When an employee or person is injured in your workplace, you need to know what to do and how to prevent it from occurring again. Start the new year with confidence by making the effort to refresh your knowledge of work health and safety (WHS).
What’s involved with WHS training?
It’s often not a single training, but a series of trainings or inductions. These are designed to get you familiar with the policies and procedures of your work environment. And they’re not just for new employees either – when laws and regulations are updated, changes should be promoted and understood by all employees.
WHS training will vary depending on your workplace, industry, or profession – they can even be tailored for specific roles. They are organised and put together by WHS professionals and can be delivered online or in-person.
Topics for these include but are not limited to:
- Appropriate workplace behaviour workshop
- Contractor management training
- Developing a strong safety culture
- Developing psychologically safe and healthy workplaces
- Ergonomic workstation training
- Incident response and investigation training
- Risk management
- WHS committees
- WHS due diligence
- WHS for managers and supervisors
Why is it (still) important to do?
Work health and safety training is important for three key reasons.
Firstly, protecting the safety of you, your team and all staff while at work – and ensuring everyone knows how and why they should work safely. This prevents injury, illness, and disability to the best of your ability and duty of care.
Secondly, it is not just about physical safety. Being psychologically safe and healthy while at work is essential too – as well as being able to access support when you need it.
Thirdly, the WHS laws and regulations we abide by get amended or significantly updated. As a workplace, your policies and procedures must accommodate these changes and reflect these requirements accordingly. For example, Western Australia experienced a significant number of changes to its work health and safety (WHS) legislation in 2022. These legislative changes which came into effect brought WA’s WHS laws to be more aligned with those in other Australian states.
Ultimately, you can plan and have procedures to follow when a worker becomes injured at work, but having refreshed knowledge will make navigating any future situation much smoother for you and all involved.
Why it is important to refresh
With more than 30 years of helping injured Australians begin their recovery at work and return to life, we have seen the effects that a person’s knowledge can have in the workplace in preventing and causing injury.
It is the sole responsibility of the employer to facilitate a safe working environment, and refreshing your knowledge is one of the best proactive ways to prevent injury.
We’ve put together five reasons why you should refresh your work health and safety knowledge in the new year:
1. Refresh your awareness of risk and risk management – what has changed for your business this year? If you have hired more staff, changed premises, or send your employees out to new external sites, there are knowledge gaps you can fill.
2. Checking the safety of all your workstations – after some time away over the holidays, it’s natural to feel a little rusty. Training can be a great refresher for your team and you to get back into the swing of things safely. To make it more of an interactive experience, you can invite a speaker or WHS consultant to work with your employees in situ.
3. Get the latest info on managing contractors – whether it’s your business managing people, or you have a tradie present on your premises for a short period of time, it’s essential to stay up to date. An online training or webinar can be a great starting point for learning more about any changes in your profession or industry.
4. Review and update your incident response and investigation procedures – what if the unexpected happens? Do you know where to look, what to do or who to contact? We may not know when something will happen, however we can plan and be prepared for a range of situations. You can always reach out to a WHS consultant to assist for reviewing and planning for something specific.
5. Further educate yourself on psychological safety in the workplace – because not all injuries are visible. In recent years, WHS laws have been gradually updated to include psychological and psychosocial safety. When someone has experienced a traumatic event, you want to be sure your workplace is safer for the future, and they can access the support they need when they need it.
Start 2024 safely
Contact Konekt’s team of WHS specialists who can help your workplace make the best possible start in the new year. Talk to our team about WHS training options, policy reviews, psychological safety at work or getting the latest industry, legal and regulatory information.
