PROVIDING A SAFE WORKPLACE

Employers have the primary responsibility for protecting the safety and health of their workers, but employees are also responsible for following the safe work practices of their employers.

The following tips are provided to help reduce the number of workplace injuries that occur each year.
• Use caution when working around power driven equipment.
• Turn off and unplug machinery before cleaning or removing a blockage.
• Use any machine guarding that is provided.
• Be properly trained before using any equipment.
• Ask that machinery be securely fixed to benches or tabletops.
• Do not put your hands into machinery to manipulate food. Use pushers or tamps to move food in machinery.
• Wear proper work clothing, avoid loose clothing or jewellery that could become caught in machinery; such items caught in machinery can pull you into the machine causing injury or death.

Learn to lift properly and stay fit to help reduce the risk of injury from lifting.
• Lift with your knees, not your back.
• Lighten a heavy load that needs to be lifted.
• Don’t lift heavy objects alone – lift with a buddy.
• Always make sure the load is balanced and even when lifting.
• Get help when lifting or pouring fluid out of heavy pots or use tilt containers to help minimise arm and back strain.
 

Workcover’s no nonsense policies to non compliant practices and action taken against employers who break OHS laws.

In carrying out a workplace inspection, the inspector will act on any hazard that is putting employees at risk. If there is an immediate risk, the inspector will place a prohibition notice on the machinery, which means it cannot be used until the risk is reduced or removed. If the risk does not pose immediate risk, but needs to be fixed, the inspector will issue an improvement notice, which instructs the employer to remedy the problem within a certain timeframe.

Ignoring these notices is a serious offence and is likely to result in an employer being charged with OHS breaches. Likewise if an employer is operating unsafe machinery and a worker is injured - or worse – an investigation will be carried out that can be lead to criminal charges being laid against both the company and individuals.

This can result in criminal convictions – but worse is the realisation that a preventable injury or death has occurred. It is something no employer wants to have to live with.

Information supplied by John Merritt, Executive Director, WorkSafe Victoria.

Owners & operators of bakeries need to be aware of their overall responsibility to their employees and that they should not purchase equipment that does not comply to known Australian standards and that supply of equipment from any supplier should incorporate as standard supply of comprehensive operation manuals, risk assessment highlighting any dangers when working with plant & equipment.

Ideally these should be kept at all times within the bakery for staff training and familiarization. More importantly, no employee should be asked to operate machinery without first being trained in all aspects of its use, and of its cleaning procedures. Purchasing equipment that complies as per the standards and then having adequate training procedures in place can both save lives and save owners heavy penalties in the unfortunate event that an accident does eventuate due to circumstances outside your control. If proven in the courts you could have avoided the incident by maintaining equipment correctly, fitting of guards, or through better training of your staff, then it simply becomes an issue of how hefty the fines will be. Be warned that Workcover inspectors are quite active and vigilant at the present time.