Task 1: Justifying health and safety improvements
A COSHH assessment is important in many manufacturing companies such as the ABC Chemical Manufacturing as it involves a systematic evaluation of the tasks and processes that involves hazardous materials and substances that put the safety and health of the workers at risk. The purpose of a COSHH assessment in this case scenario would be to help in identifying the hazardous substances and whether the right precautions have been taken and if they have been taken, if they are acceptable. It also helps assess the control measures in place. There are many legal justifications for not allowing COSHH assessment in the ABC Manufacturing Company. Noncompliance is likely to lead to prosecution and hefty fines which would consequently affect the productivity of the company.
If ABC Manufacturing Company fails to control the hazardous substances adequately, there is the likelihood that workers and other people may become ill. These effects from the hazardous material may range from mild eye problems to lung diseases and in certain cases death. As per the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations or as per the COSHH regulations, COSHH assessments are mandatory for any substances that risk the health and safety of the workers. As per the regulations, the management of the company must allow for the management of ABC to allow for some improvements in the loading bay where a large number of customers queue for long hours and where the loading operators continue to handle the process manually even though they have always complained without any improvements being made. Further, breaches of the law may result in the organization ceasing production until the current problem is rectified and improvements made. This would result in a loss of production and income.
Task 2: Checking Management System Effectiveness
In this case scenario, ISO 45001, should set certain requirements especially those for the implementation of occupational health and safety management system (OHSMS). It should also set out the health and safety objectives and policy, identification and elimination process of the hazard, identification and elimination of the risk and the continuous improvement process on the health and safety of the workers such as the load operators and the customers who que on the loading bay to have their chemicals loaded on scheduled bases. Ideally, ISO 45001 would help the organization to provide the workers with safety in the workplace by preventing the frequent injuries that have been happening to the workers as well as helping in improving the occupational health and safety performance of the organization.
Given the fact that ISO 45001 has been revised to include High-Level Structure (HLS), compatibility between ISO management system standards has been enhanced. Clause 5 of HLS sets out the specific roles of the managers in ensuring that occupational health and safety management systems are effective. More so, it would help in setting out the role of managers in establishing a policy that would ensure that the objectives of ABC Manufacturing Company have been aligned with its business strategies. ISO 45002 also sets out the strategies for integrating the health and safety management into the core organizational programs. The results of the assessment should also set out the role of managers in communicating the importance of OSHMS and engaging with workers directly as well as helping in promoting a continual innovation and improvement. Another key aspect of the ISO 45001 is that it establishes the processes that enable workers to be consulted and to participate in OSHSMS application within the organization. As such, the organization should be able to identify and minimize any hindrances to participation.
Task 3: Managing Customers
Loading-bay is often very busy areas as seen in the case of ABC Manufacturing Company. There are often many customers waiting to load their chemicals on a scheduled bases. More so, there are many vehicles in the loading bay. Around 9.00 a.m and 2.00 p.m is usually the peak time where many customers tend to queue for several hours to be in a position to load their chemicals. The loading process is chaotic and many accidents have often occurred between customer vehicles. As such, there is a need to ensure that there are safety measures that would minimize these accidents and reduce the number of complaints from the customers. One of the stagey is to eliminate the risk dangers before the accidents have happened by reducing the number of a large vehicle, people and heavy equipment movements as well as the speed of the moving vehicles and heavy equipment.
The other improvement strategy is to conduct pre-placement physicals. Since some accidents are as a result of inexperience or the inability to perform their position effectively, conducting a pre-placement physical would ensure that accidents at the loading bay have been minimized. The other strategy is to keep an orderly workplace. Lack of clear guidelines on loading at the loading bay can cause serious health and safety hazards. There should be a layout in the workplace that provide adequate footpath markings, be free from debris as well as providing stations for cleaning off the spills. There is also the need to relook the time allocated for loading. Several hours should be increased and then allow a certain number of customers at a time to load their chemicals to minimize long ques at a time.
Task 4: Working within a health and safety management system
The major elements of ISO 45001 standards should include the leadership, context, planning, operation and worker participation. The key features of ISO 45001 are meant to enable the organization to make improvements on their occupational health and safety performance. ISO 45001 should also help ABC Chemical Manufacturing Company to prevent work-related injuries among the workers. The leadership element should establish occupational control that will manage OHS risks and other legal requirements. The element also helps in increasing the awareness of the risks involved and in evaluating the performance and ways of improving the OHS. Leadership and worker participation element should help the company in addressing the OHS policy, leadership commitment, organizational roles, responsibilities and accountabilities.
The planning element would help the company in addressing the actions to address the risks as well as the process of identifying the OHS risks and the assessment for the COSHH requirements. The risk assessment process should help the ABC Chemical Company in identifying all the risks that are related to the activities of the company. The support element in the ISO 45001 should also address various issues such as competence, resources, information and communication and the documentation of the information aimed at helping address the risk associated with the hazardous materials at the loading bay. With the regard to the operational element of the occupational health management system, various issues such as operational planning and control, management of change, outsourcing and procurement should be addressed as well as emergency responses. The main instruments that can be used in this phase include the training of the workers to ensure that their competence is updated. The other element is performance evaluation that should focus on monitoring, measurement and analysis of the legal requirements and other requirements. The improvement element should focus on addressing non-compliance with the COSHH requirements while laying out the continual improvement process in the workplace.
Task 5: Influencing health and safety culture
To influence health and safety culture in an organization, it is important to build from the bottom. This would involve getting the workers in the safety making process rather than just dictating to them the new priorities and policies from top to down. There should be communicating structure that encourages workers to make various suggestions and participate in the safety committees. The employees should also be mentored on respecting the various health and safety practices in the workplace. There should also be the integration of safety. Safety activities should be part of the overall operation of the organization. By perceiving and treating safety as an integral part of the operation in the workplace would encourage all the workers to do the same.
The other strategy to influence health and safety culture in an organization should include accentuating the positive. Organizations should be able to encourage workers to improve their safety performance. During the hazardous activities, organizations must be able to influence their workers in wearing PPE and encouraging co-workers to always be safe. Workers should therefore be trained and advised to adopt a safety culture all the time and particularly when handling hazardous substances and materials. The other aspect to take into account in an attempt to influence a culture of safety in the organization includes looking into the root causes of the accidents and threats involved. This should involve looking at the near misses and accidents as the indicators of certain connected events that may lead to the incidences of accidents. Blaming workers tend to foster antagonistic labour management relationships. However, careful analysis of the root causes of accidents and injuries in the workplace helps in the participation of the workers which eventually contribute to their safety.
Task 6: Developing safe systems of work (SSOW)
A safe system of work (SSOW) is a formal procedure that is based on a systematic examination of work to help in the identification of the hazards. SSOW should help in identifying safe methods of working which would also eliminate the risks and hazards related to work activities on an organization. Other than having guidance during an emergency, there is a need to develop an emergency response plan. The planning process helps in bringing to light some of the deficiencies such as lack of resources or items that may be corrected before an emergency occurs. More so, the emergency plan promotes awareness on safety and shows the commitment of the organization to the safety of the employees or workers. In developing an emergency response plan, it would be imperative to evaluate the magnitude, uncertainty, scope, dynamism and the infrequency of the disasters.
An effective emergency response needs should be able to consider preparedness. Preparedness involves those activities that are taken in a short time before the disaster has struck consequently enhancing the readiness of the communities and organizations to respond effectively. This preparedness is often influenced by the resources available to the company. The actions taken before and during emergencies would help shorten the time taken to offer help and would speed the recovery as hazards are being identified early. The other factor to consider is response activities and how immediately they are taken following a disaster. The response phase should start at the onset of the disaster and should be devoted to reducing those life-threatening conditions while providing life-sustaining aid. The other factor to consider is a recovery which entails the provision of necessary restoration services and how well this recovery session is achieved. An effective recovery plan should also consider the mitigation plans which entail all those activities that are undertaken in the long run and before another accident has happened.