In Short
- The transport industry has specific Work Health and Safety (WHS) obligations to manage risks effectively.
- Employers must ensure compliance with WHS laws to protect workers and avoid penalties.
- Regular risk assessments and updated safety practices are essential to maintaining a safe working environment.
Tips for Businesses
Conduct regular risk assessments to identify and mitigate hazards in your operations. Keep your safety practices and training current with the latest WHS regulations. This proactive approach not only safeguards your workforce but also helps avoid legal and financial penalties associated with non-compliance.
Workplace health and safety regulations require businesses to ensure the safety of their workers. Industry-specific risks may arise, and understanding how to mitigate them is essential. As an employer, you should familiarise yourself with workplace health and safety regulations and navigate what information is relevant to your industry. This article outlines work health and safety (WHS) laws, how to mitigate risks and key examples relevant to the transport industry.
What is Workplace Health and Safety?
To summarise, WHS laws aim to manage risks to workers and workplaces. Safe Work Australia introduced model WHS laws in 2011 to be implemented across Australia. All states and territories, excluding Victoria, have implemented the model WHS laws within their state legislation. In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) model applies.
The model WHS laws create obligations with respect to health and safety on the following groups of duty holders:
- persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs);
- officers; and
- workers.
As a PCBU, there is a primary duty to take all reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety of workers and other persons in the workplace. Such obligations within the model WHS laws include:
- the provision and maintenance of a safe workplace;
- monitoring the health of workers and their conditions within the workplace; and
- providing workers with training, information and resources.
As a business owner, you have a legal obligation to provide a safe workplace for your employees and customers. This free guide explains how.
Navigating State and Territory Laws
Safe Work Australia is the governing policy body responsible for overseeing the development and updating of model WHS laws in Australia.
The following authorities are operational within NSW:
- Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW);
- Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW); and
- NSW Codes of Practice, which provide industry specific guidelines.
Available Resources
Each state-based authority may provide resources and industry-specific guides for WHS to provide resources to industries within the road freight transport industry.
The resources available include guides on navigating WHS and provide guidance with respect to:
- incident notification;
- hazard prevention;
- risk assessment;
- physical and psychosocial hazards; and
- transporting hazardous materials.
Industry-Specific Risks and How to Mitigate Them
Below are some key risks specific to the transport industry. You should consider these risks when implementing workplace WHS practices.
Critical risks identified within the transport sector include:
- hazardous manual tasks;
- mental health;
- traffic management; and
- falls from trucks.
We will discuss two of the key risks below.
Work-Related Psychological (Mental) Health
WHS within the transport industry often concerns workers’ physical health and safety. However, you should also be mindful of non-physical or psychosocial risks to workers, such as:
- fatigue;
- excessive workload; and
- bullying.
You should consider the effect of work demands over time and the impact this may have on a worker’s mental health. Such risks may be associated with working long hours, negative workplace environments and not receiving support during recovery from physical injuries.
Promoting good mental health practices can mitigate the above. This may be achieved through:
- stress management programs;
- resilience training; and
- gym initiatives.
Traffic Management
Where vehicles and pedestrian traffic interact, there is a higher risk of injury or death if traffic management arrangements are not in place.
Such risks may include pedestrians working closely with moving vehicles. Naturally, the types of injuries incurred in these circumstances can be catastrophic. Initially, you should take steps to identify risks, including consulting with workers and determining any high-risk locations within the workplace.
Once the relevant risks have been identified, you should seek to eliminate or otherwise control those risks. With regard to traffic management, this can take the forms of:
- additional training, such as assessments before operating certain vehicles;
- using presence-sensing devices fitted to vehicles that control the vehicle’s speed and movement when pedestrians’ presence is detected;
- using physical barriers and safety rails where appropriate; and
- adapting the layout of the workplace to minimise interaction between vehicles and pedestrians.
While these measures may not entirely eliminate the relevant risk, they will show that your business has taken reasonably practicable steps to protect the health and safety of workers.
Key Takeaways
When navigating WHS, you should be mindful of which WHS laws are applicable within your state. Within the WHS framework, additional resources are available to understand industry-specific obligations within the transport industry better. In general, you should work towards protecting your workers’ physical and mental health and safety by preventing and minimising hazards as they arise. Some key hazards include strenuous manual work, traffic management and mental health. Staff training and physical improvements to the workplace, such as barriers or sensors, are crucial for actively managing hazards.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Work health and safety (WHS) laws aim to manage risks to workers and workplaces. All states and territories, excluding Victoria, have implemented the model WHS laws within their state legislation. In Victoria, the Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S) model applies.
The primary risks associated with the transport industry include hazardous manual tasks, mental health, at-risk workers, traffic management, falls from trucks and impact from falls.
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