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Section 6 - Outcome 2 - 4-6pts

You have processes in place to maintain a safe workplace but there may be some gaps in your system that could mean that your workers are exposed to an increased risk of injury.

Your responses indicate that you undertake some measures towards providing a safe workplace but that there are some gaps in your system.

What you can do to improve:

Carry out regular safety checks

You should perform regular inspections of your worksite. These inspections should be scheduled and it is a good idea to have a regular rotation of people doing the inspection including managers, supervisors and workers.

Any issues you note as part of these inspections should be documented and actioned. Always inform workers that this has occurred as it will help keep them involved in safety and also demonstrate your commitment to keeping them safe.

These regular inspections do not take the place of your normal incident reporting procedure and you should continue to report incidents as normal.

Implement a preventative maintenance schedule

Make sure that you register all of your plant and equipment (including hand tools). This register should form the basis of your regular preventative maintenance schedule. Make sure you check the schedule regularly to ensure that any faulty plant or equipment is in good working order.

Put simple and effective incident and accident reporting procedures in place

Put in place reporting procedures that make it easy for your workers to let you know whenever an incident occurs, and encourage them to do so. Make sure that any investigations that need to be done after an incident involve the reporting worker(s) and ensure that the theme of any investigation is to fix any issues – not to apportion blame to anyone.

Make sure you train all of your workers and managers in these procedures.

Implement an emergency plan for all types of emergencies – not just fire

Most organisations have a fire emergency and evacuation plan but there are other kinds of emergencies that can arise. Make sure you have plans in place for medical emergencies, bomb threats, chemical spills or other major events.

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