A review of the school management system for occupational health, safety and wellbeing is currently underway. Your thoughts and feedback are invaluable and we’d love to hear your ideas. If a process or document is confusing or if you have general suggestions for process improvement, please submit your feedback on any OHS policies directly to the Employee Safety, Wellbeing and Inclusion Division via this form External Link
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This topic aims to provide a clear overview of policies, procedures and guidance materials available to support schools to manage the health, safety and wellbeing of staff, contractors, volunteers and visitors in schools. Together these policies, procedures and guidance materials constitute the department’s occupational health and safety management system.
The OHS management system is a set of policies, procedures and guidance materials that support schools to manage their health and safety obligations and maintain a safe and healthy working environment.
Schools are required to implement the OHS management system, which includes 4 key sections:
At the centre of these sections is the Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy , which is the department’s overarching leadership commitment to support, promote and protect the health, safety and wellbeing of all employees, visitors, volunteers and contractors.
The diagram below represents the 4 sections and their connection to the department’s health, safety and wellbeing policy.
These sections each contain a set of policies, procedures and guidance that schools are required to follow in order to effectively manage occupational health, safety and wellbeing. For more information on the topics that fall within them, click on the headings below.
included in the system if preferred.
To effectively manage occupational health, safety and wellbeing in the school, this section focuses on the principal’s need to create solid foundations that support a positive culture and build strong capability. The local leadership of staff health, safety and wellbeing is crucial to support safe learning environments for students and the health, safety and wellbeing of all school staff, including visitors, volunteers and contractors. Staying healthy, safe and well benefits everyone through skilful teamwork, innovative collaboration, higher job satisfaction, improved confidence and stronger engagement. The following policies and procedures support schools to build and maintain a health, safety and wellbeing workplace culture
This section focuses on establishing a robust structure to manage hazards, ensuring all health, safety and wellbeing risks in the school workplace are identified and appropriately managed. Managing hazards is a continuous process to ensure our schools are safe. The hazard management process involves identifying problems in the school, gathering information, and solving the issues by putting controls in place. Consultation and delegation are important aspects of this hazard management process. The following policies and procedures support schools to manage workplace hazards.
At times, incidents and emergencies occur within a school. This section provides schools with information on how to respond when such situations occur, including how to assist injured staff to recover well and return to work or stay at work with support. The following policies and procedures support schools to manage workplace health, safety and wellbeing incidents and emergencies.
Other strategies that schools can use to review and make improvements in their local context include:
Implementing the OHS management system within schools is important to:
eduSafe Plus is the online portal for reporting and managing occupational health, safety and wellbeing. eduSafe Plus allows the management of all incidents, hazards and sick bay/first aid activity and OHS Assurance Program actions. Reporting on eduSafe Plus also supports the department to track health, safety and wellbeing trends across the system, and allows the department, as an employer, to provide further supports and guidance around emerging issues.
To learn more about how this system supports your school, refer to the eduSafe Plus – report and manage incidents, hazards and near misses chapter.
The OHS Assurance Program provides proactive support to confirm schools are implementing the system to manage health, safety and wellbeing. Refer to the Reviewing health and safety processes – OHS Assurance Program below for more information.
The OHS Assurance Program provides proactive support to confirm schools are implementing the OHS management system to manage health, safety and wellbeing, consistent with the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic). It is a supportive assessment of each school’s safety management practices.
The program enables schools to:
Information on the OHS Assurance Program, including the OHS Assurance Program school assessment guide and fact sheet is available at: Audits, Reviews and Assurance Programs in Schools .
For the full list of health and safety terms and definitions refer to: Defined health and safety terms in the Guidance tab.
Department policy on Employee Health, Safety and Wellbeing and an overview of the Department's OHS Management System (OHSMS)
