Course Title: Ensure a safe workplace

Part B: Course Detail

Teaching Period: Term1 2017

Course Code: OHTH5870C

Course Title: Ensure a safe workplace

School: 650T Vocational Business Education

Campus: City Campus

Program: C5338 - Diploma of Leadership and Management

Course Contact: Sylvia Baroutis

Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5469

Course Contact Email: sylvia.baroutis@rmit.edu.au


Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff

Vivien Wong
Tel:   9925 5494
Email:   v.wong@rmit.edu.au

Nominal Hours: 60

Regardless of the mode of delivery, represent a guide to the relative teaching time and student effort required to successfully achieve a particular competency/module. This may include not only scheduled classes or workplace visits but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.

Pre-requisites and Co-requisites

None

Course Description

This unit describes the skills and knowledge required to establish, maintain and evaluate the organisation’s work health and safety (WHS) policies, procedures and programs in the relevant work area, according to WHS legislative requirements. It takes a systems approach and addresses compliance with relevant legislative requirements. 

This unit applies to managers working in a range of contexts who have, or are likely to have responsibility for WHS as part of their broader management role. It is relevant for people with obligations under WHS legislation, for example persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) or officers, as defined by relevant legislation.

NOTE: The terms ’occupational health and safety’ (OHS) and ’work health and safety’ (WHS) are equivalent and generally either can be used in the workplace. In jurisdictions where the Model WHS Legislation has not been implemented RTOs are advised to contextualise the unit of competency by referring to the existing State/Territory OHS legislative requirements.


National Codes, Titles, Elements and Performance Criteria

National Element Code & Title:

BSBWHS501 Ensure a safe workplace

Element:

1 Establish a WHS management system in a work area

Performance Criteria:

1.1 Locate, adapt, adopt and communicate WHS policies that clearly define the organisation’s commitment to complying with WHS legislation
1.2 Identify duty holders and define WHS responsibilities for all workplace personnel in the work area according to WHS legislation, policies, procedures and programs
1.3 Identify and approve financial and human resources required by the WHS management system (WHSMS)

Element:

2 Establish and maintain effective and compliant participation arrangements for managing WHS in a work area

Performance Criteria:

2.1 Work with workers and their representatives to set up and maintain participation arrangements according to relevant WHS legislation
2.2 Appropriately resolve issues raised through participation and consultation arrangements according to relevant WHS legislation
2.3 Promptly provide information about the outcomes of participation and consultation to workers and ensure it is easy for them to access and understand

Element:

3 Establish and maintain procedures for effectively identifying hazards, and assessing and controlling risks in a work area

Performance Criteria:

3.1 Develop procedures for ongoing hazard identification, and assessment and control of associated risks
3.2 Include hazard identification at the planning, design and evaluation stages of any change in the workplace to ensure that new hazards are not created by the proposed changes and existing hazards are controlled
3.3 Develop and maintain procedures for selecting and implementing risk controls according to the hierarchy of control and WHS legislative requirements
3.4 Identify inadequacies in existing risk controls according to the hierarchy of control and WHS legislative requirements, and promptly provide resources to enable implementation of new measures
3.5 Identify requirements for expert WHS advice, and request this advice as required

Element:

4 Evaluate and maintain a work area WHS management system

Performance Criteria:

4.1 Develop and provide a WHS induction and training program for all workers in a work area as part of the organisation’s training program
4.2 Use a system for WHS record keeping to allow identification of patterns of occupational injury and disease in the organisation, and to maintain a record of WHS decisions made, including reasons for the decision
4.3 Measure and evaluate the WHSMS in line with the organisation’s quality systems framework
4.4 Develop and implement improvements to the WHSMS to achieve organisational WHS objectives
4.5 Ensure compliance with the WHS legislative framework to achieve, as a minimum, WHS legal requirements


Learning Outcomes



Details of Learning Activities

 

A range of learning activities are planned for this course including self-paced and collaborative classroom based activities.

The self-paced activities will be delivered through various technology platforms and may include your contribution to wikis and discussion threads, reflective journals, quizzes and interactive sessions.

The collaborative classroom based activities will include group discussion, group problem solving activities and opportunities to practise your skills in a simulated/real workplace environment.

We expect you to participate and contribute in all scheduled learning activities.

 


Teaching Schedule

 

Week                      

Week               commencing                            
                                        

Session details Resources

1

6 February

 

Introduction to course including:

• Course support documents • Course Blackboard access • Accuracy of enrolment • Assessment requirements/Cover Sheets • Reminder re Plagiarism • Reminder re Appeals • Extensions/Resubmissions • Feedback in this course • Reminder re submission requirements • Getting help

Session 1

Element 1: Establish WHS management system in a work area

Understanding Legislative framework,  pp 961-2 Cole's 6ed textbook (1.1)
Commonwealth WHS Act 2011 (1.1)
Vic State OHS 2004 (1.1)
Management commitment to comply with legislation, p964 (1.2)

Session 2

Duty of care concept (1.2)
Employers' and employees' responsibilities in safety matters, pp 963-4 and p969
RMIT and DLM Enterprise duty holders and safety responsibilities

DLM Enterprise's WHS goals and the financial and human resources to support the WHS management system (1.3)

 
13 February

Element 2: Establish and maintain effective and compliant participation arrangements for managing WHS in a work area

Session 1

WHS Procedures and policies
WHS Consultative and other arrangements to encourage staff participation, pp 969-73 (2.1)

Resolution of WHS issues and dissemination of outcomes of participation and consultation with staff (2.2 and 2.3)

Session 2

Learning exercises: could be a mix of case studies, quizzes, short answer questions (2.1-2.3)

 
 3 20 February

Element 3: Establish and maintain procedures for effectively identifying hazards, and assessing and controlling risks in a work area

Session 1

Hazard identification, pp 983-89 (3.1)
Risk assessment, pp 989-90 (3.2)
Risk control, hierarchy of controls, pp 990-91 (3.3)
Environmental hazards, p967

Session 2

In-class Assessment 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

In-class Assessment 1 due

 4 27 February

Element 3: Establish and maintain procedures for effectively identifying hazards, and assessing and controlling risks in a work area

Session 1

Identify inadequacies in current risk controls,  implement new controls with provision of resources (3.4)

Session 2

Expert WHS advice requirements (3.5)

Learning exercises

 

 5 6 March

Element 4 Evaluate and maintain a work area WHS management system

Session 1

WHS induction and training program (4.1)
Record keeping (4.2)

Session 2

Improvements to WHS management system (4.3)
WHS management system's legal compliance (4.4)

 
 6 13 March

Session 1

Prepare for meeting to be held in Manage Meetings class.   Use the meeting to evaluate WHS management system and to identify improvements

Session 2

Consolidate evaluation of WHS management system and proposal for improvements arising from the meeting conducted in Manage Meetings class.

 
 7 20 March

Sessions 1 & 2

Prepare for Assessment 2

 
 8 27 March

Sessions 1 & 2

In-class presentation Assessment 2

In-class presentation Assessment 2

 

 

 


Learning Resources

Prescribed Texts

Cole, K 2016 Management theory and practice, 6e, Cengage, Australia (chapter 29)

9780170354059


References


Other Resources


Overview of Assessment

In order to achieve competency in this unit, you must provide:

Performance Evidence

 Evidence of the ability to: 

  • establish, implement, maintain and evaluate a work health and safety (WHS) management system for a work area of an organisation in accordance with WHS legislation including policies, procedures and record keeping
  • ensure organisational WHS compliance
  • establish, implement, maintain and evaluate effective and compliant participation arrangements for managing WHS including identifying duty holders, identifying and approving the required resources and developing and implementing a training program
  • establish, implement, maintain and evaluate procedures for effectively identifying hazards, and assessing and controlling risks using the hierarchy of risk control
  • provide information and complete documentation for a WHS management system
  • identify requirements for and request expert WHS advice

Knowledge Evidence

To complete the unit requirements safely and effectively, you must:

  • identify and detail relevant WHS Acts, regulations and codes of practice
  • specify relevant WHS organisational policies, procedures, programs and practices
  • explain hazard identification and risk-management processes
  • describe the hierarchy of risk control and how it is applied in the workplace
  • specify in-house and WHS legislative reporting requirements.

Assessment Conditions

Assessment must be conducted in a safe environment where evidence gathered demonstrates consistent performance of typical activities experienced by individuals carrying out work health and safety duties in the workplace and include access to:

  • organisational WHS policies and procedures
  • WHS legislation, regulations and codes of practice
  • case studies and, where possible, real situations
  • interaction with others.

 Feedback

Feedback will be provided throughout the semester in class and/or online discussions.  You are encouraged to ask and answer questions during class time and online sessions so that you can obtain feedback on your understanding of the concepts and issues being discussed. Finally, you can email or arrange an appointment with your teacher to gain more feedback on your progress.

You should take note of all feedback received and use this information to improve your learning outcomes and final performance in the course.       


Assessment Tasks

To be deemed competent in this unit, students must successfully complete 2 assessments. 

Assessment 1 - Establish, implement, maintain and evaluate a WHS system, and effective and compliant participative arrangements

Individual;  open book in-class assessment due Week 3 Session 2 (Knowledge evidence)

Demonstrate your ability to find reliable and up to date OHS information, and interpret legislation, Codes of Practice and similar OHS regulations correctly by completing an in-class assessment consisting a series of True/False and short answer questions.

Reading Online from WorkSafe Victoria. 

  • Summary of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004
  • Guide to the OHS Act 2014 Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Compliance Framework Handbook
  • Victorian Occupational Health and Safety Compliance Framework Handbook
  • Liability of organisations, officers, employees, and other dutyholders (PDF 112kb)I
  • Information for Senior Officers of Organisations.
  • Consultation on health and safety. A handbook for workplaces
  • WorkSafe Position on 'Reasonably Practicable'

http://www.workcover.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/WorkSafe

 

Assessment 2 - Establish, implement, maintain and evaluate a WHS system, and effective and compliant participative arrangements

Group;  in-class presentation on WHS system due Week 8 Sessions 1 and 2


Using Worksafe and RMIT policy and procedures as a guide, develop a local set of procedures for the DLME (Diploma of Leadership and Management Enterprise). Elements to include :-

• why Risk Assessment is carried out
• who should be on the OHS team and why
• what risks are assessed and how often
• how the risk assessment reports are used
• the safety check lists and templates to be used. Check lists and templates developed should be those recommended by RMIT and/or Worksafe and adapted to DLME use.

Each student submits the Presentation materials to Blackboard after the in-class assessment. Not presenting in class and merely submitting the materials to Blackboard will result in the student being graded with Did Not Sit. During the Presentation, it is a common practice of the assessor to raise questions, in order to obtain further evidence of competency, if necessary. This is the significance of presenting in class.

In teams of four, prepare an in-class Presentation that describes the WHS management system you have set up for your work area of the DLME (Fundraising project and one area from point 12 below). Much of this will be guided by the larger OHS Management System, which is RMIT. Your report format is guided by the Australian Standard for an Occupational Health and Safety Management System. Use the structure provided below to research and to complete the Presentation. Your local procedures will include the establishment of a DWG (designated workgroup), election of a HSR (Health & Safety Representative) and full description of the participation arrangements for consultation on OHS matters.

Write this so a DLME team member can understand it. Use the following headings in your presentation.

1. Brief introduction on DLME Enterprise and its safe work practices

2. DLME OHS commitment policy

3. DLME OHS objectives and targets
Suggest at least 3 safety objectives. Identify the WHS resources (financial and human) needed to achieve these objectives.

4. Allocation of responsibility and accountability within RMIT, the College of Business and DLME (a Table format will be provided to guide you here).

5. Include your OHS planning process in DLME with information on:
- OHS committee meetings and members (who sit on the committee and how often do they meet in a semester?)
- schedule of annual Risk Assessment (when is DLME’s annual risk assessment undertaken?)
- staff consultation methods (how and when OHS consultation occurs – formally and informally?)
- emergency preparedness (how are staff prepared for <what> emergencies?)
- training needs and plans (what is in place to identify safety training needs and to conduct the associated training?)

6. Procedures for Identification, assessment and control of hazards (eg: use a check list, conduct an audit on staff with Food hygiene certificate for say, a sausage sizzle to raise funds for a charity, develop a risk register)

7. Safety check lists to be used in the DLME (develop at least two check lists to be used in DLME)

8. Incident investigation and response procedures

9. OHS dispute resolution policy and processes

10. Records and record management procedures

11. Risk Register on your fundraising project as well as one area assigned to your team (Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, Logistics, Leadership, Quality, OHS). Use the hierarchy of risk control.

12. DLME OHS Committee meeting
Take the Risk Register and report to an OHS meeting in a Manage Meetings class. The specific date for this will be determined for you by the teachers of Ensure a safe workplace and Manage Meetings. Use the meeting to resolve OHS issues raised by the Risk Assessment (or any DLME employee) and to discuss and agree on control measures.

Discuss changes you believe should be made to the DLME OHS planning process such as new areas where training is needed, or variation to procedures and check lists .
Evaluate the risk assessment process, suggest and document improvements. Discuss if there are any areas where an expert should be asked to provide advice and guidance.

How will you communicate the outcomes of your meeting for DLME staff which ensures relevant staff will know content, and implications, and necessary follow up actions? This communication is part of your in-class Presentation assessment.


Assessment Matrix

Other Information

Submission Requirements

You should:

• Ensure that you submit assessments on or before the due date. • Always retain a copy of your assessment tasks. (hard copy and soft copy) • When you submit work for assessment at RMIT University you need to use a cover sheet that includes a declaration and statement of authorship. You must complete, sign and submit a cover sheet with all work you submit for assessment, whether individual or group work. On the cover sheet you declare that the work you are presenting for assessment is your own work. An assignment cover sheet for submission of each assessment task is available on blackboard. • Each page of your assessment should include footer with your name, student number, the title of the assessment, unit code and title and page numbers. For example, Julie Macpherson, 324567, Task 2, OHS2345C Ensure safe workplace, Page 1 of 10.

Late Submission Procedures You are required to submit assessment items and/or ensure performance based assessment is completed by the due dates. If you are prevented from submitting an assessment item on time, by circumstances outside your control, you may apply in advance to your teacher for an extension to the due date of up to seven calendar days. More Information: http://www.rmit.edu.au/students/assessment/extension Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/seca86tti4g4z.pdf Where an extension of greater than seven days is needed, you must apply for special consideration. Applications for special consideration must be submitted no later than two working days after the assessment task deadline or scheduled examination. More Information: http://www.rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=g43abm17hc9w Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/8a5dgcaqvaes1.pdf

Resubmissions If you are found to be unsuccessful in a Course Assessment Task you will be allowed one resubmission only. Your teacher will provide feedback regarding what you need to do to improve and will set a new deadline for the resubmission. The highest grade you will receive if your resubmission is successful is "CAG".  If you are still not meeting the assessment requirements you must apply to your Program Manager in writing outlining the steps you will take to demonstrate competence in your course. Your submission will be considered by the Program Team and you will be advised of the outcome as soon as possible.

Adjustments to Assessment In certain circumstances students may be eligible for an assessment adjustment. For more information about the circumstances under which the assessment arrangements might be granted please access the following website: More Information: http://rmit.edu.au/browse;ID=7usdbki1fjf31

Marking Guide (Competency):

You must demonstrate that you have all the required skills/knowledge/elements in the unit of competency you are studying.

You will receive feedback on each assessment task that will inform you about your progress and how well you are performing.

Marking Guide (Grading)

After achieving competency we then grade your performance in the unit and you will achieve one of the following grades:

Final Grades table: CHD Competent with High Distinction CDI Competent with Distinction CC Competent with Credit CAG Competency Achieved – Graded NYC Not Yet Competent DNS Did Not Submit for assessment

Further information regarding the application of the grading criteria will be provided by your teacher.

 

 

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