Page 249 - Registrar Orientation Manual 2016

The Waikato DHB is committed to protecting the health and safety of employees, clients, contractors and the general public at all work sites, and to work in partnership with employees to ensure continuous improvement in health and safety management. The Waikato DHB Health and Safety Committee provides a strategic forum for employee participation on health and safety matters.
The Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 aims to promote the health and safety of everyone at work and of others in and around places of work. To achieve this, it requires people who are responsible for work and those who do the work to take steps to ensure their own health and safety and that of others.
The following information outlines the employer and employee responsibilities and the systems that are in place to implement the Act within the Waikato DHB. Responsibilities
Employers shall take all practicable steps to:
Provide and maintain a safe working environment;
Provide and maintain facilities for the safety and health of employees;
Ensure that machinery and equipment in the place of work is designed, made, set up and maintained to be safe for workers;
Ensure that employees are not exposed to hazards; and
Provide procedures to deal with emergencies that may arise while people are at work, such as accidents, earthquake, fire, flood and so on.
Employees:
Every employee shall take all practicable steps to ensure their own safety while at work. This may include using suitably protective clothing and suitably protective equipment provided; and
That no action or inaction of the employee while at work causes harm to any other person.
This means, for example, that employees must use the safety equipment provided, follow any reasonable instructions, adhere to policy and procedures and exercise a degree of common sense.
Hazard management
Almost all work injuries and illnesses could be prevented if hazards are systematically identified and dealt with. The process set out in the Health and Safety in Employment Act 1992 (HASE) is not complicated. It is described below (also refer to the ‘Hazard Management Policy’ located in the Health and
Safety Policy Manual):
Step One: Identify hazards
A hazard is any activity, situation or substance that can cause harm. This organisation has established systems and policies to enable staff to identify hazards within each service, area, ward or department.
Step Two: Assess hazards to determine their significance
A significant hazard is a hazard that is an actual or potential cause or source of: Serious Harm – that is any injury, disease or death as set out in Schedule 1 of the HASE Act 1992.