COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Identify & Manage Workplace Hazards course. This program will equip you with the knowledge and practical skills needed to recognise a wide range of workplace hazards, assess the level of risk they present, and implement appropriate control measures to maintain a safe and healthy working environment. You will explore how hazards arise, how they differ across work settings, and how structured hazard management supports legal compliance, injury prevention, and overall workplace wellbeing.

This course begins by examining what is meant by safety hazards and the wide variety of conditions, equipment, and practices that can create risk in the workplace. You will explore hazards associated with vehicles and what to look for when identifying vehicle risks, followed by hazards associated with machinery and the signs that indicate unsafe machinery conditions. This section also addresses hazards involving sharp tools and objects, heat, electricity, working at heights, and confined spaces, with practical guidance on how to recognise early warning signs. Additional topics include hazards related to slips, trips and falls, lifting and carrying, repetitive strain injuries, and personal safety issues such as aggression, isolation, or unsafe behaviours. You will also examine hazards associated with travel, chemicals, compressed air or LPG, and the specific indicators that suggest a risk is present.

The next learning area explores health hazards, including what the term means and how health-related risks can emerge gradually or suddenly depending on working conditions. You will explore hazards associated with physical working environments, such as excessive noise levels, poor lighting, uncomfortable temperature ranges, and inadequate air quality. This section also addresses hazards associated with computers and visual display units (VDUs), micro-organisms, airborne contaminants, radiation, materials and fibres, smoking, and manual handling. You will learn what signs indicate a hazard in each category and how these hazards can affect health over short or long exposure periods. This section also examines hazards linked to stress and work organisation, factors that undermine wellbeing, and how to recognise when workload, schedules, or management practices may be creating psychological risk.

A further component of this course focuses on hazards associated with fire. You will explore how to identify fire hazards, understand the Fire Triangle and how fuel, heat, and oxygen interact to create ignition risk. This section also examines common workplace fuel sources, typical oxygen-related hazards, and how to identify unsafe conditions or behaviours that may increase the likelihood of fire. This builds the foundation for understanding the broader principles of risk assessment and hazard evaluation.

You will then examine the risk assessment process, beginning with how to identify who could be harmed and how some individuals may be more vulnerable to hazards due to role, experience, health, or exposure. This section explains how to consider the severity of harm, how to assign severity ratings, and how to assess the likelihood of injury or illness. You will learn how combining severity and likelihood enables a meaningful risk level determination that informs decision-making and prioritisation.

The final learning area focuses on the hierarchy of control and how to establish effective control measures to reduce or eliminate hazards. You will explore the order of actions required to manage risk, beginning with elimination and substitution, followed by restricted access, guards and physical controls, organisational procedures, and training and supervision. You will also examine how personal protective equipment (PPE) supports safety as a final defence layer and how multiple control measures can be combined to create safer systems of work. This section prepares you to apply controls logically and consistently across a wide range of workplace conditions.

By the end of this course you will be able to identify safety and health hazards accurately, assess risk levels using structured methods, determine who may be harmed and how, select appropriate control measures from the hierarchy of control, and implement practical risk management strategies that improve workplace safety, reduce incidents, and support a strong safety culture.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• What is meant by safety hazards?
• Hazards associated with vehicles and what to look for to identify vehicle hazards?
• Hazards associated with machinery and what to look for to identify machinery hazards?
• Hazards associated with sharp tools and objects and what to look for to identify sharp tools and object hazards?
• Hazards associated with heat and what to look for to identify heat hazards?
• Hazards associated with electricity and what to look for to identify electricity hazards?
• Hazards associated with working at heights and what to look for to identify working at heights hazards?
• Hazards associated with confined spaces and what to look for to identify confined spaces hazards?
• Hazards associated with slips, trips and falls and what to look for to identify slips, trips and falls hazards?
• Hazards associated with lifting and carrying and what to look for to identify lifting and carrying hazards?
• Hazards associated with repetitive strain injuries and what to look for to identify repetitive strain hazards?
• Hazards associated with personal safety and what to look for to identify personal safety hazards?
• Hazards associated with travel
• Hazards associated with chemicals and what to look for to identify chemical hazards?
• Hazards associated with the use of compressed air or LPG and what to look for to identify gas hazards?
• What is meant by health hazards?
• Hazards associated with physical working conditions
• Hazards associated with noise levels and what to look for to identify noise hazards?
• Hazards associated with lighting levels and what to look for to identify lighting levels hazards?
• Hazards associated with temperature levels and what to look for to identify temperature levels hazards?
• Hazards associated with air quality and what to look for to identify air quality hazards?
• Hazards associated with computers and VDUs and what to look for to identify computers and VDUs hazards?
• Hazards associated with micro-organisms and airborne contaminants and what to look for to identify micro-organisms and airborne contaminants hazards?
• Hazards associated with radiation and what to look for to identify radiation hazards?
• Hazards associated with the use of materials and fibres and what to look for to identify materials and fibres hazards?
• Hazards associated with smoking and what to look for to identify smoking hazards?
• Hazards associated with manual handling and what to look for to identify manual handling hazards?
• Hazards associated with stress and work organisation and what to look for to identify stress and work organisation hazards?
• Hazards associated with fire and how to identify fire hazards?
• The Fire Triangle
• Fuel sources and what to look for to identify fuel sources hazards?
• Typical hazards from sources of oxygen and what to look for to identify sources of oxygen hazards?
• The risk assessment
• How to identify who could be harmed?
• People that could be more vulnerable to hazards
• The severity of harm and how to decide on severity ratings ?
• The likelihood of harm or injury and how to assess the likelihood of harm?
• The order of actions to establish effective controls (hierarchy of control)
• The types of control measures
• Elimination to control hazards
• Substitution to control hazards
• Restricted access to certain areas to control hazards
• Guards and physical controls to control hazards
• Organisational procedures to reduce risks
• Training and supervision to control hazards
• Personal protective equipment (PPE) to control hazards

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.