Risk Management For Linking Tourism Into Emergency Management

Requirement 1

Discuss about the Risk Management for Linking Tourism into Emergency Management.

The legislations involving the Work Health and Safety (WHS) offer a vast range of corrective measures and enforcement alternatives to promote the workplace scenario. The legislations include the roles and responsibilities played by the health and safety representatives (HSRs) to issue the provisional improvement notices. In order to bring possible improvement to the workplace condition, the on-the-spot fines are also issued by the WHS regulators and inspectors (Davies and Walters 2013). The same process also facilitates the reduction of any breaches related to the provisions outlined by the WHS.

From the information mentioned in the earlier paragraph, it can be acknowledged that the roles and responsibilities of the HSR are essential for developing the condition of the tourism destination. The major responsibility of the HSR is issuing the provisional improvement notices (PINs) after finding the possible breaches in the compliance of the WHS Act. In case of the breaches in the tourism businesses, they are likely to be repeated in the future (Becken and Hughey 2013). At the same time, the HSRs must need to arrange a discussion with the person responsible for the identified breach. Regarding the current case study, the possible breach of WHS legislation occurs considering the following situations:

• The risk experienced by the person due to the injury
• Possible occurrence of illness or death of the staffs
• Absence of possible implementation of corrective measures for eliminating the risky scenarios
• Failure to comply with the regulatory guidelines and requirements of WHS or NSW legislations

Firstly, the health and safety related risks are observed in terms of the particular location of the restored hotel. The surrounding area of the hotel is dimly lit, where the considerable number of robberies and assaults happened previously. Not only the staffs but also the guests of the hotel are highly exposed to the breach of standard safety protocols (Paraskevas et al. 2013). On the other hand, the facilities of the hotel are not maintained properly over the months. As a result, staffs and guests have to suffer from different kinds of health issues. Apart from that, the major issues are found in the knowledge level of the HSRs, as they are less trained to cause troubles in the administration area. Lastly, multiple illnesses and health injuries are determined from the individual staff reports of the hotel. These include the breathing difficulties and burns to hands and eyes. There is no information obtained about the chemicals used in these incidents as per the investigation (Ritchie et al. 2013). Therefore, the staffs are not informed about the hazards of the chemical bottles, which are critically holding back the incorporation of the health and safety measures mentioned by NSW legislation. The combination of these incidents is causing the breach in WHS legislations with reference to the NSW guidelines.

Requirement 2

There are multiple examples of hazards found in the workplace setting. These hazards potentially push the workers or the clients to the face multiple difficulties regarding the occupational health and safety. The high chances of hazard can also occur due to the use of specific equipment by the operators who are not trained properly. On the other hand, the preliminary set of investigation suggests that the statements related to the operations and methods of the work are not notified to the workplace health and safety guidelines developed by the specific authority (Rittichainuwat 2013). It causes serious health related illnesses or injuries to the staffs as well as the guests of the tourism business. The same scenario is observed in the selection of a location for the restored hotel, which is vulnerable to the downgrading impacts of assaults and robberies. The incident was formerly accounted for harming the safety and security of the staffs and guests of the tourism business.

One of the significant issues comes from the ineffective knowledge of the HSRs associated with the administration department of the tourism business. Due to the situation, the equipment and facilities are not appropriately reviewed by the HSRs for their operational capabilities. As a result, the life has broken down at least five times in the last month causing the guest to suffer major health problems (Paraskevas and Altinay 2013). Alternatively, the staffs in the housekeeping department are mostly belonging to the non-English speaking backgrounds leading towards the ineffectiveness of communication. These incidents at a whole are responsible for raising the workplace hazards in the identified hotel.

Workplace hazards are commonly referred as the occupational health and safety related factors. Considering the definition of hazard, it is known as the potential source of harm providing different kind of adverse effect on the individuals of the business. In terms of hazards and risks, these two factors are used interchangeably. For an example, the spill of water in the room of a hotel would cause a slipping hazard to a person who is passing through (Hanna Salman Sawalha, Eid Jraisat, and Al-Qudah 2013). If any physical barrier were applied to prevent the access to the particular area, then the possibility of risks from the hazard would be minimised though the hazard would remain. This is known as the risk treatment, which requires essential priority to be provided by the hotel and tourism businesses.

Requirement 3

In relation to the above understanding, risk refers to the likelihood that a person may be suffered or harmed by the adverse effects of the different degrading conditions of the occupational settings. Therefore, the chances of risks related to occupational health and safety increase when the individual is exposed to the hazards (Beirman, Ritchie, and Campiranon 2014). The incidents related to the breaking down of the lift five times in a month or the potential exposure to the harmful chemical bottles in the newly restored hotel had caused significant health risks to both the staffs and the guests. Therefore, the hotel business should need to develop a suitable control measure to satisfy the requirement of the risk treatment. It will help the development of the tourism business to attract more guests and staffs with their skills in managing occupational risks and health-related factors.

As discussed in the earlier about the need of risk treatment, it is essential for the hotel and tourism business to develop a comprehensive control measure for planning and implementing the proposed set of actions. Due to the application of these actions, the hotel can effectively reduce the potential exposure to the different hazards identified in the workplace (Paraskevas 2013). Before adopting such techniques and functions, the management of the hotel must need to take the initial responsibilities to control the outcomes for addressing the non-compliance with the legislations. In this case, the managerial level of control must need to explain the rationale of the proposed framework to the board for highlighting the key elements of the same framework. The basic aim of the process is ensuring the development of the revised approach contributing the reformation of the project objectives. The newly modified objectives ensure the establishment of a framework for guiding the HSRs when they come across the individually identified actions.

The management level of controls is required to be developed by including the integrity and professional behaviour for deliberating the way forward to the light of the WHS legislations (Williams and Baláž 2015). Here integrity maintained in developing the control measures will effectively contribute to the improvement of professional and business relationships. It will assist the hotel to create a professional workforce for the respective job roles. On the other hand, controlling the professional behaviour will help the hotel to comply with the relevant laws of NSW while avoiding any misconduct causing harms to the health and safety of the overall environment.

Requirement 4

Considering the identified risks and hazards within the internal setting of the hotel, there is the requirement of developing the hierarchy of controls. Such process is required to define for ensuring the application of risk controls. As the hotel is newly restored, it is essential to develop a simple control measure for guiding the approaches followed by the different personnel as part of the workplace (Hamid et al. 2013). Therefore, a hierarchy of control measures is often an essential factor when it comes to developing the control measures.

(Hierarchy of Control Measures appropriate for the chosen workplace setting; Source: Hsa.ie 2016)

Based on the above diagram, different stages associated with the control measures are defined as part of the hierarchy of control. The first stage, i.e. eliminate refers to the elimination of the hazards for reducing the exposure to the risks. However, total elimination of hazards is not always achievable. Substituting means the introducing a replacement for the identified hazards for minimising the possibility of risks. Isolate suggests the isolation of hazardous place in the hotel for ensuring the strict restriction of public access (Orchiston 2013). Subsequently, the engineering control might need to be adopted for redesigning the process ensuring the placement of an appropriate barrier between the individuals and the hazards. In case of the administrative controls, it should be prioritised by the hotel significantly. The controls include undertaking standard operating procedures or safe working practices for providing effective training to the staffs and instructing them about the information to reduce the potential risks from occupational hazards (Shreve, Davis, and Fordham 2016). Lastly, personal protective equipment or PPE include the utilisation of protective appliances by the staffs to minimise the exposure to the identified hazards.

Failure to comply with the WHS legislations with reference to the NSW legislation causes some serious hazards providing risks to the health and safety of the individuals associated with the workplace. The particular workplace should need to bear the costs of such non-compliance. In case of the hotel restored and located in The Rocks, the business is exposed to multiple risks from different categories of hazards. Due to the scenario, the business will be highly liable for the cost of providing benefits to the various staffs or guests for their work-related injuries or illnesses (Wang and Ritchie 2013). Due to the consequence of hazards, the business will be held responsible for the wellbeing related costs for risks suffered by the employees and guests.

Requirement 5

On the other hand, the staffs will feel unwilling to participate in their job roles due to the non-compliance with the WHS guidelines. Thus, the particular scenario will give rise to the avoidance arrangements causing the offence conducted by the staffs as part of the workforce. The situation will significantly cause the downturn of the financial as well as the operational condition of the hotel.

Lastly, the hierarchy of control measures recommended for the hotel is developed to achieve considerable amount of benefits regarding the perspectives of occupational health and safety (Dahles and Susilowati 2015). Substituting and eliminating the hazards by adopting the engineering and administrative controls will cause the reduction of risks generated from the high exposure to the potential hazards. As a result, more motivated and skilled workforce can be formed while ensuring the standard services provided to the guests.

In case of failure to take the corrective measures for improving the workplace hazards, little problems often become big. Serious injuries or threats could be suffered by staffs and guests of the hotel if the responsible personnel does not bother to report the malfunctioning of a lift or the slip-and-fall hazard in the hotel floors. It will significantly raise the possibility of risks or injuries, which could have been prevented. Although, the severity of the consequences varies according to the failure to report hazards by the staffs of the hotel (Chew and Jahari 2014). The underreporting of hazards may occur from the mindset of the staffs if they feel of not having the authority to report the hazards. Lawsuits are an adverse actuality that the hotel business often needs to face as the major consequence of not complying with the WHS guidelines. The cost associated with defending the particular lawsuit often becomes a burden for the business even if it wins the case (Hamid et al. 2013). On the other hand, accidents or injuries highly suffer productivity of the business. It is obvious that the injured staffs of the hotel will be unable to attend the work for weeks and resulted in affecting the productivity.

References

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