Workplace Violence And Perceptions Of Safety Among Emergency – Analysis And Solutions Report

Data Analysis and Discussion

Discuss about the Workplace Violence And Perceptions Of Safety Among Emergency.

Pitstop Pty Ltd. is a chain business that provides pit stops to vehicles at various locations. The pit stops of this company were facing some serious issues related to the healthcare and safety of the employees who are working on the stops every day and night. In order to address these issues and problems, a new WHS management system framework was introduced. In this framework, there were a number of requirements as well as rules and guidelines that had to be following by the employees and the pit managers. According to the requirements, the pit managers needed to conduct frequent training sessions for spreading awareness among employees regarding the importance of WHS during their work shifts. The employees also needed to practice suitable behaviors and habits that did not cause issues regarding their health and safety in the work place. The target was to reduce the total number of injuries and accidents resulting in critical problems among the employees as well as reduction in number of working days.

This report analyzes the data collected from the pit stops and based on these data and information, the root causes of the problem have been identified and recommended solutions have been provided.

The scenario mainly builds on the development of a suitable WHS management system for addressing certain healthcare safety issues faced in Pitstop Pty Ltd. The management system has been designed to address certain issues such as:

• Minimization of accidents and injuries
• Addressing various risks associated
• Implementation of suitable WHS policies
• Addressing safety related issues that are generally ignored

Based on these requirements, certain targets were set that had to be achieved post implementation of the management system. These targets were as follows.

• To reduce the overall incidence rate of injuries below 4
• To reduce lost time injury frequency rate below 6
• To make the employees aware of the WHS policies and the effects of bad practices on the overall performance and safety of the pitstop

However, after the implementation of the management system, data collection was conducted that returned results that were not expected. The collected data was as follows.

Incident type	Number	Work days lost
Fuel spills	38	0
Fires	3	1
Slipping on floors	2	1
Falling stock	10	10
Lifting injuries	12	5
Tripping	8	8
Burns	60	15
Fatigue from standing	10	4
Breathing difficulties	40	20
Eye irritation	2	1

From the data, it has been found that the overall IR is 6 and the overall LTIFR is 12. Both of these values are much higher than the expected values, especially LTIFR, which is 6 greater that the expected value. From this data, it is clear that the implementation of the new management system has not yet improved the current situation and the total numbers of injuries as well as lost working days continue to increase due to the incidents that could have been minimized if wanted. Hence, it is evident that there are certain loopholes and issues in the current system that have prevented the progress of the project as well as blocked the chances of improvement as required in the project.

Analysis of Scenario Data

Based on the analysis of the data, some possible causes behind the lack of progress can be listed as follows.

Lack of Awareness – The first main cause that is preventing the benefits of the system is the lack of awareness among the employees of the pitstop. In spite of spreading the awareness and distribution of leaflets regarding WHS policies and guidelines to be followed, it is possible that most of the employees have ignored the same and continue to perform harmful practices that are also against the WHS policies. Furthermore, these employees may not be fully aware the benefits of following the WHS guidelines and ignore the health related issues that may arise.

Insufficient Training – During the implementation of the management system, a training workshop was conducted where the employees were informed about the WHS issues and how even small actions can cause major impacts and safety issues in the pit stop. However, many employees did not join the workshop and have been mainly ignorant about the training sessions and still perform the activities like smoking in the pitstop, not wearing body protections, not following work guidelines and others. Furthermore, there may have been gaps in the training process itself where sufficient training may not have been provided to the employees.

Lack of Technical Knowledge – Another reason behind the issue is the lack of sufficient technical knowledge of the employees. The employees are mainly trained with the field work but have not been provided with sufficient training on the technical part i.e. using the management system developed for the purpose of WHS. In addition, the employees do not have sufficient idea or knowledge regarding the efficient use of the management system framework.

Lack of Skills Audit – Another main cause behind the issue is the lack of skills audit that is the duty of the managers. As per the proposed plan before implementing the framework, it was decided that the pit managers would have to undertake regular skills audit to ensure the workers are working as per WHS guidelines and abiding by safety rules. However, it is evident from the collected data that sufficient skills audit is not undertaken and the pit managers are not taking proper care to solve the issues and problems associated with the WHS of the pit stop. Furthermore, the employees’ skills and works are not evaluated frequently or in the sufficient amount that ultimately harms the health and safety of the employees themselves.

Discussion of Possible Causes

Unwillingness of Employees – While some of the employees are not aware about the WHS guidelines, some employees have been found to be deliberately avoiding the guidelines due to a number of issues expressed by them. Firstly, they said that strong solvents are being used in the stops that are severely affecting their health and this issue is not covered by the WHS guidelines. Secondly, they reported that there is not sufficient managerial enthusiasm regarding continuing and managing the WHS. According to them, initially the managers took some very positive steps but with time, they have lost interest in the same. Another reported concern from the employees is that some of their job roles and performance indicators do not mention WHS guidelines anywhere. As a result, they do not feel it necessary to follow these guidelines.

There are a number of possible solutions that may solve these issues. However, unless the employees and managers are aware of the situation and take active steps on a continuous basis, no solutions will work. Following is the list of possible solutions of the issues.

Mandatory Training Session – Previously, training sessions were only proposed but were not mandatory. However, these training sessions are to be considered seriously and it should be made mandatory for all the employees to take part in these training sessions. Based on the training sessions and their results at the end of the day, the pit managers will have to document the same and report it to the higher authority. Inability to do the same should incur penalties from the pit managers and it should be made the top priority at the pit stop as well.

Skills Audit – Similar to the training sessions, skills audit should also made mandatory and the managers must submit skills audit document at the end of each week. In the initial data analysis, sufficient amount of skills audit has not been received and hence, emphasizing on the same is necessary. Based on the results of the skills audit, certain employees will be provided with training as per the requirements for their lack of skills.

Surveillance – One of the major steps to be taken to solve the issues is to implement surveillance system in the pit stops. Surveillance can be done through the use of CCTV cameras, sudden inspections by agents and others. The main objective of these inspections or surveillance will be to detect whether there are some activities going on that might violate the WHS policies and guidelines. These activities will include smoking in the pit area, throwing of burning cigarette butts and match sticks in the nearby area, mishandling of fuel vessels and others. If any of the wrongdoers is caught, they will be heavily penalized so that these types of incidents do not happen again.

Possible Solutions

From the collected data, it is already evident that there has not been much improvement in the pit stops in terms of WHS. While none of the injury count and working days lost have been successful in meeting the standard set before the project, many of the incidents have reached a very critical level. Due to various incidents, it has been found that 65 work days have been lost in total, most of which have been due to breathing difficulties, burns and falling stock. Some other incidents like fuel spills, fire incidents and breathing difficulties have caused significant impacts on the health of the pit employees. While the managers have denied the use of strong solvents causing respiratory problems of the employees, it is evident that the same issue has contributed to the loss of most of the working days. The high numbers of incidents of burn injuries in the employees clearly confirm that there is a lack of fire safety in the pit stops.

In addition to these, it has been found that the amount of data collected from the pit managers has been insufficient. In spite of setting a particular standard regarding audit and training programs, it is evident that sufficient amount of training has not been conducted and the number of audits has been below the expected amount. As a result, the pit stops are still facing the issues and problems that they were facing before the implementation of the new management system framework.

Conclusion

It can be concluded that this report reflects the existing situation at Pitstop Pty Ltd. after the implementation of the new WHS management system. The main aim of the system was to reduce the number of health safety related issues and implement WHS guidelines accordingly. However, from the collected data, it has been found that the management system has not been able to make sufficient impact on the existing issues and problems at the pit stops. For this situation, both the employees and the managers are responsible. The employees are still not fully aware about the WHS requirements and guidelines whereas the managers have not taken suitable steps to ensure the employees follow the WHS requirements.

Based on the analysis results and data collection, the following recommendations can be made for Pitstop Pty Ltd.

Deploy Surveillance System – In order to ensure WHS guidelines are maintained, the company must deploy on-site surveillance system. This can be done by installing two or three CCTV cameras at each pit stop and strict monitoring is to be done in order to ensure the employees are not doing any activities that violate the safety rules and guidelines.

Training Routine – The company should consider implementing a mandatory training routine that must be followed by the pit managers. The training program should also have some fixed guidelines that are to be followed by the managers. Furthermore, it should be ensured that all the employees are taking part in the training program.

Audit Template – A particular audit template should be developed and forwarded to the pit managers who will then fill up the templates based on the skill audit results. Submission of the audit template at the end of each week will be mandatory failing which, the pit managers will face penalties.

Usage of Materials – Firstly, the pit should completely ban the use of flammable materials like cigarettes, match sticks, fire crackers and others completely from the premises of the pit. Second, the company should promote the use of safety items like plastic gloves, anti-fire protections, fire extinguishers and others in each of the pits.

Copeland, D. and Henry, M., 2017. Workplace violence and perceptions of safety among emergency department staff members: Experiences, expectations, tolerance, reporting, and recommendations. Journal of trauma nursing, 24(2), pp.65-77.

Runciman, B., Merry, A. and Walton, M., 2017. Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. CRC Press.