The purpose of this policy is to ensure the health and safety of Employees and provide a safe and healthy work environment.
2.1 The aim of this policy is to:
(a) Ensure the health and safety of Employees at work;
(b) Ensure compliance with Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and Health and Safety Regulations 1995;
(c) Outline the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE);
(d) Outline the process of recording and reporting an accident at work;
(e) Outline the process that the Employer will follow when investigating and conducting a disciplinary process.
3.1 This policy applies to all Employees including temporary, casual, fixed term, part time and full time Employees.
3.2 This policy should be read in conjunction with other company policies which our Employees are expected to have read and understand.
3.3 All Employees are expected to adhere to this policy and actively take steps to ensure the safety of themselves, fellow employees, and the Employer.
3.4 All Employees are expected to have read and understood this policy.
4.1 All reasonably practicable steps – means what is reasonable and practical given the circumstances. Whether a safety measure is reasonable will largely depend on how much harm could be done, how much is known about the hazard and how difficult or expensive it is to put protections in place.
4.2 Accident/Incident – means an event that causes any person to be harmed; or in different circumstances, might have caused any person to be harmed.
4.3 Workplace/Worksite – means a place (whether or not within or forming part of a building, structure or vehicle) where any person is to work, is working, for the time being works, or customarily works, for gain or reward.
4.4 Hazard – means an activity, arrangement, circumstance, event, occurrence, phenomenon, process, situation, or substance (whether arising or caused within or outside a place of work) that is an actual or potential cause or source of harm.
4.5 Significant Hazard – means a hazard that is an actual or potential source of serious harm.
4.6 Harm – means illness, injury, or both; and includes physical or mental harm caused by work-related stress.
4.7 Serious Harm – means death, or harm of a kind or description set out in Part 1 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 or declared by Regulation to be ‘serious’ for the purposes of this Act.
4.8 Hazard Control – means managing a significant hazard through elimination, isolation or minimisation and monitoring.
4.9 Employer – means a person who employs another person to undertake any work for hire or reward.
4.10 Employee – means a person engaged by any person (otherwise than as a Worker) to perform any work for gain or reward.
4.11 Visitors – include groups such as customers, hospital patients, contractors or visitors to the workplace, an Employee’s family, passers-by, and any other person who may be affected by the work activity.
4.12 Persons in Control of the Worksite – includes a person who owns, leases, subleases, or occupies a place of work, or who owns, leases or subleases plant or equipment used in a place of work.
5.1 The Employee shall comply with all reasonable directions regarding health and safety in the workplace and shall operate all equipment with reasonable care.
5.2 The Employee shall also take reasonable care of their own safety and not cause any harm to others when carrying out their own duties under this Agreement.
5.3 The Employee shall comply with all reasonable directions regarding the safe use of all tools, machinery, protective clothing, equipment, and chemicals. All equipment shall be left in a safe manner so as not to cause damage to either: work, workplaces, machinery or other persons.
5.4 It is strictly against the rules of the workplace to interfere with, or make inoperative, any safety equipment or guards.
5.5 The Employee shall be required to notify the Employer immediately if they have suffered injury as a result of a work place accident/incident, or immediately on the morning of the next working day if they have obtained medical assistance over night as a result of a workplace accident in which an injury was not immediately identified
5.5.1 The Employee must, at the time of reporting the accident/incident accurately complete all internal Accident Reporting documents. Where any Employee completes a claim form for any work-related accident with the ACC or an appropriate ACC-related Insurance Company, they should provide the Employer with a copy of any relevant documents.
5.6 The Employee must immediately report any condition or practice that has the potential to cause harm or serious harm to an Employee.
5.7 Employees shall be provided with suitable PPE relevant to the role that they are employed within and key tasks and duties they are required to complete. As such the Employee is required to wear such PPE when necessary or as per procedure.
5.8 The Employee must keep their work areas clean and tidy to reduce the risk of potential harm.
5.9 The Employee is required to use the equipment provided to them to ensure the safety of themselves and others e.g. using lifting and/or transferring devices rather than manual lifting.
5.10 The Employee shall take all reasonable steps to ensure they are protecting the health and safety of fellow employees by allowing them to complete their duties without unnecessary distraction.
5.11 The Employee shall observe and comply with the Non-Smoking Policies, and Health & Safety Policies of the Employer and/or the Employer’s clients.
6.1 The Employer will take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure a safe and healthy work environment for all Employees.
6.2 The Employer shall ensure that any Employee engaged in handling dangerous goods or chemicals, including flammable materials, is provided with the appropriate protective/safety equipment.
6.3 The Employer shall have grounds to challenge the claim of a work-related injury, or withhold payment to the Employee, where the Employee has failed to complete the required accident/injury reporting documentation without sufficient justification.
6.4 The Employer will provide the Employee with PPE and will replace such PPE on the production of the worn out article/item.
6.5 The Employer will provide information and training in the use, correct care, maintenance and storage of such equipment.
6.6 The Employer will ensure that there is a suitable recording and reporting process in place.
7.1 Where required to work on a client site the employee must comply with client Health and Safety Policies and Procedures at all times.
7.2 Where an incident occurs on a client site, the employee may be required to file an incident form for both the client and the employer.
7.3 Employees should be aware that any breaches of a client’s health and safety’s policy and procedures may result in that employee being excluded from being able to attend that client site in the future and may result in disciplinary action.
7.4 If the employee is requested by the client to conduct work which they believe to be unsafe if they are not able to resolve this with the client, they are to contact the employer immediately, prior to commencing the work.
8.1 All accidents/injuries, and irresponsible conduct endangering the safety of an Employee or any other person, which occur, arising out of, or in the course of employment, shall be reported to the Employer by the Employee as soon as practicable after the accident/incident occurs.
8.2 The following information as required by the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 shall be given:
(a) The date, time and location of the accident/incident;
(b) The activity in which the Employee was engaged at the time the accident/incident occurred;
(c) The general nature of any injuries suffered; and,
(d) The names of any other people in the vicinity of the accident/incident who may have witnessed what took place.
8.3 Any Employee who has suffered an accident/injury and fails to report this to the Employer will be found to be in breach of this policy and may constitute misconduct.
8.4 Work Related Accident: Where the Employer accepts the claim of the injury being the result of a work place accident/incident the Employer shall pay the first seven (7) calendar days of the Employees remuneration prior to on-going payments being paid by ACC, in accordance with applicable legislation.
8.5 Non-Related Work Accident: If it is a non-work related accident all leave taken in relation to the accident will be recorded as sick leave. If the Employee has no entitlement, then it is taken as unpaid leave.
9.1 The Employer will investigate all accidents, incidents and near misses to determine whether they were cause by significant hazards. Where applicable, the Employer will also find out what controls were absent and should be put in place to manage any hazard and prevent a repeat of the same occurrence.
9.2 All persons present at the time of the accident/incident are expected to assist in any investigation.
9.3 The Employer, where applicable, will provide assistance and advice to manage any identified hazards in relation to any accident/incident.
10.1 The Employer will conduct such inspections to evaluate the workplace for the presence of any hazards which have the potential to cause harm or serious harm to Employees, Residents and Visitors.
10.2 Any hazards identified through such inspection will be corrected within the bounds of the budget and authority.
10.3 Directors of the company will be notified of such hazards and added to the Hazard Register.
The Employer is entitled to amend and vary its policies from time to time at its sole discretion and Employees are required to observe such policies.
