Roles in Fulfilling the Requirements of Statutory Duties - Assignment Example

Safety Health and Environment Name Course Name and Code Date Questions 1. Identify, and explain the significance of, the statutory duties that apply to the situation described Statutory duties are the laws that a government institution, a company or members of a given profession must obey. In the current situation, numerous statutory duties apply because of the numerous stakeholders (Akintoye, Beck and Hardcastle 2002, 126). In fulfilling the requirements of understanding the statutory duties, the stakeholder’s role and responsibilities are used as the guidelines to appreciate further their respective roles and responsibilities from the perspective of statutory duties: An important assumption made is the presence of risk assessment strategy and defined approaches while visiting “risky” areas of the society/community. Fentham Metropolitan District Council – the statutory duty is both to the district, the employees and other stakeholders. The District Council should create a conducive environment that champions safety and occupational related requirements. The Council provision of services and products to the community and engagement of the community to the success of the policies of the Council is important. Moreover, the District Council should ensure the employees operate in conducive environment through the provision of appropriate support and resources. Hence, the District Council should ensure conclusive measures integrated towards fulfilling the requirements of the society. Mrs. Preston – the roles and responsibilities are clear, and Mrs. Preston provides visitation services through engagement of the users. However, Mrs. Preston has to adhere to the policies and strategies in place. For example, Mrs. Preston should provide optimum services depending on the situation and requirements; in the same way, Mrs Preston should adhere to regulations including the risk management strategies. Solicitors – the solicitors have to use their professional services to support the requirements of Mrs. Preston. The strategies include effective engagement and communication to the success of the needs and requirements of the Mrs. Preston. National Union of Local Government – The union tasks is to ensure the employees operate in a safe and supportive environment (Akintoye, Beck and Hardcastle 2002, 9). The working conditions and associated benefits should reflect the requirements of the employees, and also, the needs of the District Council should be integrated with the entire policy development and implementation. Unions should consider the needs of its members and create a mechanism to advance the requirement. Based on the analysis, different stakeholders play different roles in fulfilling the requirements of statutory duties. The stakeholders have to work together in advancing the objectives and duties of each other (Hood, Rothstein and Baldwin 2001, 118). For example, the District Council has to implement measures for risk assessment and creating a mechanism to protect the employees from hazards. In the same view, the employees have to adhere to the regulations and standards of the District Council in addressing hazardous situations and operational requirements. 2. Review the strengths and weaknesses of the proposed civil action, making reference to the possible defences to the claim that the Council may consider (40) The different entities in the current case have a different argument in championing their views. The aggrieved individual is Mrs. Preston, and her current civil action requirements have both strengths and weaknesses. The strengths are important because it strengthens the claims while the weaknesses affect the requirements and expectations of the claim. The strengths of the case: Recorded the visits – Mrs. Preston had recorded her movements and stated the reasons for her decision to visit the site during the evening. Moreover, Mrs. Preston has been operating within the vicinity in previous assignments meaning the current situation is within her operational area. Arranged the visits – Mrs. Preston had arranged for the visitation and had communicated with the “user.” The arrangement requires processes of communication, and the user can acknowledge that she had visited the location (Suter II 2006, 33). It is one of the requirements as a statutory duty to engage the user before visiting. The presence of documentation from security and health sectors – evidence exists that indicates Mrs. Preston was attacked while working. The security personnel and the emergency medical personnel would support the argument that she was attacked. Moreover, these stakeholders would provide documentation supporting her claims meaning enough evidence is available to accomplish the civil action requirements. Psychological trauma during routine scheduling – during the schedule routine after the hospital visitation, Mrs Preston broke down and started crying. One of her colleagues assisted her back to her place. The supervisor was around and witnessed the situation. Moreover, the frequent headaches and premature birth points towards psychological problem (Agyeman 2003, 45). Lucky, this information is collaborated by the supervisor and other stakeholders. Weaknesses Frequent complaints and lack of effectiveness at the workplace – the management had given Mrs. Preston the last warning, which further complaints would result in termination of employment. The verbal and written warnings are available meaning the defence can use the information to the defence benefit. Mrs. Preston did not engage management – Mrs. Preston should have engaged other persons during the planning and visiting the user. Mrs. Preston has a direct supervisor whom should have been engaged in making the decisions to visit the site. Risk management strategy – the management acknowledges the presence of a risk assessment and mitigation strategy (Agranoff and McGuire 2004, 53). Moreover, it may be assumed that visiting dangerous sites require more than one individual. Therefore, the decision that Mrs. Preston made to visit the site alone may be an indication of not following regulations and guidelines. Possible defence claims Mrs. Preston had complained of headaches prior to the incident. She did not attend to work numerous times claiming she had a headache. The defence team may link the frequent headaches and related complaints and state that there is a relationship between the current headache problems to the previous headache problems. The strength of relating the current headache with the occupation accident does not have the strength (Blaikie et al. 2014, 182). Mrs. Preston did not follow the risk assessment procedures developed in 2014. It is assumed the risk assessment procedures have clear guidelines on visiting dangerous neighbourhoods (Keen, Brown and Dyball 2005, 17). For example, Mrs Preston did not inform her superior about the visitation. In addition, Mrs. Preston did the recording, and she did not involve any other individual. The defence may use the assumption as the incident was a “scapegoat” for Mrs. Preston to stop working (Agranoff and McGuire 2004, 61). Reports exist in which Mrs. Preston was not coming to work complaining of headaches. Therefore, the occupational incident may be a scapegoat from the perspective of Mrs. Preston. Mrs. Preston has turned the incident into her advantage and uses it to gain employment benefits from the employer. 3. On behalf of the Councils Social Services Department, draft a) A policy statement on the risk of violence at work that sets out the key elements of a strategy for controlling such risk (15) Risk Management Policy Statement Fentham Metropolitan District Council is aware of numerous risks associated with the day to day activities and general operates. The District Council recognises the significance and responsibility to manage risk both negative and positive, and supports focused, systematic, and structured approach to managing the risks through the use of the risk management strategy. In this way the District Council will: The District Council risk management strategy objectives are: Provide appropriate services and products Engage different stakeholders in advancing the requirements of risk and safety Create conducive environment contributing to effective mitigation of problems and challenges Frequent review of the legislations and strategies to reflect the changing requirements of the society and community The objectives will be achieved through: Frequent stakeholder engagement Creation of risk assessment procedure and processes Provision of resources to encourage risk management Training and development in risk management matter Creating awareness and education to the targeted communities Roles and Responsibilities: The management is responsible for providing policy directive and monitors the implementation of risk prevention strategies (Power 2004, 73) The employee should follow both directives from the council and professional experiences in championing safety and health requirements The different stakeholders have responsibility of championing the requirements of risk management Review The risk management strategy should be reviewed annually to reflect the changing dynamics in the environment Implementation The implementers of the risk management are the management and the employees. The employees have to embrace the risk management strategies while the management has to ensure the employees implements the directives accordingly. b) An information sheet for staff that shows the procedures to be followed in the case of home visits (10) Information Sheet for Staff Identification of the Hazards and Risk Assessment The management of the District Council with support and consultation with the employees should identify hazards where home visits are conducted. The management should document the hazards and threats. The management should then develop a risk assessment depending on the hazard, and the risk assessment should be done with the consultation with the employees undertaking the home visits. Each of the hazards identified should be analysed independently and mitigation strategies formulated and implemented. Controlling the Risks Associated with Home Visits The identified hazards should be documented and classified as extreme, high, moderate or low (Heeks 2003, 121). The controls should be based on the classification and influence of occurrence of the hazards to the different assets. The controls should complement the mitigation strategies for ensuring the effectiveness of the risk assessment and risk control measures. Training in Risk Awareness The employees working in a home visit where occupational violence is high should receive appropriate training. The training includes protection strategies and measures to be implemented before visiting the home. The employees have to be trained on the appropriate strategies for communication and engagement with the management. The employee should understand the different cues that enable identification of unsafe areas and employment of measures to address the problem. Safe Work Procedures The employees have to follow the safe work procedures as stipulated by the risk assessment and risk management strategy. The employees have to integrate the safety and occupational requirements in the day to day operations (Haimes 2005, 97). Adherence and championing safety during the numerous home visits should be prerogative to the employees. Therefore, teamwork and taking responsibility for championing safety is important to the mitigation of safety and occupational problems. Recording Employee Movements Before the visits, the employees are a requirement to record their movements. The employee has to engage the supervisor or manager/management before recording the information. A review of threats and hazards of a predetermined location should be done before allowing the employee to visit the site (Hood, Rothstein and Baldwin 2001, 37). Frequent updates from the employee to the manager/supervisor and vice verse should be accomplished within agreed time frames. Employee Assistance Program In the event an incident has occurred, the employee should be provided assistance. The assistance includes appropriate medical assistance and counselling pegged on the nature of the incident. Additional resources should be allocated or provide to exhaust the problem and review done on the circumstances leading to the incident. The occurrence of the incident should be analysed to determine the source of the incident and appropriate mitigation strategies. References Agranoff, R. and McGuire, M., 2004. Collaborative public management: New strategies for local governments. Georgetown University Press. Agyeman, J., 2003. Just sustainabilities: development in an unequal world. MIT Press. Akintoye, A., Beck, M. and Hardcastle, C. 2002. Public private partnerships. Blackwell science. Blaikie, P., Cannon, T., Davis, I. and Wisner, B., 2014. At risk: natural hazards, people's vulnerability and disasters. Routledge. Haimes, Y.Y., 2005. Risk modeling, assessment, and management (Vol. 40). John Wiley & Sons. Heeks, R., 2003. Most eGovernment-for-development projects fail: how can risks be reduced? (p. 5). Manchester: Institute for Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester. Hood, C., Rothstein, H. and Baldwin, R., 2001. The government of risk: Understanding risk regulation regimes. Oxford University Press. Keen, M., Brown, V.A. and Dyball, R., 2005. Social learning in environmental management: towards a sustainable future. Routledge. Power, M., 2004. The risk management of everything: Rethinking the politics of uncertainty. Demos. Suter II, G.W., 2006. Ecological risk assessment. CRC press. Read More