WHS Hero Serge Rossignol discusses: What would it cost a company to not have WHS policies implemented? What are the financial negatives to being WHS Free? 

In the third of a series of blogs by WHS Hero Serge Rossignol, he investigates the costs to a company when they decide to not implement or enforce WHS rules and regulations. Serge believes that while having a WHS free workplace saves the business $1500 on training, the long term costs are far greater and more damaging. It will cost a company XYZ in lost man hours. Obviously all businesses want to do the right thing and keep their workers safe. The ultimate aim to ensure a safe workplace and that means conducting a safety audit to establish a benchmark. There a variety of ways this can be facilitated to ensure success.

Some businesses fall under the misconception that they don’t want to find any hazards during a safety audit. On the contrary, businesses need to find these potential hazards and be proactive and conduct a risk assessment on them without delay. The idea is to do something about it, before the situation arises. Once there’s been an injury, it’s too late. Actively seeking out and looking for potential hazards is the way to go.

• Safety audits revolve around gathering information to evaluate the effectiveness of WHS management practises, and to propose action plans to correct OHS faults.
• All workplaces need to comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974 to ensure their office space is up to tip top WHS standards
• Workplace Health and Safety practises and frameworks weaken over time and need to be monitored
• Reviewing the safety of the workplace displays commitment to ongoing OHS management to  employees
•  It helps identify weaknesses and improve skill in HR.
• It’s important to note that the root cause of many major WH&S accidents in the workplace is some failure within health and safety management.

There are plenty of self assessment tools on the market and following an AS4801 Self Assessment Checklist as a guide is a good starting point. It takes a thorough look at a company’s overall Work Health and Safety Management Plan and outlines areas for improvement. It targets specific criteria and asks questions for which there must be answers.

In an ideal world, all companies should have their own Health and Safety Representative. This person is elected by their work colleagues as the person to go to for advice on WHS. There is compulsory five day training for a HSR as is indicated in the WHS Act 2011. It is not a choice but a legal requirement for a PCBU to hold an election for HSR within fourteen days. In larger companies, a Health and Safety Committee would oversee all WHS related issues.

Just by being proactive and taking steps to ensure compliance is a great way forward. A company that acknowledges its management is committed to safety, will have a flow on effect that will encourage everyone to value safety as well.

Want to learn more about the wonderful world of WHS? Call Jessica now to discuss enrolling into our next course. When are they you ask?

If you wanted to talk to anyone, look to our expert Jessica Rose! Feel free to send her a message or call now on 3038 3048!

• WHS Diploma – 9/12/13
• WHS Diploma – 20/1/14
• Cert IV WHS – 3/2/14
• WHS Diploma – 17/2/14
• WHS Diploma – 3/3/14

Or check out our facebook page for more info!

Also, why not review us on Yelp? Click the icon below to do so!