• planned workplace changes that may affect the health or safety of employees, students, contractors, visitors or customers of the University prior to their implementation; and
• existing activities, work practices, equipment, items of plant, materials, substances, facilities, premises, buildings, areas, etc.

3. Definitions

"Risk": means a combination of the severity and likelihood of harm arising from a hazard.

"Risk assessment": is the process of evaluating the severity and likelihood of harm arising from a hazard.

"Risk control": is the process of implementing measures to reduce the risk associated with a hazard. The control process must follow the control hierarchy, in order, as prescribed in some health and safety legislation. It is important that control measures do not introduce new hazards, and that the ongoing effectiveness of the controls is monitored.

"Risk control hierarchy": ranks risk control measures in decreasing order of effectiveness:

• elimination of hazard;
• substitution of hazardous processes or materials with safer ones;
• engineering controls;
• administrative controls; and
• personal protective equipment.

"Supervisor" and "Manager": apply to any employee of the University who:

• plans, organises or supervises the activities of other employees, contractors, students or visitors on behalf of the University; or
• designs or organises the design of new facilities for the University.

"New": is used to describe plant or substances that have not been previously introduced within the University under the proposed conditions. It covers plant and substances that have never been introduced on site or have been introduced, but for different purposes, in different quantities, in different areas, etc.

"Plant": covers all machinery and fixed appliances. It does not include road-registered vehicles, household consumer goods (eg kitchen refrigerators or microwave ovens), common hand-held tools (drills, sanders, angle grinders, etc), portable items (mobile phones, hand-held instruments, etc), and general office furniture and equipment (eg desktop computers, printers), except where these items contain or generate a substance as defined below.

"Substance": covers all chemicals and materials, in any physical form (liquid, solid, powder, gas, mixtures, etc), used in the course of employees' or contractors' work. It includes, but is not limited to, compressed gases, solvents, radioactive substances, building materials, pesticides, laboratory chemicals, and cleaning chemicals. It excludes cooking ingredients used in food preparation, first-aid products and pharmaceuticals used under qualified supervision.

4. Actions

4.1 New plant or substance:

Prior to the introduction of any new plant or substance within the School or Directorate:

A. consult with the Health and Safety Representative of any work group affected by a workplace change they are planning;

B. complete a New Plant or Substance Checklist; and

C. perform a HIRAC review in accordance with the HIRAC Guidelines and document the results on a HIRAC Report form.

A. determine in consultation with relevant employees whether the change may reasonably be expected to affect the health or safety of any person; and

B. if a potential health or safety impact is identified:

a) perform a HIRAC review in accordance with the HIRAC Guidelines or any of the various guidelines provided to assist reviewers (e.g. for general reviews, for manual handling tasks, for children in University activities/locations, and for workplace bullying), and document the results on a HIRAC Report form; and

b) refer to the Occupational Health and Safety Procedure - Consultation for Workplace Changes for any other requirement.

A. in consultation with the local Health and Safety Representative(s), develop an annual schedule of HIRAC reviews (the schedules must include a minimum of one HIRAC review per School or Directorate per calendar month);

B. conduct the HIRAC reviews in consultation with the relevant Health and Safety Representative(s) according to the schedule, using the HIRAC Report to document their findings (various guidelines are provided to assist the reviewers: for general reviews, for manual handling tasks, for children in University activities/locations, and for workplace bullying );

C. coordinate the implementation of risk control measures; and

D. liaise closely with the Health and Safety Improvement Team(s) in their School or Directorate.

• before the end of each calendar year, a copy of the annual schedule of HIRAC reviews for the following year (usually included in the School's/Directorate's annual OHS Plan); and
• quarterly summary reports of the HIRAC reviews conducted and the risk control measures adopted or implemented. (Refer to Quarterly Summary HIRAC Report for the suggested format.)

4.4 Electrical Equipment:

A. develop and maintain a register of the electrical equipment within the control of the School/Directorate that requires inspection and testing in accordance with AS/NZS 3760;

B. either have local staff member trained to conduct the inspection and testing program or engage competent persons to perform the tests; and

C. conduct the program of in-service inspection and testing of electrical equipment, in compliance with AS/NZS 3760.

Physical Resources can assist Schools and Directorates that have elected to sub-contract their testing program in identifying competent service providers.

5. Responsibility

Supervisors and Managers are responsible for the implementation of this procedure in relation to the facilities and activities under their control.

Health and Safety Representatives must assist Supervisors and Managers in the implementation of this procedure.

The Manager - Risk, Health & Safety is responsible for:

• maintaining and updating this procedure as required;
• publicising the existence of this procedure to the University community; and
• developing and delivering the training required by Supervisors, Managers and Health and Safety Representatives to fulfil the role assigned to them in this procedure.

6. Policy Base

7. Associated Documents

Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines - HIRAC for Manual Handling Tasks

Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines - HIRAC for Children In University Activities/Locations

Occupational Health and Safety Guidelines (draft for consultation) - HIRAC for the Prevention of Workplace Bullying

8. Forms/Record Keeping