PEER CONSTRUCTIONS INTRANET

Work health and safety policy

Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) everyone must take reasonable care of their own health and safety. PEER Construction is committed to ensuring everyone who may be affected by the organisation’s activities are safe. We are also committed to ensuring that all employees and others, where we have influence and control will meet their responsibilities.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to:

  • set a standard for PEER Construction in terms of work health and safety and risk management
  • align with the standard set by the PEER Construction Policies and procedures manual and legislative requirements, especially the Equal Opportunity Act 1984, Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA) and the Environment Protection Act 1993.

Scope

This policy applies to all workers to ensure they are aware of their work health and safety responsibilities.

Work health safety legislation

In South Australian workplaces the legal roles and responsibilities of employers and workers are outlined in the:

  • Work Health Safety Act 2012 (SA)
  • Work Health Safety Regulations 2012 (SA)
  • approved Codes of Practice
  • Australian Standards.

PEER Construction recognises our responsibility to comply with all relevant acts and regulations to ensure that the workplace is safe and to minimise risk to health.

Managers, supervisors and workers shall:

  • consider WHS in the workplace design and work methods
  • comply with all relevant WHS legislation, standards and codes of practice
  • take responsibility for protecting themselves, their colleagues and visitors
  • provide adequate resources to meet WHS goals and targets
  • undertake WHS training and support approved by WorkCover SA
  • use safe work methods and practice; identify, assess, monitor and control hazards
  • report and record incidents, accidents, injuries and illness
  • implement and regularly review and update this WHS policy as required.

Contractors, apprentices, and subcontractors who are working on behalf of PEER Construction must comply with the company’s WHS policies, procedures and programs and observe health and safety directions from designated workers.

Failure to comply or observe a direction will be considered a breach of contract and sufficient grounds for termination of the contract.

At PEER Construction we believe in ‘No injuries to anyone at any time’

No process is so important that we cannot find a safe and healthy way of conducting our work.

PEER Construction is committed to the protection of human health, protection of our ecosystem and prevention of pollution.

Our environment, health and safety programs are designed to provide a safe workplace, prevent incidents, minimise environmental impacts and pollution and assure compliance with applicable regulations.

We strive to identify and eliminate negative environmental impacts associated with our activities, services and through the products we supply. This is accomplished through customer service, utilising innovative solutions and best practices, continuous improvement and commitment.

To fulfil this commitment PEER Construction shall:

  • provide workplace policies, standards, procedures, and training to ensure that workers can perform their jobs in a safe, healthy, and environmentally responsible manner
  • conduct WHS assessments of activities on the site and take the necessary actions to control identified risks and hazards
  • provide customers, contractors, and general public with information to ensure that our services and materials provided are recycled or dispose of in a safe and environmentally sound manner
  • promote pollution prevention, including the conservation of energy, water, and raw materials resources, and ensure that all waste is handled and disposed of responsibly through work standards and the installation of innovative solutions such as, water saving devices
  • advise customers and regulating bodies of reported spillage, seepage, or disposal of pollutant substances
  • provide management leadership and require workers to share accountability for continuous improvement in health, safety, and environmental performance
  • review our policies, objectives and targets, addressing all issues promptly
  • comply with all relevant laws, regulations and company procedures related to safety, worker health, environmental quality, and public health.

Roles and responsibilities

The following have specific responsibilities under the WHS Act.

PCBU (employer)

The PCBU (employer) has a legal duty of care to protect the health and safety of people in the workplace. This includes people who work casually, part-time, full-time, permanently, as volunteers or as outworkers, apprentices, trainees and work experience students, plus members of the public while they are in your workplace.

As a PCBU we will ensure so far as reasonably practicable that we:

  • provide and maintain a working environment without risks to health and safety
  • provide and maintain safe systems of work
  • provide safe plant and structures, such as machinery, electrical equipment and buildings
  • safely use, handle and store plant, structures and substances
  • provide information, training, instruction and supervision about hazards, procedures, policies
  • provide safe and healthy facilities for the welfare of workers
  • monitor the health and environment of workers
  • keep records of injury and illness to monitor overall health and safety in the workplace
  • consult with workers on work health and safety issues.
Managers and supervisors

Managers and supervisors represent the PCBU and must ensure they meet legal work health and safety responsibilities.

Keep up to date with work health and safety information and knowledge, understand and manage the hazards of the business, provide adequate resources, maintain records, meet legislative compliance, provide adequate training and supervision.

Workers

Workers must protect their own safety at work by:

  • not adversely affecting the health or safety of any other person through any act or omission at work
  • using any equipment provided for health and safety purposes
  • obeying any reasonable WHS instruction and workplace policy
  • complying with PEER Construction work health and safety procedures
  • identifying risk reduction control measures
  • monitoring compliance with safe work methods (controls)
  • ensuring that all works are conducted in a safe manner and without risk to worker’s health and safety
  • participating in safety meetings (toolbox talks) and safety programs
  • following Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) and Job Safety Analysis (JSA)
  • reporting hazards, injuries or near misses to management immediately and completing a hazard/incident or near miss report.

Specific role responsibilities

The following people have specific roles to meet WHS legislation.

Office manager

Is responsible to:

  • maintain safety records on projects
  • maintain and control work health safety and rehabilitation documents
  • review safety reports and inspections documentation and initiating amendments where necessary
  • monitor compliance with safe work methods (controls)
  • observe all work health and safety requirements and statutory rules and regulations
  • manage and maintain all policies and procedures.
Site supervisor

Is responsible to:

  • implement work health and safety procedures
  • carry out a design review with the principal contractor’s project team to identify risk reduction control measures
  • participate in the planning and design stages of trade activities
  • ensure safe equipment and plant is provided and maintained
  • review safety reports and inspections and rectify where necessary
  • monitor compliance with safe work methods (controls)
  • observe all work health and safety requirements and statutory rules and regulations
  • ensure all works are conducted safely without risk to worker’s health and safety
  • provide advice and assistance on work health and safety to all workers
  • ensure work health and safety and other relevant legislative requirements are met in the workplace
  • identify work health and safety training programs and allowing workers identified as requiring training to attend the training
  • action safety reports and carry out workplace inspections
  • prepare and participate in safety meetings and safety programs
  • prepare Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) and Job Safety Analysis (JSA) and ensuring they are consulted on
  • encourage a high level of safety awareness and ensuring safe work practices
  • investigate hazard reports and ensuring that corrective actions are undertaken
  • conduct project inductions, toolbox talks and daily team briefings.

Specific requirements

Work health and safety legislation requires anyone in the workplace to identify the potential hazards of the proposed work, assess the risks involved and develop controls to eliminate, or minimise, the risk.

Ensure the hazard identification and JSA / SWMS policy is followed at all times.

WHS Self-Checklist

As part of evaluating how we are working within the WHS guidelines, a self-assessment checklist should be completed by staff. This is to monitor and evaluate staffs own performance.

If any staff member identifies any skills gaps and requires more training or assistance send an email to Management for it to be arranged.

Reporting Requirements

Hazards and near misses must be reported to supervisor.

Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (SA)
Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 (SA)
Environment Protection Act 1993
Equal Opportunity Act 1984

All WHS policies, procedures and forms

Version 1.0 – Last updated 17/2/2022