Safety Matters - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

• A hazard is a situation, item or substance with the potential to harm health
• Hazards in the workplace lead to accidents if not controlled
• The results of accidents are unintended injuries – at the end of the chain of
events
Managers are responsible for creating an environment that encourages personal
responsibility, actively reduces hazards and prevents accidents – employees need
to co-operate in this respect. In this way injuries and disease in the workplace
can be controlled. For every serious outcome, there are many more lesser
incidents resulting in minor injury or in common occupational diseases such as
dermatitis (skin irritation). To create a safe system of work, the following chain
of events must occur:
• Hazard identification
• Risk assessment and control
• Periodic review
• safe system of work
The management of occupational health and safety within a workplace must be
directed not only at serious injuries or cases of ill-health, but also at preventing accidents
rather than reacting to losses after the event. Hazard identification, risk assessment
and control are tools available to investigate and determine underlying causes of
accidents and ill-health.
Why ensure health and safety?
In any workplace, there are three principle motivators which encourage us to
seek health and safety: moral, economic and legal.
1. Moral: The duty towards our colleagues. The adverse consequences of
failing to ensure occupational health and safety include death, injury
or disease. Examples of these moral duty include:
• cleaning up your chemical spills
• maintaining good housekeeping at your work location
• reporting faulty equipment
2. Economic: The consequences of failing to ensure occupational health and
safety may be reflected in costs of damage to people or property,
for treatment or coping with disability.
Safety Matters A Guide for Workplace OHS Representatives
SECTION ONE
RAIL
TRAM AND BUS
5
Workplace Health and Safety
U N
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