So you missed your train this morning and spilt your coffee down the front of your shirt in the process. Sounds like the beginnings of a bad day. Before you get too frustrated, let's find out what a ‘Really Bad Day’ can mean.

This article outlines some strategies around keeping your employees from having one of those ‘Really Bad Days’.

Understand your obligations as an employer

WHS laws are there for a reason – they don’t just save lives; upholding them can save you from facing hefty fines or even a criminal conviction.

As an employer, you’re obligated to do everything in your power to keep a workplace safe. Protect your employees by regularly executing WorkSafe’s three-step process: Find, Assess, and Fix.

Find

• Do your own inspection of the workplace. Is there anything that has the potential to cause harm? Check past injury reports – can you spot any patterns? Be proactive and discuss the issue of safety with workers, superiors and peers.
• It’s a legal requirement to consult about safety in the workplace. If you find any hazards, note them in a Safety Action Plan.

Assess

• After identifying existing hazards, assess those that need urgent attention, and sort your list from highest to lowest priority.
• Calculate possible outcomes of each hazard and take necessary precautions in case of a crisis. Is there anything you can do to temporarily fix the issue? How can you minimise harm while establishing a more permanent solution?

Fix

• If a problem takes too long to fix, is there anything you can do to control the risk instead? Can you change work processes, provide enhanced training and/or additional safety equipment?

Are you prepared for a WorkSafe inspection?

Typically, inspections are conducted following a report of unsafe conditions or in the event of an incident, such as a serious injury, dangerous emergency, or fatality. However, it doesn’t always take a disturbance for an inspector to come calling; over 40,000 planned workplace inspections are routinely conducted every year.

How safe is your workplace?

To ascertain safety levels, WorkSafe Victoria designed a survey that can help. It’s recommended that you initiate regular check-ins with workers, and to always keep an eye out for potential dangers.

While you may no longer think a missed train or some spilt coffee is a bad day, talk to an expert at GB to ensure you don’t end up with a ‘really bad day’ that could have been avoided.