Accident
Any occurrence which results in personal injury, disease or death, or property damage.

 

Audit
A systematic examination against defined criteria to determine whether activities and related results conform to planned arrangements and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve the School's policy and objectives.

 

BEES
The School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences

 

Competent Person
A person who has acquired through training, qualification, experience or a combination of these, the knowledge and skills necessary to perform the task required.

 

Continual Improvement
The process of enhancing the implemented OHS management system to achieve improvement in OHS performance.

 

Contractors
Any individual or organization responsible for the performance of work specified in a contract including vendor, seller, supplier, fabricator, manufacturer, consultant or service provider.

 

Dangerous Goods
Substances that have the potential to cause immediate harm.

 

Electrical Testing and Tagging
All workplace electrical equipment of the plug-in type is required to be visually inspected, electrically tested and tagged in accordance with AS3760.

 

Fieldwork
Any work, study or research authorised by UNSW and conducted by staff, post-graduate student(s), under-graduate student(s) and volunteers at a site other than the Kensington, Randwick, Manly Vale, Little Bay, or Paddington campuses or the Bankstown flight training facility.
Note: Where staff are working on a permanent basis at a remote field station (eg. Fowler's Gap), this is taken to be their normal place of work. Such permanently employed staffs are not deemed to be engaging in fieldwork activity.

 

Hazard
A situation at the workplace capable of causing harm (i.e. capable of causing personal injury, occupationally related disease or death, or property damage).

 

Hazard Identification
The process of recognising that a hazard exists and defining its characteristics.

 

Hazardous Substances
Any substance that has the potential to harm the health of persons in the workplace and includes chemicals scheduled under the Poisons Act, chemicals classified under the Dangerous Goods Act (1975) or Hazardous Wastes.

 

Incident
Any occurrence, including near-miss situations, which has the potential to cause personal injury, disease or death, or property damage.

 

Induction
Introduction for Staff /Students into all OH&S requirements within the School, an office or laboratory.

 

Laboratory
Any building or part of a building used, or intended to be used, for scientific or technical work which may be hazardous, including research, quality control, testing, teaching or analysis. Such work may involve the use of chemicals including dangerous goods, pathogens and harmful radiation, or processes including electrical or mechanical work which could be hazardous. The laboratory includes such support areas as instrument and preparation areas, laboratory stores and any offices attached or adjacent to the laboratory.
NOTES: 1. In a multi-occupancy building, the area occupied by the laboratory may be referred to as the laboratory area.
2. AS 2982 contains definitions of various types of laboratories.

 

Laboratory Supervisor
Person who is accountable to the Head of School or Laboratory Manager for the day-to-day functions of a designated section of a laboratory.

 

Laboratory Waste
All liquid, solid or gaseous material that results from laboratory operations and is for disposal.

 

Manual Handling
Any activity requiring the use of force exerted by a person to lift, lower, push, pull, carry or otherwise move, hold, restrain any animate or inanimate object.

 

MSDS
Material Safety Data Sheets
Document prepared by the supplier or manufacturer of a product clearly stating hazardous nature, ingredients, precautions to follow, health effects and safe handling/storage information.

 

OHSC
Occupational Health and Safety Committee

 

Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS)
That part of the overall management system which includes organizational structure, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes and resources for developing, implementing, achieving, reviewing and maintaining the OHS policy, and so managing the OHS risks associated with the business of the organization.

 

Occupational Health and Safety Policy
A statement by UNSW of its commitment, intentions and principles in relation to its overall occupational health and safety performance which provides a framework for action and for the setting of its occupational health and safety objectives and targets.

 

Plant
Includes any machinery, equipment (including scaffolding), appliance, implement or tool and any component or fitting thereto or accessory thereof [NOHSC:1010(1994)]

 

Register
Documented record of occurrences, activities, plant or resources to track changes or improvements in the operation of the OHS Management System.

 

Risk
A risk is the chance of something happening that will have an impact on objectives. It is measured in terms of consequences and likelihood. In the OHS context, risk should be thought of as the OHS consequence of a given severity, and the likelihood of that particular consequence occurring (from the Risk Assessment and Control Procedure).

 

Risk Assessment
The overall process of risk analysis and risk evaluation (AS/NZS 3931).

 

Safe Working Procedure (SWP)
Or Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) is a written instruction for a task that outlines the preferred and safest method of undertaking a task based on a Risk Assessment to assess the procedure.

 

Safety
The provision and control of work environment systems and human behaviour which together give relative freedom from those conditions and circumstances which can cause personal injury, disease or death, or property damage.

 

Shall, Should, May
The word `shall' implies a mandatory statement, the word `should' implies an advisory statement, and the word `may' implies the right to use discretion.

 

Standard Operating Procedure (SOP)
See Safe Working Procedure.

 

Supervisor
Person appointed by the School to be accountable for all functions of a particular area or process.

 

Visitors
A member of the public other than staff, student or contractor, who enters the building for personal or professional reasons.

 

Working Alone
Work carried out in an area where normal means of contact (e.g. verbal, sight) with other staff are not available, so that the potential risk of existing hazards is increased to the extent that extra precautions are needed. This may include working in isolated areas on or off-site, either during or outside normal working hours.