In general terms, OHS legislation covers three areas*:
• Accident & Risk Prevention: to protect employees from real and potential OHS risks
• Compensation: to provide injured employees with monetary compensation
• Rehabilitation: to assist the return of injured employees in the workplace.
As an OHS manager, business owner or HR manager, your knowledge of how these areas of workplace law impacts your business and legal ‘duty of care’ is very important. In this way, continual professional development, training and legal/ expert industry advice is vital.
At Mediscreen, we offer a service that can help implement your OHS obligations in a practical way. In fact, Mediscreen’s systems address each of the 3 components of OHS law in the following ways:
• Prevention: deploying cost-effective onsite testing for drug and alcohol misuse thereby deterring and identifying risk
• Compensation: providing businesses with greater legal defense in the event of workplace accidents arising through employee drug or alcohol misuse
• Rehabilitation: promoting greater awareness of how drugs and alcohol can lead to serious workplace injury.
Essentially, without careful OHS planning, organisations leave themselves exposed to penalty and Industrial action. Self-regulation and self-monitoring is a proactive way to ensure better safety standards that reduce risk in the workplace.
For professional onsite drug and alcohol testing, call Mediscreen on 1300 79 70 40.
*Human resources management: strategies and processes (5th edition)