Scenario Two 'Safety Risks Galore'

You have just joined an agency (Galahad Property) as operations manager and one of the roles that the principal has assigned you in your job description is Health and Safety Manager Operations.

You have previously been a HSR at a different type of company (engineering sales operations), where you had experience as a HSR in that industry.

In your first week the principal has asked you to carry out risk assessment activities in the workplace, with a particular focus on the legislation regarding offsite and lone worker safety.

The agency has 30 staff. This includes 6 Property managers, 8 sales staff, 12 Assistant agents (certificate of registration holders), 1 sales manager, 1 office manager and 2 busy support staff.

It is located in a very busy suburb close to a CBD and so has residential and commercial and retail sales and rentals activities.

There is a very old risk control plan but that was put in place over 3 years ago when the agency was 50% of the size it is now.

This plan for Galahad Property is attached to the question:

Galahad Property Risk Control Plan Dated: 27th February 2018

Authorised by: Licensee, Galahad Property Audience: All staff

Section 1 - What is a Risk Control Plan? We have a responsibility to identify and control risks in the workplace. This Risk Control plan sets out how we are going to do this.

Section 2 - Who is involved in Risk Control at Galahad Property? We encourage all staff to be involved in feedback to improve our procedures and policies towards risk. We are a small business and so safety has to be considered and managed by staff very much taking responsibility for their own actions and safety as far as possible. The principal is responsible for the management of safety policies and procedures across the business.

Section 3 - What Actions we will Take to Control Risks We have assessed RISK as very low in the property industry.

We have implemented the following controls for safety of our staff.

FIRE SAFETY PROCEDURES

OFFICE SAFETY PROCEDURES (currently in Draft)

STAFF PERSONAL SAFETY GUIDE (Coming Soon)

Risks and procedures will be reviewed annually by the management team.

Training is annual for all safety areas.

There is a mixture of staff and quite a high turnover of new staff.

You make the following observations during the first few days that you are in the office:.

• Staff in the office at the end of the day seem to vary, some days sales staff come in later on in the day and are the last to leave, well after the office manager and support staff have left for the day and with no accurate records logged
• Some of the newer assistants seem to be attending events offsite on their own, such as rental open house events
• Office areas including the mail room where the safe is, are left unlocked often at the end of the day
• Car parking for staff is unlit

Some agents have complained about attending a particular set of apartments in a high rise in the neighbouring suburb

Question 1

What approaches are you going to apply to obtain information about the agency's business operations with regard to offsite and lone worker safety in the first few days of your role? Describe three actions that you will take.

Question 2

Note three ideas that you can use to categorise Safety controls for this Agency, based on their operations. Include any current controls that are contained in the existing risk plan.

Question 3

Are there any risks that you can quickly determine with respect to onsite lone workers, based on the scenario description?

Question 4

Review the existing Risk Control Plan (which is attached to the question). What is the extent of the training plan? Are there any gaps with respect to training and staff involvement that come to mind with respect to offsite and lone worker safety?

Question 5

Did the scenario identify any particular risk groups? If so, what do you think they might be?

Question 6

What might a set of office 'lockup' procedures contain? Reference the scenario where possible on potential gaps and controls to address them.

Question 7

With regard to the agency scenario, are any maintenance activities required to address safety of lone workers?

Question 8

What policies may be considered to be implemented with respect to personal safety offsite? In particular include references to any scenario details in your answer.

Question 9

Given the organisation structure in the scenario, what new roles or responsibilities could be established for the agency, list two suggestions.

Question 10

How would you go about communicating newly proposed safety controls in this agency and also obtaining feedback about them?

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