Safety Management and WH&S
Describe about the Risk and Safety Management for Business Workplace.
Survey of recent times proves out that most accidents that occur in the workplace are mostly happen due to human errors. Furthermore, these accidents cannot be reduced or eliminated by changing the workers. Due to which, Risk and Safety management department are implemented in a Company. A safety management does not guarantee an organisation to have percentages of zero in risks, rather, it prepares the company to acknowledge and control risks actively. Majority of the organisation around the world have a risk and safety management team in their department. It is the responsibility of the organisation to adhere the security of its workers and members.
This study will portray the theories and concepts regarding the safety system of a company and also examines the knowledge and skills required to undertake a safety research. In addition to this, the study will also have an analysis whether WH&S legislation is enough to improve a safety work. The safety culture and safety leadership definition and their capacity to improve a safety management will also be summarised. Furthermore, the steps to achieve an accurate safety management system will also be undertaken.
A safety management system can be defined as organised and well-coordinated procedures, steps, principles, sections and personnel in managing the safety within the organisation. It is the collection of methodical process and policies towards the safety of the organisation. An organisation has to take various steps and measures to implement a safety management system and in doing so, it should develop a plan (Chaddha, 2008). The work, health and safety are the legal framework to promote and encourage high standards and pleasant workplace. For every organisation, it is its responsibility to fulfil their duties and responsibilities under the work, health and safety policies. The responsibility for the management of health and safety of a department cannot be overcome or can be completed by a single safety advisor or officer (Mazur, 2013). The safety management in the company is the duty of every employee, and they should work accordingly and as far as reasonably practicable, for the health and safety of their fellow employees. For majority of the companies, the running and managing of the health and safety procedures of the company are two completely separate activities (“Process safety management”, 2014). Some of the organisations in the world still think that safety and risk management is not essential part of their management.
Importance of WH&S
The main aim of the WH&S, Australia, is to safeguard the health and safety of the workers. It also aims to protect the workplace by reducing and eliminating the risks associated in a workplace (Goddard, 2012). Another major objective of the WH&S department of Australia is to provide workers and others, the highest level of protection from hazards and risks of a workplace. Under the WH&S department of Australia, the duties described here for a person is not changeable or transferable. A person may be assigned to have more than one duty and many people can be assigned for a single duty (“Building a Health Literate Workplace”, 2012). The duties of the person are assigned to reduce and eliminate the risks and hazards as far as it is practicable. If it is not possible to fully eliminate the risks in a workplace, administrators should take precaution before starting the work and should have their eyes on in the field. It is the common law for all the employers of Australia to safeguard their workers from hazards and injuries at work. Those who fail to do so, leads to negligence of common law.
In the WH&S bill of Australia, the person conducting a business or undertaking a business whether it is alone or with others should have work, health and safety duties. The duty of a person implying a business, or undertaking some business, must assure the safety of their fellow workers and the persons who are engaged in the business (Wong, 2012). They should also have to safeguard those workers whose activities in carrying out the task or directed by the person or owner. The person who is steering the business must also assure the provision and maintenance of the working environment. The policies of WH&S Australia are supported by wide-ranging Regulations and Practice that covers every aspects of it, such as, Protective clothing, proper equipment, recruitment of WH&S representatives, and wide range of specific hazards. It also covers features like, employee training, notification of accidents, and its record keeping.
It has been argued several times that commitment to investment in WH&S requires more developed procedures. It has been advised to use the concept of business case in the WH&S systems. However, the theories of a business care are bit more complex and complicated. The economic case of WH&S is more concerned whether it’s a public good or not. The business case if implemented in WH&S will more likely to establish investment, irrespective of the fact that the investment is providing economic benefit to the business. The major difference between public and private justifications in WH&S is to make various possible reasons. The main reason is the justification of general economic which is a public good argument (Åžoaita, 2014). Within the WH&S, the business case has generally been enhanced by using traditional cost-benefit analysis. The business case pointed out WH&S to lower its compliance cost and also to reduce the sickness in the job. It will also reduce the cost associated with the workplace accidents and also decreases the cost associated with absenteeism. It will enhance the procedures of the work and allowed to have a better risk management.
Safety Leadership and Sustainability
Safety leadership is an important part of any safety, health and environment process. The safety leadership in the workplace is program that is analysed and designed to improve the safety culture and also help in reducing the work-related injuries in the workplaces. Through this program, safety leaders of all the levels have the opportunity to get information from others, develop their skills and to build a positive workplace (Lu & Yang, 2010). Safety leadership is involved in all the levels or departments of the organisation. As sustainability policy is a new area where the companies are trying to focus, there is always a risk involved in its activity. This is usually because there is not much information available to determine the results of this policy. Organisations should make sure that their reports are accurate and positive as this is the new area for the company and will help in motivating the employees (Kapp, 2012). It should also look for the people who are not taking interest and ignoring the new procedures. The firm should also look for the arrangements that are generating additional work from people and the problems associated with their suppliers. It is important for every business entity to observe records and compare the results to the desired outcomes. It will help in keeping the sustainability policy directed and focused. Sustainability requires new techniques and technologies as it requires changing the policies and procedures of the company. It is important for the administrators of the respective business entity to ensure that the change is implemented in the policies of the company.
Safety leadership at a work program is available for everyone. It is known for today that there is no better way of maintaining an effective and efficient safety and risk management in a company. The safety leadership program welcomes the involvement of workers, managers, business owners and managers (Flin, 2004). The most noteworthy point in safety leadership is that it is available for all business sizes irrespective of the fact that, the company is small, medium or a large firm.
Culture is usually defined as the way we complete the things over a place. The safety culture of an organisation comprises the beliefs, norms, and work practices of management and employees. It is referred to what an organisation is like in terms of health and safety of its workers. It involves the aspects such as attitude of the management and actions about the safety. It is also actioned towards the procedures initiated for a safety process and mostly, the ideas and beliefs of individuals and groups concerning the perceived magnitude of risk and practicality of preventive and protective measures (Chen & Chen, 2014). After creating the sustainability policy it is important to develop the procedures to implement that policy. These policies can be better carried if these are created by board members and illustrate the route of the organization. To implement the policy, a large number of strategies is to be modified and many to be created. For developing the base of the policy, information must be gathered which evaluates the ability of the company to control effectiveness. It should also forecast the timeframes required to meet the goal and the cost incurred for the cultural prospects. Successful operation of practice depends on the support from all stakeholders (Patankar, 2012). It will include the specific roles and objectives of various stakeholders and timeframe accrued during the completion of their respective tasks. It also includes the training of the staffs and maintaining the communication between different stakeholders. It is vital that the strategies of gathering the information are accurate. After that comes the monitoring of results and its influences. For a firm, it is essential for them to know the outcomes from the communication of different stakeholders for keeping the opportunities genuine.
Safety Leadership at Work Program
Senior administrators are the key points for a successful safety culture. It is about the safety attitudes in the people along with the safety management established in the company. The safety leader will see what the safety management of the company looks like. The safety leader must portray his vision in a positive manner through various actions. When an excellent safety leader conveys a message all his team or fellow members will surely look for it. Safety leaders should have a smart and great communication styles and should support safety values and regulations (Process safety management, 2000). For a quality safety culture and management, the objectives should be set and companies should work towards their targets for the implementation of these objectives. There should be a personal contribution of head departmental officers in the safety programme. Training should be performed to portray the workers that safety should be considered as major rule and should be showed in the performance of all staffs (Burke, Clarke, & Cooper, 2011). It is suggested that safety management should be built as a benchmark in the organisations.
Various strategies involved in the WH&S policies are to assist in preventing and injury and illness at the workplace. It is compulsory to employ and involve a perfectly qualified person under the WH&S legislation to advice on the issues that has been impacting the health and safety of the employees (Guidelines for auditing process safety management systems, 2011). The legislation can also hire some consultants if they are unable to find any suitable individual with qualified skills and knowledge. There should be a consultant within an organisation to provide training regarding the performance of the job or work. These consultants can advise the organisational department to establish, maintain and improve the safe systems of the workplace (Krause & Hidley, 2009). They will also help the department to identify, eliminate and control the workplace and hazards and also to reduce the risk involved over a worker. Duty of an organisation should ensure the provision and maintenance of a work environment without any risk to health and safety provision.
Conclusion
The failures happening in the workplace causes unacceptable human and financial costs to the society. The departments or can be said as we, are not working enough to improve the deduction of injuries, illness and accidental deaths. The workplaces around the world should have a characterised goal for their risk and safety department. The improvement in the safety management is examined by the common goal for all and good leadership. A sustainable workplace demands that the organisations create a safety culture for their workers. The concepts of WH&s and the options for improving its policies are analysed in the study. It is also found in the study that various drawbacks are still available for the development of a proper work and safety management in organisations.
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