The Methods Adopted by the Construction Industry to Remedy Health and Safety Non Conformities - Literature review Example

?Chapter Six Conclusions The study set out to prove the following hypothesis: The methods employed by professionals within the construction industry to remedy health and safety non conformities is found to be relevant causes of instant change rather than a long term change in order to ensure it does not reoccur (non corrective v corrective action) It has been shown within this report that there are many different methods that can be applied by an employer to remedy health and safety non conformities. Despite the fact that the Safety Management Systems are not an explicit requirement under the Work Safety Act 2008, they are nevertheless still generally considered as one of the best methods for employers to make sure that they are complying with health and safety laws in a well thought-out way, more particularly in a high risk industry such as construction. Some of the very important methods were identified from the revitalisation campaign which was conducted by the HSE to help the construction industry become a more health and safety environment to work within. At the same time such methods identified corresponded with the methods mentioned by the interviewees within my results. Thus illustrating that the identification of a methods to remedy health and safety non conformities was not so difficult and it also shows that professionals within the industry are aware of such compliance issues as methods have been identified and created to ensure that they do not occur in the future. The methods which were identified within the literature review included information as to how the management methods, pertaining to health and safety should be systematically and properly allocated from the top management down. Collins (2007). Behavioural management methods which include adopting more positive safety management rules, such as involve and motivate individuals do not carry out inspections on the basis to find faults and communicate health and safety effectively. Rowlinson & Lingard (2005). Training and educating employees through the CSCS card scheme and even retraining or re-educating experienced staff at all levels can be effective method to remedy health and safety non conformities. Following adequate laws and regulations such as the HSAW 1974, MHSAW 1995 and the CDM 2007 are all laws that must be followed and updated in order to ensure health and safety non conformities are minimized. Finally Singh, Hinze & Coble (2009) suggest inspections as a method to remedy health and safety non compliances. In comparison the methods which have been mentioned by the interviewees include: behavioural management techniques such as motivation, effective communication, rewards (prizes), name and shame, red card yellow card system, issuing non compliance notes on employees portfolio, management techniques such as to lead by example and not by criticism, law and regulations to follow as an organisation such as the construction site safety handbook GF700, and finally training and education requirements before and during an employee`s journey on a construction site, such as CSCS card scheme, and even regulatory training courses for managers to attend can all help to ensure health and safety non conformities do not reoccur. Overall one can conclude that only two methods identified within the literature review and the interviewees are similar which include the CSCS card scheme and the led from the top management down approach. This illustrates that all the methods identified within the interviews are all methods which have developed within industry and are methods which the organisation feels are effective to remedy health and safety non conformities. It is easy to list or even identify all the methods that an organisation uses to remedy health and safety non conformities as illustrated above, the main issue is how effective are these methods in ensuring that a corrective action has been achieved rather than an instant (non corrective) change. Thus justifications from interviewees where given into why they felt that these methods will employ corrective actions which will be discussed below. Firstly the management of an organisation that will adopt a lead from the top management down approach will ensure a corrective action as the highest managers will set an example by ensuring all other member of the management team understand their roles and responsibilities to illustrate and communicate a effective safety culture to their employees. Secondly all the behavioural management methods such as motivation, effective communication, rewards (prizes), name and shame, red card yellow card system, issuing non compliance notes on employee’s portfolio will all ensure a corrective action has been implemented as such methods will affect the individuals thinking processes, such as the red card yellow card system will allow the employer to think about the consequences before carrying out a non conformance action, thus s/he will avoid or even ensure that it does not reoccur as s/he can be removed from the site if another yellow card is issued. In contrast motivation will encourage and influence the individual to carry out a corrective action, thus will ensure non compliance does not reoccur. Thirdly, laws and regulations such HSAW 1974, MHSAW 1999 and CDM 2007 are all laws and regulations that can help ensure corrective actions for health and safety non compliance does not reoccur if complied and followed adequately by an organisation. Surprisingly, such laws and regulations were not mentioned as any importance by any of the interviewees, and in contrast illustrated organisational site specific regulatory laws and regulations such as the construction site safety manal GF700 as of importance. The reason for this was because regulations such as the HSAW 1974 and MHSAW 1995 are laws which are followed by every organisation irrespective of what industry they belong, thus construction site safety GF700 when complied to allows the organisation to ensure corrective actions are implemented to remedy health and safety non conformities as it will focus entirely on activities which are carried out on a construction site. The relevance of viewing international laws, particularly Irish and Indian laws, in the construction industry is due to the methods that other countries have already implemented. Through the review of the methods the said countries are currently using versus the ones currently in use in the United Kingdom, the review gives a well-rounded view of the failures and effectiveness of various methods, as well as having an insight as to how some of the methods, despite the well-aimed objectives, continues to have loopholes which leads to the short-lived, if any, conformities. It is very important to see the shortcomings of the existing regulations that UK has in order to come up with better methods that would result to long-term conformities. One of the examples would be the lack of standard regulations pertaining to Inspection and Audit. Without a set protocol, it is not unexpected to see confusion and lack of conformity. Lastly and most importantly, the training and education methods such as CSCS card scheme, regulatory training schemes for all members on a construction site, from experienced (managers) to none experienced will ensure corrective actions for health and safety noncompliance are achieved as it will ensure every individual is trained to their required levels and are safe to operate on a construction site, thus ensuring that health and safety non compliances do not reoccur. This methods was empathised by all the interviewees as the most important of all methods, thus in order to ensure a corrective action for health and safety non compliance an organisation will have to ensure that every individual is trained or educated to the required level to ensure health and safety non compliance does not reoccur in the future. The success of each suggested plan, however, lies on the willingness of employers to shoulder additional costs in order to pay, not only for the training, facilities and amenities, but also the awards and incentives they promise to give to their employees. Proper delegation of responsibilities in the organizational management and utmost cooperation of employers to shell out a relatively huge portion of their profits in order to achieve this goal is a big factor in the scheme of things. The success of each suggested plan, however, lies on the willingness of employers to shoulder additional costs in order to pay, not only for the training, facilities and amenities, but also the awards and incentives they promise to give to their employees. Proper delegation of responsibilities in the organizational management and utmost cooperation of employers to shell out a relatively huge portion of their profits in order to achieve this goal is a big factor in the scheme of things. Read More