OHS Management

The Seven Pillars of Safety

Worksafe Victoria have launched The Seven Pillars of Safety Framework for creating a safer workplace for small-medium sized businesses.

Custodian Safety Services strive to ensure that all of our OHS management systems are based on and intertwined with the Worksafe “Seven Pillars of Safety” that are less complex and more suited to small-medium sized businesses than the AS/NZS 4801 /or SafetyMAP.

A summary of The Seven Pillars of Safety can be found below;

  1. Senior management roles and accountability – Clear top down responsibility and Key Performance Indicators for OHS/Return to Work, supplemented with suitably qualified, professional advice.
  2. Strategic Planning – A commitment to health and safety (and assisting workers to return to the workplace after injury) are part of the organisation’s business plan.
  3. Recording & Reporting – Health and Safety and Workcover claims/premiums performance data is recorded and reported at director level.
  4. Training and Supervision – Managers and Supervisors understand their OH&S role and responsibilities and potential impacts of poor performance.
  5. Consultation – Regular, inclusive discussion with relevant staff on health and safety and return to work improvement.
  6. Hazard Management – Hazards are identified and risks controlled in a systematic way using the hierarchy of control.
  7. Injury Management – All relevant staff proactively involved and coordinated by a suitably appropriately senior and competent Return to Work Coordinator.

The frame work is not a blueprint for guaranteed safety, but it is a great foundation for ensuring ongoing, systematic and effective management of workplace health and safety.