QUESTION
Occupational Safety and Health
(Safetyculture, 2012) Occupational Health and Safety laws in Australia is said to have originated from a 1956 building site, where the workers were hoisting hot buckets of bitumen till the roof of a five storey building. One of the buckets filled with hot bitumen got spilled onto the worker, and the High Court’s decision went in the favor of the worker that system was negligent towards the health and safety of the worker. It also said that the employer was under an obligation to put up and enforce a safe system of work and was instructed to take care that the workers were not exposed to the risk of injury which was unreasonable in nature. This story is the basis of the formation of OHS in Australia and is repeatedly cited every time in case of industrial accident cases. Since then it has been the employers’ responsibility and the moral duty to see that they are not exposing their human assets to unreasonable risk and are not risking their health as well as their safety. The firms have to be cautious and should devise regulations in order to ensure the perfect health and safety of their employees and it has become a notion of immense importance that humans should be treated above profits.
(Ian, E., n.d.) Occupational health and safety is immensely important for all individuals and it is very seriously considered in many countries. The aim of occupational health should be to promote and maintain the ultimate degree of the mental, physical, and social well being of workers pertaining to all occupations; the prevention of departures amongst workers from health which is caused by the work environments working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment arena from various risks which comes from factors adverse to health; the placement and maintenance of the worker who remains in the occupational environment which is adapted to his capabilities which pertains to physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to sum up, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his particular job.
There are three main focus areas in the occupational health domain and these focus areas are based on three different objectives:
- The first objective is that the worker’s health and working capacity should be maintained and promoted.
- The working environment and work should be improved and developed so that it becomes conducive to safety and health, and
- The work organizations and working cultures should be improved and developed. The direction should be in the support of health and safety at work and in doing. This is done to promote a positive social climate and it ensures smooth operation. This also enhances productivity of the undertakings. The culture which is thus developed and improved is clearly reflected in practice and this depicted in the following domains: managerial systems, human resources policy, principles for employee participation, training policies which is directed towards the development of employees and quality management of the undertaking.
There are basically three factors that are responsible for influencing the development of the related laws:
Moral: The moral factor includes responsibility of reasonable care. It also takes onto consideration that the health and safety of the people should not be out to risk.
Legal: The legal factors includes the laws related to preventive (i.e. enforcement), punitive (via criminal sanctions), and compensatory effects.
Economic: The economic factors that have compelled for the framing of the laws are the direct and the indirect costs which are related to incidents and/or unhealthy nature of the workplaces and their effect on the organization. These include both insured and un-insured costs.
There are various laws which are related to occupation health and safety and similarly there are different bodies and organizations which are formed to encourage and support OHS. (Australia.gov, 2012) These are outlined below:
CRS Australia: This is directed towards delivering services in vocational rehabilitation to the citizens of Australian who have an injury, or are encountered with any sort of disability or health condition. CRS helps and supports individuals who have a disability or injury so that they get a job or return to their previous job and earn their living. This service is absolutely free to people and they receive income support payments from Centrelink.
Hazardous Substances Information System: The Hazardous Substances Information System or HSIS offers access to two kinds of data sets, one is for hazardous substance information and the other is directed for exposure to standard information types.
National Codes of Practice: Safe Work Australia is associated with Index of National Codes of Practice.
National Online Statistics Interactive (NOSI): Detailed cross tabulations are run on all the standard variables used in the National Dataset for Compensation-based Statistics which is also called NDS. NOSI allows the users to access the database covers the period 1997-98.
National Review into Model OHS Laws: In the year 2008 the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations had declared a review which is national in nature into model Occupational Health and Safety Laws.
Occupational health and safety: Business owners have the roles and responsibilities regarding safety and health in the workplace arena. All the below information is also mentioned on: obligations in OH&S; acts in OH&S, codes and regulations of Practice; how to get started with OH&S; accidents and injuries related information to workers compensation requirements.
Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner: The Office of the Federal Safety Commissioner (OFSC) comes under the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. The OFSC aims and objective to promote and improve occupational health and safety in the building and construction industry of Australia by offering the administrative backup and support to the functions of the Federal Safety Commissioner.
OzHelp Foundation: The OzHelp Foundation is a not for profit organization. This mental health support organization which is purely community based comes with a focus on the suicide prevention space in workplaces.
Safe Work Australia: Safe Work Australia is an agency which is independent statutory in nature with primary role to develop and improve occupational health and safety areas and workers’ salary and compensation arrangements across the entire Australia.
Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC): The Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission (SRCC) is a statutory body with rules and regulatory obligations relating to workers’ salary and compensation and with one of the major concern in occupational health and safety (OHS)
Seafarers Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Authority (Seacare): The Seacare Authority’s mission is to develop and promote injury prevention, and high levels of OHS. It also promotes compensation and rehabilitation and/or back-to-work performance in the maritime vertical; and to control, monitor and respond to the external factors which impacts on the efficiency and effectiveness of the designated scheme.
Reference:
Australia.gov, 2012, OHS (workplace health and safety), viewed on 2nd April 2012, http://australia.gov.au/topics/employment-and-workplace/ohs-workplace-health-and-safety
Safetyculture, 2012, Brief History of OHS in Australia, viewed on 2nd April 2012, http://www.safetyculture.com.au/newsold/ohs_history.php
Ian, E., n.d., An Historical Explanation of the Development of Occupational Health and Safety and the Important Position it now Occupies in Societyviewed on 2nd April 2012, http://eprints.usq.edu.au/1556/1/Eddington_USQ_Queensland_Safety_Forum_2006.pdf
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