Three essential ingredients of effective plant safety management

Although the details of plant safety management can be confusing at times, the broad principles are very simple.

Basically, ensuring your plant and equipment is safe relies on three things: safe plant, safe operator and safe environment (sites and tasks).

When you nail all three of these, you can rest assured that you have provided your staff with the safest possible workplace, no matter what their role is, or what plant they are operating.

We call this simple, but effective, safety management system the “Plant Safety Management Model”, and it is the foundation of all of our plant safety solutions.

By concentrating on the three elements of this model, any fleet manager, business owner, leading hand, or WHS manager can develop and implement a holistic plant safety management plan that suits their particular worksite.

Thinking about your workplace, consider these important points:

Safe Plant

1. Have you done a hazard assessment for plant and machinery being used on site?

2. Is the equipment inspected daily before use?

3. Do you have proactive maintenance regime?

4. Are there Standard Operating Procedures in place for plant and machinery?

   
   

Safe Operator

1. Has the worker been properly trained to operate this specific plant?

2. Is the worker competent to handle this plant?

3. Is the operator’s general safety knowledge up-to-date?

4. Has the operator been inducted into this site?

Safe Environment

1. Has there been a site inspection and hazard review?

2. Has the specific project been reviewed, focussing on high-risk work?

3. Is there a Work Health and Safety Management plan in place for both the site and the project?

4. Have Safe Work Method Statements been prepared for high-risk work as per Safe Work Australia’s Draft Code of practice?

Once you have determined the answers to the above, you will be in a better position to understand what, if any, work needs to be done to improve or strengthen your current plant safety management process.

Each of these elements will be discussed in more detail in future blog posts, but in the meantime, if you wish to learn more about how to better manage plant safety at your worksite, please contact us.

Disclaimer: This information is intended to provide general information on the subject matter. This is not intended as legal or expert advice for your specific situation. You should seek professional advice before acting or relying on the content of this information.