How safety management software can help you to manage COVID-19 risks in the workplace
From a work health and safety management perspective, COVID-19 is not so different from any other hazard in the workplace.
Many people find this surprising to hear.
However, when you consider that your duty – as a manager or leader in an organisation – is to provide a safe working environment for your workers, and to both know and manage all hazards and risks to worker health and safety, it becomes more clear.
COVID-19 is a hazard. This hazard may very well be present in your workplace at any given time. Therefore, you, as a duty holder, must ensure the hazard is effectively controlled and managed to prevent harm to your workers.
How can you best manage this risk?
There’s no doubt that COVID-19 has impacted our lives and the wider world around us in distressing and upsetting ways. Yet, from a purely work health and safety perspective, it can be approached in a similar way as other hazards and risks.
That is, you must understand the hazard and then do everything you can to mitigate the risk of this impacting the health and safety of your workers.
Having said this, it is important to first reiterate that COVID-19 is a highly infectious and possibly fatal disease. Furthermore, it has the potential to not only affect the health of your workers but also their families, friends and the broader community.
COVID-19 is, therefore, one hazard that must be very carefully and purposefully managed by all businesses and organisations.
So how can you best manage this risk? Well, we recommend that you are proactive in your approach. At times like these, workers are looking for direct and clear advice from leadership. Plus, it is important that you provide workers with the right tools to help them to fulfil what is asked of them.
WHS management software for COVID-19 management
With COVID-19, things move fast. The advice from government and regulatory bodies is constantly changing. So, it is important you have a tool that allows you the flexibility to adapt when things change.
WHS or OHS management software helps in this regard. It is a central repository, where all of your safety related documents, records and activity is stored and managed. You can control who sees what and who can edit what. And you can control the messaging that goes out to your workers about the latest when it comes to COVID-19.
Safety management software really is a great tool to have under your belt at this time – a time when active work health and safety is more important than ever.
Four key aspects you must have in your OHS response to COVID-19
Here’s four important aspects of managing the COVID-19 hazard from a work health and safety (WHS) perspective, and how our safety management software, Safety Champion, can assist you to manage the risk of your workers contracting COVID-19 in your workplace.
Ensuring everyone is across the latest rules you have set in place
Safety Champion’s Communication Module allows you to share important changes to policies or practices related to COVID-19 directly with your team. You can request that workers sign off that they have read and understood the information you share, giving you peace of mind that your team know the latest and most important information.
Keeping track of when your workers are on site
Our Site Attendance Module allows you to both track movement of people in and out of your workplaces or work sites, and provide them with the “site rules” they are to follow prior to entry. Remind them that they shouldn’t enter the workplace if they are experiencing symptoms, and let them know what they should or shouldn’t do once they are on site. This allows your workers to learn how they play their part in your infection control measures, at the exact point when its most important.
Engaging your workers to play their part
Safety Champion’s Hazard Module gives your workers a way to instantly report hazards that may increase the risk of COVID-19 spreading. For example, a worker might see that utensils in the kitchen are being used by multiple people, without evidence of cleaning or sanitisation. Workers can use their phone, tablet or computer to report any hazards they see and take a photo then and there. This way you can swiftly manage the risk.
Managing reported COVID-19 cases, quickly
Safety Champion provides you with a way to track and manage COVID-19 cases. Our Incident Reporting and Investigation Module lets workers report any suspected or actual cases of COVID-19 instantly and from anywhere. An alert can be configured so that you can immediately begin to control the risk. Whether your team are working from their usual place of work or from home, it’s important that you are across the health of your team – especially when it comes to coronavirus.
Start a 14-day obligation-free trial of Safety Champion today.
Evidence supporting your COVID safe response
An important benefit of using health and safety software as a central tool in your workplace response to the COVID-19 virus, is that it keeps all your documents, records and evidence in order for you.
This saves you the time and hassle of keeping these records using several tools, and compiling information together, as and when needed.
It can be especially tricky to keep strong records and evidence when your workers have, likely, changed how they work, where they work, how long they work for, etc. With all this movement and change, what you really need is an all-in-one tool – that your entire team can access from where ever, whenever – to manage not only COVID-19, but all of your legal duties when it comes to work health and safety.
Your evidence, documents and records are stored by Safety Champion up in the cloud – ready for you when you need.
What’s more, it is actually a duty of yours to keep such information in place. If the regulator ever came knocking to review your COVID safe plan or your OHS practices in general, it is of great benefit to you if you have these items in place.
Trust us – Safety Champion will do wonders for you when it comes to keeping those all-important records and evidence of the measures you have in place to protect the people in your workplace.
If you’re keen to learn more about how safety management software, Safety Champion Software, can assist you with the implementation of your COVID safe plan (and your WHS practices in full), reach out to us today!
