MEETING YOUR WORK, HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

MEETING YOUR WORK

HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

As an employer (or person conducting a business or undertaking – PCBU), you have a primary duty to ensure the health and safety of workers while they are at work in the business or undertaking and others who may be affected by the carrying out of work.

In 2020 alone, there were close to 200 deaths due to workplace incidents according to Safe Work Australia (Key work health and safety statistics, Australia 2021). Which is why, as a PCBU, you have the primary duty of care to ensure so far as is reasonably practicable the: • provision and maintenance of a safe work environment • provision and maintenance of safe plant and structures • provision and maintenance of safe systems of work • safe use, handling and storage of plant, structures, and substances • provision of accessible and adequate facilities (for example, access to washrooms, lockers, and dining areas) • provision of any instruction, training, information, and supervision • monitoring of workers health and conditions at the workplace and • maintenance of any accommodation owned or under their management and control to ensure the health and safety of workers occupying the premises. Under industrial manslaughter in Australian States and Territories, employers can be found guilty of industrial manslaughter if you negligently cause the death of a worker in your business. The maximum penalties for industrial manslaughter vary in each state. They can include fines and imprisonment for individuals and fines for body corporates. To ensure you fully comply with your obligations, you should take proactive steps to:

MEETING YOUR WORK

HEALTH AND SAFETY REQUIREMENTS

• understand the industrial manslaughter offences; • communicate work health and safety policies and procedures to workers; and • keep good records of safety matters to reduce the risk of workplace injuries and deaths. Through care and diligence you can take important steps to ensure the health and safety of your workers. Achieving this requires implementing and maintaining an effective workplace health and safety system covering: • WHS responsibility • WHS Policy & Procedures • WHS Plan • Risk management procedures • Checking the rate of incidents • Consultation process • WHS committee and WHS representatives • Staff inductions and safety training • Processes for Workers Compensation and injury management • Conducting WHS audits • Compliance with all relevant legislation To assist members, ASIAL in partnership with Integrum have developed a Safe Workplace Management System (ASIAL SWM System) specifically for the security industry and designed a WHS System to meet the requirements of Australian Standard AS4801 and Safety Standard ISO45001. The system has been used by Integrum clients to gain and maintain third-party certification once the System has been implemented within their businesses. The ASIAL SWM System is only available to ASIAL members and provides a cost-effective way of managing your health and safety obligations.

MORE INFO

call us on 1300 127 425, email leonie@asial.com.au or go to www.asial.com.au/swms.

Features of the ASIAL SWM SYSTEM

WHS Policy & Procedures Manual template – outlines organisation’s WHS goals and guidelines on how it will be managed WHS Management System Plan Overview – outlines objectives and targets to ensure compliance and responsibilities. User Employee Register to record and schedule training and qualifications for each employee. Staff inductions - checklist to ensure staff members have been given the necessary information and the opportunity to ask questions so they can work safely. Incident reporting – records incidents and actions taken to avoid reoccurrence.

Hazard and Risk Assessment forms with follow up action plans – hazards identified, risk assessed, controls added, and control measures reviewed.

Safe Work Management Statement (SWMS) – records hazards, risk assessment, control measures and workers involved.

Workplace inspection forms to identify risk and report it before it becomes an incident. Hazardous Chemical Register – records hazardous chemicals at a workplace and potential hazards with control measures. Record toolbox talks, safety management meetings and management reviews for WHS consultation and participation with workers. Document and Resources Library – provides templates and resources e.g. WHS Policy and Procedures Manual, WHSMS Plan Overview, RTW Suitable Duties plan. Contractor Management – allow contractors to meet WHS legislation by allowing access to the System and specific templates such as Incident, Hazards, Risk Assessments, SWMS. Training and qualifications can be added. Audits - conducted regularly to ensure organisation’s WHS goals and objectives are being met. Asset management - record the details of all assets, including plant, equipment and vehicles in the workplace.

FROM LIGHT TO

INTELLIGENT PIXELS

By Vlado Damjanovski

I was contemplating for a long time whether to re-write and revise the last edition of my technical book, CCTV - from light to pixels, published in 2013. A lot has changed in our industry since, many revolutionary technologies, new Standards and a lot of new concepts.

Writing a book, or even updating one, takes a lot of time, effort, research, illustrating and summarising. I wasn’t really keen, thinking that it may not be a good idea, yet Covid-19 came along and gave me plenty of time during lockdown to reconsider. Luckily, ASIAL supported the idea of a revision, and here we are — nearing completion. Some might call it a ‘swan-song,’ and it may well be my last book.

I have had an interesting professional career with nearly thirty years from the first edition of ‘CCTV,’ which I self-published in 1994, when there were very few books on CCTV, if any.

I published the very first edition with my own funds, a bank loan of $30k. This was borrowed against my house as security. It was a huge risk, with an unknown outcome.

Then, I was long enough in Australia to understand that my colleagues and young installers, were seeking knowledge and understanding about CCTV technology, how it works and what the theories behind lenses, CCD sensors, monitors or transmissions were.

I knew most of the intricacies because I had studied electronic engineering and broadcast television in my native Macedonia. I also worked in a CCTV manufacturing company in Ohrid. My first job as a graduate engineer was as a designer of cameras and monitors.

After migrating to Australia in 1987, I started conducting CCTV training throughout Australia with the help of a colleague - Jayant Kapatker from STAM; he was the organiser. Across the nation, from Sydney to Melbourne, Brisbane to Perth, students were asking for further studies and reference books on CCTV.

I couldn’t recommend anything, as I was not aware of any English language books on CCTV at the time. Nor could give them my material, because my presentations were made on overhead transparencies.

In any case, it was clear to me that something like a book on CCTV was needed. It was also clear that my explanations and illustrations were what made the training a success and this is what the students wanted. As a consequence, I set a challenge to myself - to write my first technical book in English, using my own presentation slides.

It was also a challenge for me as English is a third language, which I learned during my highschool days. I knew that I would have issues, although I thought I was proficient enough. Luckily, my eldest son, Filip, came to my rescue.

He was thirteen at the time and because he was aged seven when we migrated, he spoke fluent Macedonian and had now six years of English learning at school so I could explain to him what I meant in a sentence in Macedonian, and he would know the best English translation. He was an excellent student (later becoming Dux of his school) and I was confident we could write a CCTV reference manual.

That is how the first edition was produced, and it was noticed by the industry, especially because there were few books - and next to none in Australia. Even today I get a thrill when people show me their original copy with my autograph, from thirty years ago.

This first edition was accepted by the US publisher Butterworth-Heinemann, and they asked if I would write an Americanised version, which was not difficult. I revised this first edition and they then published this as a second edition (which ironically they called it the first.) It was launched in 1999 at the New York ISC show, the same year I launched the ‘CCTV focus’ magazine at the same show. The book became a huge success was later translated into Russian, Korean, German and even Farsi. In the next five years there were many new technologies that needed updating especially when CCTV became digital and networked. I revised this 2nd American edition also, with plenty of new material, and it was launched at the Las Vegas ISC show in 2005.

Eight years later, another new revision was needed due to everything becoming high definition (HD) with new video compressions, different camera formats and complete digitisation.

With all these technology changes and updates, I revised the 2005 edition in 2013 and called it, ‘CCTV - from light to pixels.’

Now in 2022, a new revised edition is desperately needed. An obvious new technological development is the use of AI and VCA in CCTV. Additionally, the latest IP VSS standard 62676, which Australia adopted in 2020, needs to be included too.

As with all previous revisions, I completely re-edited much of the old text to fit with contemporary thinking. I wrote new chapters on AI and VCA, Pixel Densities, added new compressions (H.266 and JPG-XL), created numerous new drawings, tables and illustrations.

I’ve developed a lot of practical examples which I believe will help immensely in real life projects.

I removed many old technologies which are no longer relevant, such as VCRs, CRTs, matrix switchers, and multiplexers to name a few. It is unfortunate that much old work had to be removed but this is inevitable given technological evolution. However, this latest edition will still have over 650 pages.

One exciting feature is that this latest edition will be available in full colour as an electronic publication. This is a great step up from the previous black and white printed editions — especially when knowing how detailed my drawings are.

I’ve put a great deal of effort in producing my illustrations to be as informative as I can possibly make them. One of the key qualities of my work is that the explanations and illustrations of complicated technical terms are simplified. I have tried to keep this aspect in the new book also. ‘from light to intelligent pixels,’ (the title of this latest edition) will be finished by the middle of this year. I hope that readers will understand the hint in the title.

The book will be available via the ASIAL web site. Please secure your own copy directly from asial.com.au/vss in digital and print format.

It was also clear that my explanations and illustrations were what made the training a success and this is what the students wanted.