including emergencies, and
their causes;
d) potential emergency situations;
e) people, including consideration of:
1) those with access to the workplace and their activities, including workers, contractors, visitors
and other persons;
2) those in the vicinity of the workplace who can be affected by the activities of the organization;
3) workers at a location not under the direct control of the organization;
f) other issues, including consideration of:
1) the design of work areas, processes, installations, machinery/equipment, operating procedures
and work organization, including their adaptation to the needs and capabilities of the workers
involved;
2) situations occurring in the vicinity of the workplace caused by work-related activities under
the control of the organization;
3) situations not controlled by the organization and occurring in the vicinity of the workplace
that can cause injury and ill health to persons in the workplace;
g) actual or proposed changes in organization, operations, processes, activities and OH&S management
system (see 8.1.3);
h) changes in knowledge of, and information about, hazards.

12/10/2021

21/09/2021

Health and safety legislation in all states and territories of Australia places legal duties on all businesses to protect the health, safety and welfare of all workers at work and of other people who might be affected by the work. Failure to comply with a legal duty is a criminal offence and can expose offenders to heavy fines and the possibility of imprisonment. You must be able to demonstrate that you have fulfilled your legal obligations by having an up-to-date Health and Safety Compliance System in place.

Duty of care
Section 17 of the WHS Act requires all duty holders to ‘eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety so far as is reasonably practicable’.

Section 19(c) of the WHS Act requires all businesses, regardless of size or industry, to ‘provide and maintain safe systems of work’. (These duties also apply to selfemployed persons even if they do not employ other workers.

These duties are also placed on employers and self-employed persons in Victoria by the Occupational; Health and Safety Act 2004.

Offences
All states and territories impose heavy penalties on offenders for contravention of duties. There are three categories of offences under WHS Acts, all of which are criminal offences.

s.31
Category 1 - a duty holder, without reasonable excuse, engages in conduct that recklessly to a risk of death or serious illness.
s.32
Category 2 - a duty holder fails to comply with a health and safety duty that exposes a person to risk of death or serious injury.
s.33
Category 3 - a duty holder fails to comply with a health and safety duty (exposure of a person to risk does not need to occur for this offence).

Section Offence Breach by Penalty
s.21 Fail to provide and maintain a working environment that is safe and without risks to health Natural person $327,132
Body corporate / company $1,635,660
s.24 Duty of self-employed person to other persons Individual $327,132
s.25 Duty to self, other persons, and things provided Individual $327,132

Industrial manslaughter
Industrial manslaughter laws are in force in the ACT, New South Wales, Queensland Victoria and Western Australia, with other states and territories planning their introduction. Penalties for industrial manslaughter include fines of up to $16.5 million and/or life imprisonment. These laws apply to PCBUs, employers and ‘senior officers’, which could extend to at least one or two levels below the CEO or director level.

The underlying element of negligence (failure to act) in an industrial manslaughter case will be easier to prove than that of recklessness (a conscious disregard of risk). Vicarious liability provisions will make the company liable for the negligent conduct of a worker in the course of their employment, which then becomes the conduct of the company.

These liabilities serve to emphasise the importance of companies having robust safety management systems and procedures, as they form the only basis of defence against charges based on negligence as opposed to recklessness.

What must a PCBU or employer do?
A PCBU or employer must, so far as is reasonably practicable:

provide and maintain safe workplaces and systems of work,
provide and maintain safe plant and structures,
ensure health and safety in the storage, handling, and use of chemicals and substances,
provide information instruction, training and supervision to workers for them to work safely,
provide adequate facilities for the welfare of workers, and
monitor the health of workers and conditions at the workplace.
What must an officer do?
Officers of corporations and other organisations must manage corporate risks, including work health and safety risks. Acts in all states (except Victoria) require an officer of a PCBU to exercise ‘due diligence’ to ensure that the PCBU or employer complies with legal health and safety duties. Due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to:

acquire and keep up to date knowledge of health and safety matters,
understand the nature of their company’s operations, hazards and risks,
ensure that the company has and uses appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks,
ensure that the company has and implements processes to receive and consider information about work-related incidents, hazards and risks, and to respond in a timely manner
ensure that the company has and implements processes for compliance with legal duties, and
verify that hazards and risks are being appropriately controlled.
Duties of workers
Workers (including subcontractors) have legal health and safety duties to:

take reasonable care for their own health and safety,
ensure that their actions or omissions do not affect the health and safety of others,
comply with any reasonable instruction given to them relating to health and safety, and
cooperate with any reasonable company policy or procedure relating to health and safety.
The duty of a worker will be proportional to the degree of control that he or she is able to exercise over workplace activities or the work environment. Workers must follow any company policy or rule provided to them in their company induction and agree to comply with them at all times.

Training and inductions
PCBUs and employers must ensure that workers are able to carry out their work safely. No worker should carry out work for which they have not been trained or are not competent to do so.

It is essential that all workers are inducted into company policies and procedures as quickly as possible, and preferably when they first start employment with the company. This should be provided to all workers (including temporary and casual workers).

21/09/2021

This is why I am a firm believer in a management system to be audited and to comply with safety. What is your system like? How do you prevent accidents in the workplace? Let me discuss with you a great system that limits time at a desk and updates for you. Can audit your system to ensure it is working efficiently.