Occupational Health and Safety Risk Management
The essay discusses and highlights the importance of the Safety and Risk Management, as it is the vital part of the workplace, specially the construction company. The essay cites an incident that pertains to the issue of security breach in a workplace and as a result of the security by the Canberra based Construction Company, they were subjected to pay hefty amount of fine for not following the security measures and controls. The essay highlights several safety measures and approaches which could have been undertaken by the construction company in order to prevent the incident.
One of the major aspects of safety management system is Safety and Risk Management (Glendon & Clarke, 2015). There are many factors that are present in the Safety and Risk management. Some of the factors include identification of hazard, understanding and also conceiving measurers of control (Khan, Rathnayaka & Ahmed, 2015). The method of hazard identification involves detection and identifications of the potential hazards and also identifying the mechanism of the potential hazards in an organization. The second approach involves understanding of the safety behaviour and the influences it may have pertaining to the safety of the organization. The third and the last approach that is included in the Safety and Risk Management involve development of safety control measures in order to mitigate and eliminate the associated risks and hazards. Thus, by understanding the safety and risk associated in an organization, it is well understood that the breach in safety and risks management can be catastrophic and it is deemed a punishable offence in Australia under the Work Health Safety Law. This essay discuses the incident where there was a serious breach of safety and risk pertaining to a construction company in Canberra, Australia named Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd (ABC News., 2015). The essay describes the condition of the workplace, associated hazards and also highlights how this breaches in safety could have been avoided or prevented. The essay also provides the vital recommendations that are important to avoid the breaches of safety on condition that I was responsible to ensure the safety system of this workplace at this company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd.
The Canberra based Construction Company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was founded in the year 1995. This construction company is headquartered in Canberra, which is the capital city of Australia. Canberra is also the largest inland city of Australia .The type of business in which Kenoss Contractors Pty ltd is engaged generally involves construction of roadways, streets and highways. According to the reports, it was noted that this construction company, Kenoss Contractors gave less importance to the Safety and Risk Management system within the organization (Enhance Solutions., 2015). It was also reported that this company had a poor work culture. They had employed a safety officer, who did not have the necessary qualification deemed worthy for this responsible post. Not only that the safety officer hired by the company, Kenoss Contractors did not possess the attribute of implementing safety approaches for safety (Peace, Mabin & Cordery, 2017). The safety officer was related to the manger of the company, so he got an undue advantage and was able to get the job of safety officer in the company even without proper and adequate qualification required for this highly responsible post. Thus, it can be said that the construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd, opted for a risky approach by hiring an incompetent and ineligible candidate for the highly responsible post of safety officer and it was foreseeable that this decision from the part of the company would lead to breaches in safety and risk associated with the company, Kenoss Contractors. The safety breach incident took place when a 48-year-old truck driver named Michael booth died after he was electrocuted when his dump truck or the tip truck, which he was driving, touched the power lines, the power lines were low-slung present in the worksite of the construction company, Kenoss Contractors, Canberra, Australia. Michael Booth, the driver was delivering the load of material, the load consisted of the gravel type material to the arena, which was outlined and demarcated with fence and it was to store piles of material and piping, to the worksite of the company, Kenoss Contractors where the severe incident occurred. The catastrophic incident took place in the road that was resurfacing and where the project of Kenoss Contactors was on running in full swing on the Barry drive located in Canberra, Australia. It was estimated that either the tip truck of the dump truck, which the sub-contractor driver, Michael Booth was driving, were exposed to the power lines which was low-slung or it came near the vicinity of the live power lines. This resulted in such a severity that the strong electric current was powerful enough to deflate the tyres of the truck and it also left the burn marks on the road. As soon as the driver, Michael Booth was electrocuted , he jumped out of the truck and he feel on the road and collapsed . Later it was reported that the truck driver died. The construction company, Kenoss Contractors was found guilty owing to the several breaches of the safety conduct that resulted in the death of the sub-contractor driver, Michael Booth. ACT industrial Court adjudged the construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd .guilty on the grounds of safety breaches, which resulted in the death of the driver at the workplace of the company, Kenoss Contractors .Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was imposed a hefty fine of $1.2 million for this severe incident (The Canberra Times., 2015). This is one of the first cases of Australia when a company was fined under the newly enacted nationally harmonized Work Health Safety Laws (Australia, 2014). By giving this decision, Mark McCabe, the ACT Work Safe commissioner, wanted to convey the serious message to all the organization specially the construction companies persisting in Australia (Australia, 2015). He wants to convey that if any of the organizations fails to comply with then safety measures and it result in severe incidents, they would be subjected to such punishment of giving hefty and other severe punishments. However, they also acknowledged the fact that the company, Kenoss Contractors would not be able to pay the compensation amount, which had been imposed on them as they had gone into liquidation. The court found that there had been several breaches in the safety measures by the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. It had been reported that there were no safety signs or flags present in the construction site where the road construction project was going on full swing, to alert and warn pedestrians or other approaching vehicles of the presence of live power lines. According to the reports it was also noted that the worksite of the construction company, Kenoss Contractors was not properly maintained instead was very poorly organized. There were no locks present in the gates of the compound of the company, Kenoss Contractors and the compound was used for the purpose of dumping materials and debris. While the work was carried on, the power lines were not turned off and no spotter was engaged for the work at the worksite. Kenoss Contractors had a very poor work culture and they had hired an incompetent safety officer, who did not possess any the required qualifications that is necessary to hold the post for the safety officer (Goetsch & Davis , 2014). He was the son of the General manger of the company, which made him eligible for the post of safety officer. The safety officer lacked the documentation and also lacked the systematic approach to safety which should be followed in order successfully implement the safety measures in the company .This decision from the part of Kenoss Contractors asserts the evidence of mismanagement and unethical practices within the company . The decision to hire an incapable and incompetent Safety officer always creates the scope, which invites the risk of breach of safety measures within the construction company. The investigation reports of the incident suggests that the construction company ,Kenoss Contractors were well aware of the lack of safety measures and poor safety infrastructures that were prevalent in the company, which could have been avoided or prevented by following simple methods or measures . However, the company, Kenoss contractors decided to neglect this serious issue of safety management in the company and as a result, the severe incident that took the life of the innocent driver took place (Thorogood & Crichton, 2014). Due to the mismanagement from the company and breach of safety measures from their part, serious injury and also fatal injuries were always on the cards. There were also reports that indicated that the construction company ,Kenoss Contractors also tried to obfuscate the investigation of the incident by modifying and manipulating the attendance records of the sub-contractor driver Michael Booth ,who had visited the work site of the company ,Kenoss Contractors for as many as 13 times . The construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd neglected several aspects of safety management and there were issues in the organization pertaining to the poor culture which were prevalent in the company . According to the reports it was concluded that they were well aware of the issues before hand and implementation of simple and apt measures would have mitigated the associated risks and hazards. They could have avoided and prevented the accident that took the life of the innocent driver, Michael Booth, but they ignored the issue. The truck driver, Michael Booth died due to live power lines present in the worksite on the Barry Drive road which electrocuted him to death, if they had provided proper boards, signs or flags, they would have been able to alert the pedestrian or other approaching vehicles about the danger (Das et al., 2013). It would have grabbed the attention of the driver, which Michael Booth was driving to the worksite carrying the load materials. This simple measure would have prevented the accident and the life of the driver would have been saved. The power lines of the construction site were also not turned off during the work and no spotter was engaged to work who would have warned about the upcoming danger. There were also other number of security breaches from the part of the company, Kenoss Contractors which were associated with the incident. The access to the worksite was not properly maintained rather it was poorly managed. The contractors, who were engaged for the road construction project was not capable and did not possess managerial capabilities. The gates of the compound were not provided with locks and it also seemed that the compound was used for the purpose of dumping materials. There was another instance of mismanagement from the part of the company and lead to the breach of safety and resulted in the horrifying accident, they had hired an incapable and ineligible personnel for the responsible position of safety officer (Douglas, 2013). The safety officer appointed by them lacked the required documentation and systematic approaches, which are essential for the implementation of the effective safety measures. If Kenoss Contractors had hired an Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) practitioner, the incident that caused then death of the driver had not taken place (Endroyo, Yuwono & Mardapi, 2015). There were several evidences that proved the fact that there were the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd., did not utilize several measures that could have been applied so that the risk could be mitigated but these simple measures. The experts who were involved in the investigation of the case identified that there were distinct lack of safety approaches from the part of the construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. It can be summarized that the proper and efficient contractor or visitor management system, which includes clearly defined system from the part of Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd, would have prevented the severe accident.
Safety Breaches in a Construction Company
If I was responsible for the safety system in the workplace of the company, Kenoss Contractors, I would have followed several measures that would have ensured the safety and health at the workplace. The measures, which would have been followed by me, include providing proper training, proper communication, provide proper equipment and supervise frequently. I would have ensured that the all the workers and employees are provided proper training by using videos and worksheets regarding to occupational hazards and safety in work place (Laberge, MacEachen & Calvet, 2014). By communicating properly, I would have ensured that all employees are aware of the daily proceedings in the workplace, which would have prevented any physical harm. I would have ensured that all the equipments provided to them are proper and well maintained (Ulang et al., 2014). I would have engaged people to supervise the day-to-day proceedings in the workplace and if any issue or problems were identified, they should be resolved immediately (Fengshou, 2014).
References
ABC News. (2015). Canberra construction company fined $1.1 million over death of truck driver. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/construction-company-fined-1-million-over-workplace-death/6708032 [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Australia, S. W. (2014). Australian workers’ compensation statistics, 2012–13. Canberra, Australia: Safe Work Australia.
Australia, S. W. (2015). Work Health & Safety Perceptions: Construction Industry. Safe Work Australia: Canberra, Australia.
Das, S., Patra, A. P., Shaha, K. K., Sistla, S. C., & Jena, M. K. (2013). High-voltage suicidal electrocution with multiple exit wounds. The American journal of forensic medicine and pathology, 34(1), 34-37.
Douglas, M. (2013). Risk and blame. Routledge.
Endroyo, B., Yuwono, B. E., & Mardapi, D. (2015). Model of learning/training of Occupational Safety & Health (OSH) based on industry in the construction industry. Procedia Engineering, 125, 83-88.
Enhance Solutions. (2015). Poor safety culture and lack of systems lead to fatality. Available from: https://www.enhancesolutions.com.au/blog/poorsafety-culture-and-lack-of-systems-lead-to-fatality [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Fengshou, Q. (2014). Reinforcement of Safety Awareness Training to Construction Workers in Subcontracted Enterprises. International Journal of Business and Social Science, 5(6).
Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological perspective. Crc Press.
Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Khan, F., Rathnayaka, S., & Ahmed, S. (2015). Methods and models in process safety and risk management: Past, present and future. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 98, 116-147.
Laberge, M., MacEachen, E., & Calvet, B. (2014). Why are occupational health and safety training approaches not effective? Understanding young worker learning processes using an ergonomic lens. Safety Science, 68, 250-257.
Peace, C., Mabin, V., & Cordery, C. (2017). Due diligence: a panacea for health and safety risk governance?. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 15(1), 19-37.
The Canberra Times. (2015). Kenoss Contractors fined $1.1 million for workplace death. Available from: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/actnews/kenoss-contractors-fined-11-million-for-workplace-death-20150819-gj2fra.html [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Thorogood, J., & Crichton, M. T. (2014). Threat-and-Error Management: The Connection Between Process Safety and Practical Action at the Worksite. SPE Drilling & Completion, 29(04), 465-472.
Ulang, N. M., Salim, N. S., Baharum, F., & Salim, N. A. (2014). Construction site workers’ awareness on using safety equipment: Case study. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol. 15, p. 01023). EDP Sciences.
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