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Workplace health and safety for digital printing
Does anyone know of any resources for advice on workplace health and safety for digital printing, i am currently putting together a training plan for new/existing for my workplace and im kind of running out of ideas……
Any ideas or anyone wanting to share their plans would be fantastic??
Thanks in advance
Pauly
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22 Replies
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Pauly, my wife is a WPH&S officer for a company with 300+ employees. I can ask her if you like. What did you need to know exactly?
Cheers
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Hey Shane!
I have a small number of staff and as part of my emplyment agreement i have to ensure a safe workpace, including training of equipment etc.
Im not really sure what i want, to be perfectly honest, common sense is always going to prevail, but i think this kind of thing is designed to keep staff safe, but also to put some responsibility back onto safe for unsafe practices.
Im just trying to put a workbook together that i can get existing/new staff to sign to say they understand the safety precautions we need to take in my department and that they will adhere to them.
Maybe even if there is some kind of template available to get me started?
Its a bit vague i know, but im struggling for ideas…….
Thanks
Pauly
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Pauly,
Depending on what kind of digital printing you are doing, I would imagine you have some sort of air filteration system to vent out the chemical smells. Another thing we invested in was an eye wash sink. When you are routing edges of substrates there are all kinds of things that to get in your eyes not to mention we also do solvent printing so if you get a solvent ink or solvent cleaning agent in your eye you will need immediate help and the closest help we would be able to get is flushing out the employees eyes immediately.
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Its a can of worms Pauly.
Safety Fluro jackets if working around vehicles, eye wash, as George says, if your dealing with any chemicals, disposable gloves when using inks and chemicals, safety glasses when handling machinery, vistors and staff sign in book so you know where anyone is incase of emergency.
Thats just off the top of my head mate.
I’ll ask the wife if she can point me toward any resources though. I know standards australia has the reccommendations but they charge like wounded bulls for the access to read them.
Bit of a con in my book. The government tells us that we have to conform, then charge us for doing the research. Just another tax.
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quote Pauly:common sense is always going to prevail,
My wife found this very amusing :lol1: She said the first thing you must realise is that common sense never prevails :lol1:
The duy of care you have to cover is very extensive. There is no templates at all. The legislation states that the obligation is on the Employer to know their legal obligations. The State and Federal Governments enforce the act, but they are not obligated to outline the act, or help you understand the act. (if it were not so serious, it would be laughable)
A business under 30 staff does not require a designated WPH&S person, but it is required to adhere to the legal requirement of the act.
As best my wife understands, a big sign shop would come under the manufacturing guidlines as well as Office workers guidlines.
She suggest you look on the internet for Qld WorkPlace Health and Safety under the Code of Practice which may be a good place to start.
Also check out http://www.detir.qld.gov.au/ which may be a help. She warns you though that it is not an easy task.
My cousin is a WPH&S consultant in Sydney. He says that one of the keys to the legislation is documentation.
Everything must be documented and signed. The second key to the legislation is the training. My wife and Cousin say you must not assume anything, and warns that allowing commonsense to cover some area of training should not be considered. You must explain and document even the silliest requirement. For instance, you should no assume that someone will wear steel caps when walking in the factory. Even the office girls should wear steel caps if they venture into that factory, even if they only want to ask a question. The act is that strict.
And finally, my cousin warns that if you do have an injury, and even if your employees have gone by ‘the book’, doing everything that has been required of them, you’ll still be fined by WPH&S as a breach of the act, because someone sustained an injury.
The courts will argue that the WPH&S act is the absolute minimum requirement of an employer. You must show the court that you have gone beyond the requirements. But you’ll still be fined, as the requirements are open ended. Literally, you can never do enough in the eyes of WPH&S.
Literally, you can take your chances (most small businesses do) and rely on your workmates taking safety seriously, or you can go to the extreme, and employ people like this http://www.sick.com.au/au/productsandservices/en.html to make your machines and workplace very safe. Depends how thick your cheque book is really 🙄
Hope that helps Pauly
Cheers
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No worries,, thanks for all your help Shane! thats helped a lot.
so what your telling is really is that im damned if i dont and damned slightly less if i do? hahahahaha
Seriously thought, thanks a lot for you time. It looks like i have a lot of homework to do 🙂
Pauly
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quote Pauly:No worries,, thanks for all your help Shane! thats helped a lot.
so what your telling is really is that im damned if i dont and damned slightly less if i do? hahahahaha
Seriously thought, thanks a lot for you time. It looks like i have a lot of homework to do 🙂
Pauly
Talking to the wife this morning mate, she can put you in touch with a WPH&S consultant in Brisbane that can come out and point you in the right direction. She found this guy saved her a lot of heart ache and time, just getting some pointers in the right direction. Let me know if you would like the details. The wife is at a seminar today, but I can get the details to you tomorrow if you want them.
My cousin tells me that under the WPH&S act, they work on a scale of 1 to 10. 1 = no safety precautions at all and 10 = the safest scenario being that you do not turn on any machines and you sit in a padded room protected from everything :lol1: Your job is to find a safe balance… Good Luck :lol1:
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Thanks very much shane, i will have a chat to my boss and see what he wants to do.
Pauly
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I think the lesson to be learned here is that if you are going to employ anyone in your business, make sure you trade as a limited company and not a sole trader to protect yourself from the fallout if someone under your employ should ever get seriously injured.
I know of one succesful business that was forced to close close down and start up again as a new limited company because one of their employees had been injured and was taking the company to court for breaching H&S regulations. A sole trader could end up bankrupt if the court rules in favour of the employee. A limited company simply has to go into voluntary liquidation to avoid the consequences of being sued 🙄
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Doesnt sound too ethical if a complacent boss decided to do the dirty if someone was hurt as a result of his complacency, but i guess it works two ways….
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quote Phill:I think the lesson to be learned here is that if you are going to employ anyone in your business, make sure you trade as a limited company and not a sole trader to protect yourself from the fallout if someone under your employ should ever get seriously injured.I know of one succesful business that was forced to close close down and start up again as a new limited company because one of their employees had been injured and was taking the company to court for breaching H&S regulations. A sole trader could end up bankrupt if the court rules in favour of the employee. A limited company simply has to go into voluntary liquidation to avoid the consequences of being sued 🙄
Phill. I thought that was what liability insurance was for?
The directors of a company cannot just liquidate to avoid being sued, and it would not be advisable to wind a company up just because they were being taken to court. Lots off employees take the employers to court on a regular basis, and Im sure any director would at least await the judgement before liquidating?Peter
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I’d rather be "unethical" but able to feed my family than "screwed" by some greedy employee who chances his arm 🙄
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quote Peter Normington:Phill. I thought that was what liability insurance was for?
The directors of a company cannot just liquidate to avoid being sued, and it would not be advisable to wind a company up just because they were being taken to court. Lots off employees take the employers to court on a regular basis, and Im sure any director would at least await the judgement before liquidating?Peter
Problem is Peter – If you’ve forgotten to Dot the "I"’s or cross the "T"’s the insurance company are liable to wriggle out of their responsibilty for providing cover.
I’m not advocating being irresponsible – I’m simply suggesting ways to cover yourself from the compensation culture that now exists
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Whatever Phil
so why bother to pay for insurance at all if you are so cynical? like I have said before insurance is only worth the money when a claim is made.
but if you have to fold a company rather than face the consequences, that company or more to the point, its directors must know they are guilty of the misdemeanor, and haven’t got the insurance cover to meet the claim. directors can still be sued though, even after "volutary" liquidation, for being negligent at the time. and their personal assets taken into account.Peter
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I hope I haven’t put across the wrong impression here.
I’m a sole trader and each year pay out a fortune for public liability insurance (my policy also covers me for employees even though I currently don’t have any).
However, after ten years of experience in business for myself I have come to the conclusion that if I was to employ anyone else again I would set up as a limited liability company simply to protect myself from unforseen circumstances – most accountants that you speak to nowadays would offer this same advice.
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quote Phill:I hope I haven’t put across the wrong impression here.
I’m a sole trader and each year pay out a fortune for public liability insurance (my policy also covers me for employees even though I currently don’t have any).
However, after ten years of experience in business for myself I have come to the conclusion that if I was to employ anyone else again I would set up as a limited liability company simply to protect myself from unforseen circumstances – most accountants that you speak to nowadays would offer this same advice.
Accountants will always say that anyway, (company accounts can be more expensive) a lawyer is the best person to advise on the subject of liability, and how it would affect you in varying circumstances.
If you can afford good council, you can get away with (corporate) murderPeter
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quote Peter Normington:If you can afford good council, you can get away with (corporate) murder
Peter
Don’t get me started on councils… my local council only ever empties my rubbish bin once a fortnight – every other week they insist on uplifting garden rubbish or cardboard and empty beer cans – what’s that all about (the B@stards) 🙄
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😀 😀
Don’t forget to waste gallons of water washing out your beer cans, before recycling😀
Peter
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I’m with Phill on this one.
I try to make our workplace as safe as possible, but that won’t protect me from an employee doing something stupid. Yes, we have insurance, lots of it, and hopefully we would be covered, but I want a fail-safe in case they wriggle out of paying any claims.
I try to stand up to my obligations but there is no way that I am prepared to place a bet, using everything I have spent the last forty years working for as a stake, on an employee not doing something stupid, making a spurious claim, or on a tribunal or court making a wrong decision. And that’s exactly what it is – a bet – a lottery.
If I can’t protect the fruits of a lifetimes hard work then I don’t want to play the game. I’d sooner sack the lot of them and scratch a living on my own. And who would benefit from that?
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quote Phill:I hope I haven’t put across the wrong impression here.
I’m a sole trader and each year pay out a fortune for public liability insurance (my policy also covers me for employees even though I currently don’t have any).
However, after ten years of experience in business for myself I have come to the conclusion that if I was to employ anyone else again I would set up as a limited liability company simply to protect myself from unforseen circumstances – most accountants that you speak to nowadays would offer this same advice.
Thats exactly what I did Phill. I was a sole trader until a year or so ago when my accountants and solicitor advised me I was open to being sued by staff or public. I could have been bankrupted.
I have all the insurance in the world, but insurance companies can deny a claim, or sue you after they pay out a claim, if they can see an avenue to recoup their loss.
I had a situation several years ago where an employee was fiddling the books of one of my wholesalers. He was using 5 client accounts to hide his actions. Mine was one of those accounts.
When the company realised that they had lost $250,000 they started doing some florensic accounting and disovered the scam. Their insurance company chased all 5 companied, chasing me for some $30,000 that had been laudered thru my account without my knowledge.
I could prove that some of the fake invoices were dated after I had ceased trading with them, and by my payment receipts. They were also insured for the loss. But, the distributors insurance would not pay out until the distributor could prove they could not recover the debt. That meant either I liquidate the business, or they bankrupt me. Fortunately they stopped when I liquidated.
I could have fought it in court, but had to come up with $15,000 to brief a QC. Hardly worth it for a debt I never owed in the first place. I couldn’t afford to fight it so I closed down. Once I did that, the distributors insurance paid out on the claim. As far as I know, all 5 businesses closed, and reopened under new names, and Limited Companies like I am now.
The staff member stole the money to pay gambling debts. It was the second time he had been caught by two different distributors.
One thing I did find out though, is that in court, a receipt is not actually proof of payment. Go figure!
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quote John Childs:I’m with Phill on this one.
I try to make our workplace as safe as possible, but that won’t protect me from an employee doing something stupid. Yes, we have insurance, lots of it, and hopefully we would be covered, but I want a fail-safe in case they wriggle out of paying any claims.
I try to stand up to my obligations but there is no way that I am prepared to place a bet, using everything I have spent the last forty years working for as a stake, on an employee not doing something stupid, making a spurious claim, or on a tribunal or court making a wrong decision. And that’s exactly what it is – a bet – a lottery.
If I can’t protect the fruits of a lifetimes hard work then I don’t want to play the game. I’d sooner sack the lot of them and scratch a living on my own. And who would benefit from that?
Phil/John,
yes I am with you both, You are both honourable men. and dont doubt for 1 minute you would not live upto your responsibilities. Just saying that being a limited company does not always let you of the hook if you are negligent.Peter
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You’re right Peter, and I realise that a limited company is not a cast iron guarantee, but it does stack the odds a lot more in our favour, and that’s what brings most of the risks down to an acceptable level.
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