The safety and well-being of workers is at the forefront of every employer’s mind, right?
Right?
Well, it should be. If the basic expectation that no one should lose their life at work isn’t enough, industrial manslaughter provisions in the Model WHS Act emphasise the importance of maintaining a safe workplace and act as a deterrent to risky or unsafe practices. The ACT, QLD, NT, SA, VIC and WA all have laws in place that make industrial manslaughter a criminal offence. These laws make persons conducting a business or undertaking and their senior officers accountable to ensure no lives are lost due to their recklessness or negligent conduct. Penalties include lengthy jail terms for individuals, and significant fines for corporations.
So, what can you do to ensure you are doing enough to keep your workers safe and avoid exposure to an industrial manslaughter charge? Most businesses don’t deliberately act in bad faith, but a lack of understanding of the actions that need to be taken to maintain a safe workplace increases the risks to workers and consequently, to you. Here are ten steps you can take to move in the right direction.
| 1 | Understand the health and safety regulations in your jurisdiction – stay up to date with compliance requirements and regularly review your practices to ensure you respond to any If you have trouble personally keeping up with health and safety legislation, you should employ a health and safety advisor either as an internal resource, or an external consultant. |
| 2 | Implement comprehensive safety policies – these should be compliant with any regulations and be tailored specifically to your workplace. Make sure policies are clearly communicated to your team, and that you have records to demonstrate this. A dusty binder on the shelf doesn’t cut it! |
| 3 | Foster a culture of safety – a strong safety culture is vital to keep business moving, safely. Senior staff should lead by example through prioritising safety in their decision-making, promoting and role-modelling safe practices, and encouraging and responding to incident reports. These things should be done visibly, and you should make the attendance of safety meetings and toolbox talks a priority. |
| 4 | Adequately train your team – workers should be appropriately trained in all safety protocols. Training shouldn’t just be a box-ticking exercise, consider the information that needs to be learned and the most appropriate way for it to be delivered. Safety training should include delivery of information, and verification of competency. |
| 5 | Consult with your staff – the team on the ground are often best placed to identify hazards, the training they require, and are ultimately the people who must implement safety policies. Actively seek this information and use it to your business’s advantage. Workers who see their suggestions being implemented will be more invested in safety and feel part of the system. |
| 6 | Conduct regular risk assessments – effective risk management is the backbone of any effective health and safety system. As a business, you should conduct regular inspections and conduct risk assessments where the risk is unclear, or risk controls are difficult to determine. Involve your workers in the risk management process as much as is practical. |
| 7 | Report and investigate incidents – Part of a strong safety culture is encouraging workers to complete hazard and incident forms. Reports should be investigated in a timely way to identify mitigating factors, and strategies that can be implemented to prevent (or reduce the risk) of similar incidents happening again. |
| 8 | Establish emergency response plans – your workplace should have clear emergency procedures in place. Workers should be trained in these procedures, and drills should be conducted regularly. |
| 9 | Document everything – thorough documentation of your safety practices and adherence to compliance requirements is vital evidence to protect against a finding of industrial manslaughter. A cloud-based QHSE software like Mango is an excellent way to simply and cleanly organise your documentation, and keep your compliance up to date. |
| 10 | Seek advice – legal advice is the best way to ensure you understand the industrial manslaughter laws and your obligations. An experienced workplace health and safety consultant can assist you to strengthen your business’s compliance with your jurisdiction’s requirements. |
Working through this list can help you identify gaps in your workplace health and safety framework that could potentially increase the risk of industrial manslaughter charges should the unthinkable ever happen. Implementing changes to improve any gaps helps make sure your workers get to go home. It also helps you get a good night’s sleep, knowing you are doing what needs to be done to protect yourself and your team.
Stay safe, keep moving.