Occupational Safety And Health Hazards: Project Processes And Systems

Background and Environment of the Project

Discuss about the Occupational Safety and Health Hazards: Project Processes and Systems.

As a result of the massive growth and progress in workplace technologies, it has led to a rising concern in occupational safety and health hazards. Nevertheless, occupational safety and health risk is not restricted to certain companies but it cuts across all organizations. Therefore, workers are in the workplace are exposed to physical, biological chemical and psychological risk.  Occupational safety and health (OSH) is a discipline that deals with the preclusion of work-linked hurts as well as illnesses in addition to the safeguard and promotion of the workforce health (Tsang et al., 2018, p. 203). The primary objective of OSH is to enhance a better working setting, thus occupational health involves has to promote as well as maintain the greatest extent of psychological, physical and the social safety of employees in all professions. In accordance to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the agency shows that health impairments, accidents, injuries as well as injuries that are related to the place of work can cause a great human suffering and make organizations to incur huge expenses to those affected and the society at large. As a result, there is need for occupational health and safety measures to work and see to it that it prevents these repercussions. Accordingly, workplace health and safety has become an integral element to the viability of businesses for not only employers, and labour unions but also governments as a whole. Therefore, occupational health and safety is a concern of the wellbeing of the present day workforces. However, due to the development of industrialisation and service providing department developments in the place of work it has led to the booming of health problems. Currently, workplace safety and health hazards has become the driving force towards identifying solutions on the manner in which to prevent it from happening (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2014, p. 78). Consequently, in order to make sure that workplace safety and health hazards are reduced to as low as possible organizations have to observe OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standards (HCS). Information acquired through the HCS plays a significant role to employers by offering them safer workplace for their workforces. When the workforce has information about the chemicals in use, it will become easier for them to take necessary steps to minimize exposures, replace them with less hazardous materials and come up with well-organised workplace practices. Such efforts will aid in preventing the happening of work-connected injuries, sicknesses and even deaths caused by chemicals at BHP Billiton. BHP Billiton is a mining company where health and safety measures pose an important aspect for the organization. Therefore, BHP Billiton has set clear requirements in its projects with minimum mandatory controls to manage and  protect health and wellbeing of its workerforce. This report gives a description of the occupational health and health hazard risk analysis with regard to BHP Billiton case. 

Scope management and Actual Approach

BHP Billiton being a mining company is not exceptional from the occupational safety and health risks. Some of BHP Billiton harmful health risks and  agents at its workplace comprise exposure to musculoskeletal stressor, noise, dust of coal mine, silica as well as diesel particulate matter. Thus, it is important to manage the company’s risks exposure with internally occupational health exposure such as OSH. In the modern days, there has been need to understand the galloping industrialisation together with its demand for highly as well as inherently life threatening energy sources, like the usage of transport and nuclear systems and the highly complex technologies. Accordingly, all these aspects have led to the development of more and more sophisticated risk and management approaches. Indeed, for all sectors of human activity in which BHP Billiton is part, there is need for a balance to be made between the benefits as well as the expense of risk taking. Therefore it is important to carry out a risk assessment and management in any working environment (Haas, and Yorio, 2016, p. 115). But before assessing and managing the risk it is significant to have a clear understanding of the relationship between a hazard and risk. A hazard is the latent of an item, practise or circumstance to lead to a harm, severe health impacts on an individual or damage to a certain item. This can result from a chemical (which is an intrinsic properties) electricity or compressed gas cylinder (potential energy) or working on a ladder which is a situation, a slippery floor or a source of fire. On the other hand risk is the possibility that an individual will get injured or experience adversative health effects in case they are wide-open to a danger or a possessions will be impaired. Thus, so as to be able to manage occupational risks, it is important to conduct a hazard and risk identification. Hazard and risk identification helps to know what is likely to cause harm to an employee and also the property in danger in order to understand how to develop and implement the appropriate protective and preventive measures.                   

Despite the fact that safety and health standards are international, the extent to which act is required will rely on the extent of the company, the vulnerabilities presented by its practices, the firm’s products or services and its physical features as well as the adequacy of its available arrangements (Hale, Borys, and Adams, 2015, p. 113). Most of the successful safety and health controlling features are related to the comprehensive management activities supported by the supporters of quality management, the excellence of the company and environmental protection. Indeed, a majority of the successful corporations like BHP Billiton and others are in most cases excellent in their safety and health management. Specifically because they use similar proficient business capability to safety and health in all their operation features. Although, the quality controlling of products, services and ecological safety mainly protects the physical phenomena, safety and health controlling in the place of work entail safe guarding employee and enhancement of a safe culture between workers and employers. In this essence, quality management systems helps in supporting constant improvement in all aspects of a company’s practices (Scholl, Okun, and Schulte, 2017). These management system is built on a continuous process of:

Ascertaining the main processes;

Establishing performance criterions;

Evaluating success against the set out standards;

Taking the corrective actions and

Identification of the prospects for expansion.

Nevertheless, the accomplishment of quality supervision calls for the establishment of reassuring organizational values. Indeed, quality management systems emphasis on the significance of the active engagement of all workforces in the quality development together with the active involvement of the leadership team. According to Yorio, PWillmer, and Moore (2015) success in quality management demands for the development of a supportive organizational culture.  Therefore, corporations that manage safety and health ought to have positive safety cultures as well as active safety consultation programs. In this light, the core components of a successful safety and health management system include:

Hazard identification;

Deciding on who is likely to be harmed and in which way;

Risk evaluation and deciding on the precautions to be undertaken;

Recording the findings and implementing them;

Assessment review and updating    

Certainly, the usage of the Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) is found on appropriate OSH standards, benchmarks and performance. The objective of this system is to offer a suitable assessment approach that will aid in the improving presentation in the of events and accidents experience in the place of work using effective hazard and risk management (Haas, and Yorio, 2016, p. 51). OSHMS is a logical, sequential approach used for deciding the needs to be undertaken, how best to conduct them, monitor their progress, evaluation of how well it should be done, and the identification of areas that need improvement.   

BHP Billiton being a mining company its faces a number of safety and health risk management thus to save the lives of its workers it has to have an alternative scope management of these risks. Some of the core features of an effective safety and health management system should take account of policy and commitment, design, implementation and operation, measuring of performance and auditing and reviewing of performance.

Policy and commitment: It is the duty of the organization to prepare an occupational safety and health policy program, which is part of its safety requirement. In this case the corporation has to set out effective safety and health regulations in a simple manner. As a result of, when safety and health regulations are clear it becomes easier to demonstrate commitment for continuous improvement (Koivupalo, Sulasalmi, Rodrigo, and Väyrynen, 2015, p. 130). These regulations are created to make sure that all people become responsible to help foster a setting that is capable of meeting the letter of the law. Consequently, these regulations are supposed to be cost-effective methods that are able to develop and preserve human and physical resources to reduce monetary loses as well as liabilities.

Planning:  It is expected that all companies are supposed to create a plan that meets its safety and health policy as outlined in the Safety Statement. Therefore, an organization should make sure that it has structured it management in the best way possible for offering this policy. Thus, these safety and health goals as well the organization’s targets should be set for all employees including managers.                                   

Implementation and operation: In order for effective implementation, the company has to develop support as well as capacities that are required for the achievement of safety and health regulations, targets and objectives (Lutchman, Ghanem, and Maharaj, 2016). As a result, all workforces need to be encouraged and empowered to work in a safe way to protect their long run health and not only to avert accidents. To make the implementation process a success these arrangements have to be:

• Sustained through effective communication that has the potential to promote competency that enable all workers as well as their representatives in making informed and responsible contributions to the safety and health efforts.
• Reinforced by effective employee engagement and participation through suitable consultation, representation systems and the usage of safety committee where there exists.

However, there has to be a well-planned and systematic approach to see to it that the safety and health policy has been implemented in an effective safety and health management system. The target is normally to reduce on the risks, thus the risk management approaches are used to determine priorities and enforcing aims that are used for eliminating hazards and declining risks. If possible, risks can be eliminated by the picking and designing of facilities processes and equipment. In case the risk cannot be rendered off completely, it has to be reduced to as far as possible using safe systems and physical controls of work and with the provision of protective equipment. Therefore, the performance standards have to be created and applied for measuring achievements, but for these standards to be effective certain unique practices and health culture should be identified. The identification of these positive safety regulations should be universal and in line with the common understanding of the company’s values, mission and beliefs. In this essence the organization’s leadership has to actively foster a constructive safety and health culture.

Measuring of performance: All working environment are supposed to measure, evaluate and monitor its safety and health performance. In most cases the performance is measured against a set out and agreed standards to help reveal when and where improvements have to be undertaken. For instance, organizations in the current days are using self-active monitoring to reveal the extent of effectiveness of a safety and health management system against its functioning. Self-monitoring considers several aspects such as software which comprise systems, people and procedures while the hardware consists of substances, plant and premises as well as performance and behaviours. Consequently, in cases where controls fails, reactive monitoring are supposed to determine the reason for such failures, by scrutinising the incidents, practices that are likely to have resulted in the harm. The aim of the active and reactive monitoring include:

• The identification of the immediate causes of the substandard performance;
• To determine all underlying causes and implications for the design and operation of the health and safety management system.

Auditing and reviewing performance: It is the responsibility of all organizations to review and improve their safety and health management system constantly, to see to it that the general safety and health performance keeps on improving continuously. In this case there should be a sequential review of performance according to monitoring of data from independent audits of the entire safety and health management system (Maguire, 2017). Subsequently, these form the foundation for complying with the company’s duties under the 2005 Act as well as other statutory provisions. For the success of safety and health hazard control for all organizations should have powerful commitment for the constant improvement by involving development systems, policies, as well as techniques of risk management.

Auditing is the primary element of interest in OSHMS as it has the ability to measure the performance of the system regarding whether it is making improvements over time or not. Accordingly, the quality of this measurements is solely based on the quality of the auditing mechanism, this can be external or internal depending on the competence of the auditors (Maguire, 2017). In general the auditing process entails the procedure of monitoring, done by a competent individual or team of people that are independent of the system process. In light of this, such auditing process is carried out after a certain period, which is designed to aid in the determining of whether the OHS management system together with its components are in place, sufficient and effective in offering the workforces with the safety and health in terms of preventing the occurrence of accidents as well as the prevention of such incidents. In so doing, these audits helps the corporation by providing a means of measuring the system performance with time.

Therefore, when planning for advancements, the auditing evidence has to always been reviewed alongside other data on system performance. As a result, an auditing score system provides the benchmark for the forth coming improvements instead of making highlights of the previous system achievements. In this case, the auditing team is tasked with providing a conclusion on what has to be determined that is whether to implement the OSHMS is effective in realizing the company’s OSH regulations and goals as well as enhancing the entire employee participation (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2015, p 188). Consequently, the organization’s response to the OSH outcome performance analysis in addition to past audits, puts the company in a better position to attain its compliance to with the relevant national and international workplace laws. As such practices helps the company in attaining its objectivity of constant improvements and outstanding OSH practices. Nevertheless, audits call for a well-structured communication in the organization go make it possible when the auditing process is being carried out, the workforce will be readily available to provide the required information in the form of site access, records and documents as well as interviews. That is to mean that for the successful safety and health management system, the organization needs to have a good communication methods in place to facilitate for audit findings.                      

It is important that health and safety management systems are supported by a certain amount of cost so as to decline on the rate of injuries and deaths in workplaces. Statistical reports shows that most of the accidents reported in organizations are as a result of poor handling of health and safety management (Schulte et al., 2014, p 2153). Nevertheless, the main problem is because of inadequate money allocation by these organizations to safety/health departments. According to the occupational safety and health (OSH) management system it consists of five primary features with operates based on the multinational agreed upon Demming cycle of Plan-Do-Check-Act, which is essential to the health/safety system management (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2014, p 81). These features include policy, planning and implementation organization, evaluation and action for improvement. Policy include OSH element policy and worker participation. In this case OSH management system acts as the backbone that set directives from the company to follow. Organizing comprise the component of accountability and responsibility, communication, training and competency as well as documentation. Therefore, organization strive to see to it that the company allocates the safety/health management system enough resources for the delivery of OSH policy.

On the other hand, planning and implementation has the element of initial review, system designing, development and implementation, as well as OSH aims and hazard prevention (Hale, Borys, and Adams, 2015, p. 113). With the help of the initial review, it reveals the amount of money allocated concerning OSH matters, and then make use of this information as the basis for the implementation of the OSH policy. Similarly, evaluation comprise the components of performance measurement and monitoring, scrutiny of job-related harms, illnesses and other incidents not forgetting the audit and management reviews. Through the evaluation process, it is possible to identify the way OSH management system is operational in any given corporation. The OSH management system helps to highlight all weaknesses that require improvement, and it entails the most essential aspects of auditing that has to be carried at each phase to shows how the organization has invested in its occupational safety and health system (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2015, p 186). After undertaking an evaluation process, it becomes possible to implement the necessary preventive as well as corrective moves that were identified during the evaluation and auditing process. Additionally, there is need for emphasis on the need for continuous improvement of OSH performance which is done through the continuous policy developments, techniques and systems that work to prevent and control job-related accidents, diseases and ill-health. Indeed, since the OSH performance process keeps on changing due to the changes in technology which leads to new work-related accidents, illnesses and injuries the company has to allocate the safety/health department sufficient funds to run this projects.                    

Safety and health management System Audits

It is important for a company to establish and uphold a program and periodic procedural safety and health management system audits undertaking to enable for a critical appraisal of all features of the safety and health management system (Steege, Boiano, and Sweeney, 2014, p. 643). Auditing is a well-organised procedures that gather independent data on the effectiveness efficiency as well as dependability of the entire safety and health management system to help draw up corrective actions and plans. Such audits are supposed to be performed in addition to the normal, inspection, monitoring and surveillance of the safety and health management system. The core objective of these audits is to make sure that there is constant sustainability effectiveness, and adequacy of the safety and health management system (Schulte et al., 2014, p 2153). Certainly, the auditing process is done to see to it that all the necessary data has been gathered to allow the organization administration to undertake evaluation process adequately.

These auditing protocols and processes ought to be created, written and maintained and should contain the flowing elements:

• Resource allocation to processes;
• Personnel requirements which consists of the audit team. The auditing team should comprise auditors with adequate training skills to enable them to physically assess both human and other factors and make use of these processes and audits records where possible.
• Techniques for performing and recording of the audits, this can include interviews, checklists, measurements, direct observation and questionnaires.
• Procedures for giving audit report findings to the responsible teams to enable for timely corrective measures and improvement

The most basic program thrusts include the OSH training which entails the provision of employees with basic instructions to make sure that they are in position to recognize the known hazards through the use of readily available protection methods. Indeed, workforce education prepares an individual; to be capable of dealing with potential hazard or unforeseen challenges. The education process offers workers with directions on the manner in which to become well informed and how to seek for actions to exclude the hazard (Sousa, Almeida, and Dias, 2014, p 77). Similarly, as it is plainly explained in the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) reports regarding on how to prevent injuries and illnesses in the place of work; the difference between employee education and training programs is often unclear. Thus, it is dependent about the responsibility of the worker to assume the process. Nonetheless, despite the fact that it is not possible to differentiate between workforce training and education, the OTA report has suggested several programs.

Fundamental Programs: These programs includes instruction with the aim of preventing work-linked injury as well as sicknesses by advocating for proper use and maintenance of equipment, tools, knowledge of emergence processes, requirements for medical monitoring, individual as well as the usage of personal protective equipment for non-routine operations as an interim security till when engineering mechanism can be employed.

Recognition Programs: Such programs consists of instruction that stress on the awareness of workplace hazards; knowledge of approaches of hazard eradication or regulation; enhancing the right-to-know approaches and laws for gathering information regarding place of work hazards; recognition of symptoms of toxic exposures as well as the observation and reporting of hazards or likely hazards to the appropriate bodies (Khan, and Hashemi, 2017, pp.3, 9-10). In most cases, organizations can support their safety and health using the training activities advocated by OSHA Hazard Communication Standard. These standard demands that employers provide workers with the chemical hazards existing in their area of work and the methods on how to minimize apparent risks. Certainly, most employers make use of Material Safety Data Sheets alongside labels as well as training as the main safety and health communication prescriptions.

Problem-Solving Programs: The aim of instructions is to equip employees with information as well as skills to help them take part in the identification of hazards and their control activities. Accordingly, such information that is used in the identification of hazards aids to identify/solve problems through working as a team. These problem-solving programs include the use of management and unions as means to exercising rights to have external agencies investigating workplace hazards when warranted. On the same note, these programs can be done in the form of an organization allowing for the input of its employees in its planning of new operations is taken as a viable methodology for enhancing productivity, employee motivation, and the quality of products. By expanding this method to hazard management it look reasonable particularly because employees owing to their daily work experience, are in possession of intimate knowledge of the hazards linked with their occupations. Thus they act as a rich source for corrective ideas. In accordance to Brauer (2016) the scholar notes that the involving of workforce in hazard regulation mechanism in the workplace plays a significant success because they clearly know all kinds of problems that may exist in that field of work.

Empowerment Programs: These programs offers instructions on how to build and enlarge employees’ skills in the recognition of hazards and problem-solving skills. Accordingly, the target of this program is to make sure that workers are able to effect the laid down control measures (Demirkesen, and Arditi, 2015, 1163). To make sure this is achieved he empowerment program conducts education programs whereby it educates the organization’s supervisors who later on have to continue the education process by educating the workforce that is directly under them. Consequently, to make sure that these programs are functional, empowerment programs use committee processes and safety/health contract recognitions.

Occupational Safety and Health Training in Relation to other Worksite Practices

In most cases, OSH training that is implemented in the place of work is rarely a stand-alone position. For instance, OSH training though it is part and parcel of any job skills training, it also has some add-ons (Hammer, 2015). The on-the-job training type, it covers both objectives that is work methodologies to be learned as well as safe work prescriptions as outlined by OSHA standards. Therefore, OSH training acts as a component of hazard regulating program. It is beyond reasonable doubt that instructions contained in hazard recognition and control approaches, use of personal protective equipment, and knowledge of emergence processes cannot be different but their extent depend on the requirements dictated by OSHA. Accordingly, the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard dictates that all organizations have a documented training plan (Reese, 2015). These plans describes the nature of instructions in making sure that employees get to know the chemical hazards that they are likely to be exposed to. Similarly, these plans help to ensure that workers are able to recognize symptoms of overexposure, and the safety measures to be taken among many others. Therefore, OSH training acts as an element of constant job training as well as workplace hazard regulation program practice. Accordingly, by circling both job training as well as occupational safety and health management efforts these factors altogether act as the success of a safe and health productive organization.

Subsequently, in order to realize the best result regarding occupational safety and health there has to be a transferability of the training to real-time demands of the workplace (Labour.gov.on.ca, 2018). In this sense, some of the factors that will help to realize the above success include the usage of motivational efforts to trigger the training practice and supporting of post-training performance both in hazard and production control terms. The most effective management actions and policies are those that will place the organization’s productivity as well as safety and health of the employee at par and not in conflict. Particularly, OSH training applies measures that are immediate to the learning process. For instance the figure below indicates how organization are encircling both job training and occupational safety and health management programs together. 

Findings

Indeed all works exposes workers to hazards be it dangerous machinery, electricity, loads that are manually handled, working with display screen equipment or toxic substance. As a result, it is important for BHP Billiton to ensure that its workplace is free of risk of safety and health. Therefore, to realize this the organization has to identify all the possible hazards that are likely to cause accidents, assess this risks, put risk control measures in place and make to undertake regular risk control measures.

The safety and health of a workplace is incredibly significant, thus employers have the biggest responsibility to play in making sure that they protect the wellbeing of their employees. Consequently, in so doing, this process is likely to decline on the numerous injuries and ill-health cases and in return it will help to boost the productivity of the organization as a whole (Labour.gov.on.ca, 2018). Nevertheless, while this issue can be seen as the responsibility of the employer alone, it is not. Safety and health management calls for the efforts of all stakeholders in the organization. Therefore, in order to realize occupational safety and health organizations can take the following approaches.

Inspect their workplace: The initial step towards a safe and health workplace entails undertaking an inspection of the workplace with the aid of certified safety and health officials. Certified officers are vital because they have experience in in defying any hazard within the workplace setting; these personnel can play a big role in ensuring all stones are unturned in terms of hazard identification.

Create a safety and health plan: This plan helps to control and eradicate all hazards within the workplace and its will comprise all stakeholders in the organization.

Training of the workforce: It is vital to provide the workforces with all the necessary safety and health training.

Ensure that safety and health records are updated: Keeping of up to date safety and health records is extremely vital (Reese, 2015). The management should take mote of the dates of when the training and inspections were conducted and also when any incidents happened as well as other follow-up actions. By cross checking these records constantly it will aid the organization to identify the trends of its workplace conditions to help it take necessary action to corrects the matter where required.   

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