2.2.

7 Safety, health and

well-being

Safe and healthy

work environment
Refers to both physical work
environment and its hazards for the
physical safety and health of the
organisation's human resources and
to those aspects of work and
organisation which may adversely
affect people's psychological, as well
as their physical, safety and health.
- National Qualifications Framework

Health and Safety

in Employment Act 1992
O Principal objective to prevent harm to

employees at work
O Aims

O promote excellence in health and safety

management by employers
O impose specific duties on employers
and others to prevent harm to
employees
O provide for making of regulations and
approval of codes of practice relating to
hazards

Health and Safety

in Employment Act 1992
O Covers people in places of work
O Accident
O event that causes, or might have caused harm

to any person

O Harm
O illness, injury, or both
O Hazard
O activity, arrangement, circumstance, event,

occurrence, phenomenon, process, situation,

or substance (arising or caused in or outside a
place of work) that is an actual or potential
cause or source of harm

O Safe
O means a person is not exposed to hazards or

that a place is free from hazards

Duties of employers
O Take all practicable steps to ensure safety of
O
O
O
O
O
O
O

employees at work
Provide and maintain safe working environment
Ensure machinery and equipment is safe
Ensure employees are not exposed to hazards
Develop procedures for dealing with
emergencies
Ensure employees do not cause harm to others
Ensure employees are adequately trained
Ensure employees do not cause harm to others
in workplace

Hazard management
O Employers must have systems for

identifying hazards to employees at work

O Must regularly assess whether or not
each hazard is significant
O Employers must take all practicable
steps
O to eliminate significant hazards
O to isolate significant hazards which cannot be

eliminated
O to minimise likely harm to employees if
hazards cannot be eliminated or isolated

Hazardous Substances
and New Organisms Act
1996
O Aim to protect environment, and

health and safety of people and

communities, by preventing or
managing adverse effects of
hazardous substances and new
organisms
O Hazardous substance is any
material which can harm people or
environment

Accident compensation
O Provides no-fault and

comprehensive coverage for all

workers who suffer accidental injury
O Offers incentives to employers to
improve their safety and accident
prevention performance and records
O gives ACC central role in supporting
development of workplace safety
and rehabilitation programmes

Health and safety

policies
O State organisations commitment to

health and safety

O Define safety responsibilities
O Set out hazard management process
O Outline emergency procedures
O Describe consultation arrangements

Workplace safety
committee
O Highlight safety and health problems in
O
O
O
O
O
O

workplace
Point out corrective action
Help investigate accidents
Conduct periodic safety audits
Raise personal safety consciousness of its
members and other employees
Demonstrate that management is interested
and concerned with safety and health issues
Involve employees in accident prevention
activities

Workplace accidents
An unplanned event which results, or
could have resulted, in harm to
people, damge to property, or loss
to a process.

Accident ratios

Contemporary
safety and health issues
O Workplace design
O Occupational overuse syndrome
O Shiftwork
O Violence in the workplace
O Stress and fatigue
O AIDS
O Alcohol and drugs abuse

Stress
O Topical issue
O Law has long recognised stress as

cause of workplace health problems

O Key contributors
O Environmental factors
O Job and work design factors
O Contract-related factors
O Relationship factors

Recognising stress
O Mood changes
O Cognitive changes
O Behavioural changes

My cope runneth over

- Gordon Rabey

Dealing with stress

O Minimise unpredictability and

ambiguity
O Minimise uncontrollavle events
O Eliminate avoidance learning
O Minimise physical stressors
O Avoid recurring stresses
O Watch for negative effects