Health and safety programs and initiatives prevent or minimise injuries and illness in schools and departmental workplaces. Establishing effective health and safety management processes help create healthy and safe working and learning environments for staff, students and others.
Tips, information and guidance for establishing proactive systems and processes can be found in the
managing health and safety section.
Specific information about hazard areas and issues related to the school environment can be found in the
hazards and risks section.
Health and safety issues are best managed by implementing a
risk management approach which provides a systematic framework for identifying hazards and controlling the risks.
Department workplaces must follow
policies and procedures.
Safety and hazard alerts have been published in response to specific school issues and can be printed out and displayed at your location.
Fact sheets and checklists relating to our workplaces can be found on the
resources page.
Workplaces will never be completely risk free. The most important factor is to implement management strategies that minimise the health and safety risks.
Health, Safety and Wellbeing Management System (HSWMS)
The departments HSWMS aims to create a safer and healthier workplace by mandating the department's Health Safety and Wellbeing (HSW) legislative and ethical responsibility. It consists of a policy, procedures, systems and plans that systematically manages the department's HSW risks and reduce workplace injury and illness.
The
HSW policy clarifies HSW responsibilities and obligations by outlining the Department of Education's obligations under Queensland's work health and safety (WHS) legislation, electrical safety legislation and workers' compensation legislation and how they will be met. The
HSW commitment statement provides a statement of executive leadership's commitment to health, safety and wellbeing and the acknowledgement of the responsibilities they hold.
The
HSWMS plan centralises and clarifies the departments HSWMS to make it user-friendly and easy to access. It does this by breaking down the HSWMS key elements in detail, including how to access the key procedures and documents within each of these elements. These key elements are: Risk Management, Incident Management, Engagement and Support, Health and Staff rehabilitation, Performance and Improvement.
The
HSWMS leadership manual equips leaders to better manage health and safety by providing more detail in regard to their safety responsibilities as well as relatable information to assist them in applying the departments procedures to their specific workplace.
Departmental employees can access the documents by searching 'HSWMS' on OnePortal.
The development of the HSWMS was completed under the department enforceable undertaking and strengthens organisational safety culture, clarifies roles and aligns health and safety efforts with strategic goals for improved risk management and compliance.
Health and safety events
As a part of the department's commitment to supporting your health, safety and wellbeing, a page has been designed to provide information relating to upcoming health and safety events.
Health and safety events are a great opportunity to promote the importance of health and safety in your workplace, involve people in activities and share knowledge and ideas.
Departmental employees can access the events calendar via OnePortal—search 'calendar'.
Schools and departmental workplaces should schedule local activities and diarise the following:
- Health, safety and wellbeing committee meetings (every 3 months e.g. 1 per term)
- Annual Safety Assessment and development of associated action plan (each year)
- Hearing Awareness Week
- RU OK Day
- Safe Work Month—October each year
-
Queensland Mental Health Week.