Overview
The Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (the Group) values its people and their health and wellbeing and regards Work Health and Safety (WHS) as paramount importance to the operation and success of its business.
This Policy sets out the commitment of the Group to providing safe and healthy workplaces for all workers, customers and other visitors. The Group takes all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the health and safety of persons affected by its business or undertaking.
This Policy applies to all Group workers and all Group workplaces and is underpinned by the Group Operational Risk Management Framework and related policies, standards and guidelines.
Policy
Commitment to work health and safety
Everyone at a workplace, including workers and others, are responsible for taking reasonable care for their own health and safety and taking reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of themselves or others.
Workers are also responsible for complying with the Group’s WHS policies and standards, and for reporting incidents, near misses or hazards through the Bank’s Incident, Injury and Hazard system.
The Group aims to have injury free workplaces and to comply with all WHS legal requirements.
The Group may also provide directions, advice and assistance to other entities associated with the Group in the management of health and safety matters by those entities, to assist them in the protection of the health and safety of their workers and others to whom they owe duties, so far as reasonably practicable.
Note: This may include Community Bank companies and Agencies.
The Group has also articulated a set of responsibilities for its board and committees to assist in managing WHS. These are outlined in the BEN Group Operational Risk Management Framework.
Responsibilities for specific roles
Officers
Officers within the Group will exercise due diligence over WHS compliance. This requires taking reasonable steps to ensure the Group entity for which they have responsibility complies with its WHS duties and obligations.
Note: These obligations may extend to workers employed or engaged by entities other than Group entities.
Due diligence includes taking reasonable steps to do each of the following:
- Acquire and keep up-to-date knowledge of work health and safety matters within the entity.
- Gain an understanding of the nature of the operations of the entity, and generally of the hazards and risks associated with those operations.
- Ensure that the entity has available for use, appropriate resources and processes to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety from work it carries out.
- Ensure that the entity has appropriate processes for receiving and considering information regarding WHS incidents, near misses, hazards and risks and responding in a timely way to that information.
- Ensure that the entity has, and implements, processes for complying with its duty under applicable WHS legislation.
Verify the provision and use of the above resources and processes.
Managers
Managers within the Group with direct reports have the following responsibilities:
- Making sure the necessary WHS instruction, information, training and/or supervision is provided to their workers so they can safely perform their expected roles.
- Making sure annual WHS site inspections of the workplace occur so that hazards are identified and controlled.
- Requiring people within their team to comply with relevant WHS policy, standards and guidelines, and to use the safety management tools available to them effectively.
- Promoting effective WHS consultation with Group workers, HSRs (where applicable) and contractors so information is disseminated and WHS issues are identified and resolved in a timely manner.
A manager who engages a contractor to provide services will confirm, as far as is reasonably practicable, that all workers providing the services receive all necessary WHS information, instruction, training and / or supervision to safely perform the services.
Workers
Workers within the Group have the following responsibilities:
- Making sure they have read, understood and follow reasonable direction in line with WHS Policies, Standards, Guidelines, instruction, training and/or correspondence.
- Taking reasonable care that their acts or omissions do not adversely affect the health and safety of themselves or others.
Reporting incidents, near misses or hazards through the Bank’s WHS Incident, Injury and Hazard system.
Definitions
Group means Bendigo and Adelaide Bank Limited and its controlled entities.
Officer means each of the following:
- A person who is director or secretary of a Group entity.
- A person who makes, or participates in making, decisions affecting the whole, or a substantial part of, the business of a Group entity. Example: Executive Committee members.
- A person who has the capacity to affect significantly the financial standing of a Group entity.
- A person in accordance with whose instructions or wishes the directors of the Group entity are accustomed to act.
WHS means Work Health and Safety.
Worker means any person engaged or who is caused to be engaged by a Group entity, or whose work activities are influenced or directed by the Group. Example: This may include workers employed or engaged by other entities. This includes each of the following:
- An employee of a Group entity.
- A contractor engaged by a Group entity.
- A sub-contractor, caused to be engaged by a Group entity.
- A volunteer performing work for a Group entity.
- A person seconded to or from a Group entity.
Workplace means any place where work is carried out by a worker. In the case of a worker, it includes any place where the worker goes, or is likely to be, while at work. Example: This may include vehicles (during travel for work), and homes (if a worker is working from home).
