Before doing anything we first learn about the Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1993, this act outlines the responsibilities of the employer and the employee. It also ensures that by following these rules you will have a safe and productive workplace with minimal to no risks or hazards. Lets first look at the responsibilities of you as the employer ,or of your employer. The employers responsibility is to provide a work environment that is safe and without risk. Employer is to provide and maintain all equipment that is necessary to do the work as well as train staff on how to use the equipment and properly do their respective jobs. The employer has to protect employees from any hazard they may come into contact with while working, also see all workers are informed and clearly understand the health and safety hazards of the work place, a good way of doing this is to put caution signs up next to the hazards. Then they should provide information and precautionary measures against the hazards, as well as put procedures in place to prevent risk and hazards as well as first aid for when incidents occur. It is only after the employer has made every precaution possible, and hazards that may still occur, will the employee be instructed to wear protective clothing. The act is based on the principle that dangers in the work place must be addressed by communication and cooperation between the worker and employer, this been said let's now look at the responsibilities of the employee.
As an employee it is your responsibility to look for and communicate potential risks or hazards to your employer and fellow workers. To make sure that you are doing your job correctly and are not causing any risks, As well as to report any broken, missing or low quality equipment that enables you to do your job. As in any business this act requires the joint effort of both the employer and employee and, I can not honestly stress enough as to how important communication is in a workplace, so many incidents are caused by bad or miscommunication, it really is the most important thing any business's or individuals should focus on. No system can function properly without communication, the better the communication the better the system. So that's what I learnt on my first day.
