WHS Policy
Jamaican Products is committed to providing a safe and healthy workplace, so far as is reasonably practicable, and all Workers must conduct themselves in a safe manner. Jamaican Products has a low-risk appetite for health and safety incidents.
Scope
This policy applies to all employees, contractors, and volunteer workers while at the site where work is being undertaken on behalf of Jamaican Products, ABN 84 880 789 472. This policy does not create any contractual entitlements.
The main NSW legislations specific to this policy include:
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011;
- Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011;
- Workplace Injury Management and Worker’s Compensation Act 1998.
Definitions
Hazard: A hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm. Hazards can be physical (for example a live wire) or mental.
Psychosocial hazard: A hazard that arises from, or relates to the design or management of work, work environment, workplace interactions or behaviours, and may cause psychological harm, regardless of it may also cause physical harm.
Accident: An accident is an event which causes an injury to a person, and/or damage to property and/or equipment.
Hazard identification: The process of recognising that a hazard exists and defining its characteristics. Different methods may be used to identify hazards including:
- observation
- consultation with workers, clients, or other users
- trial of models or prototypes
- review of technical standards and other information sources
- monitoring and measurement.
Notifiable incident: Is as defined in the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 and as such means an incident involving the death of a person, a serious injury or illness of a person, or a dangerous incident as defined by the Act.
Incident: An event that has led to or could have led to an injury or illness. Incidents include near misses, accidents, and injuries or illness.
Injury or illness: The result of physical or mental harm.
Mental hazard: Is any hazard that has the potential to harm the mental wellbeing or mental health of the Worker.
Reportable incident: An incident that is required to be reported to the regulator in Australia. Incidents that are reportable are death, serious injury or illness or a potentially dangerous incident.
Risk: A risk is the likelihood that death, injury, or illness might result because of a hazard.
WHS: Work health and safety.
Workers: All Jamaican Products employees, contractors, volunteers.
Workplace: Any place where a worker goes or is likely to go, whilst undertaking Jamaican Products duties.
Management of Risks
Jamaican Products and Workers must ensure that:
- health and safety risks are eliminated, so far as is reasonably practicable
- if it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate risks to health and safety, to minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable. If risks cannot be brought into tolerance than they must be escalated ultimately to the Secretary, Department of Enterprise, Investment and Trade.
Responsibilities
The following responsibilities support the purpose of this policy.
Jamaican Product’s responsibilities
- Implement processes that aim to:
- maintain a safe and healthy working environment
- include provision of appropriate information, training, instruction, and supervision
- assess work-related risks
- establish processes for reporting incidents, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information
- regularly review WHS systems
- actively promote a systematic approach to managing workplace risks and injuries.
- Encourage a culture of health and safety by:
- establishing a consultative approach that includes discussing WHS matters
- sharing information, providing reasonable opportunities to contribute, and actively encouraging participation on WHS matters.
Leadership roles
Hope Kidd as leader is responsible for making sure Jamaican Products complies with its health and safety obligations including:
- developing a good working knowledge of health and safety requirements and the Department’s health and safety management system
- understanding the Department’s critical hazards and risks and the steps that have been put in place to control those hazards and risks
- leading by example in taking health and safety seriously, attending all relevant training and complying with all health and safety policies and procedures
- appropriately managing, escalating, or reporting any health and safety risks that come to their attention and considering information about incidents, hazards and risks and respond in a timely way to that information
- engaging with their teams to ensure that Workers feels supported and enabled to perform their roles in a safe and healthy manner, including ensuring that all team members are appropriately trained and supervised
- actively participating in risk reviews, incident investigations and hazard control reviews as required, and regularly reviewing processes for which they are responsible to ensure that controls are operating effectively.
Workers
Workers are required to:
- use all equipment in an appropriate manner
- take reasonable care for their own health and safety
- ensure their working from home environment is safe and healthy
- take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons
- comply, so far as they are reasonably able, and co-operate with any reasonable instruction, policy or procedure issued in relation to health and safety
- co-operate with and contribute to the WHS objectives in the planning process as required
- immediately report all hazards/incidents to the manager/supervisor
- report all incidents.
Service providers, suppliers, visitors and other persons attending a Jamaican Products site are required to:
- take reasonable care for their own health and safety
- take reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons
- comply, so far as they are reasonably able, with any reasonable instruction given in relation to health and safety.
Consultation
So far as is reasonably practicable, Jamaican Products will consult with its workers who are, or are likely to be, directly affected by a matter relating to work health or safety.
Incident recording and reporting
All Workers must report all incidents as soon as possible after the incident.
Health and wellbeing resources
A range of resources are available to assist all Workers with health or wellbeing concerns.
