Occupational Health & Safety

　
　

 Occupational Health & Safety

Health and Safety performance is a key indicator of a firm’s duty of care. Positive staff morale and productivity are generally the result of a safe workplace with low injury and absentee rates. As a strategy to prevent injuries an organisation can engage employees into dialogue, encourage feedback and provide training. Preventing serious diseases contributes to the health, satisfaction, and stability of the workforce and helps maintain the organisation’s social license to operate.

After winning Toyota Australia’s President’s Award for Safety last year, AAPL was highly motivated to continue down its path towards zero lost time injuries. In order to improve its health and safety performance, AAPL focused on its management system and specifically on visualization.

AAPL targeted its hazard identification and risk management procedure knowing that safety cannot be improved any further if hazards are not comprehensively identified. We reviewed our processes and registered a formalized risk management procedure that covers all steps from hazard identification (including job safety analysis and manual handling assessments) to risk assessment and treatment plans. In addition, training has been given to all managers and associates to re-educate everyone on the hazard identification process and especially on individual responsibilities.

Hazard identifications (HS&E Reports) have increased significantly after our efforts to improve communication and we remain optimistic that this will notably contribute to reduced injury numbers in the future

Injury numbers have reduced yet again to just five LTI’s for this reporting period, a 64% improvement. Lost time however, has remained constant highlighting the large portion of a few long-term injuries that have remained unresolved.

Australian Arrow Pty Ltd is committed to the early, successful and sustainable return to work of all our associates. AAPL employs a full time return to work coordinator whose main responsibility is to assist injured associates in remaining at, or returning to work as soon as possible after injury, ‘to reduce the human and financial cost of injury and illness’.

AAPL’s aim is to create a positive and supportive workplace culture which in turn results in the reduction of injury claims and achieve more timely, effective and sustainable return to work outcome.

AAPL supports all associates in their return to work even if they do not have a work related injury or illness. AAPL works with the associate and his/her manager in developing a return to work plan which may consist of modified hours, modified duties, consultation with practitioners and exercise breaks as required.

In addition to this proactive approach, AAPL has also implemented the following initiatives:

  • Fitness for duty program, including warm up and pause exercises
  • Job Safety Analysis
  • Manual Handling assessments
  • Risk assessments
  • Employee Assistance Program
  • Education & Training
  • Safe Operating Procedures (SOP’s)
  • Monthly OH&S Scorecard to enhance communication
  • Presentations at the ‘Red Items’ management review

 Visualisation of Health and Safety @ AAPL

AAPL is a very visual workplace and the same concept is extended to health and safety. In order to summarise all relevant information, AAPL developed a ‘one-page’ OH&S scorecard which is updated monthly, presented at the ‘red items’ management review and displayed on the OH&S notice board in AAPL’s new atrium area.

Information on the display board includes:

  • OH&S scorecard,
  • hazard identification procedures and forms,
  • Stop 6 incident information,
  • meeting minutes from the OH&S as well as the First Aid committee,
  • hazard register and risk assessment status
  • information about work cover inspections
  • information about recent/actual health threats

 AAPL’s OH&S scorecard is divided into three sections:

Prevention

The green – proactive – section shows information regarding health and safety training hours provided to associates, activities of the OH&S committee as well as a brief summary of the hazard investigations. Training hours include initial 5-day training sessions for all health and safety representatives as well as annual refresher trainings to all reps (external) and all associates (internal).

Intervention

The yellow section provides information regarding the early intervention program that was introduced in 2007 which aims to reduce work related injuries by identifying potential injuries at the earliest possible opportunity. Associates are encouraged to report any ‘discomfort’ in its early stages rather than wait until it becomes an injury which requires long term treatment or lost time. The process is as follows:

  • Associates are advised to visit their local GP for treatment/referral and are then asked to visit a consultant GP. The consultant GP’s role is solely to provide a list of “constraints/restrictions” which will assist AAPL in providing suitable duties during the treatment process.
  • Together with the manager/supervisor, the return to work coordinator and the associate, a plan is put together to ensure all parties agree on list of suitable duties and rest/exercise periods. This is reviewed on a fortnightly basis in a “return to work review meeting”.

Injury

This red – reactive – section tracks the past performance by listing:

  • Lost Time Injuries
  • Lost Time Frequency Rate
  • Lost Time
  • Work Cover Claims
  • Cost Estimate
  • First Aid Injuries

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