CERTIFICATE IV IN FRONTLINE MANAGEMENT OHS Issues and How to Properly Address It

Each organisation will have its own procedures, processes and systems in place to ensure they are consulting with staff members on issues that relate directly to their safety and well being, and to ensure they are meeting the required legislative expectations to do so. With this being said, Intellitrain understands how important it is to discuss such OHS issues. This is the one of their many lectures being offered in Certificate IV Frontline Management.

Management need to make sure they collaborate with team members to resolve any grievances or issues that staff members are unhappy with in the workplace that relate to OHS and safety.

If a change is made to any of the processes or procedures, these changes need to be communicated accordingly so team members can understand and be aware of these changes.

Health and safety risks are not just those obvious risks that can create physical harm. There are a number of additional risks that can also be considered health risks such as bullying in the workplace, working shifts and long hours, harassment, discrimination and other forms of emotional risks.

Management can be held liable for any of the above issues taking place if they do not take reasonable steps to prevent the above from happening. There have been a number of cases over the years where employers have been held liable to negligence.

They have known of bullying or harassment taking place in a working environment but have not intervened and done something to stop the situation from repeating or reoccurring.

The processes to assist in the resolution of these matters should be clearly identified, well documented, constantly improved and communicated to all relevant staff members appropriately.

Therefore, accurate and succinct OHS Plans and OHS Programs will have very clear guidelines and procedures that relate to how they are going to be implemented, what grievance procedures there are in place and how they are going to be followed through.

It is important to monitor how OHS issues are being tracked and evaluated. This can be done in a number of ways to keep everyone informed.

Some ways in which to do this include;

Regular face to face meetings Telephone meetings Emails and other written

communication Newsletters Internal company memos Posters in kitchen areas, common

rooms etc

One of the most popular ways of doing this is to hold regular meetings with relevant staff and between OHS Committee members to facilitate the implementation of new processes and procedures.

Meetings can be formal or informal, structured or unstructured.

Formal Meetings

Formal meetings can be highly structured and will usually have legal or regulatory issues that need to be addressed. They are usually held on pre-determined dates and will have a few representatives in attendance. They often require formal documentation to be accompanied with the meeting, someone may need to take notes and there is usually a purpose to the meeting.

Informal Meetings

Informal meetings are less structured and can be ad hoc, last minute or just a casual talk between OHS Committee members and team members. They are usually held to come up with ideas, brainstorm, catch-up, promote discussion or share information.

Regardless of the type of meeting that is held, there will often be a legal requirement for notes to be kept on the discussions held at the meeting, in terms of what was discussed and what was resolved as a result of the meeting for legislative reasons.

The arrangements that need to be made to hold a meeting are relatively simple.

Coordinating the arrangements involves;

Planning the meeting – determine what needs to happen. Why is the meeting being held? What are the objectives of the meeting?

Determine the tasks involved – who will be responsible for the tasks that need to be undertaken for the meeting to take place?

Organise to inform the attendees of the meeting - Advise them of the schedule and determine the resources needed for the meeting.

Monitor the meeting and the learning arrangements that need to take place.

Effective and efficient meetings are usually meetings that;

Have a clear and accurate agenda Have been planned in advance Allow everyone to get involved and

participate Provide clear responsibility for follow up

actions Stay on track Have clear objectives

An agenda forms the basis or blueprint for the meeting and is effectively the plan for the meeting. A team member should be responsible for sending out an agenda to all required attendees.

During the meeting, someone should take notes and ensure the meeting stays on track (this is usually the Chairperson).

The responsibility to distribute all notes taken after the meeting to all attendees and to those that could not attend should also be allocated during the meeting. These are known as ‘minutes’.

Minutes should be taken accurately and recorded according to organisational procedures. They should be filed in a safe place with access available to staff that are allowed access.

They should be distributed as soon as possible after the meeting so that attendees can check and agree that the minutes are a true and accurate reflection of the meeting.

A sample meeting agenda template can be found on the next page.

Meeting Planner Template

Intellitrain offers courses in Certificate IV Frontline Management

for Coordinators, Leading Hand, Supervisors and Team

Leaders.