Dynamic Business

Do you know your Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) obligations about workplace safety training? Any idea what ignorance of OHS training obligations could cost you? And what it might cost employees, perhaps serious injury or even their lives? Here are the crucial OHS clauses.

Employees have a legal right to be sufficiently trained to undertake their role and to a safe workplace. Employers, business owners, managers, and company directors who fail to ensure that employees are sufficiently trained and have a safe workplace, can be personally liable for fines and damages claims exceeding $250,000.

When people go to work, their family expect that they will return home safely at the end of the day. However, the reality is that employees face health and safety hazards in their daily employment that expose them to the risk of illness or injury. The hazards may be present in the physical environment, may be from the material and equipment used, or may be in the work activity itself.

The Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 (OHS Act) aims to eliminate or minimise the risk of injury and illness from hazards in the workplace. Employers and business owners have an obligation pursuant to the OHS Act and common law to ensure that people are not exposed to risks to their health and safety at their workplace. In summary, employers must provide safe premises, safe machinery and substance, safe systems of work, informative instruction, training and supervision, and a suitable working environment and facilities.
Company directors, managers and supervisors should note that pursuant to the OHS Act the responsibility to provide a safe workplace and provide proper training and supervision extends to managers and supervisors who are directly responsible for occupational health and safety within areas of their control.

Many company directors are not aware of the day-to-day management of a business, but this is not a defence. A company director may be liable for conventions of the OHS Act unless they can demonstrate that they were not in a position to influence the conduct of the corporation, or they had used due diligence. The extent of training an employee is required to undertake before performing his or her duties will depend upon the workplace. For example, apprentices or employees in what is deemed a hazardous industry will require specific training or licences.

As an employer, you have both a legal obligation and a moral obligation of good practice when training your staff. You’re legally obliged to provide a healthy and safe training environment; ensure staff don’t experience discrimination or harassment during training; provide adequate supervision during training; inform employees of their rights and responsibilities during training; and ensure that appropriate insurance policies for employees to undertake specialist training are in place.

It is good practice to create a training agreement that is signed by both the employer and employee to ensure that all parties understand what they expect from one another. Employers must also observe their usual duties and statutory obligations throughout training, such as privacy, occupational health and safety, duty to pay appropriate remuneration, anti-discrimination policies, and workers compensation.

A further requirement of employers is to provide training to all employees who could be exposed to hazardous substances at work. The amount of training and what is covered in it, should be appropriate to the level of risk to health. To ensure that employees are not exposed, it is essential that records are kept of all training. The records should include the names of employees receiving training, an outline of the course and details of the training providers. These records must be kept for a period of five years.

For further information employers should visit the Australian Safety Compensation Council website at ascc.gov.au and or Comcare at comcare.gov.au.

Safety Training Options

It’s essential that employers, business owners, managers and company directors familiarise themselves with the company’s policies and procedures, and with the health and safety training courses available to them. As an employer, it is crucial that the training product is suitable to your staff and your business. There are many types of training, both formal and informal.

Formal training consists of four types: licences or certificate courses, accredited and approved courses, short courses, and vocational and professional courses. These are provided by employee organisations, unions, health and safety organisations, TAFE colleges, and private occupational health and safety consultants. For further assistance, your state’s WorkCover authority can provide details on the training course appropriate to your business.

In order to ensure that informal training is effective, the supervisor or manager needs to undertake training to develop the skills to train others in the workplace. It is also essential that business owners identify experienced staff members who are able to provide mentoring to junior staff through their experience in their position.

No matter how large or small your business is, everybody needs some training in health and safety matters and the policies and procedures of your particular business.

The employees’ training starts with induction training. The employer is responsible for ensuring that a new employee is given induction training and has the skills and knowledge to work safely. The induction training should include information such as:

* hazards at work
* how to interpret safety signs and information
* fire and emergency procedures
* first aid procedures
* reporting procedures
* dealing with specific equipment
* how to get involved in health and safety

In most workplaces, the owner, supervisor, or experienced worker will provide this training. It is essential that the induction training is properly recorded and that all records are kept. The records should include the name of the person who received the induction and health and safety training, dates and times of when the training took place, specific details of what occurred during the training, how long the training session lasted, and how the training was assessed.