Safety management carries legal requirements – make sure your crew know about safety
Having conversations with your crew lets you gain first-hand knowledge and experience that will help build a healthy and safe workplace on your vessel.
Your crew will be much more engaged in the process if they understand the safety objectives and their ability to have input and their role in achieving these objectives. This makes everyone safer and can also foster trust in management and lead to improved productivity.
Consulting with workers and their representatives on health and safety matters is also a legal requirement under work health and safety laws. Given the importance of consultation in contributing to work health and safety, the Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WHS Act) prescribes a general duty on Persons Conduction a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) to consult.
Consultation can occur in different ways depending on what suits your workplace and your workers. The best way to consult with your workers will depend on:
- the size of the business and how it is structured – a single vessel or fleet operation
- the way work is arranged and where your workers are located – home port each day or away in remote areas for multiple days
- what best suits your workers – ask how they would like to be consulted
- the complexity, frequency and urgency of the issues that require consultation.
Consultation is a collaborative process between the vessel owner, or PCBU, and the master and crew. It involves allowing crew to raise issues, sharing information about work health and safety and ensuring that views of workers are considered when making decisions about health and safety for the vessel.
You can find more information here.