BSBWHS307 Assessment 1 Knowledge questions

ASSESSMENT GUIDELINES FOR STUDENTS

• You need to achieve a ‘Satisfactory’ grade in ALL the assessments items to be granted a ‘Competent’ grade in the unit.
• In case you are not able to achieve a ‘Satisfactory’ grade in any assessment task, you will be given three (3) attempts to resubmit your assessment. Your trainer will be available to assist you in any areas of difficulty. Please discuss the assessment with your trainer to seek advice on how you can achieve competency in the unit.
• Where relevant, oral questions may be asked to gather more information on your knowledge, skills and competence in the unit.
• A holistic approach is used to assess your skills relevant to this qualification.  The skills are assessed across the different units offered within this qualification. Where a skill relevant to this unit is not assessed within this assessment pack, please note that the skill will be assessed in another unit.

Assessment 1: Knowledge questions

Refer to Section 1 in your Study Guide to answer the questions below:

1. What is work health and safety?

Work health and safety (WHS) (also known as Occupational Health and Safety (OHS))   describes the laws and processes that help in protecting employees from injury, disease, and death at the workplace.

1. Why is workplace health and safety important?

The reason WHS is important is that many people get injured, fall ill, or die at the workplace. This costs the Australian industry over 10 billion dollars annually. 

1. What are the direct costs of occupational injury?  Give examples

There are certain occupational injuries that directly impact employees as well as employers and can be quantified. Some direct costs include incapacity payments for lost earnings, medical costs, rehabilitation costs, and property damage. Consider a case where an employee gets injured at the workplace- he will not be able to work for some time (lost earnings), will require treatment (medical costs) and rehabilitation (rehabilitation costs), and it is possible that injury was caused or resulted in some property damage.

1. What are the indirect costs of occupational injury?  Give examples

There are certain occupational injuries that indirectly impact employee as well as employers and cannot be quantified. Some indirect costs include time lost from work by the injured employee, loss of skills, experience and knowledge, cost of recruitment, replacement and training, increased workload pressure and uncertainty for co-workers, higher risk of injuries to other staff and lowered morale, absenteeism, turnover, workplace conflict, the cost of replacement equipment, damage to the organisation’s reputation as an attractive workplace, and cost of investigation reports.

1. List the benefits of having an effective health and safety program at the workplace for both employers and employees

There are multiple benefits of having an effective health and safety program at the workplace.

From an employer perspective, the benefits include:

• improved productivity;
• improved staff morale;
• reduced sickness-related absenteeism;
• reduced workplace injury and workers compensation costs;
• reduced health-related work impairment;
• improved employee relations;
• improved workability in an ageing workforce;
• increased creativity and innovation;
• improved employee engagement;
• increased attraction and retention of staff; and
• improved corporate image.

From an employee perspective, the benefits include:

• increased energy and vitality;
• improved health awareness and knowledge;
• improved physical and mental wellbeing and resilience;
• improved concentration and productivity;
• increased work enjoyment and fulfilment;
• improved team relationships.

1. Give 5 examples of the type of hazards that may exist at a workplace.

• examples of the type of hazards that may exist at a workplace include:
• A chemical hazard where fumes from a chemical impact the breathing
• A biological hazard where a virus spreads through the air conditioning
• A manual hazard where a heavy box being pulled up falls on someone
• A physical hazard where there is a ventilation issue
• A psychosocial hazard where an employee might not be keen on working in shift

7. Look at the pictures below and identify the hazards that might exist in the job:

1. 1. Welder

                Physical (noise and heat from welding)

                Chemical (fumes from welding)

1. 1. Mechanic

Physical (injury)

Chemical (liquids)

1. 1. Textile worker

Physical (injury)

Chemical (liquids)

1. 1. Tractor driver

Physical (injury from the machine)

1. 1. Agricultural worker

Chemical (liquids and fumes)

1. What job do you do currently?  Not Working (student)
2. Identify all the potential hazards in your job
   1. Physical- falling from the staircase
   2. Ergonomics- poor furniture
   3. Radiation- emission from computer
   4. Biological- infection from air-conditioning