Safety Checklist for Organisations

As a leader of an organisation, or a team within an organisation, it is important to ensure your workplace is a safe one. This is relevant to field and office based workers. In many cases, I have heard the comment that field work is more relevant, because there are more hazards.

On a recent visit to an organisation, the incident reports indicated the opposite. The field workers had been fully trained in all aspects of risk awareness, but the office staff were reporting more incidents. Many of these incidents were attributed to manual handling injuries, where the office staff had received no training and failed to see the risks and hazards and consequently suffered more injuries.

Extending the scope of incidents beyond purely physical, to encompass emotional and mental safety and the potential for injury is just as prevalent in the office as in the field and needs to be managed effectively in all workplaces.

As a leader, here are some of the questions that need to be asked about your workplace:-

• Does your organisation have a WHS Management System?

  • Does it include the management of mental and emotional risks?

  • Do you employees report all incidents and near misses?

  • Are incidents used as an opportunity to learn and improve the business?

• Does your organisation include WHS in your workplace design?

• Is safety a Consultative and Collaborative topic?

• How do your managers and leaders support safety?

  • Are they trained to do this effectively?

  • Are they doing this effectively?

  • Is safety a feature of every meeting?

• How does WHS (and Mental Health) fit into the KPIs?

  • Do you measure lead or lag indicators?

  • Are they communicated regularly and extensively across the business?

If you are unsure about the answer to any of these questions, check on the ISO45001 and ISO45003 for advice on improving things, or contact InteChange for a free initial consultation and recommendations on how to improve things.