Hearing Awareness Week

How is your hearing?

This week is Hearing Awareness Week so naturally I am talking about hearing in terms of an occupational hazard.  Specifically work related hearing loss.  Of all the senses hearing is one of if not the most important so taking care of it is essential. Because once you damage it, unfortunately their isn't a lot of coming back.

If I was to ask you what causes work related hearing loss, most of you would say noise or the boss.  Certainly noise (sound and pressure) is the main cause but there are also causes that carry a lesser risk but a risk all the same. And they are vibration, ototoxic substances and for people working on phones, acoustic shock. Alone they may not do a lot of damage but a combination of any and it’s a recipe for hearing damage.

In this blog we have a quick look at each type of hazard and what your obligations under the OHS framework is.  

Noise

When we talk about ‘noise’ in the workplace, what we are really referring to in terms of OHS is exposure to ‘excessive’ levels of noise. Now every husband out there would already know that the Oxford Dictionary defines noise as any sound, especially if harsh or confused.

So what is excessive noise?

For noise to be excessive there must be a standard that is acceptable. And there is. For Australia it is set out in each of the jurisdictions Regulations. For example, Part 4.1 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 states:

Regulation 56        Meaning of exposure standard for noise

(1) In this regulation:

exposure standard for noise, in relation to a person, means—

(a) LAeq,8h of 85 dB(A); or

(b) LC,peak of 140 dB(C).

Wow Neil that’s great but what does that exactly mean?

Without getting to technical its basically saying that over the equivalent of an eight hour shift an accepted level of noise is 85 decibels measured as dB(A) and that it should never go above a peak of 140 decibels measured as dB(C).

Now the tricky thing about noise is that if you were to measure 88 dB(A), it’s not just an increase of three decibels, it’s actually doubled the exposure level. Put simply for every increase of 3 decibels, the standard time for exposure is halved (under Australian legislation).

So 85 dB(A) is okay for eight hours exposure but 88 dB(A) is only good for four hours exposure and 91 dB(A) for two hours and so on. It also works in reverse so 82 dB(A) is acceptable for 16 hours etc. Hence the eight hour equivalent.

But because it is a bit of a science (just a little…) what you need to remember is:

• 85 dB(A) is the level of acceptable exposure at work,
• this is averaged out over a work day or week so shifts longer or shorter than 8 hours is going to change that acceptable level,
• an increase in decibels is not linear (i.e., an increase of 3 decibels halves the exposure time), and
• exposure takes into account time spent away from noise levels above 85 decibels.

To give you a brief understanding of different levels of sound, normal conversations are around 50-60 decibels while 70 decibels is a noisy office environment and music festivals are usually over 100.

The Code of Practice – Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work contains a table that demonstrates the equivalent noise exposures for each equivalent shift and is a useful guideline if you work in a noisy environment.

Vibration

It is said that exposure to prolonged hand-arm vibration (which is a hazardous manual task) can also lead to hearing loss. So when considering noise levels within your workplace, it is also important to look at what plant and equipment exposes workers to vibration.

What is the risk of hearing loss being caused by this plant?

Ototoxic Substances

This is just a fancy name for chemicals that affect the ear which include solvents, heavy metals, asphyxiants and even some medication.  So things like paints, fuels, printing material and fumes from burnt tyres along with occupations in the construction and manufacturing industry are going to expose workers to potential hearing loss as a result of these ototoxic substances.

It might make you think twice the next time you’re at the burnout masters at Summernats breathing in all those fumes.  Sure you’ve protected you and your kids ears wearing hearing protection, but it’s not just the noise you need to be protecting yourself from to prevent hearing loss. 

Acoustic Shock

This only applies to workers who work on telephones and may experience a sudden increase in sound levels or unexpected loud noises.

Your legislative responsibilities

Noise

Well it’s pretty easy to guess right? Ensure workers are not exposed to noise in excess of the exposure standard through the application of risk management i.e., eliminate the hazard and minimise the risk. 

Now if the hazard can’t be eliminated you may be required to provide personal protective equipment to protect the worker from work related hearing loss. But given noise is pressure of airways and has a little bit science behind it, you can’t just go buying any type of hearing protection and hope it will do the job. Just like dust masks provide protection for specific dust, so to hearing protection provides protection for a specific type of noise. And then there is the whole passive vs active forms of protection.

But something I find a lot of organisations don’t realise is that if they require workers to frequently wear PPE because of excessive noise, then they are legally required to provide audiometric testing for those workers within three months of the worker commencing the work and at least every 2 years (not applicable to WA jurisdiction).

And finally if you design, manufacture, import or supply plant (equipment, machinery etc), you have some specific obligations regarding the noise of said plant.  These include things like the plant must be as quiet as is reasonably practicable and all the information must be available and supplied to anyone who uses the plant.

This is information is available in the relevant OHS Regulation for your jurisdiction.

Vibration

If the plant or equipment can not be replaced, what type of dampening or absorption can be introduced to reduce the level of vibration.

Ototoxic Substance

So if workers are exposed to chemicals in a noisy environment, whether it’s the fumes, vapours or direct contact, audiometric testing even if they don’t frequently wear hearing protection should be provided to monitor the health of the workers (which is a requirement under section 19 of the WHS Act).

Resources

Australian/New Zealand Standard 1269:2005 Occupational Noise Management (suite)

Code of Practice – Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work.

Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Part 4.1)

(Victorian) Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007 (Part 3.2)

(West Australian) Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 (Division 4)

If you require any assistance or have questions related to managing noise in your workplace please contact us today.

Neil Norman

The Safety Guru 

SS2

Safety Sessions

Episode Two - OHS Framework

First up I’m only talking about health and safety in this session, NOT workers compensation. That is, the steps you must take to prevent an injury and not the steps you must take to manage an injury, both of which are legislated.

Also a point of clarification. I will be using the phrase occupational health and safety or OHS in these Safety Sessions.  This is simply because OHS or OSH is still the universal term and what most people know health and safety to be.  Just because the name of the legislation might have changed for most from OHS to WHS doesn't mean your vocabulary has to.

Now as mentioned in my first Safety Session, I will break down the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 into various sections so you can understand its requirements and ensure you and your business are compliant. But having spoken to some clients since the first Session, I realised some of you don’t fully understand the difference between what is legislated (i.e., mandatory) and what is recommended by guidance material (i.e., voluntary).

So before I get into the WHS Act, I just want to provide an overview of the framework that makes up Occupational Health and Safety.

Essentially the framework consists of the legislation, codes of practice and relevant standards.  I use a ladder to express how this may appear as it’s a good way to see where things sit. And we tend to climb a ladder so it makes sense to find the important documents at the top.

OHS Framework Ladder

The Legislation

So atop our ladder sits the legislation. The Acts and Regulations.  These are written instruments that have been passed by Government and sets out the minimum legal requirements you must achieve.  Generally each jurisdiction (State and Territory) has their own specific Act and Regulation that they follow.

A Regulation expands on what is spoken about in the Act and provides more detailed information related to the specific parts of the Act. They tend to go hand in hand and complement each other although it is the Act that is regularly referred to when talking about legislation.

Since 2012, the majority of Australian jurisdictions mirrored the national harmonised Work Health and Safety Bill. This means those jurisdictions basically follow the same legislation which is enforced by the relevant state regulator.

Business and individuals in Victoria are still bound by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004, while our Western Australian brothers and sisters follow the Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984. For those living outside Australia, you are basically looking for the written instrument that dictates what is required by you as an employer and employee to protect people. Otherwise known as the law, but not Judge Dredd.

If you need help finding your relevant OHS legislation, the International Labour Organization provides a database on national Occupational Health and Safety legislation at http://www.ilo.org/dyn/legosh/en/f?p=LEGPOL:1000.

Examples of the legislation listed include the:

•     Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970 (USA)
•     Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (UK)
•     Occupational Health and Safety Act 1993 (South Africa)
•     Health and Safety and Employment Act 1992 (NZ)
•     Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 (Malaysia)

Guidance Material

To help everyone achieve the requirements set out in the legislation, guidance material has been developed and is available through a number of sources (regulators, peak bodies, commissioners etc).

Thinking back to our ladder, at the bottom are Industry Standards and Guidance Notes.  A good starting point to help you achieve your legislative obligations. Check out the Queensland Government's website regarding coal mining for how these types of standards and guidance notes work.

https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industry/mining/safety-health/mining-safety-health/legislation-standards-guidelines/recognised-standards-guidelines-guidance-notes.

One step above the industry standards are the more widely recognised Australian and New Zealand Standards and to some degree International Standards. These types of standards are a technical guideline and are prepared by a joint technical committee and approved by the Council of Australian Standards (and Council of New Zealand Standards when applicable).

You often see a reference to an Australian Standard being met when purchasing equipment and machinery etc. That is because Australian Standards apply to almost everything as they are the technical authority when it comes to a minimum acceptable standard, whether in design, construction, installation or certification.

The downside to Australian Standards is that they are managed by SAI Global (www.saiglobal.com).  While that in itself isn’t such a bad thing, it does mean you have to purchase individual copies of Standards or subscribe to their database.  Personally I find it a bit strange that you can access the legislation and Code of Practice for free, yet to even view a Standard that may be referenced in a code means spending a few hundred dollars. It’s like we want safety to be a key part of business but then we place a restriction on it.

The last step of guidance material belongs to the codes of practice.  A Code of Practice is a practical guide that demonstrate the steps you can take to achieve the requirements set out in the Act and Regulation. Codes of practice are approved in a similar way to the legislation as they receive a Ministerial Council approval. So we are talking high level approval here.

And of all the guidance material, codes of practice are the ones you don’t want to neglect.  

That is because these guys are quasi-legislation in that they are admissible in a court of law when it’s an approved Code of Practice.  This is important to understand as they can and will be used against you as evidence that a hazard or risk was foreseeable and may be used to determine what is reasonably practicable in terms of controls etc. So it’s good to know what approved Code of Practice applies to you in your jurisdiction, so check with your regulator (Safe Work Australia provide a link to each regulator http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA).

When used correctly, the voluntary guidance material can help you meet the obligations you have under the legislation. And the beauty of the guidance material is that it’s the part where you can start to borrow from other jurisdictions, industries and even countries.

This is because the guidance material tries to achieve what is considered ‘best practice’ and it doesn’t need to go through an entire parliamentary procedure to update or change it to stay on trend and relevant.

But it’s also the area where a lot of businesses go wrong.

This is due to the emphasis being placed on meeting the levels set out in the guidance material which are voluntary at the detriment of the legislation which is mandatory. Now you could argue that if the guidance material sets a higher standard than the legislation you can’t go wrong, but you will if you focus on one Australian Standard or approved Code of Practice to the point where you miss the other obligations you have (as those documents don’t cover all risks).

And I have seen it happen, particularly with AS/NZS 4801:2001 Occupational health and safety management systems­– Specification with guidance for use. Certification under this Standard can provide a false sense of compliance under the legislation. Especially when it comes to the duty of an Officer under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. I’ll talk more in the next session on the various duty holders under the WHS Act and what it might mean for you, but it can be easy to place unnecessary time and effort (which is money) in meeting something that you don’t have a legislative requirement too. Just something to be mindful of.

So to demonstrate how all the steps in the ladder come together, I’ll use First Aid as an example.

Work Health and Safety Act 2011

Under this Act, an organisation has an obligation to provide adequate facilities for the welfare at work and training that is necessary to protect all persons from risks arising from the work of the organisation.

Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011

Regulation 42 stipulates that anyone conducting a business must ensure the provision of and access to first aid equipment and that there is a trained person to administer first aid services.

Code of Practice – First Aid in the Workplace

The Code of Practice shows the steps that you can take to meet your obligation and references the specific sections of the Act or Regulation that apply to first aid.  In particular it helps you to:

• Understand what is required in providing first aid,
• Determine first aid requirements for the workplace, and 
• Understand what first aid equipment, training and facilities may be applicable.

It also references other codes of practice that could apply and any Standards that may be applicable. In this case it talks about first aid signage so makes reference to AS 1319 – Safety Signs for the Occupational Environment and mentions eye wash and shower equipment so references AS 4775 – Emergency eye wash and shower equipment.

In addition, it contains a number of appendices that include an example of a first aid risk assessment and possible contents for a first aid kit.

Australian Standards

AS 1319 – Safety Signs for the Occupational Environment

This Australian Standard relates to the design of safety signs (as the name suggests) and sets out that technical guidelines for the design of safety signs.  It states an emergency sign should be a green rectangle a white symbol or text and border that indicates the location or direction of its subject (exit or first aid kit etc). 

Hopefully this example helps to illustrate how each step in the ladder works together to achieve the requirements as set out in the WHS Act and/or WHS Regulation but that you can also see meeting one step in the ladder doesn't necessarily mean compliance with the Act.

Next time we will start our journey into how the WHS Act and WHS Regulation applies to you and your business by discussing the different types of duty holders under the legislation.

I hope you can join me then and in the mean time be sure to like our Facebook page and keep sending through your questions.

Neil Norman

Doesn’t every business deserve a Safety Guru!

Five steps to being safe at work

Five easy steps to meet your obligations under occupational health and safety legislation

1. Understand your business or undertaking

First and foremost, if you operate or work in a business you should know and understand what the business does.  If you are in production, you need to know the processes and materials involved in making your items. Likewise, if you offer a service (retail, customer services etc), you should be aware of what is involved in the day to day running of the business.

Section 19 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 requires:

A person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of— 

(a) workers engaged, or caused to be engaged, by the person; and 

(b) workers whose activities in carrying out work are influenced or directed by the person,

while the workers are at work in the business or undertaking.

The section also goes on to afford the same level of protection to any person who’s health and safety may be affected by the business or undertaking.  

By gaining an understanding of the way the business operates, you will start to become aware of the hazards, risks and information related to materials purchased by the business that have an impact on health and safety.

2. Communication

Once you have established what your business does and the potential for how it could cause harm to people, you need to communicate that information.  This can be done in a number of ways but should never be done only one way (eg., staff notice board, email, payslip information, intranet sites, notification to neighbouring businesses).

If you are looking to change or implement a new process, piece of equipment or are designing something for the workplace that may have an impact on health and safety, Section 47 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 requires you to consult with all workers who will be affected by the change.  It also pays to consult with relevant stakeholders such as subject matter experts, engineers and any relevant third party (such as unions etc).

The earlier this is done, the less likely the risk of health and safety implications once the change has been made which can be a costly fix.

3. Reporting and its impact on the health and safety culture

Something that is often debated between OHS professionals is how to change the health and safety culture of a workplace.  Many believe you need to have a full occupational health and safety management system in place before the culture can change (usually these are the ones who are offering the service of building you one for a nice fee). I believe to start the process of change you need to have one thing in place; a good reporting system (which is only one small component of an OHS management system).

Encourage staff to report all incidents/accidents AND near misses (the incidents that don’t result in an injury), in a positive way.  Accidents are not an indication of failure or incompetence; it is only a failure if the business does not act on the information gained as a result of the accident and subsequent investigation. By investigating accidents you can implement strategies to reduce the likelihood of a re-occurrence.   Reporting certain incidents is also a requirement of Section 35 of the Work Health and Safety Act 2011. Failure to notify your relevant authority could result in a fine of up to $50,000.

A simple form for recording the details of the incident that can be provided to management for review and necessary action could save your business a $50,000 fine.

4. Record management

Now that you have a way of being notified of incidents at work, you need to be able to record them.

Just as record management is paramount to keeping the tax man happy each year, it is no different for health and safety.  If the safety authority for your state or territory was to visit your workplace and asked you a series of questions about how you meet your obligations under health and safety legislation, what evidence do you have to back up your claims. And I can guarantee you they will ask for your records.

Keeping up to date records of training, licence requirements, incidents in the workplace and all other health and safety related matters only helps you in the long run.

5. Training

Once you really understand your business, have received feedback from your workers on how they can be better prepared to do the job safely and understand where the main risks to the business are through reporting, training can be offered to help everyone.

Training can range from the simple general health and safety awareness training through to the more task specific training and accreditation such as Manual Tasking, Vehicle use and dangerous goods handling.

But remember training is not the answer to everything.  If you offer training as a control measure without doing anything else you will fail to manage your health and safety risks.

So there are five quick and easy tips to help you start to manage your health and safety obligations. If you require assistance or have a question we are always happy to help. We have a saying at the Safety Guru Pty Ltd:

"The cost of a phone call could save you your business."

Neil Norman

Director

The Safety Guru Pty Ltd

SS1

Safety Sessions 

Episode One - An Introduction

G’Day, my name is Neil Norman and I am the Director of the Safety Guru Proprietary Limited – a health and safety consultancy here to help you by making OHS easier.

This blog combined with my YouTube channel is the first in what I hope to be many of my Safety Sessions over the coming months, maybe years or even millennia? Okay, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here but I know businesses are struggling to understand their legal obligation under health and safety legislation and there isn’t a great deal out there in the way of free material to help them.

The idea for these sessions came about through my own personal experiences and from talking to my clients.  Often I find that the businesses I deal with have something in place to protect their workers but they just are doing quite enough to be compliant with all the requirements set out in the various legislation. And it could be that one thing that costs them the business if an accident was to occur. So I saw a need to provide information about occupational health and safety based on legislation that anyone could access to make sure they were on the right path. 

I did a search on the internet to see what information is available and while there is plenty of information to digest, I lost interest in half the videos and presentations after a few minutes. And most still had 30 minutes to go!

So I created the Safety Sessions.

Each Safety Session will be a combination of a short video for YouTube that will show you how easy it is to incorporate health and safety into everyday business and this blog which will provide an in depth look at the topic with further information, references and examples that you can actually use and implement in your workplace, but in a way that you can read and review in your own time.

The combination of the two will make meeting your legal OHS obligations easy and save you time and money all the while making your business safer and in the process more successful. And as I mentioned the best thing is it can be done at a time that suits you!

As mentioned in the video, I want to start by breaking the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 down into various sections so you can understand its requirements and ensure you and your business is compliant. Although this Act doesn’t apply to businesses or organisations in Victoria or Western Australia (yet), the principles are similar enough to apply across the board. I will cover how this works in future sessions but also if there is a major difference I will note it along the way.  This goes for anyone based outside Australia too. We have some of the best safety laws in the world so if you want to be the best in your industry why not apply best practice and take on board what is covered in each session.

I also want these sessions to become a bit of a network for all those businesses who can’t readily access a health and safety expert. I’m thinking farmers, business in regional and remote Australia. Heck you could even be in downtown Sydney but just can’t afford the crazy prices some consultants charge (I like to think we’re not like them!).

So if you have a problem that needs resolving why not put it to me and I will try to answer it for you. Think of it like having your own OHS consultant on retention for when you need them. 

It doesn’t matter if you call it Occupational Health and Safety, Work Health and Safety or Occupational Safety and Health, its all the same thing at the end of the day. Laws and requirements that have been developed to protect the most important investment in any business – the people.

Over the coming weeks I will be putting up a whole heap of free resources on my website (www.thesafetyguru.com.au) so be sure to like our Facebook page so you know when the next Safety Sessions airs and send through any questions you may have.

Until next time, stay safe and play nice with the other kids.

Neil Norman
Director
The Safety Guru Pty Ltd