Case Study (I) - OH&S and Risk Management - Factor...

Factory Worker

The Challenge

The workplace did not have up to date OH & S procedures. There were no recognised duties that could be confirmed as suitable for workers who sustained an injury and needed rehabilitation back into the workplace and their pre injury status. No task analysis had been undertaken of the full duties tasks at the workplace or the suitable duties. This task analysis is used as a reference for the range of tasks available to be used as suitable duties and produces a standard or guide to when the injured worker can attempt and then return to pre injury status and finalise the recovery process.

The Process

We attended the workplace and observed both the normal duties and those duties suitable for the return of injured workers. The individual tasks were analysed and two documents were produced. The first being a list of suitable duties which indicated availability and suitability for various levels of the workforce, the second list, a task analysis which clearly identifies to any treating medical professionals the physical requirements of the tasks involved in performing their pre-injury work tasks.

A Safety Pack (Subby Pack) was developed by us for our client. The pack met all the current WorkCover requirements and those normally asked for by principal contractors.

The Result

The Safety Pack enabled our client to obtain a number of lucrative contracts, expand their operation and improve their business.

The client had OH & S procedures in place and a return to work program that met the legislative requirements. Workers previously unable to be rehabilitated were quickly returned to their normal duties or otherwise moved on to more appropriate employment without undue delay and the costs associated with that.

Unfortunately a number of workplace injuries did occur, however the employer was not given any improvement notices or otherwise accused of failing to maintain a safe workplace as he had done everything reasonable to ensure that the safety standards took a high priority and were followed.

What the client say's

I have picked up a number of great contracts, I have had to outsource or subby out some of the work, it's been challenging but great. We didn't think we would get the workers sorted out so quickly. I feel better about not being exposed by having attended to safe systems and processes.

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