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This assignment report discusses about the importance of WHS policies in a given working environment.

Home, - Ensuring a safe workplace

Introduction

Today, it is important for all the organizations to develop policies regarding Workplace Health and Safety for the employees working in the organization. The aim of such policies is to reduce the risks to the health, safety, and welfare for all the workers, contractors, and other employees engaged in different business operations (Tshoose, 2014). 

It is thereby the responsibility of the employees to develop a safe working environment, develop safe systems of work, incorporate facilities for the welfare of all workers, train the workers so that they can perform accordingly in the organization, and finally ensure commitment from the Human Resources (HR) department to ensure providing safety guidelines and instructions to all the employees of the organization (Tshoose, 2014). 

It is thereby the responsibility of the HR department and the top-level management of the organization to look after all such issues in the organization. They need to first review the current policies at the workplace, carry out the WHS audit, monitor the different activities of theorganization, carry out planning for the procedures and performance measures, and accordingly implement the WHS policy in a given environment. It will thereby allow the top-level management of the organization to focus on these issues and ensure safety of the employees in a given working environment.

Need for a Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) Management system

In a given case of Academies Australasia (ACA) there is a centralized IT unit that is connected with all the branches of theorganization. Second, it is important to make people aware of the different WHS issues prevailing in the organization and thereby conduct training programs in this direction (Walker, 2014). 

After careful analysis, it is found that there are certain areas of concern from the WHS perspective that need to be addressed across the organization. It is first important to look after the design of the workplace, manage rehabilitation centers within the context of the organization, ensure work practices are free from different flaws, carry out inspection of the workplace and provide necessary assistance to the staff, deploy accident and incident management control mechanisms, train the workers on controlling different hazards, and also implement emergency response planning in a given work environment. 

Based on the initial analysis, it is found that the organization does not have safety mechanisms to control the hazards such as harm caused through - substance, process, electricity, wet floor, slips and falls, sharp corners for the help desk and other working desks of the employees, rough papers over the place, drawers left open, and other furniture that could create obstacles in the daily routine working activities of the organization (Walker, 2014).

Establishing a WHS Management system: Details of Organization’s policy

There is an urgent need to develop a WHS Management System at a givenorganization to make sure that the employees remain safe and secure against the different hazards, risk factors, and other challenges identified in a given environment. For this purpose, the role of the HR department and the top-level management is important as they need to devise different policies and procedures in this direction. 

However, to install a proper WHS system at the workplace, they need to first conduct planning regarding identification of the major risk issues and accordingly determine the major challenges in a given environment. They will later require developing health and safety policiesbased on each of the risk factors and accordingly implement them in a given working environment. 

Simultaneously, they also need to deploy measurement and evaluation mechanisms so that they can judge the performance of the different strategies implemented in a given environment. The top-level management along with the audit team needs to conduct the review and thereby improvise the future outcomes by making necessary modifications in it (Robinson&Smallman, 2013). 

The HR team therebyneeds to work with the workers of a given IT team in this case, determine the challenges faced by them from the WHS perspective and accordingly resolve them through participating and consultation arrangements. However, it is of utmost importance for the team implementing these mechanisms to ensure legal compliance. 

Second, the HR team also needs to train the staff on the different aspects to overcome the communication barriers, ensure hazard reporting immediately, and also take steps that will help the employees to overcome the hazards at the workplace. It is thereby recommending to implement a safety policy that will ensure commitment to continually improvement in the safety standards that will allow the employees to work and perform in a better way (Kleiner& Park, 2014). 

The top-level management of the organization however needs to focus on the safety goals, carry out safety risk assessment on a regular basis, and also promote this system across all the departments of the organization.

WHS Staff Plan: Outlining Department’s workplace personnel

It is recommended to involve the employees in the planning process so that will improve the future outcomes(Kleiner& Park, 2014). The workers on the other hand need to ensure of effective communication and provide clear and constant feedback to the management team about the strategies implemented for WHS policy in the organization (Kleiner& Park, 2014). 

It is further necessary for the top-level management to deploy common practices regarding WHS that include - hazard management, incident reporting, consultation to the employees, manage abuse and bullying within the work environment, and ensure performance management in the organization. The top-level management of the organization is thereby recommended to deploy the Deming's Cycle that includes - plan, do, check, and act and it will thereby help them ensure implementation of all the controls in a given environment (Kleiner& Park, 2014). 

In this case, it will be important to identify the major risk factors and accordingly inform the workplace personnel about these issues and the solutions provided. It will make sure of overcoming such challenges and make sure of developing safe and secure workplace in the organization.

Risk Assessment: Identification of Hazards, Assessing and Controlling Risks in a work area

To carry out risk assessment for the different risk factors, it is necessary for the top-level management of the organization to apply the management standards, develop procedures and tools that will focus on the different risk factors, ensure profile safety risk, analyze the significant risk factors, design the plan to address them, allocate resources and responsibilities to the different team members, communicate with them, and implement the solution plan in the organization (Wiatrowski, 2013). 

Later, they also need to review these procedures and ensure effective governance about the policies implemented in a given working environment. Based on the risk assessment carried out in this case of the IT organization, it is found that the major risk factors that could cause damage to the workplace of the firm include - fire, explosion, natural hazards, workplace abuse and violence, bullying, hazardous material spill, electricity failure, cyber-attack, mechanical breakdown, and also issues with healthcare for the people working in the organization. 

It will thereby first create consequences such as - casualties, business interruption, property damage, environmental contamination, loss of business and customers, financial loss, loss of confidence among the employees, fines and penalties, unable to follow the legal compliance, and other such issues (Wiatrowski, 2013). 

Later, one can also identify the differentstakeholdersthat will be impacted with such risk factors. These include - employee personnel, the Board members of the organization, supply chain department, regulatory and contractual compliance authorities, environmental authorities, and also the concerned shareholders of the organization. 

Hence, it is the responsibility of the top-level management to deploy necessary mechanisms for the protection of each of the risk factors identified in this report. It will thereby make sure of overcoming these challenges and protecting the health and life of the individuals working in a given work environment (MacPhee, 2014). However, it is also important to review the control measures implemented in this direction so that necessary changes can be made accordingly in a given environment.

WHS Induction and Training Policy

The WHS Induction and Training Policy needs to address the major risk factors identified in the different cases of the work environment. It is important for the employees to follow to it and also adhere to the legal compliance to avoid any kind of breaches from the WHS policy perspective. 

The role of the HR department will be vital as they will be conducting the induction and training sessions for the employees in a given environment. Second, they will be making them inform about the different risk factors, the assessment methods, the outcomes of such assessments, and the recommendation plan through which they will be able to control these risk factors in a given working environment of a given organization (MacPhee, 2014). 

To achieve this purpose, it is necessary for the team to assemble all the workers, provide them information on the different risk factors and hazards, determine the severity of each of them, overcome them through proper action plans, and finally monitor them. They can make necessarychanges in the plan wherever required. It will thereby improvise the future outcomes as desired from the WHS perspective.

WHS Record Keeping System

To ensure that all the instructions regarding the WHS policies and guidelines are communicated, implemented and followed, it is recommended to the top-level management to develop a record keeping system (MacPhee, 2014). 

Whileconducting the audit, they need to determine the hazard and risk category, determine the major risk factors associated with that category, identify the risk levels, determine the legislative requirements, provide recommendations, and also suggest the management tools and techniques through which such risk factors can be controlled. 

It will thereby allow the top-level management of the organization to monitor all the strategiesimplemented in a proper way. For example, the employees will face fatigue issues and hence the major risk factors that will be associated with it include - illness, injury, work scheduling problems, mental health challenges, and even other physical disorders (MacPhee, 2014). 

The risk level of such an issue will be medium and hence the employees will be recommending to work within acceptable levels of fatigue. They also need to work as per the working hours’ schedules and overcome other disasters at the workplace. There is another major problem identified of electrical safety within the organization that could result into challenges such as - damages to electrical equipment, poor electrical housekeeping, and other faulty issues (MacPhee, 2014). 

The risk level is medium and hence it is recommended to deploy testing strategies of all the electrical equipment with the IT office of the organization (Tessier-Sherman et al., 2014). It will therebyminimize the risk of damage to cables, electrical equipment, and to other housekeeping practices in the organization. 

Also, the employees need to remain safe and secure as per the legal compliance that will provide them with better safety in a given working environment. They however need to report any major issue and accordingly deploy the solution as guided by the respective team and the top-level management of the organization in a given operational environment (MacPhee, 2014). It will thereby ensure overcoming of the major risk challenges and develop a better workplace in a given organization.

Analysis of WHS Legislative Framework and Ensuring Compliance

There are differentframeworks and laws that the organization needs to adhere to while designing the WHS policy or the organization. They need to first understand the different requirements of the Act, Regulation, and Code of Practice in the organization. Second, they also need to determine the duty of care that will comprise of - the types of care services to be provided to the employees, the responsibilities taken by the teams to deliver such services, and also ensure Standards of Work Safety such as of NOHSC and other Australian regulatory in a given environment (Gordon, 2014). 

The top-level management of the organization needs to follow the norms of Occupational Health and Safety Act, Mines Safety and Inspection Act, Dangerous Goods Safety Act, Environmental Protection Act, and also WHS Act of the government in the organization. It will thereby allow them to follow the acts, duties of workplace entities, follow the regulation norms, and thereby provide proper, safer, and healthy work environment to the employees across the organization (Gordon, 2014).

Analysis and Recommendations

As identified in the report, the current department and the entire organization is facing the challenges of WHS safety and compliance in a givenenvironment. Hence, there is a need of proper WHS Management System that will be looking after the different policies, will overcome the major risk and hazard factors, will train the staff to act and respond to the different situations, and finally, develop an incident response plan to mitigate the different issues. 

Further, it is found that the leaders of the organization need to deploy risks assessment procedures at individual and at organizational levels (Gordon, 2014). They need to plan the risk management strategies with the support of all the employees and thereby deploy the implementation plan as per the WHS policy and legal requirements in a given environment. 

Finally, there is a need to evaluate the worker's productivity levels as well as determine the improvised health outcomes after the implementation of this plan in a given environment (Gordon, 2014). It will thereby provide an overview to the top-level management about the current WHS policies and accordingly make changes wherever required.

Conclusion

This report discusses about the importance of WHS policies in a given working environment. There are several hazard and risk factors that can impact on the performance of the organization and can also lead to financial losses in some of the extreme cases. It is thereby recommended to deploy the safety plan that will be addressing the major challenges and risk factors of the workplace as identified in thisreport. 

The team and the employees need to follow to it and also ensure following of the legal compliance. It willthereby create a better workplace for the employees and will also provide adequate welfare activities to the employees of the organization (Bamber& Lazes, 2014). The employees need to be provided with necessaryinformation and risk assessment procedures so that they can respond accordingly and can remain satisfied while working in a given environment.

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