Take Inductions Seriously – Manage your major risks

An employer has been fined $400,000 in the Perth Magistrates Court after a contract worker was injured performing a task that wasn't covered in his safety induction and which the workplace supervisor hadn't been trained on.

Two workers were contracted to use tools to remove built up material from a conveyor, while it was running.??One of the workers was using a shovel for this purpose when his left arm became entangled and was lacerated in a nip point between the belt and a return roller.

The injured worker had completed a one-hour online safety induction before working at the processing plant, however the session did not cover conveyor safety or isolations.??The supervisor for the task was overseeing the plant for the first time and had also not received any specific training for the role.

Our Take

We regularly see two types of inductions:

1. administrative – focusing on rudimentary ‘paperwork’ items such as payroll, superannuation, employment details and confirmation of having read policies and procedures; and
2. effective - focusing on practically educating and managing the most likely risks a worker will face in completing their nominated tasks.

Best practice organisations genuinely understand the common risks that workers face in conducting their roles and where they cannot be eliminated or engineered away utilise mechanisms such as inductions to effectively manage their risk.

Action Items

• identify and then classify in order of risk profile the organisation’s top five, 10 or 20 operational risks;
• assess your induction processes to ensure that they genuinely correspond with the above list in terms of quantity, importance and practical application;
• train your front line managers to take inductions seriously;
• capture appropriate implementation with real-time monitoring; and
• audit and review regularly

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