Code of practice for occupational health and first aid in th

[certainage]

South Australia is currently reviewing the Code of practice for occupational health and first aid in the workplace which is getting to be a bit "long in the tooth".

The general thrust of the review is to make a range of "risk-assessed" decisions at any given workplace. For example, the basic first aid kits have been prescribed in the past, right down to the number of bandaids in the kit. However, the review is suggesting that workplaces have to undertake a number of risk assessments to determine what modules (e.g. eye-injury module, burns module etc) are required in addition to a greatly reduced core module.

I approve the concept of risk-assessments for the most part, but can't help thinking that for large multi-site organisations this will impose a significant extra burden in terms of time and expertise to undertake these risk assessments. Not only that, but the process of ensuring all modules are within expiry dates and that they are fully stocked at all times, could be a bit of an administrative nightmare.

I'd be interested in other people's thoughts about this.

[smilly00]

Hello
Cleanliness
# The cleanliness of the workplace must be up to standard according to the code of practice. A work environment must be sanitized, especially those dealing with hazardous chemicals. The germs and bacteria from a dirty work environment can pose serious health and safety issues for the employees and individuals who visit the workplace. Also, if water, juice or other beverages are spilled on the floor and not cleaned up, an employee or customer can hurt slip on the wet area and seriously injure themselves. Therefore housekeeping is a necessity for the workplace.
Consideration Of Non-English Speaking Employees
# The occupational health and safety code of practice requires that all employees, including immigrants who are non-English speaking, understand the safety requirements and their duties concerning safety. This includes the explanation of what to do in case of a fire or tornado. For safety reasons, a non-English speaking personnel member must be present during training and to provide supervision for the non-English employee.