Provide Information, Training, Instruction, and Supervision

The NSW Code of Practice: How to Manage Health & Safety Risks, has very useful guidance that you can use to compare with the actions that are taken in your workplace regarding the provision of information, training, instruction, and supervision.

A PCBU (business entity) has to provide information, training, instruction or supervision that is necessary to protect all persons from risks to their health and safety arising from work carried out as part of the conduct of PCBU’s business or undertaking (WHS Act, Section 19(3)(f).

To expand on that, the following is from Page 22 of the Code of Practice:

“Train your workers in the work procedure to ensure that they are able to perform the task safely. Training must cover the nature of the work, the associated risks and the control measures to be implemented.

Training should require workers to demonstrate that they are competent in performing the task according to the procedure. It is insufficient to simply give a worker the procedure and ask them to acknowledge that they understand and are able to perform it. Training, instruction and information must be provided in a form that can be understood by all workers.

Information and instruction may also need to be provided to others who enter the workplace, such as customers or visitors.”

Supervision of staff

Staff must be supervised. This is a primary requirement of a PCBU as per Section 19 of the WHS Act. This does not mean they have to be micro-managed, nor "watched like a hawk." Such supervisory behaviour puts people offside and can create resentment and division. However, new staff, and jobs that have high risks or complexities do require a higher degree of supervision. On this subject, page 23 of the Code says:

“The level of supervision required will depend on the level of risk and the experience of the workers involved. High levels of supervision are necessary where inexperienced workers are expected to follow new procedures or carry out difficult and critical tasks.”

"Managers and supervisors should be provided with the authority and resources to implement and maintain control measures effectively. Accountability should be clearly allocated to ensure procedures are followed and maintained."

Training of staff

Control measures are those actions, protocols, and rules that are implemented after a risk or hazard has been assessed and could not be eliminated. Therefore, personnel need to be aware of those risks and what to do and not do when using tools, machinery, and plant, or working in areas that have control measures in place. Key to ensuring that control measures are effective is training of staff. The Code says:

“Most control measures depend on workers and supervisors having the appropriate competencies to do the job safely. Training must be provided to maintain competencies and to ensure new workers are capable of working safely”.

Note

The quotations used in this article are from the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice – How to Manage Work Health & Safety Risks and are used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 3.0 Australia License. To view a copy of this licence, visit www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/au. You are free to copy, communicate and adapt the work for non-commercial purposes, as long as you attribute the work to SafeWork NSW and abide by the other licence terms.

For more information on WHS training or WHS compliance services, or if you would like help to make your WHS management system even more robust, please feel free to contact us at train@courtenell.com.au or phone us on 02 9552 2066.

7th April 2021