About Us
1. Do you know and understand and follow your OHS duties set out in the OHS Act and regulations?
2. Have you implemented an effective OHS program to identify, assess and control hazards (following the hierarchy of controls: first, elimination of the hazard; second, use of engineering controls; third, use of administrative controls; and fourth, use of PPE)?
3. Are you informed on the potential sources of hazards and appropriate hazard controls from?
• The OHS Act and regulations?
• The experience of others (e.g. from industry standards and best practice)?
• Your own internal OHS program (e.g. from inspections, reports, investigations and employee concerns)?
• Any previous incidents in your organization?
4. Are your workers encouraged to bring forward their concerns and are those concerns treated seriously?
5. Do you develop appropriate systems of work within your OHS management system (such as OHS objectives, policies, standards, safety processes and procedures, etc.) that contribute to or are essential to safety?
6. Do you provide OHS information to workers including hazards, hazard controls, safety policies, rules, procedures and any applicable regulations?
7. Do you provide direction and instruction to employees on their work tasks?
Regarding your equipment, do you:
• Use the correct equipment for the job?
• Train operators and supervisors in the safe use of the equipment?
• Ensure that equipment is properly installed?
• Ensure that equipment that is not safe is not used?
Have equipment available that enables the work to be carried out safely?
• Abide by manufacturer’s specifications?
• Consider safety in obtaining new equipment?
Regarding equipment inspections and maintenance:
• Is your equipment inspected at suitable, regular intervals?
• Once identified, are equipment deficiencies, defects and unsafe conditions promptly repaired or otherwise remedied?
• Is frequency of inspections based on experience, manufacturer’s specifications, regulatory requirements and a hazard assessment?
• Are maintenance personnel competent to maintain equipment adequately?
• Is maintenance work planned and conducted in a safe fashion (e.g. equipment that is being serviced is locked out and safety devices are not bypassed)?
• Are preventive maintenance and regular servicing of equipment performed as appropriate and required?
• Do the maintenance systems include pre-use equipment checks, walk-around, identification of critical parts and items and maintenance procedures?
• Are workers empowered to refuse to use equipment that is not in good working order?
Regarding PPE and other protective devices:
• Is PPE and protective clothing appropriate to the hazard and in good repair?
• Are workers trained in the proper and safe use, care, fit-testing and maintenance of all PPE?
• Are protective devices in place and functional?
• Are protective devices secure and appropriate for the risk?
• Are guards and other safety devices adequately maintained?
Regarding training, do you:
• Provide the required orientation and training for your young or new workers?
• Use appropriate testing to verify that your training is effective?
• Provide ongoing training as needed for all employees- whether front-line or management?
12. Have you ensured that corrective and preventive actions have been taken as a result of incident investigations?
13. Do you take reasonable steps to ensure that your OHS program is working, committing appropriate resources toward OHS, requiring OHS accountability, and providing monitoring and correction through: • Formal, planned observations with respect to specific tasks?
• General observation of work going on by a supervisor or manager in the field?
• Formal reports, such as near-miss and incident reports?
• Informal reports, such as verbal reports?
• Workplace inspections?
14. Have you documented and kept records on all the work you do to ensure workplace health and safety
