Safety at work
Your employer is responsible for your health and safety while you are in the workplace. However, under workplace health and safety legislation, you also have responsibilities, including:
- complying with health and safety instructions
- using the personal protective equipment provided by your employer
- not to wilfully or recklessly interfere with or misuse provisions made for health and safety
- not to wilfully place the health and safety of others at risk
- not to wilfully injure yourself.
Your employer must:
- give you an introduction to the workplace that covers hazard identification and risk prevention
- provide you with training in safe work practices
- provide initial and ongoing supervision
- give you personal and protective equipment, including instructions on how to properly use and wear equipment
- guard hazardous plant and machinery
- prevent and minimise the risk of exposure to hazardous substances and manual handling injuries.
For more information on safety at work, telephone the Department of Employment and Industrial Relations on 1300 737 841 or visit www.whs.qld.gov.au.
Supervision
You must be supervised in the workplace. As a general rule, there should be one tradesperson to each apprentice and one qualified person to each trainee. This person needs to permanently work in the same workplace as you during the same working hours.
As you develop more skills, you won't need to be supervised as closely as you are when you start your apprenticeship or traineeship. However, a tradesperson or qualified person should always be close enough so that you can ask them for assistance if required.
Strict supervision requirements are placed on employers of electrical apprentices and trainees.
If you feel that you are not being properly supervised, telephone the Queensland Department of Education, Training and the Arts on 1800 210 210.
Contact Apprenticeships info 1800 210 210 or Training Queensland 1300 369 935
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