HBS5OHA - Written report assignment:
Draft topic due now 30th March, 2020 Finalr eport Due 5.00 18thMay 20 20
Int his assignmenty ouare required to write a report on occupational health and safety issues within a specific occupation with reference to the OHS legislation within your particular jurisdiction. This report should demonstrate that you have understood the material presented in this subject and are able to apply it to a specific occupation. It is expected that you will also demonstrate your ability to collect, review and analyse relevant material from a range of sources for the purpose of identifying and reporting on the evidence base upon which the assignment is written.
The assignment relates to the range of factors that influence OHS in a specific occupation,i ncluding OHS legislation, OHS principles, risk management systems, hazards and risks, controls and prevention, training, employment arrangements and industrial climate.
STAGE 1: PROPOSE YOUR TOPIC (Due 30 March 2020).
• Please propose an occupation and list a range of occupational health and safety issues you would like to consider. Please also supply a short list of references showing some of your reading on the topic at this early stage. This will need to be from a range of sources, both academic and from government or industry sources. However you should not use nor provide references to sources such as Wikipedia.
• Load your topic proposal into the drop box labelled -Assignment 1 topic proposal- on LMS.
Once you have received confirmation of your topic proceed to research it.
STAGE 2: INVESTIGATE THE TOPIC/ DRAFT THE REPORT
• This stage involves gathering data, evidence and other information from a range of sources including peer reviewed journal articles.
• Always refer to the obvious sources such as your local regulatory authority
(WorkSafe, WorkCover, etc), national sources including Safe Work Australia, other sources such as the peer reviewed literature, Australian Bureau of Statistics, industry associations, Unions (as appropriate), and so on.
• Where there is a Code of Practice e.g. Manual Handling, an Australian Standard, or other authoritative documentation or processes that are pertinent to your topic, always apply them as part of your analysis, and cite them in the report.
Consider the following questions – as relevant - in your background research.
• Describe the main types of work in this occupation, who are the customers / clients / consumers and describe where the work is performed.
• What is the employment situation for this occupation? Is it a diminishing or growing occupation, impacted upon by global / international factors?
• Are there “key” major employers? Is there any possibility for home-based work?
• Has technology changed the nature of the work processes / materials / equipment in this occupation in the past 10 years or so?
• What are the characteristics of workers in this occupation – gender, age, ethnic background, educational background, attitudes to safety?
• What are the implications of any of these for the worker, their families and the workplace? Have the characteristics changed in the past 20 years and has the occupation adapted to accommodate these changes?
• Is there an ageing workforce?
• What qualifications/training/trade membership are required for the types of work?
• How do the workers receive training and seek employment? How are they engaged and paid?
• What unions are involved?
• What are the key OHS issues/hazards faced by this group?
• What are the key OHS risks?
• What are some of the main injuries or illnesses likely as a result of exposure to the hazards common in this occupation?
• Specify the jurisdiction you are considering (state, country). Outline the relevant OHS and compensation legislation that applies.
• Considering the specific occupation you are investigating - what are the relevant regulations, codes of practice or resources available? Explain why these are relevant.
• What are the main Risk Management Strategies applied in this occupation? What prevention strategies are, or could be, implemented to reduce the risks associated with this type of work?
• Are there any economic, attitudinal, industrial relations or other factors that influence worker performance in this occupation?
STAGE 3: WRITE THE REPORT. DUE 18th May 2020
• Your report should be written as if it is a report to management (or some other target audience) but it must also meet the standards for university writing and presentation, especially with respect to referencing.
• The content must be presented under the following headings. The actual content will vary as some occupations have more data available than others, so your content will be determined by what is available.
1) COVER PAGE
• Unit ID (HBS5OHA), report title, date, and author, student ID number. You may include a table of contents if you wish.
2) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• One or two paragraphs such as in an Executive Summary you would provide to a CEO. This is an overview of the content but not the detail.
• Outline the main OHS issues and hazards (including injury data summary for that occupation), the regulatory requirements that apply, and a brief summary of your recommended risk controls.
• This can be written as 1 or 2 paragraphs or can be a series of dot points, as you think best suits the information you are summarizing.
3) DESCRIPTION OF THE OCCUPATION
• Outline the occupation, the work; the training required; related skills (computer skills, forklift license, etc); technological changes that have changed the work or employment; make-up of the workforce by age and sex; key employers (or clients); involvement of Unions or trade or other associations, etc.
• Include photographs, charts, tables, etc as appropriate.
4) OH&S ISSUES
• List and describe the key OH&S issues for this occupation. Cite injury data; nominate the principal causes of injuries; changes in injury rates in recent years; typical severity of injuries; typical return to work success; costs of injuries and compensation, etc.
• Include photographs, charts, tables, etc as appropriate.
5) RECOMMENDATIONS
• You need to show that you have thought about possible courses of action that could eliminate or reduce the level of risk ‘as far as reasonably practicable’. You also need to show that you can argue a case for one or more courses of action as part of your function as an OH&S expert in the organization.
• Use the Hierarchy of Controls to structure your recommendations for the types of risk controls that could be applied to reduce or eliminate the hazards to which these workers are exposed. As the Hierarchy is not separately covered in this unit, look at the numerous websites that give good examples of the Hierarchy in practice. Safework SA (South Australia) has a good explanation, but there are many others as well.
• You should consider the possible costs relative to the potential benefits when presenting the risk control options.
• You should nominate a preferred risk control if one (or more) is clearly the more appropriate course of action. Remember that you do not have to eliminate the hazard if it is not practicable to do so, and simply reducing the risk by (say) 50% is better than no action at all.
• If you are not confident about recommending risk controls based on your current knowledge or experience, find information which can help you. You can find useful guidance in the various publications produced by your local authority. There is a lot of material available, much of it relating to manual handling risk controls.
6) REFERENCES
• You are expected to draw on both the material presented to you throughout this coursework (as relevant) as well as to seek evidence and research literature beyond this. Check the module references and LMS site for resources initially. Reference to statistics, legislation and guidance material from your own jurisdiction is required.
References should support your background, discussion, and recommendations. You should write your assignment in a scholarly way –this means supporting statements of fact with the appropriate sources of information and providing the full citation details in the reference list. List all your references in APA7 format. Do not referen ce your HBS5OHA notes d irectly.
• Please have a look at the La Trobe Library Academic Referencing Tool for more information. http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/referencing-tool/
STAGE 4: CHECK THE REPORT
• Re-read the report and look for spelling errors, typos, poor grammar, etc. If you are not a good speller or writer, get a friend or colleague to read your draft and advise you of any errors or shortcomings.
• Do not rely on spell checking for proof reading because of the well-known malapropisms that can result.
• Avoid the vernacular and popular abbreviations. Write ‘do not’ rather than ‘don’t’, and all similar abbreviations.
• You can only use personal and/or organization names if they give their permission. Otherwise, it is ‘Mary’, ‘Mr Brown’ (not their real names) or ‘the company’.
• Be careful to correctly describe tools and equipment. Benches, desks, cranes, ladders, wrenches, spindle moulders, etc are specific things so make sure you use the correct term.
• Tables, photographs, etc can be freestanding or you can put them into text boxes if this makes it easier to attach a caption.
• Where you include tables or charts with data from sources, cite the source immediately under the table or chart.
• Where you include a photograph, call it ‘Figure x’ or ‘Picture x’ and always add a caption to say what the photograph is about and providing the source of the image, even if it is an image you have supplied yourself.
• Include a header or footer with your name and the report title, and include page numbers.
• Make sure the report looks readable. Avoid large slabs of unbroken text.
• Finally, check that the body of the report is around 2,000 words plus references.
Marking Guide – on next page.
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La Trobe University
HBS5OHA – Occupational Health and Safety Principles and Legislation Assignment
Marking and assignment feedback guide
Comments Marks Total possible mark
Executive Summary: Clear outline of approach to topic, introduction/definition of key concepts & issues, relevant contextual information to “set the scene”. 5
Description of occupation: Selection of material suitable to job chosen, reference to research information. 10
OH&S issues: Key issues addressed including OHS principles & legislation for specific jurisdiction. 10
Recommendations: Evidence of research beyond module material, reference to national/international issues, analysis and application. Quality of discussion, linking evidence base to arguments presented.
Conclusion and recommendations. 15
Expression, presentation, layout: Appropriate level of language, images and tables used throughout. Structured logical and clear. 7
Referencing: Referenced correctly.
References provided in APA 7 format 3
Total /50
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