What is OH&S?
Occupational health and safety (OH&S), also known as work or workplace health and safety (WHS), refers to protecting the health and safety of everyone in a workplace. This includes employees, customers, visitors and suppliers. WHS laws require employers to implement measures to manage the risks to health and safety. Establishing safe work practices in your business may cost you time and money initially, but it is a strong investment in your business in the long term. Read on to find out how promoting work health and safety can benefit your business.
5 good reasons to promote work health and safety
Even if it wasn’t a legal requirement, implementing health and safety policies would still be a wise idea for employers. Here are 5 ways that strong work health and safety policies can benefit your business.
1. It makes good business sense
There’s no doubt that looking out for the health and safety of your employees is morally right in and of itself. However, there is also a strong business case for it. Having the best health and safety practices in place in your workplace can improve your business’ efficiency. This is because it reduces the risk of accidents, or worse, fatalities. Minimising the risk of accidents and fatalities is clearly good for your employees, but it also means that you avoid costly staff absences and compensation payments. Not only that, you also avoid paperwork and court cases, as well as damage to your reputation and higher insurance premiums. A strong work health and safety program is not merely an expense, it is a sound investment in your business.
2. Improved recruitment and retention
Having strong work health and safety policies and procedures in your business can help to reduce your staff turnover rate. Simply put, employees want to work for an employer that takes their health and safety seriously. So, investing in OH&S can have a big positive impact on your ability to attract and retain quality staff. When designing your work health and safety program, it’s important that you make training and education a key component. If you invest in developing your employees’ skills, not only will they work more efficiently and effectively, but they will also be more likely to want to build a long-term relationship with your business. Consider making your commitment to work health and safety a feature of your recruitment campaigns to attract and retain high-quality employees.
3. Improved employee health and wellbeing
Work health and safety is not limited to your employees’ physical safety. It includes managing psychosocial hazards, i.e., anything that can cause harm to your employees’ mental health. Psychosocial hazards may arise from the way in which work is designed or managed, the work environment, the work equipment or interactions and behaviours in the workplace. Among other things, they include job demands, such as long working hours, poor support, lack of role clarity, bullying and traumatic events. Implementing measures to improve the wellbeing of your employees is good for your bottom line. Research shows that happy employees take fewer sick days, have lower rates of burnout and perform better. Employee wellbeing is also associated with lower staff turnover.
4. Increased productivity
As indicated in the previous point, good work health and safety policies are associated with higher productivity. While cutting corners with your WHS policies may seem like a good way to boost output in the short term, it doesn’t pay off in the long term. The resulting absenteeism, higher staff turnover and lower staff morale are all associated with lower productivity. Conversely, when your employees feel that you are looking out for their health and safety, it’s likely that they will be more productive and perform better in their work.
5. It can give you a competitive edge
Having a strong work health and safety record may give you a competitive advantage when you are trying to win clients, contracts and tenders. Other businesses are more likely to put their trust in a business that has engaged and highly productive employees and low levels of absenteeism. After all, businesses with a commitment to safe work practices tend to yield higher profits.
What does the law say?
As a business owner, it’s important to be aware of your legal obligations regarding work health and safety. The WHS laws say that you must provide a safe workplace for your employees, contractors and visitors to your business. You must implement safe work practices as soon as you start your business, regardless of how big or small your business is.
The state, territory and Commonwealth jurisdictions are responsible for regulating and enforcing their own work health and safety laws. Fortunately, the laws are mostly harmonised across the country. In 2011, Safe Work Australia developed what are known as the model work health and safety laws as a legal framework for the different jurisdictions around the country. The Commonwealth and all states and territories except for Victoria have implemented the model laws. However, the duties and responsibilities under Victoria’s Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 are similar to the model laws.
It’s important to be aware that most small businesses must have workers’ compensation insurance. Each state and territory has their own workers’ compensation insurance scheme. If your employee is injured or becomes ill due to their work, the insurance covers payments for lost wages and medical care or rehabilitation.
What are the consequences of breaching WHS laws?
One very important reason to promote health and safety in your workplace is that breaching WHS laws can result in significant penalties, or worse, the closure of your business. Some examples of workplace health and safety breaches include the following:
- Negligently causing the death of an employee
- Taking any action that puts someone at risk of injury, illness or death
- Not taking measures to prevent a risky situation from occurring
- Failing to comply with regulatory requirements.
There are 3 categories of offences under the model WHS laws. The categories are based on the severity of the offence and the severity of the penalty that someone with a health and safety duty may incur for breaches.
Category 1: These offences incur the highest penalty. A category 1 offence occurs when a duty holder exposes someone to a risk of death or serious injury or illness without a reasonable excuse or the duty holder is reckless regarding the risk of death or serious injury or illness.
Maximum penalty: $600,000, 5 years imprisonment or both.
Category 2: This is the next highest penalty. Offences under this category occur when a duty holder fails to comply with their health and safety duty, and that failure exposes someone to the risk of death or serious injury or illness.
Maximum penalty: $300,000.
Category 3: A duty holder commits a category 3 offence when they fail to comply with their health and safety duty.
Maximum penalty: $100,000.
Note that body corporates are subject to higher penalties and individuals, for example, employees, are subject to lower penalties than persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU). These are the maximum penalties under the WHS model laws, but the penalties under state and territory WHS laws may differ.
How can I make sure I am compliant with WHS requirements?
Each state and territory has their own work health and safety laws, so it is important that you are aware of the requirements in your state.
All of the states and territories have the same framework for WHS laws:
- An Act, which sets out broad responsibilities, obligations, offences, process and enforcement measures
- Regulations, which specify the requirements for particular hazards and risks
- Codes of practice, which give you information about how you can meet the WHS requirements (e.g., confined spaces, noise)
- Regulating agency (regulator), which is responsible for inspecting workplaces, giving advice, enforcing the laws and issuing penalties for violations
