Risk management is basically an approach that systematically manages the hazards of workplace. Being a key component of organisational management, it helps in identifying, evaluating and determining the ways to reduce risk at acceptable level in order to protect visitors, employees and anyone present in the workplace. By introducing proper risk management in an organisation, several hazards of workplace can be stopped and managed with proper safety systems. Organisation should have proper safety system as well as safety culture in order to protect the employees working there. An incident of death of a truck driver has been found in the construction company Canberra in 2012. The company had been fined $1.1 million for the death of the driver.
Workplace description
Canberra is a construction company in Australia. In a construction company, there are various incidents of health can be happened. The chance of accidents is higher in construction sector than any other sector. It is really true that construction industry is not safe or healthy place. There are various types of works in the construction company such as setting up temporary sources of powers and working platform, plastering, tiling, painting and many others. There are various tools that need to be operated such as various power tools, specialist tools and hand tools. Various works have been done at height in construction site and it is very risky. Movement of heavy goods from one place to another is also dangerous as well. Slipping and tripping are also common in construction site. Various health hazards happen in construction site that causes injuries as well as death of employees working there. It has been found that in Canberra, there was no any poster of warning for power lines or any attachment of flags for the lines (The Canberra Times, 2015). The corporate culture of Canberra was poor and the safety manager was also not well for the post.
Hazards and Avoidance of Safety Breach and Work Health and Safety Law
The company fails to maintain safety breaches and there was not any poster to warn anyone about power lines or any flag attachment for the lines. According to Ms Walker, there was poor corporate culture in Canberra construction. It has been found that general manager’s son had been appointed to the post of safety manager but he was not qualified for that post. Due to this, the safety system of the company was not proper and there was chance for various incidents.
As stated by Oakman & Chan (2015), according to the work health and safety law of Australia, every business owners of Australia should fulfil all the requirements of WHS (Work Health and Safety) and if any company does not meet the proper requirements then it has to face penalties. According to the Act, a overview has been provided in order to make the place of working healthy as well as safety. As stated by Sanz-Calcedo et al. (2015), this is the legal duties and responsibilities of every individual either he or she is employee or business owner. In accordance to Qian & Lin (2016), according to the regulations, the companies have to meet the risks and hazards such as machinery, noise and proper handling of equipment and tools of work. In accordance to Omar, Parker, Smith & Pollard (2017), the regulating agencies are responsible for the inspection of workplace, help the employees to know about safety rules and about the penalty that they have to face if they do not follow any rules of WHS (Work Health and Safety) laws of Australia.
What happened?
Canberra was found to have poor culture of corporate world and the safety system of the company was not proper because of unqualified safety manager. General Manager’s son had been appointed as safety manager because of his father’s position. Due to the breach of safety system, a 48 years old truck driver, Michael Booth was electrocuted due to touch of his tip truck with power lines of low slung. The incident had happened at the work site of Kenoss Contractors of Canberra Company. Canberra was guilty for the safety breaches due to which Mr Booth died. According to the industrial magistrate Ms Walker, no remorse had been shown by the company for the death and the company was in liquidation. Kenosis try for hindering the process of investigation for the death. Ms Walker was found the incident at the higher end of breach (ABC News, 2015). This was the first case of safety laws of national work and a precedent had been set for jurisdictions all around the country. The commissioner of ACT Worksafe Mark McCabe had given a great strong warning to the director of Canberra and told their criminal liability under those new laws (The Canberra Times, 2015).
Resolving the issue by Safe work
The director of the company or other high authority tries to resolve the issue easily. They try to hinder the issue from the investigation in order to protect the company. Though the industrial magistrate Ms Walker had said that the corporate culture of Canberra was poor, they did not try to improve the safety systems of the organisations. The company had done mistakes by making the general manager’s son as safety manager and he was not proper for the post. The safety system was not well because of unqualified safety manager and due to this, a person had to die and the company did not try to take the responsibility of the person. The issues have been resolved easily by giving strong warning to the directors of the Canberra as well as the company and by taking penalty of $1.1 million for the safety breach by the company (ABC News, 2015).
Ways of preventing of such incidents
There are various ways of preventing incidents of construction site and it is the responsibility of the company as well as the employees to implement the ways properly in the organisation.
Proper sign of danger
In construction site, there are many dangerous wires as well as area of high voltage. As stated by Alston (2017), these things should be warned properly by a poster or attached flags so that the employees or any other people can understand that the place is dangerous.
By practising defensive driving
As stated by Schernthaner et al. (2017), warning strobes of vehicles are required for machine and vehicles operators in order to approach traffic. In accordance to Bessis (2015), driving should be done slowly and backing up should be avoided. Assignment of a spotter is required in case of backing up is needed.
Highly visible and reflective clothing
In order to reduce the accidents that is related to vehicles. As stated by Glendon & Clarke (2015), the fabric with high reflective should be used by the workers so that the employees can be safe and protect themselves from the accidents.
Safety Meetings
It is duty of leaders and project managers to have safety meetings in order to aware the employees for their safety. As stated by Hopkin (2018), in order to provide instruction and keep them updated about safety issues, meetings are required.
Frequent Break
It has been seen that in construction site, workers use to work for long time without taking any break that leads to tiredness and they do not work properly with safety. In accordance to Abimbola, Khan, Khakzad & Butt (2015), frequent break should be included in construction site because it will be better for their work as well as their safety.
Avoiding sunlight
As stated by Adamo, Al-Ansari, Laue, Knutsson & Sissakian (2017), sunlight is the main reason of fatigue so it is required to cover all the skins with the shirts of long sleeves and other skin protection to avoid fatigue.
Avoid Night work
In accordance to Bromiley, McShane, Nair & Rustambekov (2015), working for late hours and at the dark environment can be the reason of accidents in construction site. Especially for construction work, night works should be avoided because of the dangerous sector of work.
Addressing the issue like a responsible person of safety system
As a responsible person of safety system, it can be said that Canberra had done mistakes by breaching safety that caused a death. The company had also done wrong by appointing the general manager’s son as safety manager although he was not fit for the job. Due to unqualified safety manager, one truck driver had to die and many of the other employees are in danger. In accordance to DeAngelo & Stulz (2015), as a responsible person of safety manager, first duty is to improve the safety system of the organisations. As stated by Kouabenan, Ngueutsa & Mbaye (2015), there is requirement of investigating the safety system of every organisation so that accidents can be avoided. It is also the duty of safety system to make people aware of the safety issues as well as penalty if they did not follow the safety system of WHS (Work Health and Safety) law of Australia.
Conclusion
In this project report, risk management has been discussed with the help of a real accident that happened in Canberra. Due to breach of safety, a truck driver had died and the company did not think that it was responsible for the incidents. There was no poster of warning of power lines that had become the reason for the death of the driver. The company try to hinder the incident from the investigation. According to the industrial magistrate, the corporate culture of Canberra was poor and there were no proper safety systems. Safety system is required in any sector in order to protect the employees from risk. Canberra did not focus to the safety system and it had to pay penalty of $1.1 million. In the work of construction site, safety system is mainly required because there are many dangerous works related to power systems, tools, and work at height that requires proper protection for employees in order to reduce risk.
References
ABC News. (2015). Canberra construction company fined $1.1 million over death of truck driver. Available from: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/construction-company-fined-1-million-over-workplace-death/6708032
Abimbola, M., Khan, F., Khakzad, N., & Butt, S. (2015). Safety and risk analysis of managed pressure drilling operation using Bayesian network. Safety science, 76, 133-144. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753515000119
Adamo, N., Al-Ansari, N., Laue, J., Knutsson, S., & Sissakian, V. (2017). Risk Management Concepts in Dam Safety Evaluation: Mosul Dam as a Case Study. Journal of Civil engineering and architecture, 11(7), 635-652. Retrieved from: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1149403&dswid=-152
Alston, G. (2017). How safe is safe enough?: Leadership, safety and risk management. Abingdon: Routledge. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781351930208
American Diabetes Association. (2017). 9. Cardiovascular disease and risk management. Diabetes Care, 40(Supplement 1), S75-S87. Retrieved from: https://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/40/Supplement_1/S75
Bessis, J. (2015). Risk management in banking. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Retrieved from: https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=n9UbCQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=Safety+and+Risk+Management&ots=YCpNXA49uy&sig=NkKsi9B6Qq7H3VkyXXCyc6-v270#v=onepage&q=Safety%20and%20Risk%20Management&f=false
Bromiley, P., McShane, M., Nair, A., & Rustambekov, E. (2015). Enterprise risk management: Review, critique, and research directions. Long range planning, 48(4), 265-276. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0024630114000582
DeAngelo, H., & Stulz, R. M. (2015). Liquid-claim production, risk management, and bank capital structure: Why high leverage is optimal for banks. Journal of Financial Economics, 116(2), 219-236. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304405X14002578
Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological perspective. Florida: Crc Press. Retrieved from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781482220575
Hopkin, P. (2018). Fundamentals of risk management: understanding, evaluating and implementing effective risk management. London: Kogan Page Publishers.
Kouabenan, D. R., Ngueutsa, R., & Mbaye, S. (2015). Safety climate, perceived risk, and involvement in safety management. Safety Science, 77, 72-79. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753515000673
Oakman, J., & Chan, S. (2015). Risk management: Where should we target strategies to reduce work-related musculoskeletal disorders?. Safety science, 73, 99-105. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753514003142
Omar, Y. Y., Parker, A., Smith, J. A., & Pollard, S. J. (2017). Risk management for drinking water safety in low and middle income countries-cultural influences on water safety plan (WSP) implementation in urban water utilities. Science of the Total Environment, 576, 895-906. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969716323208
Qian, Q., & Lin, P. (2016). Safety risk management of underground engineering in China: Progress, challenges and strategies. Journal of Rock Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering, 8(4), 423-442. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1674775516300178
Sanz-Calcedo, J. G., González, A. G., López, O., Salgado, D. R., Cambero, I., & Herrera, J. M. (2015). Analysis on integrated management of the quality, environment and safety on the industrial projects. Procedia Engineering, 132, 140-145. Retrieved from: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187770581504401X
Schernthaner, G., Jarvis, S., Lotan, C., Prázný, M., Wanner, C., & Wascher, T. C. (2017). Advances in the management of cardiovascular risk for patients with type 2 diabetes: perspectives from the Academy for Cardiovascular Risk, Outcomes and Safety Studies in Type 2 Diabetes. Therapeutics and clinical risk management, 13, 69. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5245806/
The Canberra Times. (2015). Kenoss Contractors fined $1.1 million for workplace death. Available from: https://www.canberratimes.com.au/actnews/kenoss-contractors-fined-11-million-for-workplace-death-20150819-gj2fra.htm
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download
