Occupational Health and Safety

Definitions for OHS purposes

  1. Supervisor: any person, academic or non- academic, who gives guidance or instruction regarding the activities of another person at work/study.
  2. Hazard: in relation to a person, means anything that may result in injury to the person; or harm to the health of the person.
  3. Risk: in relation to any injury or harm, the probability of that injury or harm occurring.
  4. Accident: an unplanned event or series of events that cause or could cause injury or sickness to people and/or damage to property. The terms accident and incident are interchangeable and include 'near miss' situations. It does not include journey accidents to and from work.
  5. Work-related injury: any injury, disease or disability that arises directly from or in the course of any ACAS-related activity and that requires first aid or medical treatment.
  6. Travel: When work involves travel outside the regular workplace, an accident will be deemed to be work-related if it occurs between the first and last assigned employment-related tasks of a working day, or on a business trip conducted primarily for work purposes that is approved beforehand.

Responsibilities

  1. This policy applies to all administrative personnel, staff, instructors, students, visiting teaching personnel, volunteers and, where appropriate, to all other visitors. It applies with the same force to all member colleges.
  2. Member colleges are required to have their own insurances, separate from ACAS central office, according the requirements of the ASQA Standard. They should also have all necessary travel and vehicle insurances.
  3. Implementation of OHS policies is the responsibility of the persons in charge of the central office and of each member college.
  4. Employers, whether the Centre or member colleges, are responsible to instruct all employees and volunteers on OHS.
  5. Employees and students are responsible to:
    1. identify and assess hazards and manage them immediately where possible
    2. report in writing to their supervisor on the current form any hazards affecting OHS that cannot be satisfactorily managed immediately
    3. report any OHS incidents in writing to their supervisor on the current form
    4. maintain updated knowledge of relevant health and safety issues
    5. comply with OHS practices
    6. obey all reasonable OHS instructions and safe working procedures
    7. identify and report to their supervisor, any hazards, risks or unsafe
    8. participate in drills, training and instruction as deemed necessary by management, and
    9. participate in evaluation and development of controls and prevention of workplace hazards.

General

  1. Workers Compensation claims should be completed according to the insurer's requirements.
  2. Parents and legal guardians are responsible for the conduct of minors.
  3. All buildings and enclosed areas are smoke-free.
  4. First aid kits will be kept in the care of and maintained by a responsible person.
  5. In the event of an injury occurring, treatment should be sought from one's own doctor, unless treatment is required immediately by an ambulance paramedic or a hospital. Paramedical aid is especially preferable when litigation risks are high for First Aid.
  6. If medical advice is sought (from a registered medical practitioner), an employee must inform the doctor that the injury is work-related and obtain a Workers Compensation Medical Certificate.
  7. The employee must complete any report forms required for insurance purposes within 48 hours of the accident/incident, and make a full contemporaneous written account of the incident. If injured persons are unable to complete the written report requirements, his or her supervisor should do so.
  8. For campus, course or other related accidents/incidents students should check the claims and reporting requirements of respective insurance policies.

Investigation of serious incidents

  1. ACAS or its member colleges may appoint investigations of serious incidents.
  2. The level of investigation and who gets involved will depend on the potential outcome of the sequence of events as judged by ACAS.
  3. All accident investigations must be done with sufficient detail to enable an accurate assessment of the circumstances to ensure action taken is correct.
  4. The investigation team must identify all the contributing factors so that a decision can be made on which conditions and circumstances contributed to the accident. They should not accept an act of a person, unsafe or otherwise, as the sole cause of an accident.

Injury management

  1. The purpose of this policy is to ensure that ACAS can respond to workers' compensation claims quickly and properly, so that injured staff can remain at work or return to work at the earliest appropriate time.
  2. This policy is available to all workers on the website.
  3. The Principal has day-to-day responsibility for injury management:
  4. Injury management steps are as follows:
    1. ACAS will provide the worker with a workers’ compensation claim form when Informed that a worker has a First Medical Certificate for a work related injury or when the worker requests it,
    2. When the injured worker provides a completed workers’ compensation claim form and the First Medical Certificate, ACAS will send the documents to the insurer within three working days in accordance with the Workers’ Compensation and Injury Management Act 1981 (the Act).
    3. ACAS will discuss the workers’ compensation claim with the insurer, to clarify any issues or concerns or request up-to-date information on ACAS’s responsibilities in relation to the claim.
    4. ACAS will maintain close contact with the injured worker to check on progress and make arrangements for the worker to remain at work or return to work as soon as medically appropriate.
    5. If it is required, a return to work program will be established in consultation with the injured worker and according to the Act.
  5. Worker participation roles are as follows:
    1. For a workers’ compensation claim to be processed, an injured worker should give ACAS a completed claim form and all medical certificates from the treating medical practitioner.
    2. Injured workers should maintain close contact with ACAS to provide information on their progress and participate in return to work activities in accordance with the Code. Any issues associated with a claim should be referred to ACAS, who will endeavour to resolve these issues or, where necessary, refer them to the approved insurer.