WHS Annual Return Guidelines
Version
1.1
TRIM file number
08/XXXX
Short description
Guidelines on completing and submitting a WHS
Annual Return
Relevant to
Deans, Executive Directors, Directors and managers
Approved by
Executive Director, Division of Human Resources
Responsible officer
Manager, Work Health and Safety
Responsible office
Division of Human Resources
Date introduced
18, September, 2008
Date(s) modified
Sept 2011, Dec 2014
Next scheduled review date
December , 2015
Related University documents
Work Health and Safety Policy
Occupational Health and Safety Objectives and
Responsibilities
WHS Workplace Inspections Policy
Safety Management Plan Policy
Related legislation
Work Health and Safety Act, 2011 (NSW & ACT)
Work Health and Safety Regulations, 2011 (NSW
&ACT)
Key words
Guidelines, occupational health and safety, WHS,
workplace inspections, safety management plans,
action sheets, key performance indicators, annual
return.
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
1.
PURPOSE
1.1
2.
ELIGIBILITY
2.1
3.
4.
These guidelines apply to all management employees of Charles Sturt University
(CSU).
BACKGROUND
3.1
The purpose of using WHS Annual Returns is twofold. Firstly to enable senior
executive staff to gain a clear insight into the performance of the Units within their area
of accountability, enabling leadership in addressing both positive and negative results
and secondly in reducing the reporting workload placed upon Units through a once
yearly annual return, rather than supplying a range of individual reports.
3.2
The timing of these returns is based on providing the required information to go into the
WHS section of the University’s Annual Report. This usually commences late
November each year. The WHS Annual Return consists of two types of forms. One
form is for Units to report their WHS performance to their Dean or Executive Director.
The other form is for the Dean or Executive Director to report the performance of their
units to the Division of Human Resources. These forms are available from the WHS
website and also come bundled with safety management plan and WHS workplace
inspection materials.
DELEGATION OF RESPONSIBILITY
4.1
5.
This guideline describes how to complete and submit an annual return from a Unit to
their respective Dean or Executive Director, or how to collate a consolidated response
from Units to the Division of Human Resources from Deans or Executive Directors.
The Vice Chancellor through the WHS Policy, the OHS Objectives and Responsibilities
Policy has responsibility for ensuring health and safety standards are set and
maintained. Responsibility for WHS is passed from the Vice-Chancellor through the
Deans and Executive Directors to Heads of School and Unit Directors or managers. To
ensure that executive staff are kept informed in relation to health and safety issues
within their area of accountability, the University has adopted the following WHS
performance indicators as measures that health and safety is being managed
effectively.
WHS KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
5.1
Negative WHS performance indicators consisting of accident/ incident data and
workers compensation claims information is supplied to Faculty/ Divisions and Units by
the Division of Human Resources. Eventually this material will be available to all
relevant managers through an online WHS Management system.
5.2
Key OHS positive performance indicators at CSU consist of:
H&S Workplace Inspections completed for each unit as per procedures;
An annual Safety Management Plan for each unit, inclusive of training program
completed per procedures, with
• List of new risk assessments for that reporting period;
• List of new administrative control of risks for that reporting period, e.g. SOPs;
Percentage of WHS Online Inductions completed within timeframes, by each unit;
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
Percentage of occupied buildings that have had at least one (1) annual trial evacuation
inclusive of responses to false alarms, by each location; and
Evidence that regular WHS consultation and where required, specific WHS
consultation has taken place by each unit.
6.
COMPILATION OF SAFETY MANAGEMENT PLANS
6.1
7.
Units are required to notify the Division of Human Resources once per year of the
completion of their safety management plan. The preferred method is to include all
WHS key performance indicator material, including safety management plan details
into the ‘Annual Return’ form that is sent to their Dean or Executive Director for
collating a consolidated response to go to the Division of Human Resources. The use
of annual returns should decrease the reporting load placed upon units and provides
executive staff with an overview of the WHS performance of their Units. The annual
return form is now bundled with the required inspection forms. It is also a good idea to
forward a copy of this documentation to your campus H&S Committee.
WHS CONSULTATION AND COMMUNICATION
7.1
Employees usually have the greatest awareness of any gaps in workplace safety
management and of hazardous work practices. Effective consultation with employees
and their representatives is crucial to the success of WHS, and needs to be integrated
into every stage of the workplace management system.
7.2
Consultation allows for shared ownership of the process and prepares the way for
successful implementation. Successful consultation needs to occur when:
• reviewing the current WHS management performance;
• developing, implementing and evaluating related programs, policies, procedures
and management systems;
• identifying, assessing and controlling workplace risks;
• determining training needs;
• planning changes to, or introducing new work practices;
• designing and/or purchasing new equipment;
• refurbishing facilities or planning new facilities; and
• investigating incidents.
7.3
The type of formal communication method to be established between management and
staff to cover the consultation requirements of the WHS Act 2011 largely depend on the
level of risk inherent in that Unit's operations and the management style of the senior
manager.
7.4
Units with intrinsically low levels of risk, such as office environments, the incorporation
of their WHS communication into their regular meetings should suffice. Units with
higher levels of risk may wish to establish an WHS Group to assist management to
control these risks and provide a formal consultation mechanism.
7.5
An important element of successfully implementing WHS workplace inspections and
Safety Management Plan involves both meaningful consultation and effective
communication aimed at achieving commitment from all areas and levels within each
organisational unit. Managers need to plan for how consultation will be achieved and
how ideas and actions will be communicated.
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
8.
WHS INDUCTION AND TRAINING
8.1
There is a legislative requirement for the University to provide both general and sitespecific WHS information and training to all existing and every new member of staff. An
WHS Online Induction and Training program has been developed using external
consultants and is deemed suitable to provide the information required by staff to
understand and interact with the University’s WHS management system and with its
policies, guidelines and procedures.
8.2
This program enhances staff knowledge of work, health and safety, and provides a
valuable information resource. The package also promotes the values of a safety
culture and CSU’s commitment to providing a safe work environment that will be
incident free. Completion of this program will satisfy the requirements of quality and
record maintenance for audit purposes.
8.3
The developed training program contains the following modules and components:
• Safe U at CSU
• WHS for Managers
• Fire and Emergency Procedures
8.4
The online training program will provide a base level of work health and safety
induction for all staff and for those postgraduate and post doctoral students working in
laboratories or areas of risk. The program is designed to record those parts of the
program viewed and the names and unit details of the users. This information will be
electronically recorded within ‘Alesco’, the Human Resources Information System
(HRIS). Site specific inductions will still be the responsibility of the Unit manager or
supervisor. A guideline on ‘WHS Induction and Training’ that provides details, including
access information to the WHS Online Induction and Training program is available from
the WHS website. This guideline also provides detail of the site specific induction
requirements for both permanent and casual staff.
8.5
All staff newly appointed to continuing and fixed term positions of the University are
required to complete all modules of the ELMO online induction program within one
month of commencing duties at the University.
8.6
CSU online induction completed within 1 month of commencement that includes the
following modules:
• Safe U at CSU
• Fire and Emergency Procedures
• WHS for Managers
9.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
9.1
10.
Staff complete at least 1 emergency evacuation trial per year inclusive of responses to
false alarms
CONDUCT OF WHS WORKPLACE INSPECTIONS
10.1 Managers / Supervisors of facilities that are shared need to arrange for the assignment
of investigation responsibilities to ensure that duplication of effort does not occur. Using
a joint team with members from each area, or rotating the responsibility for the conduct
of the inspection between areas are possible methods for managing shared facilities.
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
10.2 Where workplaces are geographically large or where there are a large number of
facilities, then it may be prudent to carry out inspections on the separate locations and
then combine them into a single report. This approach can be carried out over a
number of months and still meet the recommended reporting schedule.
10.3 The use of annual returns should decrease the reporting load placed upon units. The
annual return form is now bundled with the required inspection forms. It is also a good
idea to forward a copy of this documentation to your campus H&S Committee.
DEFINITIONS
Unit is a Faculty, Division, School or section that has cost centre management and is
geographically contained. A Division and related section sharing the same geographical location
can be seen as one Unit for the purpose of management systems.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Unit Annual Return Form
2. Faculty or Division Annual Return Form
Table of amendments
Version
number
1.1
Date
Dec 2014
Short description of amendment
Update to Legislative references, Change OHS to WHS.
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
Form 43 :
WHS ANNUAL RETURN
FACULTY / DIVISION
Version : 2.1
December 2014
Next Review :
December 2015
This WHS Annual Return Form needs to be with the Human Resources Office by the third week of November each year
otherwise your responses may NOT be included in the University’s Annual Report.
To:
Division of Human Resources
Directorate of Workplace Relations and Policy (Bathurst)
From:
Name of Faculty/ Division:
Year of Return:
____________________________________________________________________________________________
The following Schools/ Units have met all of CSU’s key WHS performance indicators for the reporting period:
The following Schools/ Units have not completed the following key WHS performance indicators as shown:
Dean/ Executive Director
Printed Name:__________________________
Signature: _____________________________
Telephone Ext.: ________________________
Submission Date: _______________________
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
WHS Consultation
Y/ N/ or (NA this period only)
Emergency Procedures
Y/ N
OHS Induction Training (ELMO)
Y/ N
WHS Workplace Inspections
Y/ N
WHS Key Performance Indicators
Safety Management Plan
Y/ N
Name of School/ Units
Form 42 :
WHS ANNUAL RETURN
Version : 1.6
December 2014
Next Review :
December 2015
This Annual Return Form needs to be with the Faculty/ Division Office by the first week of November each year
otherwise your Faculty/ Division responses may NOT be with Human Resources to be included in the Annual Report.
To:
Name of Faculty/ Division:
Copy:
Campus H&S Committee:
From:
Name of School/ or Section:
Name of Campus:
Year of Return:
_________________________________________________________________________________________
The CSU key WHS performance indicators consist of:
WHS Workplace Inspections completed for each unit as per procedures
• Safety Management Plan for each unit, inclusive of training program completed per procedures, with
o List of new risk assessments for that reporting period
o List of new administrative control of risks for that reporting period, e.g. SOPs
• Percentage of WHS Inductions completed within timeframes, by each unit
• Percentage of occupied buildings that have had at least one (1) annual trial evacuation inclusive of
responses to false alarms, by each location
• Evidence that regular OHS consultation and where required, specific WHS consultation has taken
place by each unit.
WHS Workplace Inspections and Safety Management Plan Details
Tick box if completed
Safety Management Plan (formerly OHS Action Plan)
Date Completed:
1st WHS Inspection (Period January – April)
Date Completed:
2nd WHS Inspection (Period July – October)
OR
Exemption for 2nd Inspection Granted
Date Completed:
Exemption Authority:
Committee Resolution Number
Enter details as appropriate for new items completed this year.
(attach additional pages if insufficient room on this sheet)
WHS Risk Assessments (Titles/Areas)
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014
Standard Operating Procedure (Title)
WHS Induction Training
The number and the percentage of staff who have completed the required WHS online
training modules and local induction programs within the prescribed timelines is as follows:
Details of Training
No. Complete
Total New Staff
Percent
Introduction to Safety at CSU
WHS for Managers
Fire and Emergency Procedures
Local Unit Induction
Emergency Procedures
Building/ Facility
Evacuations
Evacuations:
The number of evacuations undertaken during this reporting
period (inclusive of trials and false alarms) for each occupied
building or facility.
Enter building or facility details followed by the total number of
each building evacuation in this reporting period. Enter zero if
no evacuation carried out.
WHS Consultation
Consultation
WHS Consultation and Communication:
The type and level of consultation required may
be determined by the overall level of risk within
units. Indicate within the appropriate boxes
whether consultation occurred and if so the
methods used and reasons for the consultation.
Methods may include OHS Groups, Standing
agenda item, Individual meetings, specific
meetings. Reasons may be from general OHS
recommendations/ management to specific
issues.
Methodology
Reasons
Yes
Not this
period
(Delete
One)
This is to certify that the preceding OHS information is a true reflection of activities undertaken by this Unit
within the reporting period.
HOS/ Director/ Senior Manager
Printed Name:__________________________
Signature: _____________________________
Telephone Ext.: ________________________
Submission Date: _______________________
WHS Annual Return Guidelines V1.1 December 2014