The notion of safety as well as risk management has gained a significant amount of prominence within the framework of the modern day world and is primarily formulated with the inherent desire to ensure the safety of the individuals (Sheehan et al., 2016). Furthermore, in addition to ensuring the safety of the employees and the other individuals the diverse precepts of safety as well as risk management at the same time ensures the safety of the physical property of an organization (Shea et al., 2016). The notion of safety and risk management becomes especially important when the recent industrial as well as business statistics are taken into consideration (Kelloway, Nielsen & Dimoff, 2017). For example, in the year 2018 alone in the country of Australia more than 97 individuals have died because of various kinds of workplace accidents and the ineffective integration of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) policies within their framework (Safe Work Australia, 2018). This becomes even more important when the fact that the business enterprises had to pay $480 million worth of compensation money to the family members of these workers as compensation (Safe Work Australia, 2018). In addition to these, the nation for the year 2018 had to spend $61.8 billion on various kinds of workplace accidents and health hazards (Safe Work Australia, 2018). This is an important problem that the nation is facing currently since it is not only affecting the citizens of the nation but also the national economy of the nation as well (Alston, 2017). This report will discuss about the concept of safety and risk management in the specific light of the workplace accident in which Michael Booth lost his life.
Michael Booth, age 48 years old, was a truck driver associated with the Canberra Company Kenoss Contractors (Abc.net.au, 2018). He lost his life because of the ineffective as well as inadequate safety measures followed by the concerned construction organization. As a matter of fact, he lost his life by getting electrocuted while on work because of the failure of the concerned organization to put up warning signs that there were loose electric wires at the site (Abc.net.au, 2018). Thus, when his tip truck touched one of these electric wires he received an electric shock which ultimately cost him his life. However, the company denied any role in the accident and even went to the extent of manipulating their attendance records to show that Booth was not officially at work that day when the accident happened (Abc.net.au, 2018). In addition to this, the concerned company even refused to pay any compensation to the family members of the Booth after his tragic death (Abc.net.au, 2018). Thus, it can be said that the actions of the construction company under discussion here were not only against the WHS policies of the national government and also the United Nations but at the same time unethical as well.
The workers are subjected to various kinds of health hazards and also workplace accidents not only in the construction industry but in the other industries as well (Schaufeli & Taris, 2014). It is pertinent to note that every year this causes a loss of significant number of lives and also invaluable property as well (Hofmann, Burke & Zohar, 2017). In many cases it is seen that these safety breaches or hazards are accidental as well as unintentional however in other cases it is seen that these could have easily been avoided had the organization followed the precepts of the WHS policy (Howard, 2017). For example, in the case under discussion here, the life of Booth could easily have been saved had the concerned construction company placed a board out there stating that there were loose electrical wires out here (Abc.net.au, 2018). However, not only the company did not do this and but even refused to acknowledge the fact that Booth died due to a workplace accident while he was on work (Abc.net.au, 2018).
The corporate governance policy followed by the concerned company also becomes significant to note since after the incident it was seen that many of the employees complained about the ineffective organizational culture followed by the organization. As a matter of fact, the company had appointed the son of the general manager of the company as the safety officer of the company who apparently was not familiar regarding the diverse precepts of WHS policies (Abc.net.au, 2018). This only goes on to show the lack of concern of the company regarding not only the WHS policies and other safety regulations of the nation of Australia but also regarding the safety of the individuals who worked for them. Thus, had the company appointed an individual who had some concrete knowledge regarding the WHS policies as well as the safety regulations of the concerned nation then the accident could easily have been avoided.
Safe Work Australia is a regulatory body of the nation of Australia which was established in the year 2009 (Safe Work Australia, 2018). The primary goal or the objective of the concerned regulatory body is to ensure the fact that the various organizations of the nation are effectively following not only the WHS regulations provided by the United Nations but also the ones provided by the national government of the concerned nation as well (Safe Work Australia, 2018). Furthermore, in case of any breach or violation on the part of the organizations operational in the nation of Australia the body at the same time has the power to give verdicts or give decisions on behalf of the legal courts of the nation as well (Safe Work Australia, 2018). In this regard, it can be said that the role which the regulatory body plays within the framework of the nation of Australia is an important one.
Safe Work Australia gave a monumental decision or verdict in the case under discussion here. The thorough research of the regulatory body revealed the fact that the company Canberra Company Kenoss Contractors had not only failed to effectively follow the various stipulations of the WHS policy but at the same time had to meet the basic requirement of having a safety officer within their organization who had some knowledge regarding safety and risk management (Abc.net.au, 2018). In addition to this, the body at the same time found out that the company deliberately tried to wash its hand off the entire incident and stated that the entire fault or the responsibility of the accident was on Booth. The verdict of the body thus stated that the company would be required to pay a penalty of $1.1 million for its failure to effectively follow the safety as well as risk management policies (Abc.net.au, 2018). Moreover, the regulatory body also gave orders for the liquidation of the Canberra Company Kenoss Contractors (Abc.net.au, 2018).
There are various things or actions that the company under discussion could have done differently in order to prevent the accident from happening. For example, had the company appointed an employee who would have overseen the safety as well as the risk measures undertaken by the concerned company then it would have been to avert the accident in which Booth lost his life (Zhang et al., 2014). The presence of an employee who had knowledge regarding the WHS policies as well as regulation and also the dictums of the national government of the concerned nation regarding the safety and risk management that the business enterprises are required to follow in the nation would have ensured the fact that the creation of a safe working environment within the company (Khan et al., 2016). This could have saved the company from getting liquidated and also the penalty that they had to pay because of the workplace accident that took the life of Booth (Pidgeon et al., 2018). In addition to this, the use of boards to convey information to the individuals regarding the danger that they needed to avoid would also have the concerned company to avert the accident in a significant manner (Sadgrove, 2016). Furthermore, the company at the same time could have taken the help of diverse kinds of workshops to provide the relevant information to the employees regarding the various safety as well as risk measures that they were needed to follow not only for the sake of their safety but also for the safety of the assets of the concerned company as well (Leveson, 2015). These in short are some of the measures that could have helped the Canberra Company Kenoss Contractors to avert the accident under discussion and to save the life of Michael Booth.
I would like to say in this regard that had I been a part of the company under discussion here I would have taken the help of various measures which would have not only averted the accident but at the same time helped in saving the life of Michael Booth. Firstly, I would have appointed a safety officer would has a concrete knowledge about the various safety and risk management dictums of not only the national government of the concerned nation but also of the United Nations as well. Secondly, I would have taken the initiative to make the employees of the company aware regarding the benefits or the advantages of the use of these WHS and other policies. Providing effective as well as concrete knowledge to the individuals regarding the benefits of the use of the WHS policies would motivate them to follow these safety measures in an effective manner and thereby reduce the number of workplace accidents and also health hazards in a significant manner. In addition to these, I would also like to use or place various kinds of sign boards in the construction sites to indicate to the workers or the employees wherein it would be unsafe to step in. This is likely to safeguard the safety of the workers and at the same time would help in averting the diverse kinds of workplace accidents in a significant manner. These in short are some of the measures that I would like to take if I am appointed as a member of the safety system of the Canberra Company Kenoss Contractors.
Conclusion
To conclude, the various business enterprises of the present times need to take into effective consideration the diverse kinds of safety as well as risk policies of not only the national governments of the nations in which they are operational and also of the United Nations. Thus, in this regard it can be said that the concept of safety as well as risk management has become an important one within the context of the modern day business world. The effective use of these policies not only helps an organization to avert the diverse kinds of workplace accidents as well as health hazards that the employees of the present times are prone to but at the same time helps them to save invaluable lives and millions of worth of property as well.
References
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