Académique Documents
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mandatory OHS
training course
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Presentation
The course
Programme
Teacher
Participants
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Practical assignment
The purpose is:
To make a connection between the content of the
course and the tasks of the HS group
To ensure that the education has practical relevance
To implement methods and tools learned on the course
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Legislation
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Introduction - background
Worker protection since 1873 - the Danish Working Environment Authority (WEA) was formed.
The first Act included a number of special rules on work performed by children and young persons in
factories and workshops.
Factory act 1913: Rules on guarding machinery. The Act aimed at prevention of accidents and
diseases as a result of factory work.
In 1954: the legislation was extended to include general workers protection.
In 1975, the working environment rules were consolidated into a single Act.
The Danish Working Environment Act: applies to all work on the ground and, in particular, work
performed for an employer.
Extended safety and health concept which means that all factors causing accidents and sickness
must be prevented
The currentWorking Environment Act was passed in 2010.
Aims
The Act aims at:
- Preventing accidents and diseases at the workplace
- Protecting children and young persons on the labour
market
WEA - guidelines
WEA Guidelines
WEA Guidelinesdescribe how the regulations laid down
in Danish working environment legislation are to be
interpreted.
The Danish Working Environment Authority will take no
further action in situations where an enterprise, for
example, has acted in accordance with the relevant
WEA Guidelines.
WEA guidelines describes best practices
The target group is the companies especially the
Health and Safety-organisation
Background
The safety organisation has been known in DK since 1930
In the working act from 1977 the safety organisation
covers the whole labour market
In the 90s more integration of HR and safety
organisations
Possible to have integration of HR the Safety organisation
In 2010 we had new regulation. Safety organisation
changed to health and safety organisation.
Employee Employee
Supervisor
Supervisor
Employee
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Chairman: Employer
2 supervisors
2 HSR
HSR
Group
Supervis
or
1 supervisor
1 HSR
Group
1
supervisor
1 HSR
Supervis
or
Group
1
supervisor
1 HSR
HSR
Group
1
supervisor
1 HSR
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Supervisor
Supervisor is appointed by the employer
Is part of the management and does not represent the
employees.
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Election of HS-representatives
The HS-representative is elected for two years by the
employees
The health and safety representative enjoys the same
protection against dismissal or any other impairment of
his or her conditions as union representatives within the
same or a similar field.
The health and safety representative must not be
placed in an inferior position due to the activities
related to his or her duties.
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Responsibilities of the
employer/supervisors/e
mployees
Employers responsibilities
The employer must ensure that:
Labour is properly organised
The employees have been given instructions and understand how to
perform the task at hand
The workspace has been designed to match the job in question and any
necessary technical aids are present and well maintained
Any chemicals or materials used are handled with minimal risks and in a
sound way
You have access to and understanding of user manuals
Management are cooperating with employees
Work environment conditions are continually supervised
Regulations with regards to rest periods are upheld
Supervisors responsibilities
A supervisor:
Is obliged to assist in assuring that the working
conditions are entirely responsible in terms of health
and safety.
Is obliged to attempt to prevent hazards which may
occur in the event of errors or shortcomings.
Must immediately notify the employer of any working
environment problems if it is not possible to resolve
them immediately.
Employees responsibilities
Employees:
are responsible of taking care, as far as possible, of their own and
colleagues safety and health in accordance with their employers
training and instructions.
must make correct use of machinery, apparatus, tools, dangerous
substances and transport equipment
must make correct use of the personal protective equipment supplied
must not disconnect, change or remove arbitrarily safety devices
fitted, for example, to machinery, apparatus, tools, plant and
buildings
who become aware of defects or omissions in connection with safety,
are obliged to report these to the HS representative, the supervisor or
the employer.
Employers responsibility in
construction sector
Council Directive 92/57/EEC sets minimum safety and health requirements at temporary or mobile construction
site. It highlights the coordination required by the various parties before and during construction:
clients/project supervisors have to appoint one or more safety and health coordinators
clients/project supervisors have to ensure that a safety and health plan is prepared before the construction
phase starts
clients/project supervisors have to take safety and health into account when designing the project
during the construction phase coordinators have to ensure that risks are adequately managed and that the
health and safety plan is taken into account
cooperation between employers in matters of safety and health has to be implemented and procedures
monitored.
Otherdirectivesare also relevant to the construction sector.
Directives set minimum health and safety standards and are transposed into law in all Member States. National
legislation may require higher standards, so check with your enforcing authority.
Group task
1. How can you work with health and safety in your company?
2. Who can you collaborate with?
3. What are the main problems - and how can you use the HS
groups
and the the HS-committee to solve them?
4. Are there specific HS problems - where you need assistance from
advisors?
5. How will you inform your collegues about your new function as
HSR or supervisor in the HS-organisation?
Labour Inspection
The enforcement of the law
Visits
2013: WEA visits 31,368 enterprises. Number of legal
notices:
29,418. 487 notices on the smoking legislation.
Most reactions: Accidents (9141) and the lack
Of Health and safety Organisation (8677).
There are also reactions in the area of psychological
hazards and lift of heavy burdens.
Three areas
The inspection focuses especially on three areas:
Serious accidents
Heavy lifting, monotonous and repetitive work
Psychosocial working
The sectors and enterprises with the most and greatest problems
among the prioritised areas have the highest priority.
Smileys
Red smileys are given to companies with a multitude of problems who have
also been given an enforcement notification.
Yellow smileys are given when the Labour Inspection has given the
company an enforcement notification with a deadline to solve a work
environment related problem.
Green smileys are given to companies who does not violate the work
environment regulations.
Crown smileys are given to companies with a work environment certificate.
This means that the company has made an extraordinary effort to ensure a
good work environment.
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Risk-based inspection
Since 2005 WEA has screened the working environment of every
Danish companies and therefore has a good picture of how the work
environment looks in different industries and individual firms.
The WEA now focuses on companies where it expects major problems
in the working environment. By 2020 the WEA expects to visit:
All companies that have at least two full-time employees
Approximately half of the companies that have between one and
two full-time employed.
In order to select the companies which have the greatest risk of
working environment problems, the WEA has developed a
prioritization tool called an index model.
Detailed Inspection
Detailed Inspections are carried out to monitor:
a specific and limited health and safety problem at a
company e.g. to check whether the company has
complied with a notice.
where the WEA suspects a serious health problem in the
company
where there has been a serious accident
when the WEA carries out special initiatives in specific
industries or within selected safety problems.
Risk Inspections
Risk Inspections are based on theSevesodirective,
which aims to prevent major accidents where there are
hazardous chemical substances, and to limit their
impact on people and the environment. Risk Inspections
are carried out by the WEA in collaboration with other
authorities.
Sanctions
Prohibition: Serious danger. Work is stopped immediately .
Immediate Injunction: An immediate injunction means that the error must be rectified immediately.
Time-bound Injunctionmeans that the company can continue production, but that it must find a
permanent solution to the problem before a specified deadline.
Investigation injunctionscan be issued to a company when the WEA has a reasonable suspicion that
working conditions are not safe.
A decision on mental healthmeans that the DWEA has found problems with the mental health
environment in a company.
A consultancy injunctionis an injunction given to a company requiring the use of an approved safety
consultant to help solve one or more of its safety problems.
Decision without injunction. If a company remedies a violation after a WEA inspection, but before the
injunction is sent to the company, the WEA cannot issue an injunction. In this situation, the company
will instead receive a decision that the WEA detected a violation during the inspection. The company
will at the same time be informed that no further action is necessary to remedy the violation.
Administrative fines. The WEA can impose administrative fines in cases of a serious material breach
of clear and generally well-known areas of the Working Environment Act.
Police report. A company may be reported to the police if there is a serious breach of the Working
Environment Act or if it does not comply with an injunction issued by the WEA.
On line AT
WEA has an on line service that gives you access to all
information about your company regarding e.g. about
legal notices
Contact WEA
Telephone:
70 12 12 88
E-mail
E-post at@at.dk
Information about rules
www.at.dk
Serious accidents:
70 12 12 88.
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Guided walkabout
The inspector will ask to speak to the worker
occupational health and safety (OHS) representative
at your workplace, and request they accompany
them on a tour of the workplace.
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Group task
How can you get prepared for visits from WEA?
Are there specific areas you have to improve in order to
get a green smiley?
Do you have any areas with a yellow smiley? Or a red
smiley?
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Causes of backpain
Workplace
Assessment
Workplace Assessment
Identification and
mapping
what problems do we
have?
Evaluation
Evaluation of the effect
Description
How serious are the
problems?
What are the causes?
Sickleave
Are there factors in the work
environment that cause
sickleave?
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Mapping
You can use different methods:
Questionnaires
Employee satisfaction survey
Safety meetings (HSO)
Departmental meeting
Inspection rounds
Dialogue
Analysis and statistics related to accidents/near misses/sick leave
The ideal method is a combination - an open dialogue
Risk assessment
Probability
How likely is it that someone could get hurt?
Severity
How severe will the damage be?
How likely?
UNLIKELY
POSSIBLE
LIKELY
Very LIKELY
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Examples
abrasions
bruising
headache
Skin irritations
Irritation of the
eyes or respiratory
tracts
Transient
discomfort (a few
days )
wounds
burns
concussion
Skin diseases
Small injuries
sprains
transient
injuries/injuries
that are not
permanent
Incapacity for
several weeks
Amputations
Major fractures
Poisoning
Serious viral
diseases
Catastrophic injuries
electric shock
work-related
cancer
severe poisoning
fatal injuries
deadly diseases
More injuries
together: Deafness /
blindness Asthma /
respiratory injuries
Serious permanent
injuries
Life-shortening
injuries
Unable to work for
several months
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Unlikely
Possible
Catastrophic
injuries
Insignificant
damage / nuisance
Minor injuries
Major injuries
Insignificant
Insignificant
Moderate
Moderate
Acceptable
Moderate
Serious
Insignificant
Likely
Acceptable
Moderate
Serious
Not acceptable
Very likely
Moderate
Serious
Not acceptable
Not acceptable
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Action
Insignificant
No action is required .
Acceptable
Moderate
No additional precautions.
Improvements may be considered.
Control of working conditions will continue to be maintained.
moderate
There must initiated action to reduce the level of risk .
Once the application to be determined.
If the moderate level of risk associated with life-shortening or
lethal consequences should the probability
that the dangerous situation occurs will be defined more precisely.
Serious
Not acceptable
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Rest
Work shall be organized so that the employee has a rest period of at least 11 hours out of a 24 hour period
Prevention
Have clear procedures and responsibilities for health and safety been set and does everyone know their
own and others responsibilities?
Do you know what you have to do to comply with health and safety legislation? If not, have you
appointed a competent person who can provide advice?
Have you identified the main risks to health and safety and taken action to eliminate or reduce them?
Are your arrangements for the maintenance of work equipment adequate?
Have you provided your workers with any necessary personal protective equipment for risks that
cannot be avoided by other means? Have you trained them in its use?
Have you provided information to the workers on the risks, and trained them in safe working and
emergency procedures?
Do you consult your workers about health and safety issues, including changes to policy, work
procedures, equipment?
Do your workers know how to report unsafe conditions and accidents?
Do you take prompt action to investigate accidents, near misses and reported problems?
Do you regularly inspect the workplace, and check that workers are following safe working procedures?
Do you have a system for reviewing your health and safety policy and working procedures?
Reporting of accidents
The employer has a duty to report a work-related
accident resulting in a day's sick leave or more .
Notification must be made within nine days to The
Working Environment Authority - EASY (electronic
notification system).
A task for HR or the health and safety organisation
Occupational diseases
Anyone can report, but doctors and dentists must
report, actual and suspected occupational diseases
Notification via EASY when the occupational disease is
found .
Near misses
Near misses are incidents that have a potential for harm
but result in no injury, e.g. a contractor's tool falling
from a height and narrowly missing a person.
Research shows that an injury accident is often
preceded by several near misses, which are not
reportable to the WEA.
Health and safety committees, when monitoring
accidents, should take near misses into account.
Factors in accidents
Task
Here the actual work procedure being used at the time of the
accident is explored. Members of the accident investigation team
will look for answers to questions such as:
Was a safe work procedure used?
Had conditions changed to make the normal procedure unsafe?
Were the appropriate tools and materials available?
Were they used?
Were safety devices working properly?
Was lockout used when necessary?
For most of these questions, an important follow-up question is "If
not, why not?"
Material
To seek out possible causes resulting from the equipment and materials used,
investigators might ask:
Was there an equipment failure?
What caused it to fail?
Was the machinery poorly designed?
Were hazardous substances involved?
Were they clearly identified?
Was a less hazardous alternative substance possible and available?
Was the raw material substandard in some way?
Should personal protective equipment (PPE) have been used?
Was the PPE used?
Were users of PPE properly trained?
Environment
The physical environment, and especially sudden changes to that
environment, are factors that need to be identified. The situation
at the time of the accident is what is important, not what the
"usual" conditions were. For example, accident investigators may
want to know:
What were the weather conditions?
Was poor housekeeping a problem?
Was it too hot or too cold?
Was noise a problem?
Was there adequate light?
Were toxic or hazardous gases, dusts, or fumes present?
Personnel
The physical and mental condition of those individuals directly involved
in the event must be explored. The purpose for investigating the
accident isnotto establish blame against someone but the inquiry will
not be complete unless personal factors are considered. Some factors
will remain essentially constant while others may vary from day to day:
Were workers experienced in the work being done?
Had they been adequately trained?
Could they manage to do the work physically?
What was the status of their health?
Were they tired?
Were they under stress (work or personal)?
Management
Management holds the legal responsibility for the safety of the workplace and therefore the
role of supervisors and higher management and the role or presence of management
systems must always be considered in an accident investigation. Failures of management
systems are often found to be direct or indirect factors in accidents. Ask questions such as:
Were safety rules communicated to and understood by all employees?
Were written procedures and orientation available?
Were they being enforced?
Was there adequate supervision?
Were workers trained to do the work?
Had hazards been previously identified?
Had procedures been developed to overcome them?
Were unsafe conditions corrected?
Was regular maintenance of equipment carried out?
Were regular safety inspections carried out?
FACTS collected
Injured workers(s)
The most important immediate tasks--rescue operations, medical treatment of
the injured, and prevention of further injuries--have priority and others must
not interfere with these activities. When these matters are under control, the
investigators can start their work.
Physical Evidence
Eyewitness Accounts
Interviewing
Background Information (Report, minutes from safety meetings, incidents in
the past, near misses)
Investigation report
http://education.qld.gov.au/health/pdfs/healthsafety/inv
estigation-template.pdf
Health promotion
Step 1: Fx Fruit Scheme, participation in DHL relay race , smoking and alcohol
policies .
Step 2: Offer exercise outside of working hours, smoking stop courses.
Step 3: Exercise during working hours , various health policies The effort is
organized in the HS organisation , employees' needs and wants are analyzed ,
and a key person is responsible for the effort.
Step 4 : Includes an organized effort . The company has put time and money for
a project manager or coordinator. The offers are marketed to the employees.
Step 5: The employees' wishes and needs are addressed . The effort is
coordinated . We recruited a project manager or health consultant and allocated
money to external consultants and relevant activities. Health promotion is part
of the company strategy and marketed professionally.
Source: National Board of Health
Contingency plan
In jobs where there is a risk of traumatic events such as
violence, robbery and accidents, a contingency plan must
be prepared.
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Stress symptoms
Stress policy
Identify all workplace stressors and conduct risk
assessments to eliminate stress or control the risks from
stress.
Provide training for all managers and supervisory staff
in good management practices.
Provide confidential counselling for staff affected by
stress caused by either work or external factors.
Adequate resources to enable managers to implement
the companys agreed stress management strategy
Management
Conduct and implement recommendations of risks assessments within their
jurisdiction.
Ensure good communication between management and staff, particularly where
there are organisational and procedural changes.
Ensure staff are fully trained to discharge their duties.
Ensure staff are provided with meaningful developmental opportunities.
Monitor workloads to ensure that people are not overloaded.
Monitor working hours and overtime to ensure that staff are not overworking.
Monitor holidays to ensure that staff are taking their full entitlement.
Attend training as requested in good management practice and health and safety.
Ensure that bullying and harassment is not tolerated within their jurisdiction.
Be vigilant and offer additional support to a member of staff who is experiencing
stress outside work e.g. bereavement or separation.
OHS staf
Provide specialist advice and awareness training on stress.
Train and support managers in implementing stress risk
assessments.
Support individuals who have been off sick with stress and advise
them and their management on a planned return to work.
Refer to workplace counsellors or specialist agencies as required.
Monitor and review the effectiveness of measures to reduce stress.
Inform the employer and the health and safety committee of any
changes and
Developments in the field of stress at work.
HR in stresshandling
Give guidance to managers on stress policy.
Help monitor the effectiveness of measures to address
stress by collating sickness absence statistics.
Advise managers and individuals on training
requirements.
Provide continuing support to managers and individuals
in a changing environment
and encourage referral to occupational workplace
counsellors, where appropriate
Involvement of HSO in
stresshandling
HSO must be consulted on any changes to work practices or work
design that could precipitate stress.
HSO should participate in workplace surveys.
HSO must be involved in the risk assessment process.
HSO should be allowed access to collective and anonymous data
from HR.
HSO should be provided with paid time away from normal duties to
join training relating to workplace stress.
HSO should conduct in joint inspections of the workplace at least
every 3 months to ensure that environmental stressors are
properly controlled.
Workplace bullying
What is workplace bullying?
Bullying is repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed
towards a worker or group of workers that creates a risk
to their health and safety."
Types of bullying
Bullying can be psychological violence and/or physical violence, and can
include:
Persistent and repeatedly aggressive behaviour
Physical abuse
Repeated verbal abuse, including yelling, screaming, personal comments, offensive
language, sarcasm
Vindictive, offensive, cruel or malicious behaviour
Unreasonable removal of status and authority
Repeatedly having impossible deadlines, workload or pressure
Being given meaningless tasks
Persistent nit-picking and unjustified criticism
Constantly being singled out or targeted for practical jokes or gossip
Deliberately being ostracised, isolated or ignored.
Practical
Assignment
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Topic?
Find a topic that your workplace need to work
with. The choice is yours. These are only
examples:
Workplace assessment
Bullying
Stress
HSO
Heavy lifting
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Need help?
If you need help you can mail to:
Karin Hjorth: karinhjorth@gmail.com
Poul Bang Nielsen: info@arbejdsmiljoegruppen.dk
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