Diligent employers race to OH&S records

The problem is that nowhere in any Australian legislation is there a list of all of these requirements. So where to begin and what is one to include?

It is also well known that these records are useful evidence of “due diligence”, so they are important, but what are the records that must by law be made and kept for anywhere up to five years?

The obvious place to start is with the common law requirement, which is little complied with. This has since been confirmed and, if anything, expanded by case law.

The common law requires that employers identify and list all foreseeable hazards and risks to be found in their plant and on their process lines. This requirement applies to both physical and psychological risks.

These lists need to be created with input from the operators. Once these lists are completed (and they must be comprehensive) companies need to examine what records are specified by a regulation, industry code or Australian standard. Remember, this is only a starting point.

Employers are required to adopt a risk management approach to ensure compliance. This means adopting a “systematic management” approach to ensure compliance with the three legs of the risk management principle.

This method involves systematically working through all your foreseeable risks and correlating the identified risk against the laws’ requirements.

In this way you can be sure you have comprehensively addressed all of your risk exposures and identified all of the information dissemination and record keeping duties required by the OH&S law.

Keeping records

Let us examine some further examples of records and what needs to be covered. One of the first set of records to establish is a list of all the company’s licences, permits, and local Council consents, as well as driving licences, including those for car, truck, forklift and crane drivers.

These licences may be held in a number of different locations but this is a good opportunity to gather them all into one folder. Develop a matrix for listing these and recording when they expire and what conditions are attached to them.

As regards information dissemination, the employer should refer to S 8 (d) in NSW, and Sections 21(2) (e); S21(4) (a) and (b) also S21 (4) (e) and S31(2)(a) in Victoria.

The next crucial step is workers’ compensation legislation, since this requires you to keep records of accidents and worker injuries. The Insurer in NSW and the Agent in Victoria supply the correct format documentation free of charge. Unfortunately, while employers generally have this information in their offices, all too often no one knows where it is kept or what it is to be used for.

Notifying the Regulatory Authority/Insurer of accidents is very important in both NSW and Victoria and this needs to be done in the correct format and according to the Insurer’s time compliance requirements.

Another two major categories of record keeping relate to the safe use, storage and transport of dangerous goods and hazardous substances. Refer here to the applicable legislation and be especially careful to establish the necessary records and record keeping systems. In setting up records and systems it can be helpful to consider the following sorts of enquiries:

• Does your record keeping system conform to the legislations’ requirements?

• Do you maintain the necessary information about accidents/illnesses?

• Do you have records of first aid treatment?

• Do you record and store inspections of Plant equipment?

• Do you record and store risk assessment information?

• Do you record all controls?

• Do you record details of employee consultation?

• Do you record Plant specs and applicable AS standards?

• Do you maintain up to date chemical substances/ DG lists?

• How to follow through from OH&S Committee meeting minutes to conformance and sign off?

• Do you maintain full lists of training carried out?

• Are all repairs / maintenance work re Plant / equipment recorded?

• Are your records of emergency management plans current?

• Is your fire fighting capability current and adequate?

Keeping appropriate records will greatly help in ensuring that your OH&S safety management system is current and operating efficiently. It should be your first “warning” signal that something is not as safe as it was or needs to be. It will alert you to any new hazards that may need attention.

There is talk of a new blood test that may be required some day before an employee will be permitted to work night shifts. It appears that genes affecting the body’s “clock” come in two forms, one of which makes one better able to handle a night shift. Employers may in future need to conduct blood tests and keep records, so that they never find themselves charged with negligence for using an employee who should not have been working a night shift.

Finally, a useful tool to create is a matrix, in which along the horizontal axis you list the frequency of making inspections, records, risk assessments or controls. Along the vertical axis you should record the type of record you must make in order to comply with the law, or are using to create a “due diligence” defence.

* Ray Schaffer is the principal consultant with R M H Schaffer & Co, health and safety as well as environmental consultants 02 9878 0613. Visit www.environmentdiy.com.au, pose a question and receive an answer at no cost.