As we approach the year’s end, it’s time to review the topics of our most-read work health and safety articles in 2023. In this article, we provide a summary of each of our top 10 health and safety articles with links back to the original article that includes the links to the original research publications.
1. How to Perform a Risk Assessment
For this article, we provide a step-by-step guide on how to perform an effective risk assessment in your organisation to keep employees physically and psychologically safe. SafeWork Australia requires organisations to assess the risks of transmitting the disease through their workplace.
See our microlearning courses: Performing a Risk Assessment and Performing a Psychosocial Risk Assessment.
2. Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work
For this article, we summarise the Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work to guide what you can do to protect your workers and your business from the impacts of rising mental health risks in our workplaces.
See our substantial suite of courses to help you create and manage a psychosocially safe workplace:
- Psychosocial Safety
- Identifying and Managing Psychosocial Hazards
- Creating a Psychosocially Safe Environment
- People Focussed Leadership
3. Effective Safety Communication Do’s and Don’ts
In this article, we look at the different types of safety communication commonly used across organisations, the barriers to effective communication, and five areas that you can work on to improve your verbal communication skills.
See our courses on Safety Culture, Conducting a Safety Observation and Running a Toolbox Session. Also, see our library of Toolbox Sessions on every topic!
4. Strategies to Manage Workplace Fatigue
For this article, we take a look at a recently revised chapter on workplace fatigue, published as part of The Core Body of Knowledge for Generalist OHS Professionals. This research is particularly useful because it looks at workplace fatigue through a risk management lens to outline the hazards and suggest appropriate controls. We also discuss the fatigue hazards associated with operating heavy mobile equipment, on-call work, the gig economy and flexible working times. Using the strategies suggested in the article, and by taking a holistic physical and psychological perspective, organisations can adapt control measures to manage workplace fatigue.
See our microlearning course on Fatigue Management.
5. Do You Meet Your OHS Obligations?
Managing your OHS obligations is a continual and complicated task. You must provide a safe work environment and manage your employees and visitors. As a foundation, you need to have in place robust safety systems, procedures, job safety analyses, and risk assessments. Using those systems, you need to assess, mitigate and control risks that may impact OHS. Also, you must train your employees in safe work practices and maintain records of ongoing competence.
For this article, we take a look at the responsibilities of employers and what they need to do to meet their OHS obligations.
See our courses, Writing a Job Safety Analysis, and Writing a Safe Work Method Statement.
6. How Do You Write an Engaging Safety Induction?
This article discusses what should go into an engaging safety induction, not only to meet compliance obligations but also to ensure your new employees understand workplace hazards and how to keep themselves and others safe. Also, this is the time that you can demonstrate the importance that your organisation places on safety as your new employees start their journey within your organisation’s safety culture.
TIS specialises in writing custom-built inductions, please reach out if you’d like to discuss how we can help to transform your tired powerpoints into interesting microlearning inductions.
Also, we have some generic courses you can use in your induction and these too can be customised to your needs, General Safety Induction, Fitness For Work, Workplace Bullying, Sexual Harassment, and Visitor’s Induction. And we can attach your policies for acknowledgement and this feeds back into our reporting.
7. How Can You Best Manage Contractor Safety?
In this article, we look at four strategies that you can use to manage contractor safety around critical hazards. Managing critical risks, such as working around operating mobile plant, handling chemicals and working at height, and understanding the effective control measures is a requirement of the Australian WHS legislation, OSHA legislation, UK Health and Safety Legislation, and other governing bodies. The safety hierarchy of controls advocates for the highest level of control to keep your contractors safe. They must understand the hierarchy pyramid and use the highest level of controls as far as is practicable.
See our course, Hierarchy of Controls.
8. Reporting to Adhere to Industrial Manslaughter Laws
The industrial manslaughter laws, together with WHS legislation, task employers and PCBUs to examine the risks associated with conducting business. Many are examining their processes, evidence of safe practice and insurance needs. For this article, we look at what you need to know to protect your business and your employees in light of the industrial manslaughter legislation.
See our courses, WHS Law for Supervisors, and WHS Law For Employees,
9. How to Prepare For a Safety Audit
For this article, we provide the underpinning questions behind any safety audit, what you need to do to prepare, and how to select an unbiased, balanced team. We help you to determine the scope of the safety audit and list a series of questions your team should ask during the safety audit.
See our course, Conducting a Safety Audit.
10. Role of Supervisors in Preventing Fall Injuries
In this article, we look at the problem of preventing fall injuries, the role of the supervisor and the strategies you can use to make working at height safer.
See our refresher courses on height safety, Safe Working At Height and Working at Heights.
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