Business Ideas & Updates

Get Back On Top

We need to start with the end in mind, that’s simple, Zero injuries, Zero incidents, Reduction in Workers Compensation premiums, (Workcover is broke, Expect between 30-50% increases in premiums this year) increased productivity and a better cost benefit ratio.

On January 1^st 2012, health and safety in the workplace as you know, has changed – forever.

New national WHS laws have been introduced to harmonise Work, Health and Safety legislation across Australia.

Under the proposed new laws, you will have to:                                              

• Adjust to a completely new set of safety duties;

There is a new Act and Regulations making every document, every program, Management Program, SWMS, Safety Plan and Training, anything you have ever done is now OBSOLETE and you will need to redo everything that has been done in the past, update it and make all the changes required under the new Act and Regulations etc.

New Health and Safety Representatives (HSR’s) will need to be appointed and voted upon and they will need to undertake a NEW 5 day compulsory course (indicative cost $1250 pp.) If you employ 5 or more workers, a committee “must” be formed i.e. several staff needs to be trained or other consultative arrangements made… I can save you thousands of $$$ here!!

Upon completion of training HSR’s will be able to stop all works, issue Provisional Improvement Notices (PIN”s) to the PCBU…you, failure to rectify the Pin then you are fined. (Instigated by your own staff)

• Change the way you do business to comply with a new range of WHS obligations;

Huge changes with stricter controls for just a few things like:

1. Asbestos Management
2. Machine Guarding
3. Chemical Management (Bunding etc.)
4. Forklift (daily pre start checks)
5. Consultation

• Comply with new restrictions and consequences for discriminatory conduct.

There are significant extra management responsibilities regarding workplace bullying, Harassment, Victimization and stress. Monster increased fines including 10 year Jail terms.

• Learn new rules for union rights of entry.

Yes, Union representatives will have the power to enter any site/workplace that has a union member or that a potential union member may be on.

They will be able to issue Pin notices, Instigate fines and prosecutions for breaches of WHS.

So instead of just having 360 odd Workcover inspectors you will have some extra thousands of Union Reps conducting the same inspections, investigations etc.      

These changes – and many more – will affect ALL AUSTRALIAN WORKPLACES, yours included, so you need to make sure you are prepared.

The front end consists of all the statutory obligations or the “you musts” in the legislation they include Inductions, Emergency Procedures, Hazard Identification, Assessment, Controls, Reviews and Consultation, to name a few.

When staff are inducted with the rules of employment they cannot come back later with statements like, I wasn’t aware of that or no one told me I could not do that.  This is standard tactic used regularly by the Civil litigation Companies looking for your compensation dollars.

“I have some very strong relationships with some of Australia’s largest companies. These have been built upon dealing with some very difficult issues, such as aging workforces, cultures of bullying or harassment, multi lingual workplaces and workers attempting to take advantage of compensation laws”.

For example at one business, there was a very loose hiring procedure. “This was literally killing the business. People with existing conditions were just not being picked up and it was not a matter of properly managing injured or infirm workers.  This company did not even know these people had problems. In several cases workers were reporting injuries that cost the company many thousands of dollars after being employed, in some cases, just a few days.

Proper pre-selection is the key. It makes very good business sense to thoroughly check for any physical problems, such as wrist, shoulder, neck and back problems, prior to employment. A good physiotherapist can do this and the cost is minimal compared to a payout and increased compensation costs.

• Be very careful with your recruitment.  Check out prospective staff especially if the demographic is in the middle to older age bracket.  Some may have pre-existing conditions and some are habitual Compo claimants that all have “wear and tear” and several hundreds of thousands of your dollars are at risk either by direct claim or increased premiums.  Check them out properly!

Remember the rule of thumb is “if the activity could have contributed to the injury in any way then you are liable” for the Compo that means your premiums could be trebled!

Induction needs to be carried out for both new and existing staff and this includes site rules, emergency evacuation procedures, first aid etc. You must get control over all staff especially the ones that have been around for years!

• Establish any existing muscular skeletal problems with current staff and manage accordingly.
• Get your statutory obligations completed and active.
• Establish a regular Consultation process with staff.
• Look at your attendance to evidential due diligence programs. (remember the only defence anyone has any control over is evidence of prior due diligence) This is really important!
• Look at your Risk Management. Have your Supervisors been suitably trained? Are they implementing, monitoring and training on procedures, machine operations, correct lifting etc.
• Consider the need for constant improvement, ongoing education, awareness programs.
• Look at what is done when an injury occurs.

In terms of minimising injury downtime there is a golden rule. “When a worker is injured then that is an emergency. Every effort must be taken to control the situation and that includes physically taking or accompanying the worker to the hospital and making an effort to participate in setting up the return to work on that initial visit to the doctor or hospital where possible.  This includes having a list of light duties available for the doctor to consider in order to speed up Rehabilitation Programs and to lessen the time off work”.

When workers are not managed at this stage, the potential for extended claims are greatly increased and costs are massive. Supervisors initially will complain about being off site but they begin to appreciate the wisdom of this action as the doctor can also be influenced by how much they see the company cares. Where there are line ball decisions to be made, they will favour companies that show an active interest and caring attitude to the patient and of course, the supervisor can answer questions about what is and isn’t possible in terms of managing the injury in the workplace.

WHS Law is based on Duty of Care!  Simply it means you must ensure the Health, Safety and Welfare of yourself and anyone else on your workplace.

Therefore if an injury occurs, you are automatically exposed as you have failed your duty to ensure Health and Safety.

Whilst there are several defences available like who is in control and acts of god, there is only one that anyone has any control over and that is prior Due Diligence.

Due Diligence simply means that you have done everything reasonably practicable prior to the event.

This is the bit I find most lacking in every business.  Everyone has good intentions and some sophisticated programs but they never quite get around to actually doing the consultation, training, ongoing education, safe work processes and procedures.

You need to seriously address these points of Due Diligence!  They need not be stumbling blocks, they, when completed, are in fact your savior and become stepping stones to a safe and prosperous workplace.

Philip B Martin

CEO

Work, Health and Safety Australia Pty Ltd

phil@workhealthandsafetyaustralia.com

phil@worksafeinbusiness.com.au

Mobile: 0433 958 473

Phone: (02) 9636 6821

Business owners know that workers who aren’t using their time and resources effectively are costing the company money. Declining productivity means falling profits and sliding competitive position. That makes the findings from this year’s Proudfoot Productivity Report a cause of concern to employers.

The 2011 report covered businesses in the U.S., Australia and Europe. It reports a disturbing average of 18% of working time wasted among the surveyed businesses. The U.S. came in as most efficient with ‘only’ 14.1% of working hours wasted while Australia topped the charts at 19.4% wasted.

 Analysis of contributory causes revealed that more than three-quarters of inefficient working in 2006 could be attributed to just three causes:
• Inadequate workforce supervision (31% of all wasted time)
• Poor management planning and control of work (30%)
• Poor communication (18%)

The remainder of wasted time recorded was the result of IT problems, low morale and a skills absence or mismatch.

When managers were asked to select from a range of actions they considered could increase workplace productivity the top 2 they chose were investment in workforce skills and investment in management skills. But this may be putting the cart before the horse.

The interesting thing is that all three major contributors to time waste are directly referable to internal management practices. Wasted time may be up, but as the report recognises, the root cause for that is inadequate management supervision, disjointed planning of production processes and inadequate communication of the information employees need to work at their most productive level.

Managers can’t dodge their share of responsibility for the amount of time wasted each year by under-producing employees. When it comes to improving productivity the first area to attend to should be reforming poor management practices and getting managers up to speed in some basic skills.

Workforce Supervision
How to supervise a group of people effectively is a basic HR skill for anybody in a position of leadership or management. Managers should have at least some training in critical HR areas such as employment law, selecting people with the right workforce skills, setting compensation packages, training and developing employees and carrying out performance reviews. These HR skills underpin your ability to get the best out of your employees and improve organisational performance.

Management Planning
The ability to work to a business plan that sets out the broad goals to be achieved in a given period of time, organise all the inputs required to achieve the goals, coordinate the activities and monitor progress towards them are all essential managerial skills necessary to achieve business growth, yet the ability of many managers in these areas is problematic.

Inefficient practices are rarely improved by simply automating them. Introducing technology before optimising the process it is intended to improve merely results in automated inefficiency. But how many managers take the time to analyse just how efficiently their key processes, such as supply chain operations, are working? How many take the effort to develop procedure manuals to ensure employees do things in a consistent and approved manner?

Communication
Managers often have issues with formulating and delivering clear verbal instruction. This can be addressed to a large degree by having the right support resources in place: a clear organisational structure; well defined job descriptions to avoid confusion about responsibilities; policies and procedures manuals to provide a definitive answer on the approved method of doing things; and investing time in inducting and training new employees. Implementing measures like these will reap huge long term productivity benefits.

Employees do usually try to achieve what they think the job requires of them. To get them achieving the right things you need to be very clear in the instruction you provide, whether that be at the level of explaining how to perform a process or what goals the business is trying to achieve and their role in contributing to their attainment.

Poor productivity can be the result of just plain time wasting by employees but more likely it’s the result of poor planning, inefficient practices and an inability to clearly communicate what needs doing. Whether through coaching, talking to a business advisor or putting themselves through one of the many SME management short courses on offer, a manager has a responsibility to make themselves the best they can be before laying problems of poor productivity at the feet of their employees.