Elements and Performance Criteria

The range of variables places the competency in context and allows for differences between enterprises and workplaces, including practices, knowledge and requirements. The range of variables also provides a focus for assessment and relates to the unit as a whole. The following variables may be present.

Positions to which this competency applies will vary according to the industry or enterprise but may include:
· managers at a range of levels
· other specialist managers, for example, maintenance manager and personnel manager.

This competency is to be exhibited in accordance with all relevant Occupational Health and Safety legislation, particularly:
· State/Territory/Commonwealth Occupational Health and Safety acts, regulations and codes of practice, including regulations and codes of practice relating to hazards present in the workplace or industry
· general duty of care under Occupational Health and Safety legislation and common law
· requirements for the maintenance and confidentiality of records of occupational injury and disease
· requirements for provision of Occupational Health and Safety information and training
· provisions relating to health and safety representatives and/or Occupational Health and Safety committees
· provisions relating to Occupational Health and Safety issue resolution.

Establishing and maintaining the framework for Occupational Health and Safety may include:
· policy development and updating
· determining the ways in which Occupational Health and Safety will be managed. This may include distinct Occupational Health and Safety management activities, or inclusion of Occupational Health and Safety functions within a range of management functions and operations such as:
· maintenance of plant and equipment
· purchasing of materials and equipment
· designing operations, work flow and materials handling
· planning or implementing alterations to site, plant, operations or work systems
· mechanisms for review and allocation of human, technical and financial resources needed to manage Occupational Health and Safety, including defining and allocating Occupational Health and Safety responsibilities for all relevant positions
· mechanisms for keeping up to date with relevant information and updating the management arrangements for Occupational Health and Safety, for example, information on health effects of hazards, technical developments in risk control and environmental monitoring and changes to legislation
· mechanisms to assess and update Occupational Health and Safety management arrangements relevant to legislative requirements
· a system for communicating Occupational Health and Safety information to employees, supervisors and managers within the enterprise.

Establishing and maintaining participative arrangements for management of Occupational Health and Safety may cover:
· Occupational Health and Safety committees and other committees, for example, consultative, planning and purchasing
· health and safety representatives
· employee and supervisor involvement in Occupational Health and Safety management activities, for example, Occupational Health and Safety inspections, audits, environmental monitoring, risk assessment and risk control
· procedures for reporting hazards, risks and Occupational Health and Safety issues by managers and employees
· inclusion of Occupational Health and Safety in consultative or other meetings and processes.

Establishing and maintaining procedures for identifying hazards may include developing and updating procedures for:
· workplace inspections, including plant and equipment
· audits
· maintaining and analysing Occupational Health and Safety records, including environmental monitoring and health surveillance reports
· maintenance of plant and equipment
· reviews of materials and equipment purchases, including manufacturers and suppliers information
· employee reporting of Occupational Health and Safety issues.

Establish and maintain procedures for assessing risks may include developing and updating procedures for:
· determining the likelihood and severity of adverse consequences from hazards
· Occupational Health and Safety audits
· workplace inspections
· maintenance of plant and equipment
· purchasing of materials and equipment
· planning or implementing alterations to site, operations or work systems
· analysis of relevant records and reports, for example, injuries and incidents, hazardous substances inventories/registers, audit and environmental monitoring reports and Occupational Health and Safety committee records.

Establish and maintain procedures for controlling risks may include developing and updating procedures for:
· assessing the Occupational Health and Safety consequences of materials, plant or equipment prior to purchase
· obtaining expert advice
· appropriate application of measures according to the hierarchy of control, namely:
· elimination of the risk
· engineering controls
· administrative controls
· personal protective equipment
· designing safe operations and systems of work
· inclusion of new Occupational Health and Safety information into procedures
· checking enterprise compliance with regulatory requirements.

Establish and maintain organisational procedures for hazardous events may include developing and updating procedures for:
· making inventories of, and inspecting, high risk operations
· inspecting systems and operations associated with potentially hazardous events, for example, emergency communications, links to emergency services, fire fighting, chemical spill containment, bomb alerts and first aid services.

Establish and maintain an Occupational Health and Safety training program may include:
· arrangements for ongoing assessment of training needs, for example, relating to:
· supervisors and managers
· specific hazards
· specific tasks or equipment
· emergencies and evacuations
· training required under Occupational Health and Safety legislation
· allocation of resources for Occupational Health and Safety training, including acquisition of training resources, development of staff training skills and purchase of training services
· induction training
· training for new operations, materials or equipment.

Establish and maintain a system for Occupational Health and Safety records may cover:
· identifying records required under Occupational Health and Safety legislation, for example:
· worker's compensation and rehabilitation records
· hazardous substances registers
· material safety data sheets
· major accident/injury notifications
· investigation reports
· certificates and licences
· manufacturers and suppliers Occupational Health and Safety information
· Occupational Health and Safety audits and inspection reports
· maintenance and testing reports
· workplace environmental monitoring and health surveillance records
· records of instruction and training
· first aid/medical post records
· minutes of meetings.

Evaluating the organisation's Occupational Health and Safety system may include arrangements for:
· reviewing the effectiveness of the Occupational Health and Safety management system
· regular review of operating procedures
· regular analysis of Occupational Health and Safety records
· audits against Occupational Health and Safety legislative requirements.

Each unit of competency has an evidence guide that relates directly to the performance criteria and the range of variables. Its purpose is to guide assessment of the unit in the workplace and/or training program. The following components provide information to assist this purpose.

Underpinning knowledge and skills
In demonstrating competence, the following underpinning knowledge and skills should also be displayed:
· the provisions of Occupational Health and Safety acts, regulations and codes of practice relevant to the workplace, including legal responsibilities of employers, manufacturers, suppliers, employees and other parties with legal responsibilities
· principles and practices of effective Occupational Health and Safety management, including:
· elements of an effective Occupational Health and Safety management system
· risk management
· appropriate links to other management systems, for example, contractors, maintenance and purchasing
· the role of technical information and experts in designing control measures, monitoring systems and health surveillance
· the hierarchy of control measures
· participation and consultation over Occupational Health and Safety
· incident and accident investigation
· management arrangements relating to regulatory compliance, for example, arrangements for:
· keeping the organisation abreast of developments in Occupational Health and Safety, for example, law, control measures and hazards
· mandatory notifications and reporting
· mandatory licences and certificates
· registers, listings and labelling of regulated materials, for example, hazardous substances and dangerous goods
· communicating to the organisation about Occupational Health and Safety
· consulting about, and participating in, Occupational Health and Safety management
· identifying and reporting on hazards, for example, through audits and inspections
· assessing risks
· allocating financial, technical and human resources for Occupational Health and Safety
· controlling risks
· monitoring risk control measures
· responding to, and dealing with, hazardous events
· Occupational Health and Safety training
· Occupational Health and Safety record keeping
· collection and use of Occupational Health and Safety-related data
· hazards and associated risks that exist in the enterprise, including:
· the range of control measures available for these risks
· considerations for choosing between different control measures, such as possible inadequacies with particular control measures
· how to identify when expert advice is needed
· how the characteristics and composition of the workforce impact on Occupational Health and Safety management, including:
· literacy
· communication skills
· cultural background
· gender
· workers with disabilities
· part-time, casual and contract workers
· the relevance to Occupational Health and Safety management of other organisational management systems, policies and procedures, including:
· business planning (especially plans relating to technological change, organisational change and workplace design)
· finance
· contractors
· purchasing
· materials transport and storage
· maintenance
· training
· consultation
· human resource management
· equal employment opportunity
· ability to analyse the entire working environment in order to identify hazards, assess risks and design and implement appropriate Occupational Health and Safety management systems
· ability to analyse relevant workplace data, for example, incident and environmental monitoring, to identify hazards, assess risks and evaluate the effectiveness of the Occupational Health and Safety management system
· ability to assess the resources needed to establish and maintain Occupational Health and Safety management systems, including a range of risk control measures.

Critical aspects of competence
Competence may be demonstrated working individually or under the guidance of, or as a member of, a team with specialist Occupational Health and Safety staff, managers or consultants.

Assessment must confirm ability to:
· establish and/or maintain the organisation's Occupational Health and Safety management system
· identify when expert advice is needed, to obtain that advice and to act on it appropriately.

Assessment must confirm knowledge of:
· all relevant Occupational Health and Safety acts, regulations and codes of practice and how they will be implemented within the area of managerial responsibility
· the principles and practice of effective Occupational Health and Safety, including the significance of organisational management systems and procedures for Occupational Health and Safety, and an ability to establish and maintain appropriate arrangements for Occupational Health and Safety within those systems and procedures
· how the characteristics of the workforce impact on the design and maintenance of Occupational Health and Safety management systems, and an ability to apply that understanding.

Interdependent assessment of units
Competency in this unit underpins competency in other aspects of the workplace role of employees with managerial responsibilities. It may be appropriate to assess parts of this unit in conjunction with units relating to the performance of such aspects of the role. For example, assessment of a unit relating to managing an operational area could involve assessing that the person is able to assess the effectiveness of risk control measures in place for that operation or area.

Context of assessment
This unit should be assessed by a combination of workplace (or a realistic simulation) and off the job assessment. The context of assessment should ensure that evidence relating to the contingency management component (ability to deal with irregularities and breakdowns) of competency can be collected. Evidence must include observation in the workplace as well as off the job techniques such as interviews and simulations.

Conditions for simulations should:
· accurately simulate the range of operations and circumstances that managers or owners could be expected to manage in the workplace
· allow for discussion
· ensure the relevant information and documents are available.

In particular, evidence of ability to manage a range of emergencies and hazardous events may be gathered through simulations.

The assessor should have recognised expertise in managing Occupational Health and Safety in the industry or work in an assessment team with such a person.

Method of assessment
To ensure that the contingency management component (ability to deal with irregularities and breakdowns) of competency is adequately assessed, evidence needs to be gathered across a range of Occupational Health and Safety management systems, operations and workplace circumstances. This could be either in an actual workplace or in a simulation of realistic workplace conditions.

Techniques for assessment could include:
· observation
· simulation, scenarios
· case studies
· interviews
· written tests
· workplace projects.

Resources required for assessment
Assessment of this unit requires access to:
· relevant Occupational Health and Safety acts, regulations and codes of practice
· information relevant to the management of the enterprise, for example, planning, operations, maintenance, purchasing and budgeting
· enterprise Occupational Health and Safety management information, including policies and procedures
· work areas in the area of managerial responsibility.