Welcome to the third webinar in our Serious about
grazier safety series presented in conjunction
with OBE Organic and Grazing BMP.
I am Ros Rees, the Senior Project Officer with the
Agriculture Unit of Workplace Health and Safety
Queensland, your Facilitator for today.
Thank you for joining us for today's session which
we'll be going through the third element of the safety
management system - Safe Systems of Work.
The first webinar is on our website and I'll provide
that address at the end of today's session.
The second webinar will be there shortly and I'll let
you know when that's available.
Just a reminder that although these webinars are
focusing on beef production the principles of the safety
management system can be applied to any industry sector.
Please send through any questions during the webinar
and we'll endeavour to answer them at the end.
Please also take a few minutes to complete the
survey at the end of the webinar as it provides us
with valuable feedback.
Your presenter for today is Brenton Garlick, the Senior
Project Officer in compliance and Business
Engagement Unit of Workplace Health and Safety.
I'll now hand you over to Brenton.
Thanks for that Ros and welcome everyone again to
the third webinar in this series.
As Ros did say in today's session we will go through
the third element of the safety management system and
that is Safe Systems of Work.
This is the next step after you have completed your risk
assessments but don't worry if you haven't heard the
webinar and you haven't had time to do that.
As Ros said, the recordings will be available for you
shortly and we'll let you know when that is.
Okay, so one way of demonstrating safe systems
of work is to have a safe work procedure.
A safe work procedure provides directions on how
work is to be carried out safely and it helps to
identify hazards and risks and clarify what must be
done to eliminate or minimise the risks.
First we'll start with a little background to best
practice and the process behind managing risk in the
workplace by understanding the why and the how.
So why do we use safe work procedures?
As we know the legislation tells us that we need to
manage risks in the workplace.
Using safe work procedures helps to demonstrate the
risk management.
It helps to highlight the risks and the controls we
are going to use, and it allows for a standardised
work process and provides an effective tool for training
and supervision. How should this be done?
When we look at best practice throughout the industry,
we seek to identify the hazardous tasks
and control them, we develop and implement safe work
procedures, we involve your workers and the people in
the workplace who actually do the tasks and make sure
it's a collaborative process, and we follow and
review your procedures to ensure they are the most effective.
So safe work procedures can also be
known by many other names. They may also be referred to
by a term such as Job Safety Analysis or JSA,
they may be Job Hazard Analysis or a JHA
or even a Standardised Operating Procedure or an SOP.
That's just to name a few.
You may have heard many other terms out there
yourself when you're doing a job.
So when is a safe work procedure required?
It's important to consider when you need written
safe work procedures as you don't always need
to have them for all your tasks.
To determine whether you need them you should
consider things such as how severe the consequences
of an accident should be, how often the task is done
and how complex the task is.
However we also need to make sure that written safe
work procedures are required for such tasks where
they are deemed to be a hazardous task, they may be
complicated tasks, they may be frequently performed and less
routine tasks for which workers may need to have reminders for.
Safe work procedures provide information to
assist your workers and other people who come into
your workplace to perform tasks, to perform those
tasks safely as it is a way to identify the hazards
involved and put into place ways to prevent an injury
or illness occurring.
They are also a useful tool for training and supervising
workers by providing them with the preferred way
to safely perform the tasks or the activities.
Some of these procedures may seem like common sense
but this depends on the experience of your workers
or the people completing the tasks and they
also still need to be documented.
So we're now going to talk through how to write or
develop your safe work procedures for your workplace.
So there are a number of steps to work through which we
are going to identify in the next couple of slides for you.
So firstly you need to identify and prioritise tasks
that you think will require the safe work procedures.
You need to consider all your tasks or activities
in the workplace and which of these would potentially
cause harm if risks are not addressed.
It's important that you consult with your workers
or the people who come into your workplace and involve
them in identifying and resolving safety issues.
You should start with the tasks or the activities that
could cause more serious consequences first and
work your way through the rest of the tasks.
The guide to developing a Safe Work Procedure
has been provided to you.
This will also be sent out to you at the end of the
webinar in a template and it is also available on our website.
So the next step is to set about developing your
safe work procedures by analysing the task
that you have in your workplace.
It's important that you involve your workers and
other people in the workplace in identifying
and resolving any safety issues because they are the
ones that are doing the work.
This will make sure that safe work procedures
are most effective.
Because the workers have helped developed them
they will be readily taken on board and they will
be more easily applied in the workplace.
Some of the ways you can consult with your workers
and other people in the workplace include things
like toolbox talks, organised meetings through
a safety committee, they can be informal discussions
such as over a cup of tea or during breaks as well as
many other opportunities that you may have with your workers.
You need to identify the basic steps involved in any
task or activity and the possible risks at each step.
It's important to observe the tasks or the activity
to ensure that you don't miss anything.
You should also seek information about the
possible risks involved and work to control the risks.
To do this you use the hierarchy of control which
we discussed in the last webinar on risk management.
This is also available in the Serious About Farm
Safety Guide and also on our website.
So you need to look at each step involved in the task
and identify what could go wrong, so identify the
hazards and the risks.
Then look at what can be done to control these
hazards and risks.
So a template for a task analysis has been sent
out to you. Again if you've not been able to download this it
will be sent out to you at the end of the recording as well
as on screen here you can see the task analysis template.
So this example of a task analysis is provided for
operating a quad bike.
As you'll see the three columns will help to
analyse the task you are doing.
You'll see that the first column outlines the basic
steps of the task.
The next column details what can go wrong or the hazards
and risks associated with each of those steps and the
final column details what you can do about it which is
then your control measures.
Some of the controls may only need to be done once,
so these don't need to be part of an ongoing procedure
for use such as if you're using another vehicle this can
be taken out when documenting your safe work procedure.
Another document has been sent out to you and that
is the Safe Systems of Work Process for Developing
Safe Work Procedures.
This was done with part of our small business program
and it gives you those five steps in processing your
safe work procedure and breaks it down into easy,
manageable chunks.
So we'll just go through those again while
we're looking at the task analysis.
So number one is to list the hazardous tasks
done in your business.
Number two is to choose one of those hazards and
do a task analysis.
Number three is to choose the controls you were going
to use from the 'What to do about it?'
which is that controls column there, the third one
you see on the screen.
Number four is to apply the results of your task
analysis throughout your safe work procedure and
number five, choose your next hazard or task
and repeat the prior steps.
So if we'll just go through and have a look at that
task analysis in a bit more detail, as you can see steps
of the task, the task we are doing is the operating
of a quad bike.
So the steps are things like selecting your vehicle,
turning on and putting the vehicle into gear,
ride to the designated paddock, muster your cattle while
you're out there and then lastly, drive the herd
to designated yards.
So what can go wrong when you're doing those tasks?
So what are your hazards and what are your risks?
One of your first risks could be that the quad bike
is damaged or badly maintained.
You could be dealing with inexperienced riders.
The quad bike obviously can overturn depending on the
ground that you're riding on as well as things like
sticks and rocks flicking up, sunburn and heat stress.
If you have a look at that third column there, that
just gives you some suggestions about how you
actually control those hazards and the risks.
So the first thing you would do is maybe do a prestart
check such as checking your fuel, tyres, guards,
chain tension and brakes.
At least that will tell you if the bike has been
maintained or the quad bike has been maintained and
if it actually fit for use.
So once you've written the task analysis you are
ready to develop your safe work procedure as your
safe work procedure does flow from the task analysis.
The items in the control column form the safe work procedure.
So that's the third column that you've seen
from the previous slide.
In a hard copy if you've got this written down, you can
fold the task analysis to take out the middle column,
leaving the steps and procedures which was your
column one and then the controls which is your column three.
So this in effect is your safe work procedure.
You don't need to include hazards that you are able
to eliminate, so just cross those out or delete them.
Whatever remains is what people need to know
to do the task safely.
The remaining risks are then called your residual
risks and they form the safe work procedure.
So keep the layout and formatting clear and as
simple as possible to follow.
When documenting the safe work procedure it's
important that you ensure you're easy to read and follow.
You can include diagrams and pictures to help explain the
procedures and first you should set out the job
procedures step by step and start each step
with an action word. So for example instead of saying
'protective gloves are to be worn'
be more decisive and say 'wear protective gloves'.
You should make sure the steps flow from one step to
the next by putting the main ideas first and you should
use point form as well as short and clear sentences.
It's best to avoid repetition as well as jargon
and acronyms or abbreviations where possible.
Make sure you include white space to make it easy
for the people to read.
So on screen here now this has been sent out and again
we'll be able to send all of these templates to
you at the end of the webinar.
This is another simple format that can be
used for your safe work procedure.
As you can see it is set out a little bit
differently to the previous slide but it does still
have all the same information.
Again, here is another example of the safe work
procedure using some graphics which makes it a little
bit easier to read if you're looking at it fairly quickly.
These samples are in the Serious About Farm Safety
Guide Templates which are on our website and the link
will be sent to you at the end of this webinar.
So the next step is to make your safe work procedures
easy to read and easy to locate.
For example, if the task is done on a fixed piece of
equipment, display the safe work procedure next to the
equipment so it's easily accessible by all your
workers or anyone who's actually doing the task.
You need to implement the safe work procedures through
training, so that's through induction, task-specific
training and any other relevant training that you
do have in your workplace.
Finally, if the safe work procedures are not followed
you need to consider your disciplinary action and how
you are going to get your people to comply with the
safe work procedures that you have in place.
So reviewing your safe work procedures - it's important
that you continually review your safe work procedures
so that they are current.
Make sure it's done if there is an injury or
near miss or if there are changes such as new
equipment or associated processes.
It's also important to review your safe work
procedures if there are any changes in the legislation,
in the standards or the codes of practice or any
change in technology as well as looking at where
you're dealing with machinery and quad bikes,
any manufacturer's instructions that come along with that.
In fact periodic review of all safe work procedures
will ensure that they are current and up to date
and as effective as they can be.
So the number of safe work procedures you have will
depend on the nature and type of your work activities.
You will have fewer safe work procedures in an office
environment where there are very few high risk tasks
as opposed to cattle production, farming,
construction and manufacturing which are all
high risk environments and encompass high risk activities.
As a recurring theme throughout all of the
webinars and everything that we do here in workplace
health and safety, we do emphasise consult with your
workers or consult with people in the workplace.
Now consultation is part of the legislation and it
is a very important part of developing your safety
management systems.
So involve your workers and people in the workplace who
come on and assist you with your tasks in the processes
of developing the safe work procedures to make sure
that they have the opportunity to provide any
input and any feedback.
So this will keep them engaged in the process and
they will be more inclined to follow the procedures
because they have been involved in developing them.
So in summary safe work procedures are a means of
briefly documenting the risks associated with the
work task and incorporating appropriate controls
into a sequence of steps for doing the task safely.
They ensure your workers are aware of the issues in their
work tasks and outline how to avoid injury or illness
while doing these tasks.
They are most effective when developed in
consultation with your workers and they provide a useful
tool for induction, training and supervising your workers.
They should be reviewed if you have an incident at your
workplace and if there are changes occur
in the workplace as well.
We have also provided a guide to developing safe
work procedures which provides an overview
to this process.
A safe work procedure checklist has been provided
and this will ensure you have completed all
the steps in the process.
So with the safe work procedures and the task
analysis, as we have shown you in our slides,
there are quite a number of different versions of that.
You may have your own or you may like to use the ones
that are provided by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland.
All those tools have been sent out to you via email,
however if you've not been able to download those or
been able to get those before the webinar, we will
be able to send them out to you after the webinar as
well as provide you with links to find these on the website.
So that's all the information that I have for you today.
So what I'll do, I'll hand you back over to Ros so that
we can start to look at any questions that we have.
So we have time for questions.
So if you've got any questions send those through
and we'll have a look at those for you.
Up on the screen now is all the contact information.
So our web address is www.worksafe.qld.gov.au
The Infoline number is 1300 362 128 and we have
a direct email address.
So have any specific questions for your business
or you'd like some particular information
please email us at agriculture@justice.qld.gov.au
and I'll respond to you and try to find out
whatever information it is as quickly as I can.
A reminder to please take a few minutes to complete
the survey that will pop up at the end of the webinar.
We have three eSafes a year for rural
and the next one is due out in September.
So if you'd like to subscribe to the eSafe go
onto our website and look for the link to that.
So thank you very much everyone for attending the
webinar today and I will email everyone with the
attachments in case you weren't able to download them.
Please email me if you have any specific questions,
otherwise we'll talk to you again on the
4th of October and thanks for attending today.