Origin HSE

🌟 Cultivating positive behaviours in the workplace 🌟

Improving your workplace starts with encouraging positive behaviours. Here are some steps to take:

1️⃣ Communicate differently
2️⃣ Make it a team effort
3️⃣ Drive change
4️⃣ Champion success

🌟 What makes a workplace positive? 🌟

A positive workplace is built upon committed, motivated, and efficient employees. Here are some examples of positive workplace behaviours:

👥 Championing company values
🤝 Cooperating and collaborating with others
💡 Welcoming new ideas
🙏 Being respectful of colleagues
⚖️ Promoting a healthy work/life balance

🌈 Key contributors to workplace happiness 🌈

Positivity in the workplace influences employee inspiration, work ethic, personal satisfaction, and willingness to improve. Various factors shape the work environment:

🏢 The physical environment
👥 HR processes
🏢 Company culture

🌟 Foster positive workplace behaviours for a thriving work environment! 🌟

Creating a workplace with positive behaviours brings numerous benefits like increased efficiency and improved employee morale. Employers dream of having employees with positive behaviours as it simplifies employee management.

Recent studies highlight the impact of negative behaviours and disengaged employees on organizational performance and customer satisfaction. This has sparked a renewed focus on the value of positive workplace behaviours.

So, what exactly are positive workplace behaviours?

Positive behaviours go beyond appropriateness in the workplace. While following rules and regulations is important, positive behaviours contribute to a healthier and happier work environment, empowering others to work more effectively.

Embracing positive behaviours in your workplace can lead to remarkable transformations. It fosters genuine connections among employees, sparking breakthroughs in ideas, innovation, and exceptional performance.

Let's cultivate an environment where positive behaviours flourish, enabling our teams to thrive and achieve greatness together!

🚧 Scaffold Accident and Fall Prevention Tips! 🚧

Scaffolding accidents can have devastating consequences, but with proper safety measures in place, we can prevent them. Here are seven essential tips to follow.

By following these precautions, we can prevent accidents, reduce downtime, and improve construction project efficiency.

🛠️ Managing Risks in Scaffolding Work 🧪

Managing risks associated with scaffolds and scaffolding work is crucial to ensure a safe working environment.

Common risks with scaffolds and scaffolding work include falls from height, scaffold collapse, working near power lines, and falling objects. For further information, see the General guide for scaffolds and scaffolding work.

Remember to inspect and maintain your scaffolds regularly. The Guide to scaffolding inspection and Maintenance provides valuable information on how to do this properly.

If your scaffolding work involves a risk of falling more than 2 meters, it is considered high-risk construction work. Make sure to prepare a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for such projects.

🚧 Scaffolds and Scaffolding: Ensuring Safety at Heights! 🚧

Construction work commonly includes scaffolds, providing a safe, stable work platform when working at heights. Scaffolding is the individual components that, when assembled, form a scaffold—for example, tubes, couplers, and frames.

Scaffolding work means erecting, altering, or dismantling a temporary structure that supports a platform. The Guide to Scaffolds and Scaffolding has information on the types of scaffolds and their uses.

📍Licences

Scaffolding work involving a platform with a fall over 4 metres requires a high-risk work licence. There are 3 classes of scaffolding licence: basic, intermediate, and advanced. Contact your WHS regulator for more information on training and licences for scaffolding work.

📍WHS duties

Everyone in the workplace has WHS duties under the model WHS Act. You have specific duties if you are: a person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU), a principal contractor, a designer, manufacturer, importer, supplier, installer of plant, substances or structures, or an officer. The model WHS Regulations have duties that apply to scaffolding work, including managing the risks of scaffolds, construction and falls from height.

As a PCBU, you must, so far as is reasonably practicable: ensure the health and safety of workers and others at your workplace, consult with workers who carry out work for the business or undertaking and who are (or are likely to be) directly affected by a health and safety matter, and consult, cooperate and coordinate activities with all other relevant duty holders.

To remove impurities in oil refining, solvent extraction and dewaxing are crucial. While solvent extraction is generally safe, leaks or spills can lead to fires. Dewaxing, which separates wax from feedstock, helps maintain product quality. Implementing process safety management and proper handling procedures is essential to minimise risks in these processes.

Oil refining involves distillation, where crude oil is separated into fractions based on boiling points. However, the distillation process carries safety concerns. Leaks can cause fires, and corrosion from chemicals like HCl and H2S poses risks. Process safety management should control temperature, pressure, and reflux to prevent thermal cracking and ensure adequate relief systems.

Did you know that between 2016 and 2020, 386 fatal injuries occurred in the oil and gas industry? Process Safety Management (PSM) is the key to reducing such incidents. PSM emphasizes managing hazards associated with chemicals and integrating technologies and practices to enhance safety.

In oil and gas processes, such as petroleum refining, chemical releases can pose significant risks. For example, during crude oil pretreatment (desalting), the removal of contaminants is crucial. However, it can lead to equipment fouling, increased pressures, fires, and the release of harmful components. Following safe work practices and using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is essential to protect workers.

🔊 Managing Noise at Work: Prioritising Worker Safety! 👷‍♀️👷‍♂️

Identifying unsafe noise and managing it is a work health and safety duty for a PCBU. If you have identified unsafe noise at your workplace, you must do everything you can to reduce the risk of workers being exposed.

A noise assessment can be simple if your workplace has one source of noise above 85 decibels. If your workplace has variable noise levels, you may need a competent person to conduct the assessment.

Managing noise risks includes changing equipment, using barriers, limiting exposure time, and providing personal protective equipment like earmuffs or earplugs. Proper maintenance of equipment and tools can result in lower noise levels.

Industries most at risk of noise-related injuries are manufacturing and construction. Workers in technical roles, trades, machinery operation, driving, and labouring are particularly vulnerable. Exposure to ototoxic substances can also result in hearing loss.

For information and advice about hazards and risks, contact your local regulator, industry association, union, or health and safety consultant, like us!

🔇 Minimising Noise Pollution Exposure on Mine Sites: Protecting Our Workers! ⛏️

Creating a safe work environment means reducing noise exposure on mine sites. Employers must take proactive measures by using engineering controls, administrative changes, and personal protective equipment (PPE).

Let's prioritise safety by addressing noise at its source, implementing effective controls, and equipping workers with proper PPE. Together, we can create a workplace that values employee well-being.

🔊 Noise pollution on mine sites: a serious concern! ⛏️

Implications of noise pollution on mine sites are significant. Studies show 70-90% of miners develop hearing loss by age 60. Working with heavy machinery and high volume levels daily can cause permanent damage. 1 in 4 mineworkers already has hearing issues. Noise levels in mines exceed safe thresholds, affecting 80% of miners. Prolonged exposure leads to aggression, anxiety, depression, and behavioural problems in children. Let's prioritise miners' health and safety. Raise awareness for a healthier mining industry! 💪