Ergonomics and Work Environment Policy

Policy Statement

Uniting Church SA (UCSA) is committed to providing a safe work environment for all personnel, contractors and visitors at all UCSA Presbytery and Synod sites.

Uniting Church SA values people and has established the following policy on ergonomics in the work environment in order to reduce the risk of injury to personnel.

The policy on ergonomics was developed to reduce the risk of injury to personnel by providing an ergonomically sound work environment that meets the needs of individual personnel. This will eliminate or minimise the potential for injury to personnel which may result from non-ergonomic principles used in the work environment.
UCSA will ensure that all reasonably practicable steps are taken to provide personnel with an environment which is based on ergonomic principles. This policy will also need to be taken into account by personnel who have responsibilities in the purchasing and receiving of furniture, office equipment and other items that may be affected by this policy.

Scope of Policy

The scope of this policy extends to all UCSA Personnel as defined in Foreword-Workplace Policies & Procedures on the following link: A Foreward - Workplace Policies and Procedures.

Ergonomic Principles

The principles of ergonomics may include, but are not be restricted to:

Responsibilities

Where risk from the equipment, work practice or procedure indicates there is a hazard from ergonomic considerations, the UCSA will undertake to initiate suitable ergonomic control.
Where ergonomic control measures are implemented, all personnel will comply with the requirements. Failure to do so will be seen as a failure to perform the duties of their positions adequately.
It is the responsibility of personnel to report potential hazards.

Work Environment

Lighting: Lighting needs to accommodate the nature of the task being performed as indicated within the requirements of the Safe Work Australia Code of Practice: Managing the Work Environment also includes references to relevant Australian Standards http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/about/publications/pages/environment-facilities-cop. The standard relating to lightling is AS/NZS 1680.
Noise levels: The level of noise within the work environment will be within the requirement of the law as outlined in the Australian Standard AS/NZS 1269.1, and in some situations, the tolerance of the individual. There will be controls to ensure that either high frequency or low frequency noise sources are secured from personnel.
Temperature: As far as can be controlled, UCSA will ensure that extremes of temperature are held within the “functional range” of the human capability of personnel. Functional range is estimated between 20-26°C.
Ventilation: Workplaces should be adequately ventilated. Fresh clean air should be drawn from outside the workplace, uncontaminated by discharge from flues or other outlets, and be circulatated through the workplace. Enclosed work spaces should be supplied with comfortable rates of air movement (usually between 0.1 m abd 0.2 m per second). For further information in relation to air quality, refer to Safe Work Australia Code of Practice: Managing the Work Environment which includes references to relevant Australian Standards. The standard relating to air quality is AS 1668.2.

WHS Induction and Consultation Process

UCSA has developed as part of the WHS organisational structure, a WHS Consultative Site Group for each area of Councils of Synod; Synod Office, Uniting College for Leadership & Theology (UCLT), Uniting Venues SA and Uniting Aboriginal Islander Christian Congree (UAICC). The groups meet individually 3-10 times a year, and All Sites Groups meeting twice yearly.
To establish a safe working environment Uniting Church SA is committed to ergonomic work-station audits for all new personnel. This will ensure that all personnel are aware of appropriate resources and posture guides to ensure principles adopted by Uniting Church SA, within the scope of ergonomics, are both understood and applied within the workplace.
UCSA is committed to conducting annual work place safety consultations with all personnel which includes discussions around ergonomic work-stations and personnel common areas of the site.
UCSA will take into consideration the differences that occur between personnel of its workforce.

Training & Development

UCSA is committed to the appropriate training and development of the WHS Consultative Site Group members to ensure compliance is maintained from an ergonomic and work environment perspective.

Equipment

All equipment used and purchased for UCSA should comply with the requirements of ergonomic principles, in that the equipment should have the adjustability to be able to conform to the requirements of individuals. Controls and gauges should comply with the requirements of HB59 - Ergonomics - The Human Factor - A Practical Approach to Work Systems Design (this can be accessed from the Building Projects and Compliance Officer, UCSA Synod Office).

Related Polices

Executive Officer, Resources Board

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