• Section 1 - Purpose
• Scope
• Section 2 - Glossary
• Section 3 - Policy
• Section 4 - Procedures
• Section 5 - Guidelines

Section 1 - Purpose

(1) The purpose of the Safety Management Plan Procedure is to:

1. ensure all faculties and divisions of Charles Sturt University (the University) are able to translate their 'duty of care' under the Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation into the management of risk;
2. identify and prioritise realistic goals for each area;
3. determine budgetary needs for short and long term WHS goals;
4. provide a written commitment to all staff to improve WHS performance;
5. provide a focus for current and future areas or issues for improvement;
6. encourage active participation from all staff and to allocate responsibility and accountability to all involved; and
7. provide for legislative awareness and compliance.

Scope

(2) This Procedure applies to all employees of the University.

Section 2 - Glossary

(3) Nil.

Section 3 - Policy

(4) Nil.

Section 4 - Procedures

(5) All persons in charge of workplaces are to ensure the production of an annual Safety Management Plan by the commencement of May each year. This Plan is to detail all planned WHS activities and targets for the current financial period. Longer term planning can also be incorporated where management of safety, needs to be staged over a number of years. The Safety Management Plan template is available in Associated Information.

(6) The timing of producing these plans allows those items that have financial costs associated with them to be incorporated into budget submissions for the following year or years.

(7) The Safety Management Plan should include information relating to the provision of safety information, the need for instruction, and the need for generic, specialist or on-the-job safety training in the coming year. The Plan should include objectives and targets to minimise risks resulting from hazards identified through observation, inspections, hazard reports, incident investigations and where changes occur to facilities or processes or through identified non-compliance with legislation, policies or standards. The planning and programming of risk assessments and risk control measures, including the production of administrative controls such as operating procedures should be included in the Plan when required. Emergency and contingency planning may also need development or improvement within the Plan.

(8) Safety Management Plans should contain achievable goals for that period and not just be a wish list, otherwise little will be achieved. It is better to have fewer items that focus attention on what needs to be done than to have too many items that cannot possibly receive attention and distract from the essential items that require attention. To assist in this regard, it is prudent to list all items, prioritise these items, and then target the more important items for inclusion in the Plan, if necessary.

(9) The annual Safety Management Plan should identify target dates and who should carry out the required actions. The Plan should also distinguish those items that have been rolled over from previous plans, from new items.

(10) Safety Management Plans form an essential part of the safety system at each workplace and active records of these plans need to be kept for the current plan and the previous four plans. Archived records to cover a span not exceeding five years need also to be kept. Copies of the annual Safety Management Plan do not have to be sent to any other agency, unless specifically requested by the Manager, Work Health and Safety. However, to enable the development of appropriate policies and programs, it is prudent to send a copy of your annual Safety Management Plan to the campus Health and Safety Committee.

Section 5 - Guidelines

(11) Nil.