If I introduce myself and say that I work with workplace safety, what is the first picture that comes to mind? Construction site, Factory, Workshop? Recent Department of Labour statistics show that just less than half of reported incidents occurred in the above three environments. How about the office, computer room, training room and kitchen at work?
In the home environment people are expected to be aware of safety hazards and parents are generally cautious and attempt to prevent children from being exposed to hazards. What about at work, are we the parent or the child? Even in an office environment, is it safe and who is responsible for ensuring workplace safety?
The answer to the last question is that YOU ARE. Every employee has a degree of responsibility (depending on your position in the organisation) to ensure and maintain a healthy and safe working environment for themselves and their colleagues. Every employee also has a right to personal safety in his or her workplace.
Consider your position in the organisation; if you are an employer or manager and have someone in your organisation that is the “safety person”, please remember that he or she is the one keeping you out of jail! Yes, Occupational Health and Safety legislation carries a jail sentence for persons found guilty of non-compliance coupled with hefty fines and criminal record in the individuals’ personal capacity. Managers need to know their duties and responsibilities and what to do when something does go wrong.
If you are a general, shop floor, or administrative worker, you have the right to a safe working environment but you also have a responsibility to identify and report any unsafe condition that may exist. In addition you are required to report any incident or accident that occurs to yourself and / or those that report to you. Workers thus also need to know their duties and responsibilities and what to do when something goes wrong.
In these hectic times with many organisations in survival mode, safety is often far from the minds of the entire workforce. Be aware though that stress at work is in itself a safety hazard and that the legislation relating to safety in the workplace is not very forgiving, regardless of economic conditions. So please be aware of your duties and responsibilities and let’s ensure that we all remain: Safe at Work.
