The Importance of Workplace Safety
A safe working environment is required for both the employees and employer. It helps to ensure that the staff are working effectively to gain maximum efficiency and effectiveness. As a result, the employees would be extremely satisfied and productive in the environment (Sorensen et al. 2018). It is the core responsibility of the employers for protecting their staff and even keeping them safe and secured. Workplace safety is mandatory for construction projects as there could be high chances of human casualties. Proper safety even is responsible for reducing absenteeism and turnover and even for increasing overall productivity as well as quality of the work. Employee morale is also increased and the workers’ compensation insurance costs would be required to be increased (Wu, Li and Fang 2017). The following report outlines a case analysis of workplace safety in ABC Organization with two aspects of responsibilities of stakeholders and safety leadership.
ABC Organization is a popular and significant construction organization in Australia and they have been doing business for several years. However, recently while constructing a residential building in Melbourne, one of the workers has faced an accident, after falling from second floor and he was seriously injured. The most distinct reason that was identified for this accident was that the worker did not have proper safety regulations and he was only wearing the uniform. As a result, after falling, his head was injured and he even got a fracture in his right leg. Hence, the safety protocols in the construction site was questioned and the respective authority of Australian Construction Safety took legal actions against the organizational management and project manager.
Workplace safety is referred to as the right of the employees to get safety aspects in their workplace and well implemented safety measures are considered for keeping the employees safe and secured as well as for protecting industrial equipment, as per WHS (WHS Act. 2011). Such safety is required for ensuring that the respective organization and project is getting a few benefits accordingly. A safer work environment ensures about more productivity and the productive staff are the major assets to every business. Moreover, these productive staff can also produce more outputs within lesser amount of time and hence operational costs are reduced. According to Xia et al. 2017, workplace safety also promotes the wellness of different staff and workers alike. Healthier staff do tasks in a more efficient manner and as a result, better safety is enhanced for better health.
Proper safety aspects in the workplace help in reducing the total number of accidents in the environment. It results in lesser downtime for the safety investigations and decreases the expenses for workers’ compensations. As per Kabir, Watson and Somaratna 2017, safety attributes are also responsible for reducing the delays in the construction and completing the project within deadline. The organization is also able to ensure that the damages made to the industrial equipment are reduced and the additional costs for replacement and repair would be avoided. It is also required to avoid workplace injuries, so that profit is increased and maximum safety protocols are maintained accordingly. When the employers are distinctively concerned for the safety of their staff, these staff become more confident as well as comfortable. Hence, the rates of absenteeism drop and the staff become more focused in doing the tasks and activities.
The Benefits of Workplace Safety
According to Stackhouse and Turner 2019, the stakeholders have the main responsibilities to ensure that the staff or workers are following the safety protocols, under any circumstance and a safe working environment is created. The employers require to identify the workplace hazards as well as safety issues for taking proper measures to address the issues successfully. It is needed to be aware and identify workplace hazards easily for creating a safer working environment. The employers require to identify workplace hazards as well as safety issues at first and the workplace safety hazards also involve mechanical issues, hazardous electrical equipment and many more.
The mechanical issues can take place at any time while operating machinery within the workplace and working with heavier equipment would be extremely risky and even could cause accidents. Faulty electrical equipment could electrocute staff and it cause severe issues (Jinnett et al. 2017). The staff should also be aware of different kinds of equipment and learn about the major hazards in the workplace. It eventually enables them in staying clear of the dangers and different unfortunate situations. Moreover, the employers should even train the staff in an appropriate operation of equipment and machinery.
The successful implementation of workplace safety programs would be needed for getting all employees to commit to the workplace safety and it is needed to ensure that maximum efficiency and effectiveness is being obtained for carrying out the safety policies (Yaris et al. 2020). The employers would require to investigate every accident in the workplace and they should provide encouragement to the employees for following every safety procedure. Furthermore, the employers should clearly mention that the hazards for not following them accordingly and hence reducing the chances of issues.
The stakeholders of the construction organization have legal decision making rights and might even control the budgetary issues as well as project scheduling aspects. These project stakeholders comprise of responsibilities to the businesses, which involve creating awareness for the developers, financing the projects, creation of scheduling parameters and even setting milestones accordingly (Haga, Huhtamäki and Sundvik 2021). Another distinct aspect of construction safety is the development of safety leadership by project managers and supervisors. It is needed to ensure proper leadership is included in the organizational management for better and efficient results. Safety leadership is setting the standards for safer behaviors and also ensures that the staff understand the accurate correct and incorrect or safe as well as unsafe behaviors in the job.
ABC Organization has to ensure that they are focusing on the major changes and attributes for focusing on the accident, occurred, due to lack of safety aspects. One of the major and the most significant parts of the organization or project is stakeholder (Falco et al. 2021). The stakeholders are certain individuals, who have major interests in the results of the specified projects. These stakeholders would ensure that every project activity is being executed, under every circumstance as per the plan and schedule, created initially.
The project management stakeholders might have financially invested in the project works as they check for the results of the works, as per the project manager. The main roles of the stakeholders on a project can even involve working with private companies and governmental contract or projects (Horton et al. 2018). The stakeholder even have ethical obligations to the businesses that they manage for better and efficient results accordingly. ABC Organization has not focused on the roles and responsibilities of their stakeholders in their business processes and operations and hence the team leaders and project managers should have ensured that the existing safety protocols are kept and considered on top level priority.
Responsibilities of Stakeholders
Stakeholder responsibility involves reviewing deliverable project items and these deliverables even involve completing the residential building on time. Due to the accident in the construction site, it was required to be ensured that all the team members are working appropriately and the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders are being executed, as per the initial planning (Hofmann, Burke and Zohar 2017). The team leaders and project managers also comprise of organizational staff members that are being hired for overseeing the project issues. Safety aspects were major in the construction site and the workers were only provided with uniform to deal with the workplace safety aspects and hence the worker became the victim of the accident.
The main stakeholders included in the project were the client, the main contractor, designers, project employees, suppliers and sub-contractors. It was the responsibility of the contractor to ensure that every staff is following the safety protocols and aspects; however, he did not check these protocols and the worker became a victim of the accident (Oneal et al. 2019). The stakeholders could even be an investor in the business and their activities determining the result of the organization. There had been a lack of knowledge of workplace hazards as well as proper working techniques, which cause the greater risks. The employers should also provide the employees with the most appropriate training for reducing the accidents in the workplace.
It was required to provide proper safety training to the employees and training is a distinct part of every organizational safety program for the purpose of protecting employees from such accidents (Subramaniama, Shamsudinb and Alshuaibic 2017). It is the lack of knowledge that did not help the worker of ABC Organization to focus on his workplace safety and security attributes. Greater risk would be checked and analyzed accordingly for gaining maximum efficiency and effectiveness. The employers should provide the staff with appropriate training for decreasing the workplace accidents. These staff should operate every machinery and equipment in a safe and adequate manner. The decisions are needed to be made with proper expertise to the project operations and stakeholder management should be done by managing the industrial crises.
The utilization of equipment would be vital for minimization of exposure to hazards, which cause workplace injuries is significant (Hope et al. 2021). The employers should provide these employees with personal protective equipment. Moreover, these employees should inform any safety hazard or work risk to the management and the employers are legally obligated for ensuring safer working environments for the employees. Hence, they should end the safety hazards of workplace for promoting safety in the workplace. The employers should also encourage the staff for taking regular breaks and taking frequent breaks for preventing the accidents. It would prevent illness and injury, similar to the ABC Organization case.
Safety leadership was needed in the organization of ABC for reducing the chances of such accidents. The safety leaders eventually set different standards or values and they connect, motivate as well as inspire others for working safely. It is needed to ensure that the organizations have the respective programs, tools and training required for working safely (Vu et al. 2022). The managers and supervisors are in a unique role for bringing out a safety leadership role for themselves. The employees also focus on the aspects for the safety leadership. The principles are the accepted method of behaving in a specific setting. It is needed to ensure that the organizations have the same programs, training and tools, required for working in a safer manner.
Identification of Workplace Hazards
The routine workplace activities as well as interactions require stringent safety protocols for reducing risks. The measures also put in place for preventing the safety protocols to keep the workers or staff safe and secured. The safety leaders play a specific role in the safety performance in the safety and health aspects (Ding et al. 2021). These safety solutions would be developed for better collaboration and coordination. It is needed to facilitate communication regarding safety within employers and workers for reinforcing the practices and principles for making the workplace safe and secured. The safety procedures are required to be understood and followed accordingly with proper reporting of the safety issues, as soon as they arise.
The safety issues in the organization of ABC are also needed to be proactively prevented and new processes would be implemented for improving safety and security. The team members of the entire project team would be encouraged for following the safety protocols and also for cultivating a distinct culture of safety (Gümü?ta? and Küskü 2021). Hence, the respective safety leaders would tend in emerging amongst the group and the team members would be recognized and empowered for taking on the leadership responsibilities in the teams. A stronger track record of safety in the workplace and safety leadership can be implemented for the organization to ensure that compliance and safety training would be undertaken and major commitment would be considered (Lim and Prakash 2017).
The protocols of safety culture in the construction of the residential building by ABC Organization would be considered on top level priority and the leaders like project managers and supervisors should ensure that every member is working in the environment in a safe environment. The workers should report about the safety issues as soon as they arise and also follow Workplace Health and Safety strategies or WHS. These strategies are aligned with the legislation that is related to the safety, health and welfare of individuals at work in a workplace (Awasthy and Hazra 2019). The employers should protect the health, safety and welfare at work of these employees and even others on the premises of the construction site. Hence, a safety leadership is needed to be developed in the project of ABC Organization for gaining maximum safety and security in the construction works and also for ensuring that the accidents or injuries similar to the organization are avoided successfully and the work is not delayed, under any circumstance.
The most suitable and distinct recommendations to ABC Organization for dealing with the safety issues in the construction projects are provided in the following paragraphs:
i) The first recommendation is to provide proper equipment and safety aspects to the workers, working in the construction site. The person, injured in the accident in ABC Organization was not wearing any helmet and hence after falling, had a head injury. It should be made mandatory for all employees and workers in the construction site to wear helmets for their workplace safety and hence such injury cases would be avoided successfully and maximum efficiency would be enhanced.
Successful Implementation of Workplace Safety Programs
ii) The second vital recommendation to ABC Organization would be creating a workplace safety culture. It would ensure that all the team members and project management team are well aware of the safety factors. It is needed to make workplace a vital part of the organizational culture and hence the management can understand the main causes of the most serious workplace injuries and regularly survey for the potential safety hazards within work designs and equipment. Hence, the safety culture would be needed to focus on the safety factors and also for reducing the negative impacts.
iii) Another significant recommendation would be training the employees properly. Comprehensive training is a vital aspect for preventing any kind of workplace injury and it is required to ensure that every employee has the major accessibility to the safety training for their respective positions. Moreover, for encouraging the employees to follow safety protocols, the organizational management should reward the employees for safe behavior. Giving out smaller rewards to the employees would eventually make a bigger difference in the reduction of workplace injuries and also focus on safety aspects successfully.
Conclusions
Hence, a conclusion can be drawn that ABC Organization should have focused on the responsibilities of stakeholders for reducing such incidents and also develop safety leadership in the organization. Such aspects would have been beneficial for the organization to reduce the negative impacts and also gain better efficiency and effectiveness for workplace safety and security.
Moreover, with an appropriate demonstration of responsibilities, it would be easier for the employees and employer to get accurate results and the construction would not be delayed. The involvement of safety leadership in ABC Organization would ensure that every procedure or operation is being executed in the business with utmost effectiveness and working conditions would be improved. This report has focused on the safety aspects of ABC Organization to reduce the negative impacts.
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