The Occupational Health And Safety - Assignment Example

TOPIC: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY By Student’s Name: Course: Instructor’s Name: University Name: City, State: Date of submission: Assignment 3 question 1: In any organization that has employed people as workers to do various duties, it’s essential that an occupation health safety (OHS) be employed for the sake of the safety of all the stakeholders who are involved in the day to day affairs of the business set up. The safety of employees is of great and utmost importance because they are the ones who are majorly involved with the day to day operations of the organization (Andenas, Mads, and Camilla, 2012). Consultation can briefly be described as the act of sharing of different pieces of information and views without the obligation of the people sharing the information or views to reach an agreement. Consultation in a workplace setup can have numerous significances if it’s properly employed. It can be useful in improving communication within the organization, creating employer awareness in proper timing; it may also lead to enhancement of the satisfaction of employees, proper and effective resolution of problems as well as proper utilization of employee skills and knowledge. It is possible for me to make an improvement to current work place policies by being more inclusive with regard to consultation by first of all avoiding those things that hamper effective consultation. These may include the following: The presence of confusion as far as roles are concerned, also limits on the information flow as well as unavailability of enough time for consultation. Also the delegation of OHS to OHS representatives is also another barrier. Other barriers may be the presence of hostile industrial relations as well as the presence of unreasonable requests by HSRs (Dalton, 1998). It is possible for someone to make an improvement in the policies or procedures in the area where such a person currently works by employing a more inclusive approach to consultation. There can be several occasions in which an employer can make consultation with the workers so as to facilitate an improved relationship between the two parties in the workplace. These situations include, though not limited to the following ones: (Kloss and Diana, 2009). When the employer wants to make very important decisions that are aimed at correcting issues that are related to safety and the general health of the workers. It is also important for consultation to occur when the employer wants to do anything that has been provided for in the regulations pertaining to the safety of employees in the workplace. When the employer wants to come up with ideas on how to mitigate inherent risks. It is also important for consultation to take place when the employer is coming up with decisions about the availability of facilities that help the workers on their welfare. It is also important when the employer wants to try to determine the criteria of membership of various committees in the workplace such as health and safety of the committees. It is also important when the employer wants to assess probable hazards and risks. I recommend that the following groups of interested parties should be consulted when consultation is taking place: Workers: This is because they are directly affected by matters in relation to health and safety. Health and safety representatives because they are elected by workers to represent them in relation to health and safety. Independent contractors and workers of lab-our hire companies only if the decision involved is one that the principal employer has or should have control over. Volunteers because this will be adding a lot of value in a bid to assist the employer to meet his duty. The following are some of the various ways in which to consult other than talking with HSR and HSC: (Psychiatric Issues, 2005). The other way is through production meetings. Another way is the use of designated work group meetings also abbreviated as (DWG) The use of toolbox talks. There is also the use of team meetings. Finally, we have face to face discussions. These projected changes with respect to consultation have also some legislation which supports them. Below are some of the references that have been used. They include: Commonwealth: Occupation health and safety Act 1991, section 16 which states that an employer must take all reasonably practical steps to protect the health and safety of the employer’s employees at work. Act: Work safety Act 2008: section 14 which states that a person manages risk in relation to a duty by taking reasonably practical steps. NT: Workplace Health and Safety Act 2007,section 5 which requires the employer to have it as his duty to ensure that as far as reasonably practical, that workers and others are not exposed to risks of health or safety arising from the conduct of the business of the employer. SA: Occupational Health, safety and Welfare Act 1986,Section 19 and Tasmania: Workplace Health and Safety Act 1995,Section 9 which postulates that an employer must in respect of each employee employed or engaged by the employer ensure so far as is reasonably practical that the employee is while at work, safe from injury and risks to health. WA: Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984, Section 19 which demands that an employer shall so far is as practicable, provide and maintain a working environment in which the employees of the employer are not in any way exposed to hazards. Assignment 3 Question 2 Bullying as well as harassment especially in the work place has been a great area of interest in very many organisations. Bullying can be said to be any unwanted act that degrades the dignity of people or creates an unfriendly or offensive environment. It is therefore important that a well defined policy and procedure is adopted that will result into the reduction of the cases of such being reported. In order to come up with a more effective as well as a more workable document hereby propose the following to be adopted: (Hanson, 2005). Complaints of such should be handled in a way that is less formalised like mediation for example where an individual employee is bullied by another, he/she should take steps to ensure that they resolve the matter in a way that is informal like use of a third party who acts as the mediator. Also, in an instance where the complainant of the act of assault is not satisfied with informal settlement of the case, then he/she can take the matter through the formal process. However, I suggest that the period taken from the time the appeal is launched to the time investigations begin should be reduced substantially so as to allow justice to be granted to the aggrieved party in time. That time should be reduced from four weeks to two weeks if possible. Again it would not be prudent for the organization such as XYZ to suspend the alleged bully while the process of investigation is ongoing. This is not right since the complainant might be doing this maliciously (Walters, David and Theo, 2009). The chart labelled harassment and bullying procedure can be criticised from different perspectives. This is because, this chart presents a way of resolving harassment and bully cases which does not give a clear cut way out because the manager may after listen to the case and decide to arrange for an informal way of resolving which makes use of a mediator .It goes further to indicate a possibility of failure of reaching an agreement. Therefore this chart according to me is not a good one to illustrate the procedure. It only allows formal process to take place only after informal one has failed and this will tend to take quite a lot of time. This chart gives the manager the authority to monitor the progress of the resolution of the problem. It does not present an effective way of bully/harassment dispute resolution. If the party purporting to have been assaulted decides to follow the formal way, then the procedure again becomes lengthy because the complaint has to be written down. The person suspected to have assaulted the other can either be relocated or even suspended and investigations plus subsequent interviews have to take place. Finally after the report is tabled, then a decision has to be taken either to discipline the person involved if found guilty or to counsel him/her or even to refuse to uphold the case if no strong basis of doing so are found (Workplace Law Handbook, 2011). During the construction of this policy/procedure, several consultations should have taken place for it to appropriately be more effective. For example during its construction one should have consulted the things which should be done to ensure harassment never happens. When working with the procedure, an ongoing consultation has to be made on whether it effectively captures all cases of bully or harassment in the workplace. If the procedure needs to be amended, a consultation can be made from the employees on how they view the existing one and if it meets their expectations or not (Kloss and Diana, 2009). Assignment 3 Question 3 To begin with, a policy is any set of guidelines or procedures which any organization may adopt in order to regulate its affairs with regard to how it handles work health and safety issues. Different organizations will adopt different and varied policy documents depending on a number of factors which are inherent to its operation. A Work Health and Safety (WHS) harmonization may cause a number of changes to any organization. Some of these changes will be embraced depending on their impact on the organization (Walters, David and Theo, 2009). My organization will embrace aspects such as the introduction of active and visible leadership in the WHS since this will offer enough training to supervisors and managers so as to equip them with practical management training and personalised support. Since a WHS will provide supportive technology, processes and services, which will be introduced online through a rapid, induct which will be especially for new staff. This policy will be embraced by my organization through regular training and retraining of all the staff involved. My organization will holistically embrace a WHS by starting a priority risk management which will review and provide recommendations for improved services in my organization. This will also result in the establishment of customer support relationships (O'Donnell and Michael, 2002). This is the procedure that demonstrates how the changes brought about by harmonisation will be successfully achieved in my workplace: First and foremost these changes that have been brought will in a very big way result into an increased demand for more resources in terms of finances and other resources too. This procedure will demonstrate that after the changes have been witnessed, then efforts have to be made to put them into practice. Harmonisation may be introduced to a nationally uniform OHS legislative framework. Usually the main objective of the model World Health and safety (WHS) Act is to provide a balanced and nationally consistent framework, compliance policy and enforcement policy. It is possible for me to construct a procedure for demonstrating how the changes brought about by harmonisation will be able to be successfully achieved in my workplace. It can be observed that it will be possible to successfully ensure compliance with any notices issues under the Act. These changes will also ensure that HSRs receive their entitlements to training. It will also verify the provisions and use of resources and processes. However for the harmonisation to be effective there must be consultations which is very important (Psychiatric Issues, 2005). In order to enhance a higher participation in my work place with regard to priority would seek these aims: One of the aims would be to provide training, guidance, and support for the purpose of active engagement. Another aim would be to provide regular feedback on the performance through Occupational Health Safety reports. Also I would aim to establish key performance indicators for the most senior members of the management. This would also provide incentives and rewards in order to motivate good performance. Another aim would be to build databases of hazards and risky management activities. Additionally I would also aim at building capacity for activities such as recording and reporting of costs from worker’s compensation insurance claims. Another aim would entail enhancement of the OHS support service model (Kloss and Diana, 2009). An action plan with allocated timelines and responsibilities that I would prepare would look like this: Allocated timelines responsibility Twelve months Training, guidance and support Six months Provide regular feedback and performance Twelve months Establish key performance indicators for members of management Six months Provide regular feedback on performance Three months Provide incentives and rewards Five months Build databases of hazards Twelve months Enhancement of OHS Twelve months. Capacity building for activities such as recording. Assignment 3 Question 4 The money which is to the tune of $15,000; I would appropriately spend it on the following activities: $2,000: I would spend it for training, guidance and support for the purpose of active engagement of all employees and to the OHS .I will also spend additional $ 1500 for the purpose of providing regular feedback on the performance of OHS reports. Additionally, I will also put about $2500 for the purpose of establishing key performance indicators of the most senior members of management. Another part of the money of about $ 2000 will be put aside for the purpose of providing rewards and incentives in order to motivate good performance as far as the Operation Health Safety (OHS) is concerned. I will also use some $ 3500 to build databases of hazards as well as for risky management purposes of the OHS. After that, I will use another $500 for the purpose of capacity building for activities such as recording and reporting of costs from worker’s compensation insurance claims. A sum of $ 2000 will be used for the purpose of enhancement of OHS service support model. Additional $1000 will be used for the purpose of miscellaneous expenses (O'Donnell and Michael, 2002). Assignment 3 Question 5 An Operation Health and Safety committee meeting entails the convening together of the various members who come together in order to offer information to employees mainly on matters that is directly related to OHS. This OHS committee makes decision but after taking feedback into account. Whenever OHS committee meets, it comes up with a report which contains a number of issues which may be presented as below: Such a committee meeting will not be dominated by a single member or even the leader for it to ensure that there is active participation of all the parties. Such a committee meeting should provide a good opportunity for each and every member to have free access to any bit of information they may need to make any necessary recommendations (Dalton, 1998). An OHS committee meeting conducts its meeting, and then comes up with a report that is aimed at improving the safety situation of its workers within the work place. This report will then be presented to the management for example, for analysis and subsequent implementation if it meets all the requirements and it has received input from all the necessary parties and they have widely consulted among themselves .Every member of this committee must be present during its deliberations and subsequent adoption of policies. Consultation plays a significant role in ensuring that all matters discussed during these meetings are brought to the table for discussion appropriately. Some of the significant parties who need to be present in this OHS meeting include some members of management, the workers, healthy and safety representatives, volunteers as well as independent contractors (Walters, David and Theo, 2009). Conclusion Having carefully read the legislation document, I can draw a number of conclusions from the OHS committee meeting consultative health event. This being one among the so many events where consultation can be applied, it is worth noting that in any work place various legislations must be put in place so as to provide some guidelines on how safety and health of persons in the organization will be safeguarded (Dalton, 1998). With regard to the legislation document, consultation can be better achieved by doing what was to be done at a time by a reasonable person taking into consideration and also weighing almost all relevant matters. This legislation can help to achieve better consultation as it outlines the various ways of eliminating the inherent risks. This legislation outlines the type of assessment required as well as what each duty holder is expected to know with regard to which methods are risky and how to control such risks. It also outlines how to eliminate and also assess how to control the costs associated with the prevention and control of risks and hazards. Consultation can better be achieved when there is a legislation put in place that ensures that the employer takes it as his or her duty to ensure that workers and other staff are not exposed to risks of health as well as to safety that arises from the conduct of the employer’s business. Better still, consultation can better be achieved when the employer is aware that he has a duty to respect each and every worker he or she has employed as much as it is reasonably expected (Dalton, 1998). Works Cited Andenas, Mads, and Camilla, A. Theory and Practice of Harmonization, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Pub, 2012. Internet resource Dalton, A. J. P. Safety, Health, and Environmental Hazards at the Workplace, London: Cassell, 1998. Print. Kloss, Diana, M. Occupational Health LNamie, Gary, and Ruth Namie, The Bully at Work: What You Can Do to Stop the Hurt and Reclaim Your Dignity on the Job. Naperville, Ill: Sourcebooks, 2009. Internet resource Psychiatric Issues, Washington, DC [u.a.: American Psychiatric Press, 1996. Print. rd: Blackwell Science, 2005. Internet resource Hanson, A. Workplace Health Promotion: A Salutogenic Approach. Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2007. Print. Walters, David, and Theo N, Workplace Health and Safety: International Perspectives on Worker Representation. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009. Internet resource Workplace Law Handbook 2011: Health and Safety, Premises and Environment Handbook. Cambridge: Workplace Law Group, 2010. Print. Hanson, A. Workplace Health Promotion: A Salutogenic Approach. Bloomington, IN: Author House, 2007. Print. England, D. C. The Essential Guide to Handling Workplace Harassment & Discrimination, Berkeley, Calif: Nolo, 2012 O'Donnell, Michael, P. Health Promotion in the Workplace. Albany: Delmar Thomson Learning, 2002. Print. Dalton, A J. P. Safety, Health, and Environmental Hazards at the Workplace. London: Cassell, 1998. Print. Read More