Employee Participation and Responsibilities
Effective workplace health and safety management is strongly dependent on the
involvement of staff in identifying hazards, and on the sharing of information.
This can be achieved by a number of methods, including: employee surveys,
hazard identification by teams, regular weekly meetings where work is reviewed
and systems discussed, or a health and safety committee including both elected
employee and management representatives.
Under the HSE Act, employees have a duty to take all practicable steps to avoid
harming themselves or any other person. This general duty implies the following:
· behaving appropriately
· taking care to avoid behaviours that generate inappropriate responses
from others (including bullying or being dismissive of the needs of others)
· co-operating with the employer and providing constructive feedback in
matters of health and safety
· a duty to follow care plans and to bring to the attention of the supervisor/
employer any difficulties with those care plans
· attending training and implementing the health and safety objectives of
the training as far is possible
· fully participating in communication programmes
· reporting hazards and incidents (including stress and fatigue)
· taking part in incident investigations and debriefing exercises