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EDITION 17 – MAY 2015
WHS
NEWS
BULLETIN
www.meercroft.org
SAFE WORK ENVIRONMENT
Pictured above: Drop over interlocking cable protector
system designed for cable protection and trip hazard
prevention
“Staff Health & Wellbeing”
“Daisey”(pictured) Internal Courtyard
Munnew Day Centre
Welcome to the 17th edition of the Workplace Health
Safety News Bulletin.
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
In respect to the legislative requirements and legal
obligations every workplace has a duty of care to all and
sundry regardless, hence the introduction of the Work
Health and Safety Act 2012.
Without proper policies and procedures in place there
would be a reduced capacity in which to achieve
compliance, let alone maintain a safe workplace
environment. Refer to page 2 of the WHS News Bulletin.
Pictured above: Multi-purpose storage area and interlink
passage way between Laurel Lane and Rose Lane
In total there are eight general types of workplace hazards:
 Hazardous manual tasks
 Ergonomic hazards
 Chemical hazards
 Noise
 Gravitational hazards
 Electrical hazards
 Mechanical hazards
 Other i.e. thermal, radiation, biological and psychosocial
Note: All of the above hazard types are present in one form
or another at this workplace.
Pictured above: New triple-bay-skip bins suitably labelled
effected by the said policy at the workplace have a
statutory obligation to adhere to the contents contained
therein under section 29 of the WHS Act 2012.
COMPLIANCE WITH
ORGANISATIONAL POLICIES AND
PROCEDURES
Generally all policies and procedures at Meercroft Care
Inc. must be reviewed no less than 3 yearly.
Notwithstanding, some policy are reviewed more
frequently.
From the outset it is important to understand what is
meant by the terminology policies and procedures and
their differences:
Compliance with organisational policies and
procedures is an essential part of the day-to-day
operation of the Home.
Policy and Procedures – What is the Difference



Policies are the business rules and guidelines of a
company that ensure consistency and compliance
with the company’s strategic direction. The
Policies lay out the business rules under which a
company, division, or department will operate.
Their success depends largely on consultation,
cooperation and coordination, implementation, access
to the policy, education and training, memorandums as
well as ongoing feedback i.e. unit meetings, news
bulletins and newsletters.
Policies are the guidelines under which Procedures
are developed. There is not a one-to-one
relationship between a Policy and a Procedure.
Policies are not part of the Procedure, because they
cannot be properly structured. However, the
Procedure must reflect the business rules contained
in the Policies.
Compliance can be measured in numerous ways.
For example: key performances indicators (KPIs’) re
the collation of monthly incident, accident, hazard
reports and the dissemination thereof.
Also by other reporting processes i.e. meeting minutes,
observation, work practices, audits, suggestions and
complaints etc.
Policies address what the Policy is and its
classification, who is responsible for the execution
and enforcement of the Policy, and why the Policy
is required.
At Meercroft Care Inc there are 244 Policies and
Procedures in total across the whole of the organization
which in turn are divided into 9 distinct sub-headings:
Whereas;

Procedures define the specific instructions
necessary to perform a task or part of a Process.
Procedures can take the form of a work instruction,
a desk top Procedure, a quick reference guide, or a
more detailed Procedure.

Procedures usually are structured by subject (for
example, system instructions, report instructions,
or Process tasks). A Procedure usually addresses
only a single task. This separation enables
Procedure components to be compiled into special
Procedure manuals for specific audiences, end
users, and purposes.

Procedures detail who performs the Procedure,
what steps are performed, when the steps are
performed, and how the Procedure is performed.









17 - Administration
37 - Board
14 – Employment
33 – Infection Control
1 - Other
84 – Resident Care
25 – Services
5 - Transport
28 – Work Health and Safety
As detailed above both components play an integral
part in creating the policy document.
Assuming a particular policy has been approved and
adopted by the Person Conducting Business
Undertaken (PCBU) and or their officers; all officers,
workers and others, who are directly and or indirectly
Staff access to Policies & Procedures is via “GFAIMS”
desk top ‘pictured above’ and or hard copies available in
Staff Library
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Similarly the laws can also be used to describe how to do
something correctly i.e. the safe handling of hazardous
chemicals and the correct use of personal protective
equipment (PPE).
ROLL WHS LAWS PLAYS WITH CORE
BUSINESS
The Work Health and Safety Laws play an integral role in
the day-to-day running of the core Business as they form
the basis of what we must or must not do.
The corresponding structure of legislation in Australia to
support this role is known as the ‘Hierarchy of Law’ is as
follows:
ACT
Pictured above: Office of the Risk Manager depicting some
of the numerous folders and documents used in compliance
with the Work Health and Safety Act 2012.
REGULATIONS
STAFF GUESSING COMPETITION
Codes of Practice
Practice
There are 10 people sitting around the conference table
discussing a workplace safety issue.
One of the
participants is a transvestite!
Standards
Staff are invited to nominate 2 numbers and submit same
on a sheet of paper together with their name to the Risk
Manager by COB on Monday 18th May 2015.
In the area of work health and safety in Tasmania, the
Work Health and Safety Act 2012.
The correct number will be placed in a final draw!
 Act – this is the basis of statue law and must be
complied with i.e. what we have to do?
The winner will receive a worthwhile PRIZE!
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 Regulations – a further tier of statute know as
regulations i.e. how we do it and whose
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responsibility it is to enforce it?
 Code of Practice – provides practical guidance!
Notwithstanding, may be used as evidence in court.
 Standards – technical data that should be complied
with and represents a recommended minimum standard
of performance.
Generally the specific, legally defined responsibilities in
the workplace is the responsibility of the officers on behalf
of the PCBU which in turn then filters down to the line
managers i.e. team leaders and supervisors, workers and
other persons accordingly.
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where he incurred a work related back injury. Sadly
this took his life early in 1996.
EMPLOYEE
FOCUS
I worked night-fill at Woolworths and cared for my
children during the day. We then moved to live on a
farm at Upper Castra where I worked various jobs,
potato harvesting, picking flowers and capsicums.
On the farm I ran a business growing potatoes,
poppies, lucerne and raring beef cattle. Occasionally
we had to bucket feed to rare the calves and bottle
feed lambs when they lost their mothers.
I needed a change from the cold weather conditions
and started working at Eliza Purton Home. My main
duties were dishing up and the delivering of meals,
restocking the pantry and freezer, packing meals for
meals-on-wheels, and cleaning.
Food temperatures weren’t recorded when I first
started working in the kitchen. Now it is a mandatory
food safety requirement – especially in nursing
homes.
Kathy Davies
Services Employee
My twin sister and I were born in Devonport 15
minutes apart, identical twins. I also have a younger
brother.
After 7 years at Eliza Purton Home I resigned and
moved to Cairns in Queensland with my daughter.
We lived in a beautiful resort.
We lived at Latrobe before moving to Gowrie Park
before it became a hydro village. I started school
there, when it closed we went to the Sheffield District
High School.
Working at the Farnorha RSL Nursing Home as a
kitchen hand, we had multi-cultured workers and
residents which made for an interesting work
environment. I learnt a lot in the 6 months I was there.
We lived on a very large property where as kids we
helped our parents feeding cattle, shearing sheep and
marking lambs.
I returned to my home state Tasmania and started
working at Meercroft Care Inc. in late 2013 as a
kitchen hand, working in all areas across the facility.
Recently, I also started working as a cleaner.
Dad worked for the Hydro Electric Commission
building dams. Mum was a stay at home mum.
I love my job and the interaction with my work mates
and the residents. My hobbies are gardening,
bushwalking and travelling.
I feel I had a fortunate upbringing on the farm which I
thoroughly loved.
Hopefully, I will be here for many years.
I guess the old saying is true. “You can take the girl
out of the country, but you can’t take the country out
of the girl!”
I started my first job at the Ovaltine Factory where I
met and married Dale. We had 2 children, Shane and
Olivia.
A funny memory of mine was when the kids were in
the car with me one night my son Shane said “Mum,
how do the guide posts know when to turn on their
lights?”
When the Ovaltine Factory closed down Dale went
driving trucks for William Holyman & Sons Pty Ltd
Workplace Health & Safety Committee 2015
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