Background/Overview
You work at CareShore in the community services office. You are responsible for undertaking case meetings to plan, monitor and review service provision for clients. In addition, your role requires you to manage work, health and safety (WHS) implications for the other members of the team, the clients and yourself in the performance of the service.
At a recent team meeting, two workers raised concerns regarding their health and safety in the workplace, particularly in regard to potentially aggressive client behaviour. The concerns arose after a client had a violent outburst and the Police were called to the CareShore office. Employees felt that they were underprepared to handle the situation and that the CareShore management team was not doing enough to protect the health and safety of its employees.
Your manager admitted that the current CareShore WHS policies and procedures were developed for the attached age care facility. The community services office was a relatively new addition for CareShore and the procedures had not yet been updated to reflect the new environment.
To rectify this problem, your manager has asked you to establish new WHS procedures and systems specifically for the community services office of CareShore.
Part 1
1A. As a case manager at CareShore, even before you start your first client intake, it is important that you understand the WHS requirements for a community services organisation. Briefly describe the legal obligations that CareShore would have in relation to the following WHS areas.
Area Legal obligations (100 words each) Record-keeping and reporting
Work Health and Safety Act 2011, which imposes obligations on people at workplaces to ensure work health and safety. The underlying purpose of the act is to protect the health and safety of workers and other people by eliminating or minimizing the risk arising from the work or workplaces Some of the record which have to be kept are:. injury/incident reports and investigations* • workers rehabilitation and compensation records* • first aid records • chemical register identifying those which are classified as hazardous substances and including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) • risk assessments and controls • training records • certificates and licences • maintenance and testing records (e.g. Residual Current Device [RCD] tests) • hazard report forms (and actions taken) • workplace inspection/safety check forms • major incident/dangerous occurrence reports to SafeWork SA.
Due diligence Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, which describes what must be done to prevent or control certain hazards which cause injury, illness or death Consultation
Brief
Work Health and Safety Act 2011, which imposes obligations on people at workplaces to ensure work health and safety. Consultation is a legal requirement and essential for managing health and safety risks. Consultation with workers:
· Talk to each other on WHS matters
· Listen to their concerns and raise your concerns.
· Seek and share views and information.
· Advise workers of the outcome of consultation in a timely manner.
One must consult with workers in the following cases:
· Identifying hazards and assessing risks.
· Making decisions about ways to eliminate or minimizing those risks.
· Making decision about the adequacy of facilities for welfare of workers.
· Making decision on the health and safety procedures.
Hazard manual tasks
Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, which describes what must be done to prevent or control certain hazards which cause injury, illness or death. Manual tasks such as lifting of objects, cleaning vehicles, servicing of parts and many more of serious physical ramification. It has to be ensured that the workers are equipped with protective gearing at all times to keep them safe and secure during their working hours.
Infection control
Employees are subscribed under occupation health and safety act to provide a safe workplace for their employees, including the provision of adequate infection control procedures, right equipment and training.
1B. Briefly describe the legal responsibilities of each of the follow duty holders under WHS legislation.
Area
Legal obligations
(50 words each)
Persons conducting a business undertaking (PCBUs)
A PCBU (Person Undertaking a Business or Undertaking) is the legal entity operating a business or undertaking. A PCBU may be an individual person or an organisation conducting a business or undertaking. A PCBU has the primary duty of care to ensure the health and safety of the workers while they are at work in the business or undertaking. A PCBU is also responsible for ensuring work carried out does not carry any kind of risk to the health and safety of others.
Case Managers/Supervisors
who are the senior executives who make, or participates in making, decisions that affect the whole, or a substantial part, of the business or undertaking. Officers may be a person identified within the meaning of section 9 of the Corporations Act (not including a partner in a partnership), an officer of the Crown, and an officer of a public authority.
Case Workers
These are the people who are directly facing the hazards of a job and often have valuable knowledge, expertise and motivation to improve health and safety. This makes the case workers central to the process of setting health and safety standards at workplace.
Dealing with high-risk situations · Responding to emergencies
1C: In addition to being aware of your organisation’s WHS policies and procedures, it is also important that you know your state or territory’s WHS requirements. In the table below, provide details on:
- Who is the WHS regulatory authority in your state or territory
- Provide their website url (web address)
- Describe their aims
Your state or territory’s WHS
(20-50 words each)
Who is the WHS regulatory authority in your state or territory
Health and Safety Queensland – Office of Industrial Relations is responsible for improving work health and safety in Queensland and helping reduce the risk of workers being killed or injured on the job.
Provide their website url (web address)
Describe their aims
Their aim is to enforce work health and safety laws, investigate workplace fatalities and serious injuries, prosecute breaches of legislation and educate employees and employers on their legal obligations.
1D. For each of the hazards and risks listed in the table that Care Shore clients and staff may experience describe the potential consequences, identify a harm-minimisation strategy based on the principles of safe design and set a safety benchmark.
Hazard/risk
Potential consequences?
(50 words each)
Harm minimization strategy
(10-50 words each)
Safety benchmark
(10-50 words each)
EXAMPLE:
Client disabilities
A client with a disability will have a high level of risk even if full assessment and appropriate training is given. It is often essential to review potential risks to avoid penalties & fines.
To reduce the risk of injury to the clients with disabilities, employers are required to implement risk assessment and control systems within their workplace.
The risk associated with the hazards is foreseeable and controls should be implemented. A range of known hazards have to be identified through worker’s compensation data and benchmarking.
Client suicide
A client will attempt to suicide and will have a high level of risk even after proper assessments. Because his mind set is of giving up he won’t try to change himself and will end up giving up his life.
To reduce the risk of client suicide it is necessary to implement risk assessment and control. The clients should be handled politely. The other employees should talk to them and must provide them the required help and support.
The risks associated with the hazards are foreseeable and controls must be implemented.
Older clients experiencing abuse
Older clients who experience abuse are at moderate level of risk. They might get hurt and would leave the work.
To reduce the risk of older clients experiencing abuse there must be a different workplace for these clients. They must be given extra benefits.
Deliverables
They should be provided with a different benchmark so that nobody can disturb and abuse them.
Workplace bullying
Workplace bullying will have a high level of risk. Because this happens on the basis of caste, religion, sex, gender, etc.
The company norms should be in a way that every person must be considered equal. The managers should implement risk control and assessment.
A range of known hazards have to be identified through worker’s compensation data and benchmarking.
Workplace violence
Workplace violence is at a moderate level of risk. This happens under crucial conditions and is very rare.
To reduce workplace violence, various measures and strict actions must be implemented.
The people who get involve in workplace violence must be identified and should be benchmarked.
1E: Choose one (1) of the following topics and write a procedure for it for the community service office at CareShore:
- ongoing hazard identification
- risk assessment
- risk control (e.g. violent clients, intoxicated clients, outreach visits, money kept on premises etc.)
Your procedure should be based on the principles of risk assessment and refer to the hierarchy of control
(150-300 words).
At CareShore, risk assessment is a 6 steps structured process. The procedure for the risk assessment process is stated as:
Establishing the context of the risk associated or detected, it can be unforseen and predictive risk as well.
Identification of the above defined risk in terms of its potential, impact, potential loss and the strategy moving forward.
Understanding the risk to the depth level and draw necessary conclusions out of it.
Evaluate the risk by meetings, brainstorming, communication, consolation and review process.
Treat the risk and record the proceedings for future reference.
A number of risk assessment methods can be used to assess the risk, such as:
Likelihood rating table
Consequence rating table
Control effectiveness rating table
Risk Matrix
Risk treatment policy.
Likelihood Rating
Probability of occurrence
Almost certain
Event will most certainly occur- Once in a year or more frequently
Possible
Event might occur at some time- Once in 2 years or so.
Rare
Event may occur in exceptional cases- once in a 5 year or so.
1F. Briefly outline the key topics/requirements that should be included in WHS policies and procedures for each of the following areas.
Area
Key topics/requirements
To-do list
(100 words each)
Incident investigation
All incidents must be investigated to identify contributing hazards with the aim of preventing similar incidents. It will usually be a simple procedure but will, on occasions, require a more formal investigation. The investigation should involve the manager, the injured worker and HSR (if elected). Things to consider in an investigation include: • who was involved in the incident? • where and when did it occur? • what task was being performed? • how did the incident occur? • what were the events leading up to the incident?
Employee inductions
As a part of employee induction the community manager and the HR have to brief the employees on the policies of the organization and take them through the history of the organization. They have to be made aware of their job duties and responsibilities and their reporting managers. They also have to be made aware of the preventive steps to be taken in order to prevent any mishappening in the future, at the same time they have to be made aware on the legislative policies in place.
Consultation and participation
Since workers in the community do not work in a single workplace, consultation presents a challenge. The formality of the consultation process will depend on the size of the organisation. Larger organisations may have WHS committees and/or HSRs. WHS should be a regular agenda item at staff meetings of both large and small organisations. WHS issues discussed at regular meetings may include: • proposed changes to work procedures • incident/hazard reporting • feedback on issues previously reported • WHS performance e.g. assessments conducted or improvements in injury statistics • training needs • review of the WHS plan (refer to part 5 of the WHS Act for more information on your consultation obligations).
Appointment of health and safety representatives (HSRs)
HSRs are elected by their work groups. These work groups are set up in consultation between PCBUs and interested workers. HSRs have a vital role to play in assisting workers in their workgroup to have health and safety issues raised and addressed. Through their own experience in the workplace, HSRs have a practical understanding of the health and safety problems that workers experience and can contribute suggestions about ways to resolve these problems. HSRs are elected for a period of three years and in their role they may: • inspect the workplace • investigate incidents or injuries (along with management) • represent the work group or individuals to management • issue a provisional improvement notice (PIN) requiring a hazard to be corrected (where it is not resolved by consultation) • direct that work ceases where there is an immediate risk to workers’ WHS
Scenario
Workplace support services
The committee’s role is to provide for formal consultation and assist in the: • development of policies and procedures • development, implementation and review of WHS plans and set priorities • resolution of WHS disputes • review of WHS resources • development and maintenance of effective injury and hazard management systems • development of processes to ensure legal obligations are met • review of rehabilitation and the needs of workers with disabilities.
Emergency procedures
Factors to be considered include: • prevention of fires e.g. report obvious electrical faults or inappropriately positioned heaters in client homes • checking that workers and clients can safely exit from the office, home or venue e.g. is the exit from the home blocked by security doors or roller shutters? • checking that a fire detection system is in place e.g. smoke alarms (but consider that workers should not depend on them to work as they may be faulty) • a procedure to ensure workers report obvious electrical faults • access to first aid and other emergency equipment e.g. in vehicles • who to report to and how to seek help in the event of an emergency. This may include the need to use international colour coding for emergencies e.g. code red means fire, code black means personal threat, etc • reporting and recording after the event (particularly for after-hours emergencies) • debriefing after emergency events • having procedures in place to address emergencies where there is no mobile phone coverage (e.g. using the client’s phone). If using a mobile phone dial 000 or 112. This will obtain emergency services even if there is no SIM card in the phone or may get help if there is no service via your carrier.
1G: Write a procedure for the maintenance of WHS records for the community services office at CareShore. Your procedure must comply with legislative requirements (200 words).
There are legal requirements for you to maintain a range of WHS records, including those specified in the WHS Regulations. These requirements include: • injury/incident reports and investigations* • workers rehabilitation and compensation records* • first aid records • chemical register identifying those which are classified as hazardous substances and including Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) • risk assessments and controls • training records • certificates and licences • maintenance and testing records (e.g. Residual Current Device [RCD] tests) • hazard report forms (and actions taken) • workplace inspection/safety check forms • major incident/dangerous occurrence reports to SafeWork SA.
Rubric for Assessment
1H: From time to time in case management, you will need to seek the advice of a legal professional (either a solicitor or a free legal adviser). This can also apply when writing WHS policies or procedures, where you need to check the compliance of the policy or procedure you are writing.
Complete the email in the spaces indicated below to a solicitor (we have pre-filled the email addresses) that would be sent with your procedure to seek legal advice on its compliance (50 words).
I have a client who is involved in criminal activities and drug abuse. Although I have terminated him but he is taking wrong measures and is affecting the work environment of the organisation. He is creating problems for all the other employees and is identified as a risk for CareShore. Kindly brief me with the advices or legal actions I can take against him and on his compliance. I want to take actions with respect to my current employee’s health and welfare.
Part 2
2A. Develop a WHS consultation plan by completing the table below to provide advice in relation to WHS issues at CareShore (we have provided an example). You must identify at least two (2) other methods of consultation.
Consultation activity
How will this occur?
When or how frequently will this occur?
Who is responsible?
How will the outcomes be documented?
Example:
Staff forum
Within the divisions at CareShore at team meetings
Fortnightly
Team Leader
The minutes are taken at each meeting and then circulated to staff
1.
Officers
Within the divisions at CareShore
Weekly
Directors
Reports
2. Staff or workers
At team meetings within the divisions at CareShore
Fortnightly
Team Leaders
The minutes are taken at each meeting and then circulated to staff
Part 3
3A. Prepare an induction checklist that can be used at CareShore to ensure that WHS policies and procedures are communicated to new employees on commencement. List at least ten (10) induction topics in the space below and provide a brief explanation of each one (we have provided an example).
Induction topic
Explanation
(25-50 words each)
Example:
Secure swipe entry card
By limiting access to card holders, this ensures the security of all staff and also provides a clear indication to managers of case workers’ attendance in the office.
1. Laptops should not be taken home
By limiting access of laptops, all the employees will concentrate on their work during the working hours and hence discipline will be maintained.
Overall Assessment Expectations
2. Staff introduction
Introduction to the other staff members so that the new employee gets familiar with the co-workers.
3. WHS policies and procedures
Simple briefing of the WHS policies and procedures so that the employees do not have any problem in understanding the policies of the organization.
4. Secure swipe entry card
By limiting access to card holders, this ensures the security of all staff and also provides a clear indication to managers of case workers attendance in the office.
5. Hazards and work related accident processes
This will help employees in understanding the hazards and they will easily identify the work related accidents.
6. Secure punch-ins and punch-outs
This will ensure that all the employees complete their normal working hours and do not waste time.
7. Leave policies
This will ensure that if the employee will ask for a leave what are the terms and conditions and what procedure is necessary to follow.
8. Termination policy
This will ensure that if employees get involved in wrong activities then they will be terminated and hence the employees will maintain the decorum of the company.
9. Work area facilities
This will ensure that all the employees get to know the facilities which are provided to them by the organization.
10. Performance incentives
This will motivate the employees to improve their performance and they will work more hard.
3B. Identify two (2) potential barriers to implementing new WHS procedures and provide a brief explanation of each (we have provided an example).
Potential barrier to new WHS procedures
Explanation
(25-50 words)
Example:
Cultural diversity
It is likely that clients and colleagues will have diverse backgrounds to each other. This diversity can present language barriers, which can lead to misunderstandings or miscommunications.
1.Physical barriers
Employees working in different buildings or locations, staff shortages, distractions caused by noise / poor lighting / temperature.
2. Inadequate WHS information
Employees can’t make informed decisions or suggestions because WHS records are not collected and / or communicated adequately, e.g. there is no information provided in advance on changes to the workplace that impact on WHS, such as new equipment.
Part 4
4A. Develop a monitoring plan for WHS procedures for each of the following areas.
Area
Monitoring strategy?
(100 words each)
Monitoring frequency?
(50 words each)
Responsibility?
(30 words each)
Reporting of outcomes
(50 words each)
Use of workplace PPE
Personal protective equipment refers to protective clothing, helmets, goggles or any other garment or equipment designed to protect the employees from any injury or infection. As a part of monitory a quality control team has to be set up which will audit the conditions of the equipment’s and raise indent whenever required for new inventory
Units of Competency
At the last day of the month i.e. monthly on a regular basis
The employees will be responsible for fruitful outcome
The reporting of the outcomes should be in a form of meetings which will be discussed by the manager.
Gathering ad-hoc employee feedback
The employee feedback is important and hence weekly meeting must be conducted. Employees will be filling a feedback form at the end of the month describing their problems.
On regular basis i.e. weekly meetings would be conducted to keep the employees satisfied
Team leader will be responsible for gathering ad-hoc employee feedback
The team leader will gather the information and discuss he problems with his senior and will come up with strategies to solve the problems.
Hazard, incident and injury reporting procedures
appropriate investigations can be performed; trend analyses of the collected information can be performed; legal requirements connected with reporting of injury and workers’ compensation should be evaluated
This investigation should be performed on a regular basis and the legal requirements must be updated on a regular basis.
The supervisors and the managers are responsible for performing the investigations.
The employees will come to know the legal requirements which are connected to their injury. The hazards and injuries will be less as they will be identified.
Induction training procedures
Corrective actions including performance management will be implemented so that persons who missed scheduled training are provided with the training that was missed within a suitable timeframe.
This will be done at the end of the training program to check for any sort of flaws in the training of the new employees.
The Deputy Chief Executive Officer will monitor gaps in training attendance. The Deputy Chief Executive Officer will provide a quarterly training report to the WHS Committee and Management Team
Incident and hazard reports and the relationships to any training provided. The assessment process and outcomes achieved. Feedback from Managers, workers and stakeholders, where relevant, regarding delivered training, Training costs.
WHS record keeping procedures
Health and safety local action plans · Internal evaluation reports · Hazard and other registers · Corrective actions registers · Workplace inspections · Training needs analysis and plans · Incident / Hazard reports · First Aid treatment · Licensing and certification · Registrations · Health and Safety working group meeting agendas and minutes · Training and induction checklists · Performance management plans · Emergency evacuation reports · Maintenance, inspections and testing · Health monitoring reports and testing · Research Approvals/authorisations · Claims management & Rehabilitation case records
The documents containing the records are evaluated every year.
The custodianship of the university safety management system controlled documentation and The process of developing, approving and reviewing system documentation and ensuring the currency of such documentation is maintained and accessible on the Safety & Wellbeing website.
These records will help in defining in brief report of all the policies of an organization.
- Assessment Rubric
Below is a rubric that determines whether your answers and knowledge is satisfactory or not yet satisfactory.
To pass the assessment, you must complete ALL the requirements for the column that is titled ‘satisfactory’.
It is advisable to read the rubric before attempting the assessments to help you attain the correct submission standard.
Part 1:
Question 1A
The student is able to adequately state the current WHS legislative obligations in relation to
Record keeping and reporting
and
Due diligence
and
Consultation
and
Hazard manual tasks
and
Infection control
The student fails to adequately state the current WHS legislative obligations in relation to
Record keeping and reporting
and/or
Due diligence
and/or
Consultation
and/or
Hazard manual tasks
and/or
Infection control
Part 1:
Question 1B
The student is able to adequately describe the WHS legal obligations of
Persons conducting a business undertaking (PCBUs)
and
Case Managers/Supervisors
and
Case Workers
The student fails to adequately describe the WHS legal obligations of
Persons conducting a business undertaking (PCBUs)
and/or
Officers
and/or
Workers
Part 1:
Question 1C
The student is able to adequately identify: the WHS regulatory authority in their state or territory
and
Provide the website url (web address) of their state/territory’s WHS regulatory authority
and
Describe the aims of their state/territory’s WHS regulatory authority
The student is not able to adequately identify:
the WHS regulatory authority in their state or territory
and/or
Provide the website url (web address) of their state/territory’s WHS regulatory authority
And/or
Describe the aims of their state/territory’s WHS regulatory authority
Part 1:
Question 1D
The student is able to adequately describe the risk/potential consequences, an appropriate and relevant harm minimisation strategy and safety benchmark for
Client suicide
and
Client disabilities
and
Older clients experiencing abuse
and
Workplace bullying
and
Workplace violence
The student fails to adequately describe the risk/potential consequences, an appropriate and relevant harm minimisation strategy and safety benchmark for
Client suicide
and/or
Client disabilities
and/or
Older clients experiencing abuse
and/or
Workplace bullying
and/or
Workplace violence
Part 1:
Question 1E
The student is able to adequately write a procedure that is based on the principles of risk assessment and refer to the hierarchy of control for one of:
hazard identification
or
risk assessment reflecting the principles of risk assessment
or
risk control reflecting the hierarchy of control
The student fails to adequately write a procedure that is based on the principles of risk assessment and refer to the hierarchy of control for one of:
hazard identification
or
risk assessment reflecting the principles of risk assessment
or
risk control reflecting the hierarchy of control
Part 1:
Question 1F
The student is able to adequately describe the key topics/requirements for inclusion in WHS policies and procedures in a community service environment, including
Incident investigation
and
Employee inductions
and
Consultation and participation
and
Appointment of health and safety
representatives (HSRs)
and
Workplace support services
and
Emergency procedures
and
Use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
The student fails to adequately describe the key topics/requirements for inclusion in WHS policies and procedures in a community service environment, including
Incident investigation
and/or
Employee inductions
and/or
Consultation and participation
and/or
Appointment of health and safety
representatives (HSRs)
and/or
Workplace support services
and/or
Emergency procedures
and/or
Use of personal protective equipment (PPE)
Part 1:
Question 1G
The student is able to adequately write a relevant and practical procedure for maintaining WHS records that complies with legislative requirements.
The student fails to adequately write a relevant and practical procedure for maintaining WHS records that complies with legislative requirements.
Part 1:
Question 1H
The student is able to adequately write an email to a legal advisor to seek advice on the legal compliance of their procedures.
The student fails to adequately write an email to a legal advisor to seek advice on the legal compliance of their procedures.
Part 2
Question 2A
The student is able to adequately develop a WHS consultation plan including:
Identification of two consultation activities
and
Identification of when consultation will occur
and
Documenting specific responsibilities
and
Identification of how the outcomes of consultation will be documented
The student fails to adequately develop a WHS consultation plan including
Identification of two consultation activities
and/or
Identification of when consultation will occur
and/or
Documenting specific responsibilities
and/or
Identification of how the outcomes of consultation will be documented
Part 3:
Question 3A
The student is able to adequately outline ten relevant topics for inclusion in a WHS induction and provide a brief explanation of each.
The student fails to adequately outline ten relevant topics for inclusion in a WHS induction and provide a brief explanation of each.
Part 3:
Question 3B
The student is able to adequately outline two potential barriers to implementing WHS procedures and provide a brief explanation of each.
The student fails to adequately outline two potential barriers to implementing WHS procedures and provide a brief explanation of each.
Part 4
Question 4A
The student is able to adequately describe the monitoring and review processes to be used to monitor
Use of workplace PPE
and
Gathering ad-hoc employee feedback
and
Hazard, incident and injury reporting procedures
and
Induction training procedures
and
WHS record keeping procedures
The student fails to adequately describe the monitoring and review processes to be used to monitor
Use of workplace PPE
and/or
Gathering ad-hoc employee feedback
and/or
Hazard, incident and injury reporting procedures
and/or
Induction training procedures
and/or
WHS record keeping procedures
Overall assessment expectations
All the student’s work is original and sourced where appropriate.
Referencing
Appropriate referencing conventions are used.
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