Control of Occupation Health and Safety Risks - Term Paper Example

Control of occupation health and safety risks Name University Affiliation Control of occupation health and safety risks Introduction Occupation health and safety is a discipline majorly concerned with the protection of the safety, health and the welfare of the employees in any work environment. In the modern times, many firms have employed a big number of employees working in different sections. Many governments have included the policies of work place safety in their constitution to ensure that the employers provide a good working environment for their workers. The main goal of the inclusion of occupation health and safety provision in the constitution is just to foster a safety and health-working environment for the employees (Comcare, 2005).The occupation health and safe programs can also protect the employers’ customers, the dependants of the workers and other people who may be affected indirectly by the workplace environment. The occupation health and safety can be important for legal, moral and even financial reasons. In regards to Fryer, M. (2007).Since the issue of work place safety has been provided in the laws; many organizations have taken the initiative of ensuring that the employees’ work environment is safe. This is done by the minimization of the risks that are found in the work environment. The most important way of managing workplace risks is eliminating them if possible or minimizing them .The managers alone cannot do the decision of risk management and control. However, they ought to consult the workers because they are the ones that know well where the risks are found in the working surroundings. Workers’ experience would aid the managers in choosing appropriate control measures. We have many ways to control and manage risks although; some of the ways are more effective to others. This occupation health and safety report shows the purpose of hazard register, the principles hierarchy of risk control and the benefits of management consultation in managing the risks at the workplace. The report will also discuss the concept of reasonable practicable approach to work place safety and the components of these approaches. The purpose of hazard register A hazard is anything that threatens the health and safety of the individuals in an organization (Fiedler, 2004). Many work places nowadays have hazards that put employees at risk of injury to their health. This means that health and safety at work need to be managed in a systematic way; this is the responsibility of occupational health and safety management board. This board keeps records of the hazards that are facing the organization in a hazard register. A hazard register is a record in summary of the hazards identified in an organization and the tasks, situation or the machinery associated with this hazard (Fiedler, 2004). The hazard register has various purposes, first, it assist the management in an organization in the process of planning, budgeting and risk minimization. The management looks at the records of the possible hazards that may affect the organization and make future decision considering them in their decision-making. They also use the register to find the best ways to adopt to minimize the risks. Secondly, hazards registers assist in planning hazard audit reviews. Since this register shows all the hazards that are probable to occur, the management use the record to arrange which hazards have to be given first priority in other words, those ones that seem to be more risk. Another purpose for hazard registers; they are used to identify possible successful control strategies especially for newly identified hazards. Hazards register sometimes called risk register is a management tool that is commonly used in project management and risk assessment organization. It carries information such as the probability of the risk, counter measures, impact, the owner of the risk etc. The principles of hierarchy of controls A control measure is simply the steps one takes to do away with a hazard or reduce it to a lower level. The control measures are the most important part of the risk assessment since they are the ones that set the steps that ought to be followed (Ridley, &Channing, 2003). In risk management, we have the guideline principles of hierarchy of controls, which assist the managers to minimize the occurrence of a risk. First, we have the principle of avoiding the risk; this implies that it is important to get rid of the risk if possible so that people are not exposed to it (Brazier, 2007). The management should be in a position to evaluate the possible risks and ensure that the risks that seem to be avoidable be done away with before it affects the employees. The second principle is the evaluation of unavoidable risks. If it is not possible to get rid of a particular risk, then one need to undertake risk assessment (Brazier, 2007). This is the evaluation of the given risk to find some ways you can minimize it or take the precautions to reduce the loss that may occur in case it happens. The third principle is combating the risk at the source; this is fighting he risk from its root cause (Ridley, &Channing, 2003). One should scrutinize the source of the risk and try to control the risk so that it may have less influence. When a risk is fought at the source, it is easier to management and controls it. For example if it is pollution because of waste products, treatment should be done at the source so that when these wastes spread to other parts, they are less harmful. Adapting the work to the individual employee is another principle that should be considered in managing risks. This is the arrangement of workplace and tasks by considering the employees and the reduction of the effect of work on health (Brazier, 2007). This principle is important since every employee is assigned on the task he/she is aware of this reduces the chances of making mistakes posing a risk to him and to other employees. For example a n employee should be assigned to the machines he knows to operate or else, he/she will be injured and even other people around may be injured. Adapting workplace in line with the technical progress is another principle that ensures safe working environment. In most cases, safe working systems or machines are included in the operation of the organization (Comcare, 2005). Therefore, employees are expected to be informed on the changes in the technical operations at their workplace to avoid mistakes that can easily cause harm. Both the management and the employees have the responsibility of updating on the new technical changes that have occurred at their workplace (Comcare, 2005). Replacing dangerous systems with better alternatives is another principle that should be adhered to for safer working. When a certain system has a substitute that seems to be safer, then it is advisable to abandon the dangerous one and adopt the safer one to minimize the risks. Development of prevention policies is also a principle that should be adopted by the managers. This is how the organization management set out its plans how it is going to protect its employees from dangerous incidences (Comcare, 2005). Developing prevention policy should be part of the safety statement of the organization. Another principle is giving priority to the collective protective measures. The organization should emphasize on the protective measures that protect everyone in an organization. Lastly, giving training and instructions to the employees is also a principle that ought to be observed since informed employees would avoid some mistakes that would have caused dangerous situation in a firm (Brazier, 2007) to sum up, all these principle are very much important and multiple applications of all of them can be more useful. Benefits of consultation in risk management In risk management, there are so many benefits accrued to the consultation y the management to the employees and other stakeholders. As mentioned earlier, employees are the ones that understand the risks at the work place than even the mangers (Jeynes, 2012). Thus, when the mangers consult them and include them in the decision making process, it would be obvious that the organization would be in a better position to manage the risks that face the organization (Ridley, &Channing, 2003). The first benefit of management consultation is that the employees on areas where risks are likely to occur would enlighten the management. This helps in the prevention before the real occurrence of the risks that would have even claimed the lives of the employees or caused harm. Secondly, the employees assist the management in the investigation of the likely areas of the occurrence of a risk. In some organization, there is small managers-employee ratio (Dancan, Cahill, & Heighway, 2006). This means that few people are managing many people, thus, the supervision work becomes so big. Therefore, the process of assessing in areas where the risks may occur becomes difficult due to less staff. Consultations help these few managers to get right hand information without big struggles (Jeynes, 2012). Thirdly, consultation to stakeholders like the specialists in risk management, the management would get specialist advice in relation to risk assessment and control measures to ensure that risk control measures are implemented. Consultation also assist in monitoring organizational trends so that addressing of the emerging issues becomes even easy. Consultation also helps to find out a more complex risk that requires higher-level authority to deal with; moreover, it assists the management to ascertain the most probable risk so that it could be given first priority in controlling it. Consultation also assists the managers to get advice on how to develop credible policies, guidelines that are in relation to the risk management processes to make sure that the firms’ needs are met. The concept of reasonable practicable approach to workplace safety is the specific procedure a firm has adopted in managing and controlling workplace risks (Fryer, 2007). This process involves developing safety policies and drawing detailed procedures that shows how a particular firm has planned to protect its employees from harm. The plan shows predetermined specific actions that would be taken in case certain risks occur in the course of the operation. This plan has also the estimated costs that would be spend on either minimizing the risks or elimination of the risk. The key components of a reasonable practicable approach are the measurement of the severity of a hazard. This component shows the magnitude of impact the hazard may have on the organization in case it may occur (Dancan, Cahill, & Heighway, 2006). Another component the approach shows the probability or the likelihood of the risk occurrence. There are those risks are likely to occur than other, thus the management calculates and ascertain which risk is more likely to occur according to the prevailing situation than the other (Fryer, 2007). Another component is the current knowledge regarding the planned risk. We also have credible elimination and control measures that would be taken when a risk is detected. The last component is the cost the firm will have to incur in reviewing, treatment and control of the risks. Conclusion In conclusion, workplace health and safety has become an important section in the process of management. It has been supported by the many governments’ constitution with just the main aim of boosting the safety and health of the workers. Therefore, employers have recently adopted it since it is their obligation to ensure that their workers are working from safe environment. It is advisable to firms to develop the culture and policies of workplace safety not only to adhere to the rules but also to boost their productivity. Workers who feel that are more safe at their workplace work to their full potential hence the organization can easily attain its objectives. References Brazier, A. (2007). “6 The principles of control”. Retrieved from http://www.healthandsafetytips.co.uk/Downloads/Andy_Brazier/Principles%20of%20con trol.pdf. Comcare. (2005). “The principles of effective OHS Risk management”. Retrieved from http://www.comcare.gov.au/forms__and__publications/publications/safety_and_preventi on/?a=41363 Dancan, M. Cahill, F& Heighway, P. (2006). Health and safety at work essentials. Lawpack. 5th ed.UK. Fiedler, A. (2004). “The role of risk management for occupational health and safety”: Benefiting from effective risk assessment. Retrieved from http://www.noweco.com/download/wp_ohse.pdf. Fryer, M. (2007). “Northcott society policy on occupation health and safety risk management”. Retrieved from http://www.mtpinnacle.com/pdfs/OH&S_risk_management.pdf Jeynes, J. (2012). Managing Health and safety. Routledge. London. UK. Ridley, J &Channing, J. (2003). Safety At work. Butterworth Heinemann. Oxford University. UK. Stranks, J. (2012). Health and safety at work: Key terms. Routledge.UK. Safework.sa.gov.au. “Hazard register”. Retrieved from http://www.safework.sa.gov.au/contentPages/docs/swiY1A3T2HazardRegisterSample.pd f Safeworkaustralia.gov.au. (2011). “How to manage work, health and safety risks: code of practice”. Retrieved from http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/P ublications/Documents/633/How_to_Manage_Work_Health_and_Safety_Risks.pdf Read More