Being Health and Safety compliant

An incident in the workplace is every employer’s worst nightmare. We help to guide your investigation, advise on corrective actions and protect your interests in the event of enforcement action.

Can you help prepare an accident investigation report?

Yes. This is difficult to get right, as once you reach conclusions and set out the actions you have taken, the document is discoverable to the other side in the event of a personal injury claim or regulatory prosecution. We help you stick to the facts, keep opinions separate, and ensure the report is prepared so that it protects your best interests and, importantly, identifies the things that need to be put right to prevent reoccurrence.

We have been approached by the Health and Safety Authority regarding an incident. Can you assist?

Yes. In the event of a serious accident or emergency, we support your investigation and advise on your communications with the regulator. We are there to help mitigate damage, guide and support you. If you have received a letter from the regulator, we can help you formulate a response until legal advice is required.

If you’re facing an urgent crisis or just in need of an expert second opinion, get sensible, proportionate and practical advice at any time with our unlimited advice line support.

Who will be advising me?

At Work Safety Hub, we believe in a personal approach. That’s why we assign each client a dedicated safety consultant who will become your main point of contact for advice, expert guidance and support on all health and safety issues. If you take up our Enterprise Health & Safety Service. Your safety consultant will also be the one to conduct your health and safety audit and produce your policies and safety management system manual. This means you’ll receive consistent advice from a dedicated safety expert who truly understands your organisation, its safety system, arrangements and objectives.

What if my safety consultant isn’t available?

Suppose your dedicated safety consultant isn’t available when you call. In that case, our office-based Helpdesk Team will be able to resolve most issues for you or direct you to the relevant guidance or template you need via our Knowledge Hub. If you have a particularly urgent or technical query, our Helpdesk Team can prioritise this to another safety expert within our team. You’ll never be without support.

From a procedure that isn't being appropriately implemented to a system of work or risk assessment that's out of date, we thoroughly examine your premises, practices and processes to identify and rectify areas where you're exposed.

What form does the audit take?

There are several different audit tools and criteria for conducting health and safety audits. The approach we adopt at Work Safety Hub is known as a Fundamentals Assessment. This service is designed to support your organisation and provide a greater understanding of its obligations, the Regulator's expectations, and a roadmap to better systematic WHS management.

We will identify possible causes of harm, the likelihood and severity of that harm, given the control measures already in place, and any further risk reduction measures required to reduce risk to as low as is "reasonably practicable".

Will you only provide a report of the hazards identified?

No, we report on compliant and non-compliant areas, and we will provide clear solutions and recommendations to address particular areas. Your dedicated Health & Safety Consultant is happy to assist if you have any questions.

Allocating time for employee training isn’t always possible. However, as an employer, you want to know that your staff are capable to undertake their duties safely – and that your organisation is protected – without affecting productivity or spending a fortune.

Online facilitated training is a convenient and powerful way to achieve capability in your organisation. Work Safety Hub courses incorporate videos and interactive testing for impactful and engaging employee training.

What types of courses are available?

Work Safety Hub gives you access to 15+ courses. These include WorkSafe Victoria-approved HSR Initial and HSR Refresher courses. Health & Safety compliance courses include Risk Assessment, Workplace Hazards and Personal Safety; Workplace Stress, Workplace Violence and Plant & Equipment, Hazardous Chemicals, Manager Supervisor, Due Diligence, Manual Handling, Incident reporting and investigation, Emergency Preparedness and Contractor Management.

How much do the courses cost?

All of our courses are free for the first year you purchase our Enterprise Fixed Fee Health & Safety Managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or course, which keeps costs down and gives you complete certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce grows, as you won’t need to purchase extra seats, giving you exceptional value for money.

Our impactful solution, Safety Nett, facilitates the workflow process for assessing and maintaining the effectiveness of your risk control measures.

Knowing the risk controls critical to mitigating safety risks and focussing organisational resources on them is one of the core functions of our solutions.

Our application helps you identify the activities that ensure these risk controls effectively mitigate safety risks.
This allows you to focus on those activities which have the most significant impact on reducing injuries, incidents or near misses at work.
You can use this information as a basis for prioritising improvement actions across all areas of health and safety management within your organisation - from leadership through managers, supervisors and employees to the operational level staff performing tasks associated with each activity.

The result is improved performance in managing workplace health & safety issues, resulting in better outcomes for everyone involved.

We're so confident in our ability to manage your compliance that we'll even act as one of your suitably qualified advisors, which all organisations should have access to (by law in Victoria) to meet the requirements of health and safety legislation.

What is a suitably qualified person?

A suitably qualified person helps an organisation to comply with health and safety laws and take all reasonable steps to keep people from being hurt. The person must recognise your organisation's health and safety risks and identify practical and proportionate solutions. More information on how WorkSafe applies the law concerning a suitably qualified person can be found here: https://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/resources/employing-or-engaging-suitably-qualified-persons-provide-health-and-safety-advice

Why should I engage an expert outside my business?

Will the employee you appoint as your in-house suitably qualified advisor be able to give enough time to this responsibility? They might know your organisation inside and out, but do they have the necessary safety related skills, experience and training to keep you compliant? Do they have a thorough knowledge of health and safety law and how it is interpreted in your organisation? Engaging an impartial expert external to your organisation ensures you have access to technical expertise and the benefit of hands-on experience and brings specialist knowledge to the way you manage health and safety. We help you develop an effective safety management system and give you clarity over what you need to be doing.

Whether you’ve got nothing in place or require an expert review, our Health & Safety specialists can provide you with a policy and safety management manual tailored to your organisation, its processes, activities and environment.

Whom will the Health & Safety Management System (HSMS) be written by?

Your Work Safety Hub HSMS will be written by your experienced Health & Safety Consultant with recognised qualifications and technical expertise. Take up our Enterprise Fixed Fee Health & Safety service. Our safety expert will be your dedicated safety consultant for all health and safety matters – meaning the advice you receive will be consistent and based on a real understanding of your operation. Additionally, for any questions or areas of your policy that require specific technical expertise, as well as support from your safety consultant, you’ll be able to rely on a nationwide team of safety experts with vast and diverse specialisations and experience.

What sections will it include?

Your HSMS will be based on our principle methodology of plan - Implement - Review and Improve (IRI) framework. It will include all policies describing how the business is committed to fulfilling its legal responsibilities, followed by the requirements section covering all risk areas relevant to the operation and how they are managed (contractors, fire, first aid, machinery maintenance, lone working, etc.). 

Risk assessment is a critical element of health and safety management. Get expert guidance on assessing specific risk areas such as manual handling, hazardous chemicals, etc.

Is a risk assessment a legal requirement?

Yes. Under the various Australian Health and Safety Laws, employers (PCBUs) must assess the health and safety risks their employees are exposed to and the risks to any non-employees (customers, visitors, contractors, etc.) who may be affected by their activities. If you're not sure where to begin with risk assessment, we can help you.

The company has a health and safety team, but they haven't had formal risk assessment training. Can you assist?

Risk assessment is the foundation of an effective safety management system. Yet, many individuals with this responsibility have not been taught the basic principles of conducting a risk assessment and what the law expects. This can result in an inaccurate estimation of risk, which may lead to specific control measures being recommended that are not necessary or, worse, control measures not being identified or implemented.

If you want to ensure this essential task is correctly done, our expert Health & Safety Team can deliver a risk assessment training package to develop internal competence.