Work Health and Safety procedures that are designed to comply with WHS regulations aren’t optional. If you have a conscience and care about the health and safety of your employees, then this article is for you.
The fact is, you need to comply with WHS standards regardless of the underlying intentions or you can run into legal ramifications. But you may find this tough, causing you and your team to jump through hoops to stay in compliance. A comprehensive compliance process supported by robust software can significantly ease this potential burden and make sure that you don’t have to lose sleep worrying about huge fines or worse.
Here are some of the ways such a compliance process can help you manage your WHS procedures.
Shared Responsibility
Work Health Safety procedures cover a lot of ground since every part and area of your business is affected by them. Having a single person or even a single team managing such a broad aspect of compliance isn’t very effective. With a comprehensive compliance process that’s software-based, consistent, and company-wide, the regular auditing of WHS compliance and any subsequent actions that are required can be performed by anyone. It won’t matter if a department manager is out sick that day.
Simple Accountability
Who’s responsible for checking on so-and-so each Wednesday? It doesn’t matter with the right compliance process in place. You never have to guess if something was done or have the same action repeated by several people because none of them are sure if it’s been handled yet. As long as the box is ticked, everyone can be sure that things are up to date and compliant.
Track Progress and Save Time
Any process will, by definition, create a more efficient system for getting things done. The alternative is a bunch of haphazard actions that aren’t properly tracked or sometimes even performed. A compliance process is no different but has the added benefit of being able to incorporate almost any action, across virtually any department, in almost any set of circumstances or requirements necessary to conduct business. That’s a pretty broad statement, but it’s true.
Compliance is thought of as being compliant with industry standards or legal requirements, but compliance is ensuring the integrity of any policy or rule, whether internal or imposed by an external body. Every business has processes and procedures they use and follow, so a robust compliance system is simply good for business because it saves time, eliminates duplicated efforts, and makes tracking progress simple. The fact that this can (and should) also be applied to WHS requirements is an added bonus.
A compliance process can incorporate every aspect of your WHS procedures, including chemical usage, workplace safety, equipment safety, returning to work procedures, first aid, and so on. When you choose to build all of your WHS processes into an easy to follow process, you won’t have to spend hours every day making sure you’re in compliance or be stressed about potential fines or other penalties. It’s straightforward and quick to see that employees are following the process.
An effective compliance process needs to be tailored to your business’ unique auditing needs and requirements. Start with a full company gap analysis to determine your business’s biggest risk factors and legal requirements. Then create a comprehensive strategy that covers these risks and tells everyone in your organisation what needs to be done.
Want some help designing a compliance process that will not only protect you from risk but help your business thrive? Contact Compliance Experts to learn about Compliance Checkpoint, our audit and compliance software that lets you identify potential risks, assess those risks, develop a strategy to minimise them, and track compliance across all of your business lines in real time.
