Workplace Safety and Health Flashcards
What are the 3 Principles of the Workplace Safety and Health Act (2006)?
- Reducing risk at source by requiring all stakeholders to work towards creating a safer workplace
- Instilling greater industry ownership of OSH standards (shift from complying prescriptive requirements to a culture of initiative and ownership)
- Higher penalties for poor safety and health management
What are the key differences between the Factories Act and the new WSHA?
- involves all stakeholders apart from occupier
- greater penalties
- focuses on effective management
- new sectors covered: transport, landscape care, waste management, hotels etc.
What are the stakeholders?
- employer
- principal (party who engages another to supply labor or perform work)
- occupier (person who controls the premises)
- manufacturer/ supplier
- employee
- self-employed
What are the critical areas of WSHA?
- Effective governance and enforcement (regulatory framework, practical assistance (code of practice, guidelines, technical advisories), inspection framework)
- Creating a Progressive and Pervasive WSH culture (set ambitious target, campaigns, elevate awareness of WSH)
- Embracing new challenges in safety and health (Education - WSH institute)
How to perform a risk assessment?
- Risk determination - probability of occurrence
- Risk evaluation - how to avoid, risk outcome
- Risk measurement - quantitative
What are some examples of hidden risks?
- Staff morale
- Inadequate manpower
- Insufficient training leading to incompetence
- Industrial culture not conducive to promoting safety
- Reporting culture
- Administrative policy - just culture
- Succession planning
What is Just Culture?
It is a culture where people are not blamed for their honest errors but are held accountable for willful violations and gross negligence.
What are the 3 considerations of the risk assessment and mitigation process?
- Probability
- Severity
- Exposure
what are the 4 steps to risk management?
- Identify potential hazards
- Assessing implications (what, who, how; injury, property damage, environment)
- Decide on course of action (control, monitoring, communicating)
- Evaluating the results (risk level = severity x frequency)
What are the 3 levels of severity?
Minor: <4days MC; reversible environment effects
Moderate: at least 1 day hospitalization; reversible but long term environment effects
Major: Fatality, permanent disability; irreversible environmental effects
What are the 3 levels of frequency?
Remote: once in 5 years
Possible: once a year
Frequent: at least once a month
What is the hierarchy of risk control measures?
- Eliminate/substitute
- Engineering controls
- Administrative measures
- PPE
What are the 7 key areas of safety management system intervention?
- Management leadership
- Responsibility & accountability
- Safety organization
- Safe work practices & procedures
- Safety review & improvement
- Safety training
- Safety communications
What are some examples of extremely high risks that was taken?
Large Hadron Collider - whole earth may disappear - very insignificant probability Petrobras - uncertainties and unknowns in geological modeling and in rock and fluid properties
