Course Title: Ensure a safe workplace
Part B: Course Detail
Teaching Period: Term1 2016
Course Code: OHTH5872C
Course Title: Ensure a safe workplace
School: 650T Vocational Business Education
Campus: City Campus
Program: C5341 - Diploma of Information Technology
Course Contact: Val Christou
Course Contact Phone: +61 3 9925 5076
Course Contact Email: val.christou@rmit.edu.au
Name and Contact Details of All Other Relevant Staff
Name: Hisham Attia
Contact: hisham.attia@rmit.edu.au
Consultation Time: Available from the teacher on first day of class
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 |
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 collaborative classroom based activities will include face-to-face workshops, practical computer exercises based on teacher handouts and online tasks.
We expect you to participate and contribute in all scheduled learning activities. Students should attend all sessions. Students will also be expected to undertake work on a small Web/Database project and other activities for homework.
Teaching Schedule
The Teaching Schedule for this course is as follows:
Induction Session
Prior to training commencement a program level induction session will be conducted that comprises the following:
• Program overview and requirements
• MyRMIT/Blackboard
• Overview of assessment requirements
• Pre-Training Review including:
- Recognition of Prior Learning and Credit Transfers
- Assessment of current skills and knowledge
• Competency/Grading Criteria
• Plagiarism
• Appeals
• Extensions
• Feedback
• Privacy
• Submission requirements
• Resubmission policy
• Where to get support
• Student responsibilities
Course Delivery:
The nominal hours associated with this are a guide only and represent the total teaching time and student effort required to successfully complete the course. This may include not only scheduled classes but also the amount of effort required to undertake, evaluate and complete all assessment requirements, including any non-classroom activities.
Week |
Week Commencing | Topics | Assessment |
1 |
8th Feb 2016 |
Introduction to the Course including: |
|
2 |
15th Feb 2016 | • Definition of a ‘Hazard’ • Type of hazards at different workplaces |
HANDOUT Assessment Task 1 WHS Audit Report |
3 |
22nd Feb 2016 |
• The Role of Health & Safety Reps • Guide to model work, health and safety act |
|
4 |
29th Feb 2016 |
• Workplace Incidents reporting |
DUE Assessment Task 1 WHS Audit Report |
5 |
7th March 2016 | • Law Construct (Act) • WH&S responsibilities & penalties • Roles and responsibilities • Due Diligence |
HANDOUT Online Quiz WHS and the Law |
6 |
14th March 2016 | • What is an WH&S system • Purpose & aim of the system |
DUE Assessment Task 2: Online Quiz WHS and the Law HANDOUT Assessment Task 3 |
| 7a (online) |
21st March 2016 | • Design WHS database • Develop database structure in MS ACCESS |
|
| Mid Semester break 24th-30th March 2016 | |||
| 7b | 28th March 2016 | Thurs 31/03 & Fri 1/04 - Self Paced online activities | |
| 8 (Face-to-Face) |
4th April 2016 | • Develop table(s), queries and forms • Include links to RMIT Heath and Safety policies and procedures • Test database functionality |
|
| 9 (Face-to-Face) |
11th April 2016 | • Introduction to Emergency and Evacuation Procedures • Emergency and Evacuation at RMIT • Emergency Procedures Manual |
DUE Assessment Task 3 WHS Management System HANDOUT Assessment Task 4 Emergency & Evacuation Procedure |
| 10 (online) |
18th April 2016 |
• RMIT Emergency and Evacuation Procedures • Research and preparation for presentation |
|
| 11 (Online) |
25th April 2016 |
• Emergency, Medical & Fire Scenarios • Research and preparation for presentation |
|
| 12 (Face-to-Face) |
2nd May 2016 | • Case: Armed Intruder • Policies & procedures • Presentation Examples & Guidelines |
|
| 13 (online) |
9th May 2016 |
• Presentation Preparation |
|
| 14 (Face-to-Face) |
16th May 2016 | • Emergency & Evacuation Procedure Students’ Presentation (Part 1) |
DUE Assessment Task 4 Emergency & Evacuation Procedure |
15 |
23rd May 2016 | • Emergency & Evacuation Procedure Students’ Presentation (Part 2) | DUE Assessment Task 4 Emergency & Evacuation Procedure |
16 |
30th May 2016 | • Feedback and review, re-submission if required | Feedback & Review |
Learning Resources
Prescribed Texts
References
Other Resources
Materials will include articles, web links and worksheets, which will be made available through the Blackboard portal.
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.
You are advised that you are likely to be asked to personally demonstrate your assessment work to your teacher to ensure that the relevant competency standards are being met.
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
Overview
You are required to complete 4 assessment tasks including one online quiz. You must successfully complete all 4 assessment tasks and the quiz to be deemed competent in this unit.
ASSESSMENT TASK 1: Conduct an WHS Audit - Due Date: Week 4
This assessment task is about identifying hazards and assessing and controlling risks associated with them. Using a report template, you and your peer will conduct a Workplace Health & Safety (WHS) audit of our campus to ensure that RMIT is a safe workplace. You will need to identify hazards that RMIT has yet to address as well as hazards that have been addressed. In your audit report you will document these hazards, discuss their severity level, whose responsibility it is to address these hazards and who may potentially be affected by them. You will need to locate and communicate the RMIT WHS policies on our website that define RMIT’s commitment to complying with WHS legislation and based the outcome of your report on such polices.
To facilitate this task you will be given a template. Ensure that all fields in your template are addressed. Document your findings using photos and scale them accordingly to fit in the template. Please reduce the size of the images prior importing them into the word document. Your report should feature 6 hazards in total, 3 hazards that RMIT has not yet addressed and 3 hazards that RMIT has already addressed. All hazards should be documented using captured images that describe the hazard clearly.
ASSESSMENT TASK 2: ONLINE QUIZ - WHS & the Law – Date: Week 6
The online quiz is a short questionnaire, relating to the topic of WHS Acts, regulations and codes of practice that apply to the business operations. The topics will be discussed in class prior to taking the quiz. The quiz is in form of multiple-choice questionnaire and will be conducted through Blackboard.
ASSESSMENT TASK 3: WHS Management System Database - Due Date: Week 9
You are required to develop a simple MS Access database for WHS recordkeeping to allow identification of patterns of occupational injury and to maintain a record of WHS decisions made. The database should have the following fields as a minimum:
• Sequential number
• Date of incident
• Severity Level
• Incident description, maybe with an option to upload images
• Affected personnel
• Hazard identification, Type of Hazard
• Measures to be taken
• A checkbox to identify if the measures have taken place
• Responsible personnel
The database should enable a user to file a report with the information above as well as to query incidents based on selected criteria, such as show incidents between two dates, or show how many incidents of a specific type of hazards, or outstanding measures relating to a particular incident (Minimum of 2 queries of choice).
• The database should also have a link reference to RMIT Health and safety policies and procedures (http://www1.rmit.edu.au/policies/healthandsafety).
• Populate the database with the hazards you have already identified in assessment task 1.
• Design the database with RMIT branding in mind and include your group name/names, e.g. “develop by …”
• Design a user-friendly interface that helps the user navigate to the different functions of the database
• Please test the database functionality before submitting
From a development perspective, consider the database to have the following as a minimum:
• one table (more are welcomed),
• one form for record entries and
• at least 2 queries
ASSESSMENT TASK 4: Emergency and Evacuation Procedure - Due Date: Week 14/15
You are required to research and present an emergency and evacuation procedure for a given security scenario. As a basis, please consider the RMIT emergency procedures manual. You are required to locate, analyse the emergency procedure manual and study the different aspects of its content. Your task is to pick one of the following topics and present it as a WHS advisory group to your class.
The topics are:
• Evacuation drills, general safety requirements and general building information, fire
• Bomb Threats
• Armed Intruders
• Earth quakes, civil disorder, airborne contaminants
• Medical emergency, gas leak and chemical spills
For your presentation, please consider a presentation format, e.g. MS PowerPoint, Keynote or others. Please do not exceed 15 min, including a Q&A session after the presentation. As an advisory group, please consider the following:
• Plan the structure and flow of your presentation (your presentation is a story!)
• Link ideas together to ensure the content flow
• Engage your audience,
• Use dot points to highlight your content; use visuals to complement it, use animation, if it complements your presentation
• Summarise your presentation at the end to remind your audience of the journey
Assessment Matrix
The Assessment Matrix that maps all assessments to the critical aspects of evidence, skills, knowledge and elements are available from the teacher.
Other Information
Submission Requirements
All Assessment tasks need to be submitted via the Learning Hub.
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 (unresolved)
Form to use: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/8a5dgcaqvaes1.pdf
Resubmissions (VET Programs):
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.
Final Grades Table:
After achieving competency we then grade your performance in the unit and you will achieve one of the following grades:
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.
Course Overview: Access Course Overview