Integral to your role as a workplace supervisor is your ability to teach your apprentice or trainee how to work and behave safely in the workplace.
Their learning should occur in a safe, supportive environment that should build their awareness of risks to health and safety for themselves and others. It is timely that we review current information relating to many apprentices and trainees, particularly young workers.
As a workplace supervisor of an apprentice or trainee you should directly supervise them as appropriate for the vocation or industry, while they are doing their work, unless you have established that:
Effective and adequate supervision and training is the best way to ensure young apprentices and trainees stay safe at work as well as producing quality work and maintaining industry standards. You must:
The workforce is ageing and more older workers are undertaking apprenticeships and traineeships. For employers and supervisors, this means maintaining constant vigilance and awareness of the safety of older apprentices and trainees.
Age-related factors can affect an individual's ability to work safely. In some people, there may be age-related wear and tear and degenerative changes to the body and ill health. There are different types of long-term physical conditions associated with older age groups, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and arthritis or osteoporosis, which may impact on a person's ability to work safely.
Employers and supervisors should review their accidents, incidents and hazard reports to identify any potential age related trends. These practices will support businesses to meet their duty of care responsibilities to adapt work practices according to the different needs of older apprentices and trainees.
This can be achieved through various processes, including:
There are severe penalties for breaches of the Work Health and Safety Act 2000 (NSW). The maximum penalty under the Act is $875,000.
There are also hidden costs involved, including:
Young workers are vulnerable. They experience injury rates out of proportion with other working age groups. They need additional guidance because they lack work experience and may not know how to protect themselves physically and psychologically from injury.
It is critical you provide a safe and positive work environment for your apprentice or trainee. You should know the range of hazards in your workplace and minimise risk so your apprentice or trainee can stay safe at work.
You must take reasonable care to ensure your workplace and the people in it are safe from injury and health risks. If you identify a likely risk of harm, it is your legal obligation to address it. You should minimise or eliminate risk by providing support, instruction, training, and on-going adequate supervision. Your inaction is a breach of your duty of care.
It is essential that you manage risk around young apprentices and trainees and help them become continually aware of the risk of accidents and injury to them and others in the workplace. There are several factors which combine to put young people at greater risk of injury than other age groups.
Young workers are often at risk of workplace injury due to:
Workplace bullying and harassment can happen to anyone. It involves a more powerful person or group of people oppressing a less powerful person or group, often because they're different. Bullying and harassment are unreasonable behaviours that cause humiliation, offence, intimidation or distress, and affect an employee's ability to work.
Harassment toward another person or group in the workplace may include:
The behaviour does not have to be repeated or ongoing to be deemed harassment.
An employer may be liable for the actions of employees if they have not taken reasonable actions to prevent or respond to the harassment or any complaint or evidence of harassment. Reasonable actions can include acting on bullying or harassment issues, implementing policies and procedures and training programs for all staff.
Bullying is another form of workplace harassment that many employers and employees face. Examples of bullying behaviour include:
Bullies usually use power attributed to their status, skills or position in the workplace, and both men and women can be the targets and/or the perpetrators. Workplace bullying can occur between a worker and a manager or supervisor, or between co-workers. Workplace violence can include assaults, threatened assaults and harassment.
Bullying and harassment can be identified under categories such as:
It may be motivated by jealousy, distrust, misunderstanding or lack of knowledge, have an element of threat and can continue over time. It is not always the case that bullying and harassment is obvious. It can be seen as the 'workplace culture'.
It may also be reinforced by a group dynamic: 'don't dob'. Workers who experience bullying can suffer anxiety, post traumatic stress disorder, ill health, and even commit suicide. That's why workplace bullying and harassment are against the law. Many victims won't speak up because they think it's 'workplace culture' and they'll be called a 'troublemaker'.
Failure to prevent or respond to workplace bullying and harassment can result in breaches of equal opportunity, Work Health and Safety and anti-discrimination laws.
Anti-discrimination law provides protection against discrimination so that people are protected and encouraged to exercise their right to make a complaint about bullying or harassment.
Victimisation can take the form of:
To avoid being accused of bullying and/ or harassment, you could follow these guidelines:
Additional information can be found at: www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au and in our resources section checklist for identifying signs of workplace bullying.
Strategies to reduce workplace bullying and harassment include:
The prevention and reduction of workplace bullying and harassment requires regular consultation, monitoring and evaluation via the following actions:
Anyone can experience mental health concerns, affecting their thoughts, feelings and behaviours. One in five people experience a mental illness each year, and two in five people have experienced a mental illness in their lifetime.
Supporting people experiencing mental health concerns is an all- of community issue and there is a role to play for every workplace. By addressing mental health in the workplace, you can reduce costs associated with absences, achieve greater staff loyalty and a higher return on training investment, avoid litigation and fines for breaches of health and safety laws, and improve employee morale and wellbeing.
Mental health refers to our ability to manage thoughts, feelings and behaviours so that we can:
Structural: safe working conditions, housing, employment and financial security, inclusive workplaces and good work design.
Community: sense of belonging, connection with others, access to social and peer support and freedom from bullying.
Individual: ability to bounce back from challenges, good physical health, sleep and rest and effective coping strategies.
Risk factors
Protective factors
People can avoid conversations for fear of saying the wrong thing. If you are worried about someone it is better to fumble through the conversation than avoid it all together. If you know someone who has been affected by mental health concerns or suicide it is better to reach out than avoid the person or the discussion. Avoiding the discussion can lead to people feeling more isolated.
If you are worried about someone or noticed changes, then ask R U Ok? Using A L E C
Ask: if you are worried someone is thinking about suicide, then ask directly and be prepared for the answer.
Listen: do this without judgment and don’t try to fix the situation. People want understanding rather than solutions.
Encourage action: talk to the person about who else to involve so they can be supported and encourage them to seek help.
Check-in: stay in touch and check back in.
Tips for improving mental health and wellbeing:
If someone is in immediate danger, please call 000.
Local support: Their GP or TAFE Counselling Service (call 131 601 -option 5, then option 2).
Access a list of free support services
Mental health prevention and promotion strategies are beneficial to every workplace, with data showing a return on investment of up to $18.50 for every $1 invested.
Everymind can tailor support to your unique needs including:
Directly supervise your apprentice or trainee while they're working unless you know they're deemed competent in the task or if less supervision won't endanger the health or safety of your apprentice or trainee or other workers.
You must know the range of hazards in your workplace and apply necessary control measures to ensure young apprentices and trainees aren't injured or made ill at work. Manage risk by providing information, supervision and training so they're aware of the risk of accidents and injury and work in a safe manner.
Review your accidents, incidents and hazard reports to identify any age-related trends so you can adapt work practices to suit the needs of older apprentice or trainee.
The key to safety is matching job/task demands with an individual's abilities and skill set. Conduct pre-placement discussions and ongoing consultation to monitor and review workplace practice.
Bullying and harassment are against the law. Ensure your workplace has a zero-tolerance policy. Ensure it’s included in inductions, established as part of your ground rules of behaviour and that your team reviews your policy every year. Make sure you and your team undertake bullying and harassment training regularly. If no training has been completed at your workplace, add it to your action plan and make it happen soon. It's a risk to your business if something goes wrong.
Be aware of mental health conditions in your workplace. Depression and anxiety may impact the work or attitude of your apprentice or trainee, affecting your relationship, their attendance or their quality of work. Indicate you've noticed a change in their behaviour and refer them to resources such as employee assistance programs or their GP.
