RMEM

In a world filled to the brim with acronyms, why on earth do we need another one? Great question, but in the work health and safety realm, this acronym is meaningful, purposeful and useful—let me explain.

As we now know, the working environment is, or should be, governed by safety directives and ideologies formed by workplace legislation, codes of practice, standards, guidelines and procedures, to assist manufacturers, importers, wholesalers (the supply chain), customers, management, workers, contractors, and others, deliver a product or service devoid of risk or hazard to somebody or someone else.

Each and every person in the chain, whether an individual or a multi-national corporate director, has an obligation to ensure that all people are given the highest level of health and safety protection from hazards arising from work, so far as is reasonably practicable. Simply put, “reasonably practicable” means; one must take into account the likelihood of a hazard or risk occurring, and have in place, safety measures to eliminate or mitigate the hazard or risk.

So, how does this fit in with RMEM?

Well, we all know risk management (the “RM” part of the acronym) is a four step process:

1. Identify hazards;
2. Assess risks;
3. Control risks; and
4. Review control measures.

This is an ongoing process—even when we think we’ve got it right, we continue to monitor and evaluate the process to ensure it is the best it can be for all involved.

Now, “EM”, what is it and how does it fit into the RMEM ideology?

Again, a simple approach which fulfils our WHS obligations, but more importantly, provides the highest level of health and safety protection from hazards arising from work, so far as is reasonably practicable. We eliminate (“E”) and mitigate (“M”) all identified risks! Moreover, the eliminate, mitigate (“EM”) process complies with the WHS Regulations requirement to control risks via a ranking system known as the hierarchy of risk control. Whilst the hierarchy of risk control is broken down into three levels incorporating six different approaches, the RMEM ideology further simplifies this hierarchy by adopting the following premise:

• E: (eliminate) is a Level 1 approach to controlling risks (according to the hierarchy of risk control)
• M: (mitigate) is a Level 2 and 3 approach to controlling risks (according to the hierarchy of risk control)

This table further communicates the integration of EM with the hierarchy of risk controls:

I told you the RMEM approach was useful, what better way to summarise risk management and the obligations bequeathed upon you. As a PCBU, with limited time, energy and resources; give your risk management obligations priority. Failure to do so could result in an injury to a worker, client, contractor or yourself, leading to penalties for a breach of health and safety—as a reminder, offences and associated penalties are:

You now have a great strategy to implement in your workplace—adopt RMEM and we’ll all be safer for it!