Are health and safety representatives more effective at representing their designated work group having completed a Certificate IV course in OHS?
- Authors: Merriman, Gavin , Cowley, Stephen
- Date: 2009
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Health and Safety Research and Practice Vol. 1, no. 1 (2009), p. 13-18
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- Description: Some elected Health and Safety Representatives in Australia choose to undertake a Certificate IV level OHS course. To determine if they are more effective at representing their Designated Work Group as a result, a sample population of Health and Safety Representatives and members of their Designated Work Group were surveyed. The survey participants were also tested in regard to their approach to solving health and safety problems posed in three hypothetical workplace scenarios. The results were compared with the results of the same test undertaken by Health and Safety Representatives that had only completed a 5-day training course. As a result of undertaking a Certificate IV OHS program, Health and Safety Representatives have more confidence in undertaking workplace inspections and the frequency and the quality of those inspections is increased. They seek more information from their employer in regard to workplace hazards and are consulted by management more often and also consult with the members of their Designated Work Group more frequently. There were statistically significant differences between responses to the three hypothetical workplace scenarios given by subjects that had undertaken a Certificate IV course and those that had only completed a 5-day training program. The Certificate IV course group were more likely to apply safe place control principles to problems. Together with increased frequency of inspections and greater consultation, this is likely to lead to more effective representation of the DWG.
Impact of health and safety representative training on concepts of accident causation and prevention
- Authors: Culvenor, John , Cowley, Stephen , Harvey, Jack
- Date: 2003
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Occupational Health and Safety - Australia and New Zealand Vol. 19, no. 3 (2003), p. 279-292
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- Description: In South Australia, health and safety representatives (HSRs) may undertake three levels of training, commencing at basic level, then progressing through advanced level to continuing level. A survey of 1,200 HSRs in SA was conducted to assess their beliefs about accident causation and accident prevention. In regard to accident causation, the survey found that HSRs showed a tendency to favour behavioural causation over workplace environment or systems-type causation. In regard to accident prevention, HSRs at all levels of training had a preference for low-order controls. However, there appears to be some shift in thinking by the time HSRs have completed all levels of training (that is, to the continuing training level), though the thinking of most remains distinctly safe-worker in orientation.
- Description: C1
- Description: 2003003020