Workplace Compliance, Workplace Health and Safety

Three WorkSafe videos you need to see

June 24, 2016 Leave a comment

With the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act, the legislation introduced a number of new requirements for both businesses and workers. In many respects, businesses with strong health and safety processes were in a secure position from the offset. However, due to the new wording, and the introduction of new concepts and definitions, many contractors and businesses are unsure about what the Act and its obligations mean to them.

In response to this environment of ambiguity, WorkSafe New Zealand released several short films that aim to clear the air. These "Icebreakers", as they are called, combine present crucial information about work site safety in the most quintessential Kiwi way.

So to help you understand how the Act is to be interpreted, here are three Icebreakers to get you learning and laughing all at the same time.

Icebreaker 1: Is it Reasonably Practicable?

When the Act was introduced last year, the phrase "reasonably practicable" was widely misunderstood. Yet, the term is of much importance and can be found throughout the Act.

The term ensures that the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) was doing everything in its power to keep workers safe and healthy. The term is an indication that a PCBU is expected to make a judgement call that involves considering the risk against the available resources.

WorkSafe points out organisations that follow industry best practice when carrying out tasks are likely to already be taking satisfactory actions to ensure health and safety.

Icebreaker 2: Risk management

Another key component of the Act is the effective management of risks through the identification of new hazards. Keeping workers safe from harm involves identifying and managing the risks that face workers on an everyday basis.

In the video below, the manager is helping another know about a new hazard that will be on the floor that day. Additionally, she has put in place a risk a management system that can effectively govern the new hazards.

WorkSafe advises employers and employees to manage the most significant and crucial risks first before moving on to less serious risks. Like the manager in the video, behaviour, knowledge and the processes themselves should be continuously monitored and revised to ensure that all new risks are accounted for and workplace health and safety compliance is achieve.

Icebreaker 3: Working with others towards health and safety

As all builders know, construction sites are typically buzzing with activity. From waterproofing professionals to scaffolding, the number of different people and businesses working on a site can make safety compliance a difficult proposition.

However, ensuring businesses work together towards a safe work site is a fundamental aspect of the new Act. Where two or more businesses overlap, so do their responsibilities to health and safety. What this means is that businesses need to ensure they consult, liaison and coordinate with others to ensure they meet their obligations under the Act.

According to the government, every week one person dies at work, while another 15 people die from work-related diseases. New Zealand's health and safety record is twice as bad as our trans-Tasman neighbours, while it is three times worse than the UK's. With the cost of deaths, injuries and other health issues estimated at $3.5 billion and the unquantifiable emotional costs on family and friends, the government has made it a priority for businesses to work together.

One of the best ways to ensure that your business is compliant with the new Act is through safety software, such as the cloud-based SiteApp. Not only does it condense the workload by making your safety documentation easily accessible, it also can help monitoring as information is displayed in real time.

If you would like to know more, talk to the experts at SiteApp today and find out how they can customise the application to fit your compliance and business needs.

Accident and Injury Avoidance, Workplace Compliance, Workplace Health and Safety

Protecting against falls in New Zealand’s construction industry

June 22, 2016 Leave a comment

New Zealand is home to a thriving construction industry. From alterations to civil construction, the industry has a wide range of areas and sub-sectors. Yet, across the board, falls are one of the biggest risks to work site safety.

SiteApp can ensure more effective workplace compliance across the board.

In response, the government has outlined a number of specific ways to ensure that workers and employees are safe while on site. Is it possible for multiple companies to ensure they are preventing falls from a height and collaborating across work health and safety systems?

Falls are a source of major concern to authorities

The construction industry is one of the economic pillars in New Zealand. According to the government, close to 180,000 people work in the sector (over 8 per cent of the total workforce), which makes it the sixth largest industry. Additionally, it contributes 6 per cent every year to New Zealand's GDP that puts it on par with the agriculture sector.

The sector relies heavily on labour-only contracting, and as a result, there are fewer opportunities to train less-skilled workers. Therefore, contractors sometimes lack the required skills needed to operate safely, making it imperative to have robust and simple safety processes in place.

WorkSafe New Zealand points out that falls from roofs and ladders at a height of three metres or less account for 18 per cent of injury causing accidents.

As such, it is essential that contractors, construction companies, and developers understand their responsibilities as well as how they can help avoid this on their sites.

Rights of construction workers

Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, construction workers are offered a number of rights to stay safe at work. These can include the right to work in a safe environment, where hazards are managed by employers and workers are made aware of how to keep themselves safe.

Additionally, this can also mean that all equipment, such as workplace tools, vehicles and machinery, are safe to use and in good working order.

When this comes to working at heights, workers have the right to the use of a safe ladder – one that is not damaged or in a state of disrepair that could lead to an injury. Additionally, workers have the right to a safe worksite no matter where they are or the type of work they are doing.

Organisational responsibilities

In response to workers' rights, organisations need to ensure that they're satisfying their responsibilities when workers undertake activities from a height.

With some sites having multiple contractors and construction companies working on it, there is a greater need to ensure that these responsibilities are understood by all stakeholders. Under the Health and Safety at Work Act, companies are required to engage with both workers and organisations to ensure that safety is approached in a responsible way.

Organisations need to ensure that safety is approached in a responsible way.

Unfortunately, many of the older, paper-based systems are unable to interact with one another due to the large volume of forms and other documentation needed. While they may be able to do the job, there are more effective ways of ensuring that workers' safety rights are protected. For instance, safety software can bring together all the required documentation and make is accessible from one source. Additionally, applications such as SiteApp can simplify compliance by managing the documentation of accurate information, and effective processes.

If you are worried that your safety system is not properly encouraging workers to undertake safe activities when working from heights, talk to SiteApp today. Their safety application can help you keep a track of all the safety processes in action on your sites.

Workplace Health and Safety

Operating heavy machinery safely

June 17, 2016 Leave a comment

There are a number of threats to health and safety on construction sites, but perhaps one of the biggest is heavy machinery. If operated incorrectly, it can pose a significant danger to workers, which could result in injuries to your staff and the disruption of financial penalties for your business.

Consequently, it is essential that employers have a good understanding of how to properly manage the use of heavy machinery, to ensure the work site remains safe and productive at all times.

Heavy machinery can present a number of potential hazards, but the right health and safety strategy can help mitigate them.

Heavy machinery poses a risk to workers

While it can be an effective and necessary tool for many construction workers, heavy machinery does present a number of risks to those operating it and working nearby. Workers compensation law firm identifies several top hazards of using this equipment, and it's important for site managers to be aware of what could go wrong.

When working around heavy machinery, there is the potential for someone to get snared by an apparatus and entangled or seriously injured by the machine itself.
As with any piece of technology, it is possible for equipment to malfunction, and depending on the nature of the failure this may result in harm to the workers.
Machinery such as forklifts and tractors can be extremely heavy and difficult to manoeuvre, and an inadequately designed environment may cause trauma from repetitive movements or may lead to a foundational collapse.

There are many other possible dangers related to the use of machinery, including tipping, harmful substances and heavy lifting.

A health and safety app can give employers better insight into the needs of a site.

How can you ensure machinery is being operated safely on site?

When it comes to keeping employees safe, it is the duty of employers to take every precaution as far as is practicable to monitor on site safety operations. According to Worksafe New Zealand, there are number of actions for employers to take.

They must do everything they can to create a secure environment and ensure equipment is being operated carefully at all times. They need to come up with a suitable set of procedures for managing health and safety, as well as reporting and assessing any incidents. In addition, it is important to implement thorough training for workers to ensure they have a good understanding of best practises, and also to provide the appropriate safety equipment.

Nevertheless, employers cannot be everywhere at once, which is why investing in a workplace safety app such as SiteApp can enable you to oversee health and safety practises from any location while on the go, ensuring that your site always has the best information available.

Workplace Compliance

Managing health and safety with migrant construction workers

June 3, 2016 Leave a comment

With a number of ongoing building projects in New Zealand, foreign contractors are becoming more regular on the construction site. While these workers are highly important to filling skills gaps, construction companies find themselves facing new challenges to ensuring effective workplace health and safety systems are in place.

As foreign workers come with their own cultures, languages and ways of doing things, it is essential that construction companies have a streamlined, accessible and effective safety system in place. So how could safety software bridge the gap and make sure workers of different cultures are collaborating to foster a safe work environment?

Work site safety is based on clear communication, yet cultural misunderstandings can and do happen.

Christchurch rebuild a clear example

Following the devastation brought by the February 2011 earthquakes in Christchurch, the city and surrounding suburbs reconstructed their lives as well as their structures. The rebuild offered residents a new beginning, yet it also brought with it a skill shortage that had to be filled.

Speaking to The Nation in 2013, Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse pointed out that 35,000 workers were needed to complete the rebuild, but he predicted a shortage of 17,000.

"There is no doubt in my mind that the rebuild is going to require a significant number of migrant labour," he said.

With demolitions beginning, construction companies charged with rebuilding the city sought tradespeople from wherever they could find them. According to Statistics New Zealand, one in five people in the Greater Christchurch Area were born overseas, with English and Australian the two most common countries of birth.

Of those who have moved to Christchurch since the earthquakes or have been living in New Zealand for two years or less:

Over 1,300 people are from the People's Republic of China.
Around 1,000 individuals stem from the Philippines.
Nearly 1,000 people came from India.
More than 860 were born in Ireland. {attribute?}

While many of Christchurch's new residents are coming from overseas in the hope of finding jobs in the reconstruction efforts, many still are being directly recruited.

How could language barriers impact site safety?

Working across cultures essential in New Zealand

With the influx of workers to New Zealanders shores, companies within the construction industry have to insure that they are encompassing all those who work on their sites. Yet, due to cultural barriers, misunderstandings happen and workers can be left unaware of their responsibilities.

Learning to work with people from other cultures is essential to building a safety relationship with foreign contractors. With the new Health and Safety at Work's focus on collaborative approaches to safety, ensuring culture is not a barrier is essential.

Roy Chua, an assistant professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School, said cross cultural collaboration was essential in today's commercial world. He pointed out that to minimise the misunderstandings and reap the benefits, people need to find a common platform to appeal to both sides.

A safety app can help bridge cultural misunderstandings.

One way to achieve this is through a simple and easily accessible safety system. However, with older, paper based methods, workplace compliance can be arduous and out of reach for those not accustomed to New Zealand's work site safety environment.

Technology and safety software, in particular, can bridge this gap and help achieve better collaboration with foreign contractors. Margaret Williams of Russia's Fulbright program pointed out that digital technology can help facilitate cross-cultural communication and has been using it to great effect in her classrooms.

When it comes to managing staff, it can become difficult to administrate foreign workers if supervisors do not have the skills to break down barriers. As such, there needs to be a safety system in place to break down barriers.

SiteApp is safety software that incorporates ease of use and a rage of features that supports a safe working environment. Through its use, workers can stay safe and ensure organisations meet their health and safety requirements. Contact a representative today to learn more.

Workplace Health and Safety

How have New Zealand Asbestos regulations changed?

June 1, 2016 Leave a comment

Asbestos is New Zealand's primary reason for workplace death. The government points out that close to 170 people die every year from asbestos-related diseases.

With so many casualties, there is no surprise that the Health and Safety at Work Act that came into force has changed the way workers manage asbestos if they come into contact with it. However, this change could catch a number of people off guard.

Health and safety in the workplace can be impacted by asbestos-containing materials

What responsibilities do workers and business have?

Asbestos is a grouping of materials that were commonly used up until the 1990s. It was a favoured building material due to its strength, durability and resistance to both fire and water.

As a result of its versatility, it was used for a number of different applications and can be found in a wide variety of locations. These include roofs, ceilings, external cladding and eaves.

Due to health risks that asbestos presents, the government introduced the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016. The new regulations ensure that all workers and the person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) are aware of their responsibilities.

For example, if a PCBU is unsure as to whether asbestos is present within a workplace, Section 48 determines that it is the PCBU's responsibility to ensure an inspection and analysis of a sample is conducted.

What obligations do workers and companies have?

Managing asbestos removal

Alongside changes to the structure of workplace health and safety, the new regulations also introduce a new licensing system for asbestos removal. The system divides removal into two licenses.

Class A allows any type or quantity of asbestos or asbestos-containing material (ACM) to be removed. This includes friable asbestos and ACM, asbestos-contaminated dust or debris (ACD) and non-friable asbestos. Class B only allows for the removal of non-friable asbestos or ACM or any amount of ACD.

Alongside this, from April 2018 the government will require PCBUs who engage in the removal of asbestos to have an asbestos assessor's license. An assessor will provide air quality monitoring while removal work is being undertaken, investigate the finished job and sign off on it.

For PCBUs, if they commission the removal of asbestos it is their duty to make sure that the work is completed by a licensed removalist.

One of the major problems that comes with asbestos removal is coordinating with the multiple PCBUs that are typically involved in a project. With traditional paper-based systems, it can be hard to communicate responsibilities and activities among workers and construction companies.

One way to overcome this is through the use of safety software that is mobile applicable. If you would like to learn more about how asbestos removal and safety apps can work together, contact SiteApp today.

Workplace Health and Safety

What can we learn from the finalists of the NZ Workplace Health & Safety Awards?

May 31, 2016 Leave a comment

Workplace health and safety is a major focus for New Zealand business, so it's no surprise that the area of expertise has its own awards ceremony. The New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards is an annual event organised by Thomson Reuters, which publishes the magazine Safeguard, and supported by WorkSafe New Zealand.

Safety software could help you emulate the characteristics of success these finalists exhibit.

Safeguard editor Peter Bateman said that close to 140 entries were received in 2016 from organisations of all shapes and sizes.

"Despite these differences, what most entries had in common was a desire to go beyond simple compliance with the law – not only because preventing injuries and illness is morally the right thing to do, but because it opens up opportunities to improve culture and processes at all levels," he pointed out.

With the finalists been recently announced, New Zealand companies could learn a thing or two about effective work site safety from the candidates. Here are three examples:

Finalist 1: Fulton Hogan – Kensington Swan best initiative to address a safety risk

This 80 year veteran of the civil construction industry is a major part of New Zealand's, Australia's and the South Pacific's commercial landscape. With operations stretching from mining and asphalt emulsion and precast plants all the way to construction sites and infrastructure maintenance, the company's breadth and size makes work health and safety a tricky issue.

However, it's no rookie when it comes to keeping its workers, employees, and contractors safe. In 2015, it won the Kensington Swan best initiative to address a safety risk and it is once again nominated for the award. Last year, the organisation's joint venture with John Holland was awarded the prize for developing a bag filling system that significantly reduced manual handling on site, decreasing the risk shouldered by workers.

What stands out about Fulton Hogan is its commitment to health and safety, developing new and innovative ways to reduce risk that boost the confidence workers have in the company's safety systems.

How can safety be met on construction sites.

Finalist 2: Frucor Beverages – NZ Safety best initiative to encourage engagement in health and safety

While some may not be completely aware of this company, almost all Kiwis will know its product brands, including V and Just Juice. The drinks company won Aon Hewitt Best Employer accreditation in 2015, which it has won on a number of occasions.

Frucor is known around the world for its high level of employment engagement. According to Aon Hewitt, 77 per cent of employees state that they felt a strong connection to the values that underline the Frucor brand. The secret is that this push for engagement is not just a manager level initiative, but starts from some of its most senior leaders. Take, for instance, Frucor's Under Cover Boss, which allows the CEOs to, sit down with and, learn about the every day tasks of its employees.

With the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 making salient the responsibilities of companies to engage with workers on safety obligations, Frucor is a clear example of how this can be achieved.

How did Men at Work hit its safety objectives for six?

Finalist 3: Men at Work – Site Safe best health and safety initiative by a small business

Managing the traffic of a global cricket event with 2 billion eyes on you sounds daunting right? Not for Men at Work. With hundreds of orange cones and workers in fluorescent jackets, the company knocked their safety goals out of the park.

By creating an original traffic management plan and liaising with a number of stakeholders, including the Christchurch City Council and the police, the biggest implementation of traffic management in Christchurch's history went off without a hitch.

If you would like to know more about how SiteApp could transform your business, talk to a representative today.

Team Motivation, Workplace Health and Safety

Building a positive health and safety culture

May 13, 2016 Leave a comment

As all organisations know, workplace health and safety is an essential element for all businesses. However, the way many approach it fails to be beneficial. A positive health and safety culture can and does add value to an organisation if it is implemented properly.

So what does it take to develop a positive work health and safety culture and how can you implement one at your organisation?

Building a positive workplace health and safety culture depends on knowing what 'culture' is.

What is culture?

Before we begin to talk about positive work health and safety, we must first understand what we mean when we talk about culture, or more specifically, organisational culture.

When anthropologists first came up with the term nearly a century ago, they imagined it as an all encompassing concept that incorporated all that humans do, including our institutions, languages and traditions. However, over time it was distilled into a definition that goes something like this: "The ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a group or organisation of people that is transferred between generations."

In relation to organisational culture, this academic definition fits. Think for instance about leadership style and how this permeates throughout the organisation, influencing the way processes are structured and enacted. Culture provides the background for the way people perform their everyday tasks and the interactions among employees, customers and management staff.

Safety is more than an individuals responsibility.

What is safety culture then?

If culture is the shared meanings, values and behaviours of people, safety culture is thus all that relates to ensuring safety in the workplace. In other words, safety culture is the common understanding that everyone has the right to be safe and healthy while at work as well as the responsibility to act in a way that ensures this is a reality.

One of the most important aspects of culture is that it penetrates all aspects of an organisation, from top to bottom. As such, safety culture is influenced by all members of a business, be it the CEO, an HR manager or a labourer. In this respect, everybody thus has a responsibility to ensure that the culture is a positive one.

However, some people have a greater ability to affect change in an organisation than others and thus have a greater onus on them. In most cases this refers to people in upper management.

So how do I build a positive workplace safety culture?

As culture is defined as a host of transferable values and meanings, building a positive culture of health and safety can be attained in a number of ways.

However, it all starts with ensuring the processes you have at your company serve their purpose and are thus viewed positively by all members of staff. One way to be this happens is by introducing new safety software, such as a safety app.

Culture is inherently communal, thus safety culture is more than an individual's responsibility.

Through applications like SiteApp, employees are better able to interact and engage with workplace processes, without the hassle that characterised old paper-based systems. SiteApp for instance allows workers to access required compliance documents remotely and managers to allocate work duties to individuals in the field.

Once organisations can begin to streamline and enhance their work health and safety processes, employees will begin to see the value of these, rather than being told how these are important. With the passing of the Health and Safety at Work Act, there is added emphasis to engage employees and ensure they are taking responsibility of their own and other's health and safety.

If you would like to learn more about engaging employees and ensuring you have a positive workplace health and safety culture, it is important to talk to the experts in the field. Contact SiteApp today.

Workplace Health and Safety

Driving collaboration through the cloud

April 28, 2016 Leave a comment

When you imagine a construction site what do you see? For most, they picture people working, driving diggers and operating equipment. What they do not see is the multitude of different logos, company employees and contracting businesses that are involved.

With New Zealand's new Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 placing extra emphasis on collaboration between companies to ensure work site safety, communication and information sharing is becoming more and more important.

So what can health and safety leadership do to drive inter-company communication in today's digital world?

Siloed work site safety systems can be a major compliance risk factor.

Cloud software and a collaborative culture

With the cloud moving into its teenage years, and beginning to mature as technology, more and more companies are turning to it to deliver solutions. For instance, a study from the Harvard Business Review shows that 84 per cent of businesses surveyed said that their cloud use has increased over the last year.

The survey also showed that businesses were using cloud technology to drive collaboration, with 72 per cent stating that it was a top benefit. This is no surprise as the cloud is an excellent platform that allows workers to quickly share information and cooperate effectively.

While for most businesses the cloud can speed up the delivery of products, for work health and safety, its use has a whole host of alternative benefits.

Is you health and safety system able to communicate with other companies?

Quicker information, swifter solutions

With work health and safety focused on delivering better work site safety, one of the core processes is identifying hazards and implementing measures to ensure they do not lead to an accident. With a cloud-based safety app for instance, multiple parties can collaborate on a single issue and deliver quicker solutions to safety challenges.

By breaking down information silos, workers and organisations are better able to share information and work collaboratively to find solutions to managing health and safety.

But it is not just the communication between organisations and employees that matter. The new laws have also made it essential for companies to communicate better with organisations that are working on the same site. In contrast, manual, paper-based systems restrict communication to one organisation.

Most health and safety systems are siloed behind these logos, which, in most cases, are unable to talk to each other. But there are ways for companies to break these down. One of the most effective is through safety software, such as SiteApp.

If you are looking for ways to create a culture of collaboration on your work sites, talk to the experts at SiteApp today.

Workplace Compliance, Workplace Health and Safety

Clearing up work health and safety misunderstandings with SiteApp

April 27, 2016 Leave a comment

As with all legislative changes, there are a number of workers, companies and organisations that are not fully aware of what the new law means for them. However, the transition to the new workplace health and safety act is not as complex as many think. This is especially true of companies who have strong WHS procedures in place and who currently use safety software such as New Zealand's SiteApp.

However, this has not stopped several misunderstandings from developing under the new laws.

Workplace compliance starts at the top.

Workers and companies unaware of their responsibilities

One of the big shifts coming from the new WHS legislation is added focus on worker obligations to themselves and others. Yet, it would seem that this has made many unsure about what they need to actually do. New Zealand's media sites have been filled with people who are unsure of their requirements.

For instance, a recent story run by Fairfax shows that a worker in Timaru has refused a number of jobs because he is unsure about what is expected of him. Specifically, he would not take any contracts that would require him to go on a roof, because he believed he would need harness training and other equipment to do so.

Yet, a WorkSafe NZ spokeswoman pointed out that this is not a requirement under the new Act as long as he is appropriately managing risks and hazards to the best of his ability.

Ambiguity can be a major obstacle for workers, especially in high risk areas such as construction. In response, workers need to ensure they have access to up-to-date information on site, so they can be sure what they are doing is compliant under the law. Safety apps are an effective way to achieve this.

Are workers aware of their responsibilities?

WHS more than worker's responsibilities

While there is a certain level of confusion when it comes to workers, organisations on the other hand, are responsible for both their own actions and those of their workers. The Act is clear when it comes to companies and boards about what is expected as it defines their duties clearly.

Organisations need to ensure that they have a good understanding of their risk profile, have key measures in place and a system that provides up-to-date and pertinent information on whether these mechanisms are working. While these are essential components, they are not always sufficient at minimising risk. Companies also need to ensure they are able to communicate work health and safety to contractors and employees in the field.

With the introduction of the concept of 'person conducting a business or undertaking' (PCBU), organisations are required to ensure, as far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers on site. This can be hard, especially in the construction industry, where most workers are operating remotely. Yet, there are a number of ways to ensure that workers are not left out of the loop and thus reduce the risk of a compliance breach.

One of the most effective approaches is cloud-based safety software. SiteApp is one of New Zealand's leading online safety applications that can ensure that all documentation is up-to-date and all workers are aware of their roles and responsibilities. This app makes keeping workplaces hazard-free easier than with traditional paper-based processes.

Furthermore, the easy interface and intuitive design makes it simple for all workers to use. By guiding them through hazard identification and risk analysis processes, measures can be quickly put in place and the hazard analysis repeated.

If you are looking to add more to your health and safety processes, SiteApp is a good place to start. So contact a representative today to find out how it can help you ensure compliance across the board.

Workplace Health and Safety

Managing work health and safety of shift-workers

April 21, 2016 Leave a comment

In today's commercial world, more and more employees are working on a shift-basis. While this does introduce a level of flexibility into a business' workforce, it also exposes the company to a number of unique health & safety issues. One of the most prominent is the relationship between fatigue and safety.

So how can companies ensure that they manage fatigue in the same way as they would other hazards?

Work site safety can be negatively impacted by fatigue.

Fatigue in the construction industry

As construction work involves a range of high-risk activities, the industry faces a number of key problems that many other sectors do not. To ensure a safe-working environment, and workplace compliance, construction workers need to to be physically and mentally alert.

Due to this, fatigue is a major concern, and both employers and employees have the responsibility to manage fatigue in the workplace. WorkSafe defines fatigue as the physical or mental state of exhaustion that limits an individual's ability to work both safely and effectively.

Shift work within the construction industry, which often involves irregular work hours and schedules that require night work, can restrict workers' ability to recover from their activities. Working at night especially can have a major impact, as it affects the natural sleeping pattern of an individual.

How can you better manage worker fatigue?

Managing employer responsibility

Under New Zealand law, employers have a duty to take all practicable steps to make sure their workers are safe while at work. As fatigue is considered a hazard, businesses thus have a responsibility to manage it.

One of the best ways to ensure that workers are not fatigued is through the development and implementation of compliant rest schedules. It is imperative to ensure that employees take regular rest breaks throughout their working day. For instance, if an employee works for six to eight hours, you must ensure they receive two paid 10-minute rest breaks as well as one unpaid 30-minute break.

However, this is just the legal minimum requirement. Best practice health and safety at work would ensure that extra rest breaks are implemented for those engaged in demanding work.

With such a strong emphasis on safety and the proper management of fatigue, employers will need to make sure they are able to access up-to-date schedules and other work-related documents in the field. SiteApp's digital platform is an effective way to ensure that hazards are managed properly and your workplace stays compliant.

If you would like to learn more about how SiteApp can help you better manage fatigue and other workplace hazards, talk to a representative today.