Implement work safety requirements

4. Identify, report and record hazards

As a WHS duty holder, you are responsible for identifying hazards and keeping the workplace safe and healthy for all workers and visitors. Any hazards or WHS issues need to be reported to the health and safety representative (HSR) in your workplace and if they are absent, then directly to your manager.

Workplace hazards

Photo by @sammywilliams on Unsplash, accessed 30/09/2021

Some of the most common type of accidents in workplaces often relate to tripping and falling.

Objects left in walkways, deliveries not put away in a timely manner, electrical cords left lying across floors and walkways, spills and leaks which cause people to slip, are all too common.

Manual handling of goods, such as boxes of photocopy paper stored up high above shoulder length, increases the risk of employees being hit by falling objects or suffering musculoskeletal damage.

Hazards in your workplace can be classified into different areas. Select each area below for more information.

Photo by @qwitka on Unsplash, accessed 09/09/2021

These can include tripping hazards such as cords, filing cabinets that can tip when full etc.

man sitting on chair in front on window during daytime

Photo by @bkotynski on Unsplash, accessed 09/09/2021

These can include glare or reflection from screens; poorly designed workflows that require a worker to be in one position for long periods of time.

Photo by @nci on Unsplash, accessed 09/09/2021

These can include vapours in the air such as paint solvents, photocopier toner etc.

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels, accessed 09/09/2021

These can include unrealistic deadlines or overload of tasks which can cause stress; lack of unsatisfying work; workplace bullying or harassment, discrimination.

Cable, Connection, Cable Salad, Network, Plug, Computer

Image by congerdesign from Pixabay, accessed 09/09/2021

These can include damaged electrical cords; overloaded PowerPoints that may lead to electric shock.

Reference: ISBN-Officewise-guide-to-health-and-safety-in-the-office-2006-01.pdf

Hazards in a workplace are often identified by:

observation using WHS Hazard identification checklists
consulting with colleagues about WHS issues
regular scheduled WHS audits
checks conducted by HSRs
reviews of any incident and accident reports
WHS inspections conducted by external regulators or auditors.

Watch this short video–Find the Hazards in your workplace, to understand how workplace hazards are identified by Worksafe inspectors.

Find the hazards - (01:52)

Text transcript

My name's Ben. I'm an inspector with WorkSafe and I work out of the Dandenong office.

The first thing about a WorkSafe inspection would be to find the hazards in your workplace -

it could be really obvious as part of your industry,

or they could be less obvious.

A hazard is any source of potential harm or injury.

So by identifying those up front, we know where we stand and

where we need to move to reduce those and make it a safer workplace.

Talk with your workers directly; they're probably your biggest asset.

They can have a wealth of experience, and you really need to tap into that.

It could be formally - so you could schedule meetings,

have them booked in on calendars

and get representatives from your work group and your team leaders together -

or it could be casual, where you walk around or have a barbecue on Friday and have a good chat.

So once you've identified the hazards in your work area,

the next step is to formalise those with a Safety Action Plan.

For example, we have a tool available on our website that can help with getting those down on paper.

Some hazards that you can identify might be obvious.

They could be something sharp, or some exposed gears -

those things are generally quite obvious, but there are other ones that are harder to identify

that might be less immediate.

Things like exposure to chemicals and noise is something that we see regularly.

A good way to identify hazards that are affecting your workplace in particular

would be to look through your records of injury -

they should be reported by your employees,

it can be as simple as a diary for the employees to record what's happened

and it can cover near misses.

This is going to identify any trends that are occurring in your workplace

and can let you get ahead and become proactive of the more serious injuries.

Close transcript

Implement work safety requirements

4. Identify, report and record hazards

Mechanical

Physical hazards

Chemical hazards

Psychological or Psycho-social hazards

Electrical hazards

Find the hazards - (01:52)

Text transcript