Work Health Safety and Wellbeing Policy

1. What is this policy about?
   1. This policy sets out the ACT Education Directorate’s (the Directorate) commitment to ensuring, so far as is reasonably practicable, the provision of a safe working and learning environment for everyone at its workplaces.
   2. The policy sets out the legislative requirements in relation to the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the WHS Act) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011, and provides guidance on the requirement to develop, implement and monitor work health safety and wellbeing policies and programs, which are in alignment with the ACT Public Service Work Health and Safety and Wellbeing Policy principles.
   3. The policy specifies the important role of the Directorate and its workers (including visitors, volunteers, contractors and sub-contractors) in relation to the duty to take reasonable care of their own health and safety and to ensure that their acts do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons.
2. Policy Statement
   1. To support work health safety and wellbeing, the Directorate is committed to:
      1. complying with work health and safety (WHS) legislative responsibilities;
      2. ensuring continuous improvement in workplace health and safety by planning, implementing, monitoring, consulting on, and reviewing, its systems and processes;
      3. establishing and monitoring progress toward measurable objectives and targets aimed at reducing work-related injury and improving safety outcomes;
      4. strengthening data collection, integration, and analysis, to support an evidence-based approach to work health and safety risk management and strategic planning;
      5. providing and maintaining inclusive workplaces that manage risks to physical and psychological health and safety;
      6. providing safe plant, structures, substances, and systems of work, by taking a planned and systematic risk management approach to identifying hazards and assessing risks, with the aim of eliminating those risks where it is reasonably practicable to do so;
      7. where hazards and risks cannot be eliminated, implementing control measures that are monitored and regularly evaluated and reviewed to ensure they remain effective;
      8. maintaining genuine communication and consultation on work health and safety matters with workers, health and safety representatives, unions, and other relevant persons, including other Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking, where there is a shared duty;
      9. consulting, cooperating, and coordinating, with other parties who manage or control workplaces (not under the Directorate’s control or management) to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, that there are safe systems in place to provide a safe and healthy workplace for Directorate workers in those workplaces
      10. specifying responsibilities and accountabilities for health and safety, and empowering leaders and all workers to play an active role in maintaining healthy and safe workplaces;
      11. making available relevant supervision, training, instruction, information, and safe systems of work, to support workers and other persons to perform their duties and undertake their learning safely and effectively;
      12. providing adequate human and financial resources to effectively manage health, safety, and wellbeing systems and processes, to comply with the Directorate’s work health and safety, and wellbeing, obligations;
      13. developing, implementing, and evaluating, strategies to support and promote positive mental health and safe wellbeing in the workplace;
      14. maintaining effective processes for reporting and resolving health and safety issues
      15. embedding and promoting a culture of shared responsiveness, willingness, and ownership, relating to reporting, and addressing health, safety and wellbeing risks;
      16. using internal and external expertise to improve workplace safety and injury management where relevant;
      17. providing and applying a robust injury management framework to support a strong culture of early intervention and rehabilitation in the event of a work-related injury; and
      18. managing workers’ compensation claims promptly, fairly, and equitably, in accordance with the self-insurer licence requirements set out in the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cth).
3. Who does this policy apply to?
   1. This policy applies to all workers of the Directorate including contractors and sub contractors, as well as students, visitors, volunteers, and others, in any Directorate workplace (including all ACT public schools), and instances when undertaking activities or performing work offsite.
4. Context
   1. The Directorate has a duty of care, under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (the WHS Act) and Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (the WHS Regulation), to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all workers, students, visitors, and other persons in its workplaces.
   2. This policy reinforces the Directorate’s duty of care under the ACT’s work health and safety legislative framework and outlines the requirements on all persons in Directorate workplaces to comply with their individual responsibilities.
   3. This policy is aligned to the ACT Public Sector Work Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy which contains set of instructions under the Public Sector Management Act 1994 which binds all employees and officers engaged under it.
5. Responsibilities
   1. ensuring, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of all workers, students, visitors, and other persons, in Education Directorate workplaces.

   Executive Governance Committee Work Health and Safety Subcommittee

   The Executive Governance Committee Work Health and Safety Subcommittee is responsible for:

   2. supporting the Executive Governance Committee in discharging its collective responsibility and due diligence to oversee the Directorate’s compliance with work health and safety legislation;
   3. providing governance and oversight of the Directorate’s Work Health and Safety Consultative Committee,
   4. acquiring and maintaining up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters that affect the Directorate’s workers collectively or matters that are unable to be resolved at the work health and safety consultative committee level;
   5. monitoring implementation of the Work Health and Safety program and provide an escalation point for any issues as they arise;
   6. monitoring work health and safety performance and compliance to ensure the Directorate has effective work health and safety management systems and processes in place;
   7. regularly reviewing and assessing strategic work health and safety risks, including identification and management of emerging risks;
   8. commissioning and reviewing regular work health and safety reports from relevant business areas; and
   9. considering and/or endorsing proposed actions to mitigate or respond to identified risks, noting that, where there are financial implications, proposed/recommended actions are progressed to the Executive Governance Committee Finance Subcommittee for consideration.
   10. overseeing monthly reporting to the Executive Governance Committee on work health and safety;
   11. making recommendations to the Executive Governance Committee with regards to the implementation of work health and safety initiatives;
   12. maintaining oversight of the WHS governance and assurance models (including information flows, decision-making protocols and communications); and
   13. promoting cultural change process across ACT public schools to be more proactive in managing work health and safety.

   Work Health and Safety Consultative Committee

   The Work Health and Safety Consultative Committee is responsible for:

   14. providing a forum for Directorate stakeholders to manage work health and safety matters which are relevant across the Directorate’s workforce;
   15. providing advice to the Directorate’s Executive regarding injury prevention and management performance and compliance;
   16. facilitating collaboration between the Corporate Executive and the Directorate’s workers to instigate, develop and carry out measures designed to ensure workers’ health and safety at work;
   17. providing advice on the ongoing development and implementation of the Directorate’s WHS policies, procedures and resources;
   18. considering health safety and wellbeing performance, specific injury prevention, and injury management advice and initiatives;
   19. providing advice on high level strategic initiatives to address injury data trends including the Directorate’s safety priorities; and
   20. reviewing statistical data and identify the Directorate’s risk profile trends through reported hazards, incidents / accidents, injuries or diseases.

   School Principals and School Executive Staff

   School principals and executive staff may be considered Officers under the WHS Act and should:

   21. meet their due diligence obligations insofar as they may be considered Officers under the WHS Act, demonstrating a commitment to the principles of an integrated work health, safety and wellbeing approach.
   22. take reasonable steps to acquire and maintain current knowledge of work health and safety matters relevant to their workplace and an understanding of the workplace operations and associated hazards and risks;
   23. ensure that appropriate health and safety systems and resources are in place to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety, so far as it reasonably practicable;
   24. ensure that processes are in place to receive, monitor, consider, and respond in a timely manner, to information regarding incidents, hazards and risks; and
   25. ensure that legislation and compliance requirements are implemented.

   Education Support Office

   The Education Support Office (ESO) is responsible for:

   26. the provision of policy, procedures and resources within the Work Health and Safety Management System that build and maintain an understanding of legislative obligations, codes and regulations supported by training and induction;
   27. monitor the implementation of safety processes by actively monitoring, reviewing, and evaluating, the Work Health and Safety Management System and performance;
   28. the provision of a work health and safety reporting system to collect and report on WHS incident data captured to inform prevention risk management, legislative reporting, investigation and monitoring of the Directorate’s safety performance;
   29. monitoring compliance and safety performance through assurance and audit programs to validate compliance and identify and inform system improvements;
   30. consult with build and maintain relationships with regulators, key stakeholder groups and other relevant government and non-government organisations to drive engagement and support of the Directorate Work Health and Safety Management Plan;
   31. identify opportunities for Directorate wide programs and activities which improve safety, and/or reduce workload and administrative duties where possible.

   Health and Safety Representatives

   Health and Safety Representatives are responsible for:

   32. representing the workers in the work group that they have been elected for in relation the work health and safety matters;
   33. where they deem appropriate, exercising their powers under the WHS Act;
   34. Supporting effective consultation and community in relation to work health and safety matters and championing improved safety outcomes; and
   35. monitoring workplace conditions to help assess and manage risk.

   Workers

   Workers have a responsibility to:

   36. follow approved procedures to prevent or minimise health and safety risks, and promote improved health and safety in the workplace;
   37. familiarise themselves, and act in accordance, with relevant ACT Government-wide and Directorate workplace policies, procedures, and guidelines, relating to work health and safety;
   38. seek to contribute to, and participate in, workplace health and safety initiatives;
   39. support the Directorate to manage health and safety risks and responses by reporting incidents and near misses using Riskman and the School Administration System;
   40. ensure that they take reasonable care of their own health and safety, and avoid, as far as reasonably practicable, adversely affecting the health and safety of any other person in the workplace through any act or omission; and
   41. take reasonable care of their own health and safety and to ensure that their acts do not adversely affect the health and safety of other persons.

   Volunteers, visitors, and students

   Volunteers, visitors, and students have a responsibility to:

   42. take reasonable care of their own health and safety and avoid, as far as reasonably practicable, adversely affecting the health and safety of any other person through any act or omission; and
   43. follow any reasonable direction or instruction provided by Directorate workers about health and safety in the workplace.

   Policy Owner

   44. The Work Health and Safety team and their reporting line Executive Branch Manager is responsible for this policy.
6. Monitoring and Review
   1. The policy owner monitors the policy. This includes an annual scan of operation and review. A full review of the policy will be conducted within a five-year period.
7. Contact
   1. For support contact Work Health and Safety team on 02 6207 0614 or email whs.edu@act.gov.au.
8. Feedback
   1. Any feedback about this policy should be raised with the policy owner via the above contact information above.
9. References
   1. Definitions
      • Directorate workplaces: includes all venues used by Directorate’s workers in the course of their normal duties, including ACT public schools and venues where ACT public school activities take place, office buildings and storage units.
      • Executive: is a term that includes Senior Executive staff (as defined in the Public Sector Management Act 1994), managers, and supervisors, who are concerned with, or take part in, the Directorate’s management.
      • Others: include clients, volunteers, visitors and workers under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 that are not contracted to perform work directly for the Directorate.
      • Reasonably practicable: as defined by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, section 18, in relation to a duty to ensure health and safety, means that which is, or was at a particular time, reasonably able to be done in relation to ensuring health and safety, considering all relevant matters including:
        • the likelihood of the hazard or the risk concerned occurring
        • the degree of harm that might result from the hazard or the risk
        • what the person concerned knows, or ought reasonably to know, about the hazard or the risk
        • ways of eliminating or minimising the risk
        • the availability and suitability of ways to eliminate or minimise the risk, and after assessing the extent of the risk and the available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, the cost associated with available ways of eliminating or minimising the risk, including whether the cost is grossly disproportionate to the risk.
      • Worker: as defined by the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, includes Directorate’s employees, contractors and sub-contractors, employees of contractors or subcontractors, an employee of a labour hire company assigned to work in a Directorate workplace, an outworker, an apprentice or trainee, a student gaining work experience, and also a volunteer or a person of a prescribed class.
   2. Legislation
      • Disability Discrimination Act 1992
      • Human Rights Act 2004
      • Human Rights Commission Act 2005
      • Information Privacy Act 2014
      • Public Sector Management Act 1994
      • Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988 (Cwth)
      • Work Health and Safety Act 2011 Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011
   3. Related Policies and Information
      • ACT Education Directorate Work Health and Safety Management Plan (Internal access only)
      • Work Health and Safety Induction and Training Policy
      • Work Health and Safety Induction and Training Procedure (410kb)
      • Safe and Supportive Schools Policy
      • ACT Public Sector Work Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy
      • ACT Government Guide to Promoting Health and Wellbeing in the Workplace
      • ACTPS Reporting of Work Health and Safety Incidents Policy

is the unique identifier of this document. It is the responsibility of the user to verify that this is the current and complete version of the document, available on the Directorate’s website at http://www.education.act.gov.au/publications_and_policies/school_and_corporate_policies/A-Z/.