Overview
It's not hard to see why the timber industry has developed safety and environmental policies and procedures that are among the most rigorous of any industry in Australia. When you look at the nature of the work carried out and the types of machinery and equipment used, it stands to reason that our industry needs to be applying world's best practices in OHS management and environmental care.
There is more to maintaining a safe and environmentally sustainable workplace than having a good set of policies and procedures on paper. These documents must be translated into action on the ground.
The SH&E system also needs to remain fully compliant with regulators and cope with changing workplace circumstances. The only way to do this is to actively monitor the policies and procedures closely and fine-tune them whenever required.
In this section, we'll look at some of the best techniques to use to monitor SH&E on a day-to-day basis. We'll also discuss the function and operation of an IMS. And we'll provide a self-check questionnaire that will help you to evaluate the effectiveness of your current system.
Completing this section
The assignment for this section will:
- test your knowledge of the legislation, codes of practice and standards that relate to SH&E policies and procedures in your workplace.
- test your understanding of your organisation's system for managing SH&E documentation
- examine the processes you use to monitor the effectiveness of your organisation's policies and procedures.
Have a look at the assignment now to see what you'll need to do to complete it.
Also in the menu bar are links to the following two lessons, which provide background information on topics relevant to the assignment:
- Methods of monitoring.
- SH&E management systems.
There is also a case study, showing how Gus, a safety and training officer, monitors the implementation and effectiveness of a safe operating procedure at his workplace.