MiSAFE Solutions FAQs

If you own a business or are looking at starting a business, it is imperative that you create a safe work environment to ensure your business succeeds.  Maintaining critical elements of a safe workplace is one of the best ways to retain staff and maximise productivity. Implementing safe work practices or installing safety equipment may incur costs initially, but the effect of not taking action can be severe.

As a business owner you have responsibilities regarding health and safety in your workplace. You need to ensure that your business doesn’t create health and safety problems for your employees, customers or the public.

Knowing and understanding the WHS laws, previously known as Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S), will help you avoid unnecessary costs and damage to your business caused by workplace injury and illness. It will also provide your business with a strong foundation to achieve long-term success.

If you want to reduce health and safety hazards in your workplace but don’t know where to begin, there are simple steps that will allow you to concentrate your efforts as well as help your business to be prepared in all situations.

Having the right attitude towards the safety of your workers, contractors, customers and the public is an important first step. WHS shouldn’t be seen as an additional cost – it’s better to deal with health and safety issues before they escalate.

If you need assistance with WHS/OH&S requirements specific to your industry, contact us to receive an obligation free consultation.  During this consultation we will be able to better understand your business and what your needs are.

In a nutshell, under WHS legislation you are obliged to provide:

• safe premises
• safe machinery and materials
• safe systems of work
• information, instruction, training and supervision
• a suitable working environment and facilities.
• Complying with these duties can prevent you from being prosecuted and fined, and help you to retain skilled staff.

 

Rather than waiting until something does happen, why not be proactive and contact us today.

A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) has an obligation to manage risks associated with their operations. If it is not reasonably practicable to eliminate the risk, the PCBU must take steps to control the risk.  See Part 3.1 WHS Regulation 2011.

The legislation states that the PCBU has a duty to:

• Identify reasonably foreseeable hazards that could give rise to risks to health and safety.  Design and operational risk assessments are the best way to identify hazards in your workplace
• Manage the risk as far as reasonably practicable.  This refers to using the hierarchy of controls where eliminating the risk is the optimum outcome.  Once you have identified the hazard, you then need to ensure that effective control measures are implemented to reduce the risk as far as possible.
• Maintain the control measures.  It is important to ensure that the control measures that you have implemented continue to be fit for purpose, suitable for the nature and duration of the work, and installed, set up and used correctly.
• Conduct a review when the control measure does not control the risk it was implemented to control so far as is reasonably practicable, a new hazard has been identified, there is a change in the workplace or work activity, or a WHS representative has requested the review.

For more information on managing risk within your business, contact us today.

There are a lot of software programs in the market today that are designed to manage critical information held by your business.  However, the vast majority of companies still attempt to use spreadsheets to record information in the areas of workplace health and safety etc.  Using such software aims to:

• Reduce data loss
• Improve risk management through continuous improvement processes
• Keep all information in one central location
• Reduce data corruption
• Improve company transparency through business intelligence reporting

To understand more about how our software can improve your business, contact us today.

Cloud based business software allows you to setup a virtual office without using too much of your own resources.  Using cloud software gives you the flexibility to connect into your system anywhere, and at any time.  This is incredibly important when the information you wish to access relates to WHS and other critical business information.

The downfalls with using a server based system is that it is more difficult and costly to manage from an IT perspective.  This converts to a huge reduction in overheads when you a running a business.

• the cost of system upgrades, new hardware and software may be included in your contract
• you no longer need to pay wages for expert staff
• your energy consumption costs may be reduced
• there are fewer time delays.

It allows you to set up what is essentially a virtual office to give you the flexibility of connecting to your business anywhere, any time. With the growing number of web-enabled devices used in today’s business environment (e.g. smartphones, tablets), access to your data is even easier. There are many benefits to moving your business to the cloud:

Reduced IT costs

Moving to cloud computing may reduce the cost of managing and maintaining your IT systems. Rather than purchasing expensive systems and equipment for your business, you can reduce your costs by using the resources of your cloud computing service provider. You may be able to reduce your operating costs because:

• the cost of system upgrades, new hardware and software may be included in your contract
• you no longer need to pay wages for expert staff
• your energy consumption costs may be reduced
• there are fewer time delays.

Scalability

Your business can scale up or scale down your operation and storage needs quickly to suit your situation, allowing flexibility as your needs change. Rather than purchasing and installing expensive upgrades yourself, your cloud computer service provider can handle this for you. Using the cloud frees up your time so you can get on with running your business.

Business continuity

Protecting your data and systems is an important part of business continuity planning. Whether you experience a natural disaster, power failure or other crisis, having your data stored in the cloud ensures it is backed up and protected in a secure and safe location. Being able to access your data again quickly allows you to conduct business as usual, minimising any downtime and loss of productivity.

Collaboration efficiency

Collaboration in a cloud environment gives your business the ability to communicate and share more easily outside of the traditional methods. If you are working on a project across different locations, you could use cloud computing to give employees, contractors and third parties access to the same files. You could also choose a cloud computing model that makes it easy for you to share your records with your advisers (e.g. a quick and secure way to share accounting records with your accountant or financial adviser).

Flexibility of work practices

Cloud computing allows employees to be more flexible in their work practices. For example, you have the ability to access data from home, on holiday, or via the commute to and from work (providing you have an internet connection). If you need access to your data while you are off-site, you can connect to your virtual office, quickly and easily.

Access to automatic updates

Access to automatic updates for your IT requirements may be included in your service fee. Depending on your cloud computing service provider, your system will regularly be updated with the latest technology. This could include up-to-date versions of software, as well as upgrades to servers and computer processing power.