What is a health and safety policy?
A Health and safety policy outlines your commitment as a business to providing a safe and healthy workplace and preventing work-related injury and illness. It generally outlines, how the business will effectively manage health and safety. Some businesses will choose to have additional supporting policies on specific areas of health and safety such as mental health, injury management and alcohol and other drugs.
What are health and safety procedures?
Health and safety procedures are how you will effectively manage health and safety.
Typically there are two types of procedures:
- Company level procedures will explain how the business will operate safely and what everyone’s commitment to health and safety looks like. It will also explain what procedures are in place to manage risks across the whole business, and what to do if something goes wrong. Examples include incident management and risk management.
- Task or job-specific procedures, more commonly referred to as Safe Operating Procedures and Safe Work Instructions. These procedures provide more detail such as direction on how to perform the task or job safely e.g. operating a grinder or operating a forklift on-site.
Regardless of what procedures you intend to have for your business, ensure you develop procedures in consultation with your workers.
Why does my trade business or building company need to document our health and safety policies and procedures?
Employers under Legislation have a primary duty of care to ensure that workers are safe from injury and risks to health and this includes:
- Providing and maintaining a healthy and safe work environment
- Providing adequate information, training, instruction and supervision
- Providing and maintaining safe systems of work
- Consulting and communicating with workers about health and safety
Having clear policies and procedures in place across the business can play an important role in addressing the above items and is a great way to clearly document how health and safety will be effectively managed.
Businesses are often asked to provide their company-level Policy and Procedure (P&P) document (or manual) to clients or other Employers to demonstrate how they effectively manage health and safety. For example, a Principal Contractor (such as a building company) might ask a plumbing business to provide a copy of their P&P document before they begin working with them. Being able to showcase your commitment and standard of health and safety can help you to stand out against the competition.
How do I prepare a health and safety policy, procedure or manual?
To create a comprehensive policy and procedures document, you’ll need expertise in health and safety, including a deep understanding of relevant legislation and best practice. Seeking assistance from a qualified health and safety advisor is the best option.
Luckily, if you’re a HazardCo member, we’ve already created a combined company level policy and procedures document for you. It’s written by our team of health and safety experts, especially for Australian tradies and builders operating in the residential construction industry. If you’re already a member, you can download your company level policy and procedures document from the HazardCo Hub.
Walk the talk
We recommend that you read through the P&P document (make sure it all makes sense – give us a bell if it doesn’t).
The next step is to communicate and consult! Get your team together and have a toolbox meeting to discuss the health and safety policies and procedures, and talk to your team about what changes may be needed within your business. This will assist with making sure that everyone is managing health and safety well.
It’s important workers receive adequate information, instruction and training to do their job safely and this extends to procedures so workers understand what procedures are in place and when and how to follow them.
Remember it’s important to regularly monitor and review your health and safety practices across the whole business including out on-site. This will help you to maintain a safe and healthy work environment for all and continually look for areas of improvement.
Reinforcing steel can be used in many ways on a building site. Terms commonly used are rebars and mesh. They are steel bars or mesh wires used to strengthen walls, concrete, or other stone structures.
Workers can fall on the protruding bars which can result in deep lacerations or even life-threatening injuries, so it’s important that preventive measures are in place to reduce the risks.
Some of the hazards include;
- Rebars protruding in walking spaces
- Concrete formwork bars protruding at low levels
- Rebar scraps left unattended on the worksite
- Workers not using appropriate safety equipment to reduce risks.
Here are some ways you can avoid rebar hazards:
Safety Caps
Safety caps are made of plastic so they are a cost-effective way of covering the protruding steel rods. Even though they are small, the safety caps effectively protect against injuries and potential impalement.
Their bright fluorescent colour increases visibility which lessens the chance of the worker walking into, or tripping over them by accident. They are also quick and easy to install.
Control access
In addition to using safety caps, access should be restricted to areas where there are protruding ends.
Injuries can happen when workers are not paying attention to the hazards around them, so ensure that your workers are aware of their surroundings, or physically prevent them from entering the area altogether by using barricades or tape to control access to those areas with hazards.
Keep a clean and tidy site
Ensure that you have a clean and tidy worksite. Gather and remove debris to keep the site free from scraps, and potential trip hazards.
Reinforcing steel scraps lying unattended can rust and pose a safety risk for workers, therefore, make sure you arrange prompt and proper disposal of the scrap materials.
PPE
PPE for people working with reinforcing steel may include;
- Hi-Vis clothing with long sleeves and pants
- Hard hat
- Safety glasses
- Suitable Steel cap boots
- Gloves
Best Practices
Construction can be dangerous. There are hazards in all worksites, which can result in life-threatening injuries. Carry out regular site reviews using the HazardCo App to ensure that hazards presented by reinforcing steel are correctly controlled.
Here are some best practices to follow, especially when working with reinforcing steel:
- Educate all workers handling reinforcing steel about the possible hazards
- Stay clear of the area when the rebars are hoisted
- Protect the protruding ends of reinforcing steel with safety caps
- Adequate lighting and signage should be present on the worksite
- Restrict access to dangerous areas
- Have a plan ready in case an injury occurs.
Of course, reach out to HazardCo and speak to one of our Health and Safety experts if you have any questions or need more support on avoiding reinforcing steel hazards.
Everyone should make an effort to stay healthy… not just people working in construction. However, there is often a need for specific health checks to monitor the impacts on our health while working on construction sites.
Health monitoring is a proactive way of ensuring your team isn’t at risk in the workplace. It’s focused on the most common health risks on construction sites – hearing loss and exposure to dust (e.g. silica or asbestos dust). Health monitoring does not include general wellbeing checks or programs, since things like cholesterol checks and healthy living programs aren’t specific to construction work.
As an Employer, health monitoring is something you need to provide for any of your team who may be exposed to hazards that may cause long-term health-related issues (e.g. silicosis, asbestosis, mesothelioma, noise-induced hearing loss). It’s intended to detect the early signs of ill health or disease, helping you monitor and protect your team from exposure to construction-related health risks. You’ll need a registered medical practitioner with experience in health monitoring to perform the medical tests.
Monitoring the health of your workers is not an alternative to effective hazard control measures, rather, it helps you understand the effectiveness of the controls being used on-site. If a worker’s health is being affected by exposure to construction-related health risks it’s best to find out as early as possible and prevent any further harm to that worker or any other team members.
You have a legal responsibility to monitor workers’ health. Make sure you complete regular Site Reviews on the HazardCo App, as this will help you identify hazards and put an effective health monitoring plan in place.
Your HazardCo Health and Safety Advisory Support Team is available throughout the day to guide you through this – call 1800 954 702 to talk it over.
Remember, like all on-site health and safety, prevention is where it’s at. To ensure you’re meeting your legal requirements when it comes to health monitoring, get on-site with the HazardCo App, and complete an Site Review today.
We don’t need to tell you that asbestos is a big deal. The dangers of the substance are common knowledge. And knowledge is power, in this case, more so than most: the power to save lives.
With this in mind, we’d like to give you some basic information on the dangers of asbestos, where it can be found and what you can do to avoid it.
What are the different types of asbestos?
There are two types of asbestos:
- Friable (Class A): crushed or in a dust form, such as paper backing on vinyl or pipe lagging
- Non-friable (Class B): found in bonded products such as cement sheet and guttering.
Why is it so dangerous?
Inhaling asbestos fibres can cause a range of irreversible damage and diseases. Damage may occur in as little as five years or as long as 40-50 years later. Many people will not realise they have been exposed until it’s too late.
Where can it be found?
Approximately one third of all homes in Australia contain asbestos products. On 31st December 2003 asbestos was banned in Australia. Therefore any building constructed up until then has a high probability of containing asbestos. Remember, if you’re planning to renovate or partially demolish a building, have a survey done first to identify if asbestos containing material is present. If it is, contact your local Licensed asbestos removalist.
Is tere a safe way to dispose of asbestos?
Yes – as long as strict guidelines are followed. Bagging and wrapping asbestos pieces is essential in any sort of removal – and dumping asbestos-containing materials can only be done on authorised sites. We advise you to leave this to the Licensed asbestos removalists.
What more can you do?
Recognition means everything when it comes to asbestos. From sticking up posters on-site to equipping your team with knowledge of asbestos dangers through the HazardCo app, educating your workers could be the difference between life and death.
There are many asbestos awareness and training courses available online and face to face for further education and training.
Got Questions? Reach out to the HazardCo Health and Safety Advisory Support Team on 1800 954 702 to talk it over.
Asbestos Resources
WorkSafe Vic
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
WorkSafe QLD
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
SafeWork NSW
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
SafeWork SA
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
WorkSafe TAS
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
WorkSafe NT
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
Worksafe ACT
- Website has plenty of free resources including:
WorkSafe WA
- Website has plenty of free resources.
- AsbestosSafety.gov.au have some great content about how asbestos, finding local disposal facilities, health and exposure.
Australia is known for its rich cultural diversity, which means we have an array of different cultures and languages across the workforce. A culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) workplace is one where some workers’ preferred language is not English and so they may have limited knowledge of English.
This includes:
- workplaces where a particular language is spoken by a large proportion of the workforce, or
- where other languages are spoken by just a few workers.
It’s important for employers to be aware of the language preferences of their workforce so they can make sure that health and safety is discussed in ways that everyone understands.
Employers have a duty of care to provide and maintain a healthy and safe working environment. As part of this, employers are to provide workers with the necessary information, instruction, training or supervision to enable them to do their work in a way that is safe and without risks to health. Therefore it’s important you provide all workers with the information they need to do their job safely, including information in other languages where appropriate. This means that you need to be aware of any language and cultural barriers that may impact communication in your business, and take reasonable steps to address them.
Starting out with proper consideration and consultation can save you time and money by helping to identify the range of languages spoken in the workplace as well as workers’ preferred forms of communication.
We have put together some tips when it comes to effectively communicating with workers.
Know your workforce
When you engage workers, whether they be employees or contractors, make sure you are aware of their language needs.
Key things to consider:
- Identify language needs
- Establish processes/procedures for when and how you will be communicating (e.g. to have a full-time supervisor on-site, or translate documents available etc.)
- Communicate for understanding
- Use appropriate forms of communication
- Use plain language and focus on keeping it simple
- Get translations
- Determine how you can check/ verify that workers understand your information and instructions
- Provide language support, e.g. bilingual staff and/or interpreter services
- Provide training specific to your work, e.g. induction, common workplace terms, procedures for high-risk works e.g. SWMS, any specific expectations.
Think about what is the most important information you need to get across. If someone only understood a small amount of what you are trying to say, what are the key things?
Tips for communicating across languages
- Communicate non-verbally by physically showing what needs to be in place, for example how to put on a mask.
- Google some pictures, or show a short youtube video.
- Point and use your body language
- Do the task yourself once with the correct controls in place.
- Use appropriate safety signs, labels and symbols on-site (and where english text is found on these items consider adding translated text as well)
- Consider where you can use images, infographics and photos rather than complex text or writing when documenting task and job steps in documentation e.g. Safe Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Talk to supervisors who are able to communicate with non-English speaking workers and supervise the work to make sure it is being done how you expect.
- Try translation apps like Google Translate, they are not always perfect but can allow two-way basic communication when needed.
- Consider having key information translated by a professional into the language of your workers.
- Where there is written communication, make it in plain language and as clear as possible. This means:
- using simple, everyday language
- using common workplace terms in a consistent manner
- using the same words in writing as you would when talking, but avoid abbreviations, acronyms, slang and jargon
- using short, complete sentences
- keeping documents short
- using headings and subheadings
- keeping the format clear and consistent
- focusing on one idea or issue at a time.
- Keep toolbox talks practical with pictures, drawings, and pointing. Remember not to use acronyms or slang. Keep spoken English as simple as possible.
- Check that the information provided has been fully understood. This can be done by asking the employee to repeat a demonstration, to identify equipment used or to explain the meaning of safety signs.
- Be respectful
- Set expectations but get feedback and try to find easier ways for workers to speak up and have a say in health and safety.
- It can be incredibly rewarding and respectful to try and learn their language to communicate. Especially if you chose to work together.
It’s best to use face-to-face discussion and demonstration where possible, as this is the most effective way to communicate across different languages and allows any misunderstandings to be identified and addressed immediately. Written material should be used to back up more direct communication, and should be in clear and simple language, with diagrams and examples to aid understanding.
Tailoring communication to the language needs and abilities of workers, and ensuring all workers understand the hazards and risks in their workplace, are important steps toward protecting their health and safety and keeping the workplace a healthy and safe work environment for all.
More Information
If an incident happens at work and your first thought is paperwork, you’re doing health and safety wrong.
Reporting incidents and near misses is vital to good business, and that begins with a ‘safety differently’ approach. A prevention before cure attitude. One that sees incidents reported immediately and investigated thoroughly.
Time and time again we see incidents happen and fingers pointed. What is absolutely vital for your business is a health and safety culture that involves no blame, is open, honest and educated. How do you nurture this culture? You need the right tools.
Where to document and register all incidents
You don’t need to over complicate matters here. Incidents and near misses should be registered in one convenient place that is easy to manage and draw upon when needed.
The HazardCo App has been designed with just this in mind. Simply login, report who was involved in the incident, what treatment was required, and the details surrounding what happened.
All of this information is then stored automatically as an incident register on the HazardCo Hub for you to access and view anytime.
What incidents should you report
You should report all health and safety incidents or near misses that happen at work. These can be incidents that affect you, your workers, or anyone on-site.
Why you should be reporting incidents
Every single worker plays a part in protecting ourselves and one another in the workplace. By reporting incidents you are helping identify areas where you can work together to improve health and safety, and potentially save lives.
Learning from Incidents
It’s important that when incidents occur, time is taken to review and learn from them.
Depending on the complexity of the incident, learning from it might be as simple as meeting with the team afterward to figure out what went wrong, and what can be done to stop it from happening again. Some incidents may need more investigation to help find out exactly what happened and why.
Not your job?
Yes, it is. And that’s why we are so proud of what we do. The HazardCo App and Hub puts health and safety in everyone’s hands, so everyone is protecting their workforce and working safely.
By reporting and investigating an incident, you will find the cause, but you are also likely to identify other areas where improvements can be made. Investigations aren’t about blame and punishment but learning and improving.
No workplace is perfect, and failure will occur. Let your workers know this, and that blame is off the table. This is about making sure everyone is safe and able to get on with the job at hand.
Educate to empower, and enable your workforce to sort their safety today.
HazardCo incident support: When the going gets tough, we’ll be there
All Complete, Premium and Standard HazardCo members receive incident support as part of their plan.
If you have an incident on-site, get in touch and we will help you work out if it’s notifiable to your State/ Territory Regulator and guide you through the next steps. Incidents on-site are stressful for everyone involved, so we will make sure you are following the right processes.
We’re here to help. Reach out to our team if you have any questions or need health and safety advice.
1800 954 702 | info@hazardco.com
If a worker performs an activity that is carried out alone, in isolation or in a remote location, without close or direct supervision, this is commonly referred to as lone working.
Lone working can increase the health and safety risks of any job. Workers may be isolated from support and assistance because of where or when they’re working, or the nature of the work they are doing.
While working alongside your team may not be an option, looking out for your workers should be a top priority.
Lone working includes:
- Traveling alone as part of the job
- Traveling long distances
- Working in remote or isolated locations
- Working unsupervised for an extended period of time – this includes in a separate area away from other workers on larger sites.
- Working late night or shift work
If this sounds like your workforce, then it’s important you minimise the risks associated with lone working. This can be achieved by effective planning and consultation with your lone workers.
Identify the hazards and understand the risks
- Have a look at your site/s to determine when work may be undertaken alone, in isolation or in remote locations.
- Think about the specific tasks / activities that may be undertaken
- Consider what special work considerations may occur e.g. irregular work, breakdown and emergency work that may result in lone working
- How long and what time of day will lone working take place, considering factors such as fatigue and focus
- Have a think about what types of incidents could occur and the access to emergency services
- Are there medical conditions and/or restrictions to the worker/s
- Consider the risks to mental health due to lone working
- Think about dangerous conditions, environmental impacts and other contributing factors that may make the work more hazardous
Agree on suitable control measures
We have put together some recommendations for you to consider, in consultation with your team, when looking at ways to ensure workers can perform their job safely:
- Try and eliminate the need for lone work in the first place. Identify tasks that don’t need to be conducted alone or in isolation. Look at frequency, duration, time of day and look at suitable ways that may make it possible to have supervision or a co-worker.
- Provide information and instruction, such as safe work procedures, on how to perform a task safely whilst lone working
- Ensure workers are trained and competent in the task being completed (not an apprentice or inexperienced worker).
- Agree on a way to regularly check in on your lone workers. Ensure it’s discussed and agreed to prior to the work commencing. This could be a simple phone call, group messages or video calls at agreed intervals. Don’t underestimate the power of human interaction in these times.
- Make sure you arrange regular catch-ups with lone workers by keeping the lines of communication open with everyone. Just because they aren’t next to you on-site, doesn’t mean they should be less informed. Depending on the duration and work involved, consider getting them to check in virtually to a toolbox meeting for example so they still receive team updates and can feel connected.
- Establish limits / restrictions to work activities e.g. what tasks are prohibited from being authorised to perform – like no high risk construction work will be performed by lone workers.
- Provide First Aid training, first aid kit, correct tools/equipment and PPE to lone worker/s. If a fire extinguisher needs to be made available, check that it has been inspected within the last 6 months.
- Emergencies can be more serious if there’s no one around to assist, give first aid or call for help. Ensure emergency protocols are established, such as creating an emergency plan, and that it is suitable considering the types of emergencies which may arise. Determine how the worker/s can raise the alarm / alert someone e.g. providing duress alarms or alert systems so workers can call for emergency assistance or need to discreetly raise an alarm. Two way radios and mobile phones may also be considered.
- Establish security procedures to protect workers from violence or other factors, where applicable
- Look at GPS or location trackers for those working in isolated or remote locations.
Being proactive and prepared will help you to better manage the risks associated with lone working. The biggest tip we can give you is to look out for your team as if they were still with you on-site, or in the office.
Nail guns are used frequently on construction jobs, including in residential construction. Like all power tools, nail guns can cause serious injury. Nail gun injuries can happen due to accidental discharges whilst moving, carrying, and repositioning. Injury can also happen when fired nails strike other nails or timber knots causing them to ricochet. Incidents also occur when workers accidentally place themselves into positions where they are directly exposed to the projectile path of a nail gun.
The risk of a nail gun injury is greatly increased when using a contact trigger (bump fire or multishot) compared to using a full sequential trigger (single-shot). Most injuries occur when the nail gun is set to ‘bump fire’ mode, resulting in penetrating wounds to the operator or nearby workers.
It’s important you review the type of nail gun trigger system and the extent of information,instruction and training given to workers, particularly inexperienced and young workers.
Tips for managing the risks on site
There are a number of ways to reduce the risk of injuries. We have put together a few suggestions below and we encourage you to consult with your workers about how you can work together to ensure safe nail gun use on-site :
- Replace bump fire nail guns with full sequential trigger guns, where possible. A full sequential trigger is always the safest trigger mechanism for the job. It reduces the risk of unintentional nail discharge and double fires.
Note: Bump-fire nail guns potentially may be used to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries (e.g. strains and sprains) for jobs that involve high volume production and repetitive tasks. In these circumstances, ensure only highly experienced and skilled workers use these types of nail guns and implement other additional control measures to reduce the risk of injury.
- When working at height, operators should work from a platform as nail guns are designed to be used with two hands and recoil when fired
- Ensure nail guns are not held above the line of the workers shoulders
- Keep other workers well away from the area where the nail gun is being used
- Maintain nail guns to ensure correct operation of the actuation mechanism. If any problems occur, have it repaired by a competent person or replace it. Do not continue to use a malfunctioning nail gun.
- Inspect timber surfaces for cracks or knots prior to their use
- Provide workers with training and instruction in their safe operation and any other specific direction provided in the manufacturer’s manual including what to do if the nail gun malfunctions. in addition:
- Carpenters should only use nail guns once adequately trained and deemed competent to use them.
- Apprentices should only use nail guns under direct supervision
- Provide suitable PPE such as eye protection, hearing protection and additional personal protective equipment
While many industries seem to have recovered post-pandemic, the construction sector is still battling tough conditions.
It’s important to keep on top of your business processes to reduce headaches later down the track. Whether it’s your invoicing, your insurance, or your health and safety, neglecting these things can really hurt later on. Some businesses are choosing to take this time to invest in their current systems and processes, to help them to build a more resilient business that can respond to the market.
Scaled back?
If your business has scaled back a bit, such as cutting back on help, switching to smaller renovation projects, or you plan to really tighten the belt on the budget for a while, we’re here to remind you to prioritise your H&S. As long as you or your team are on the tools, you need to manage health and safety effectively. This means:
- Ensuring processes and controls remain in place
- Frequently reviewing risk management procedures
- Continuing accurate and compliant record-keeping habits
HazardCo is the simplest, best way to nail health and safety
The HazardCo system helps you to manage your health and safety in the simplest way possible, so you’ll feel confident you are keeping your team and your business safe. The system is designed especially for home builders, and comes with all the reports and templates you need, loaded up with advice provided by experts
Key benefits include:
- Site-specific safety plan generator – Create a site specific plan in minutes
- Hazard board with QR code – Workers on site scan in and complete induction, so you know who is on-site at all times
- On-site App – Workers can complete and collect SWMS, incident reports and more
- Automated contractor management – Collect insurances, proof of WHS and more
- Unlimited WHS advice – Advice and assistance over the phone
- 24/7 incident support – Support throughout the incident reporting process
The Key Takeaway
Health and safety should never take a back seat. It’s still as crucial as it’s ever been and HazardCo’s here to keep you out of strife.
Get a free 7-day trial of the HazardCo health and safety system.
Managing Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) on-site is all about identifying hazards and reducing risks to keep everyone safe. The most important thing you can do is make sure that everyone on-site takes WHS seriously, from the supervisor to the apprentice.
If you don’t know where to start with H&S, check out the list of top-priority health and safety actions we’ve listed below. If you’re looking for a detailed list of all the WHS tasks you should be checking off as a home builder, download the Residential Construction Health and Safety Checklist
Key WHS construction requirements in a nutshell:
What does good health and safety look like?
- You provide a safe working environment: Your site is safe and free from hazards that could cause harm to your employees or others.
- You have WHS management system in place: A WHS management system documents how you will manage WHS risks in your workplace. The system includes processes for identifying, assessing, and controlling risks. You have a Site Specific Safety Plan (SSSP) in place for every build. The plan is customised to the unique requirements of the project.
- Your contractors are up to scratch and operate safely on site: You’ve checked contractors have good WHS practices in place and the appropriate insurance to be operating.
- You regularly communicate with workers on-site: Everyone on-site has the appropriate training, instruction and information they need to carry out their work safely. When it comes to health and safety, you can’t communicate too much!
- You collect a Safe Working Method Statement (SWMS) before High Risk Construction Work begins on-site: Importantly, the SWMS is specific to the task and the site at hand.
- You monitor health and safety performance: You regularly monitor your WHS activity and identify any areas where improvements can be made.
- All incidents are reported: Incidents and near misses on site are reported, documented and investigated. Investigating near misses and incidents will help you to understand the cause so you can put corrective actions in place to prevent similar incidents from happening again in the future. If an incident is notifiable, it is reported to the regulator.
- Nailed all these things? Download the full Health and Safety checklist
Take the hard yakka out of health and safety, with simple digital tools and expert advice when you need it. The HazardCo system will give you confidence that you’re doing all the right things on-site, in the right way. It even has a SSSP Generator so you can create a site-specific safety plan in minutes – take it for a test drive.
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