Safety Security and Environmental Law - Essay Example

Institution : xxxxxxxxxxx Title : Safety Security and Environmental Law Tutor : xxxxxxxxxxx Course : xxxxxxxxxxx @2010 Introduction Safety Security and environmental law is a complex legislative and regulatory area whose context is based on British and European Union policies and applied in associated areas such as employment and industrial matters and policies. The law deals with regulation of health, safety, security and environmental risks which may arise in the process of business undertakings. There are legislation that controls the Safety, security and environmental law that enforce the responsibility on the main stakeholders in any organization. There are also regulations on some particular matters that are also added on top of these laws. These are provided through codes of practice and guidance material through codes of practice and standards (AS4810 and ISO 14001). For example in New South Wales, the laws on Occupational Health and Safety are enforced by WorkCover Authority of New South Wales. However, these codes differ from one jurisdiction to another but they have a consensus on the agreed code of practise and approach to management of risks. Basically, these laws require that organizations should put in place policies that ensure safety, security, and health of the employees, the contractors, and the entire working in environment. Failure by the employers to comply with the principles of the Safety Security, health and environmental laws may pose risks to the organizations. For example, in New South Wales, the industrial relations court charged Biflinder Berger AG, Baulderstone Hornibrook Pty Ltd and Cross City Tunnel Pty Limited with a crime over the death of an employee. Each of them was fined $841,612 because of breaching work place safety. The legislation also imposes express obligation which requires them to be complaints of twenty elements listed in Michael Tooma’s book. Some of them are allocation of resources to the safety, security and health management, design and development of a safety, security and health management plan, critical risk control, and training among others (Tooma 2008). Apart from having the regulations in place, it is important for the employers to ensure that the employees comply with them. This is because most employees also suffer as a result of neglecting the laws. This is essay therefore looks at those laws in the context of the following case: Industrial Relations Commission of New South Wales Decision-Inspector Colin Wall-v-Hunter Douglas Ltd [2007] NSWIRComm 56 (13 March 2007, where an accident occurred in the industry due to incomplete safety management procedures. Overview of the case In this case, Hunter Douglas Ltd, the defendant, pleaded guilty of breaching the Section 8(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000. This section outlines the duties of the employer by stating that every employer must ensure health, safety and welfare of all those working under him (Creighton & Rozen 2007). Hunter Douglas Ltd is a company that deals with metal manufacturing and therefore uses several types of machinery in all the operations. On 24th January 2005, the company employed Mr Ingleshwar, and then an accident happened on 20th April 2005. At this Mr Igleshwar was working under training in operating the slitting machine but was under the assistance of Mr Paul Morgan who was more experienced. The two started experiencing a problem in operating the machine and sought the assistance of Mr Tran since the metal was jumping and getting damaged. Mr Tran walked inside the curtain in the laser beam area and stood in a 500mm wide gap between the laser beam and the slitting machine since it was already off. He was wearing gloves and to stop the metal from jumping, he placed a rag against it. The slitting machine was then restarted and at this time, he had not broken the laser beam. He stood next to the machine for 20 minutes without breaking the beam and thereby shutting the machine down. After observing the performance of the machine for twenty minutes, Mr Igleshwar took over but was not wearing gloves. He also continued operating the machine with the rag placed. After doing it for a short while, his hand got caught in the cutting edge for about 5 seconds dragging his hand for several meters before the machine was stopped. The accident left Mr Igleshwar with crush injuries that called for amputation of his right thumb, the little finger and wounds on his both hands. Due to these injuries, he stayed out of work until 15th December the same year. Risk context According to section 8(1) of the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000, it is the responsibility of the employer to ensure health and safety of his employers. This means that he has to ensure his premises are safe for workings of the employees. Part (a) of that clause states that the employer must ensure that he controls the premises where the employees work to ensure that they are safe and do not pose any health risk to the employees. Part (c) of same states that employees must ensure that their systems of work and the working environment are safe and do not pose any risk to the employees. In this case, the employer, Hunter Douglas Ltd breached section 8(1) (a) of that Act (Reese 2008). Risk identification After analysing the situation, the risk that was identified was the exposure of the employees to the moving parts of the machine that contained the cutting and the slitting heads. Such a risk is defined in the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2000 as the reasonably foreseeable risks in which the employer should have taken measures to prevent the identifiable risk (Confer 1999). In this case, it was found that the defendant had failed to identify the risk faced by the employees by working on the exposed moving parts. The measures that were put in place, in this case, placing a rag, were not adequate to protect from the risks. However, a standard procedure for operating the machine was included in a written procedure but did not include reviewing of the coil since it was not part of the ordinary functions of the slitting machine. Secondly, the procedures did not state that operators can stand in the gap between the safety light curtain and the slitting machine. Assessment of impact This case indicates the need of having to a risk management plan in place and also reviewing it to make the required changes. Enforcement of the plan is also important. Despite having placed the operation procedures, the manager should have put in place a system of check and balances that will ensure that the procedures are being followed. There should have been a disciplinary action to be taken against the employees who do not follow the procedures. For example in this case, Mr Tran and Mr Ingleshwar did not follow the right procedure in the process. This is because the actions taken by Mr Tran which were then followed by Mr Ingleshwar were not as stated in the written procedure. Risk control measures before the accident The defendant had placed an occupational health and safety system before the accident occurred and this system was also reviewed regularly through an audit after every six months. The members of the occupational health committed also used to carry out monthly inspections on the premises. The line managers also used to do monthly inspections of the machinery. Incidents of accidents were also reviewed monthly and hazard reports given as well as processes done by the external providers. This is an indication that the company had put efforts in minimizing the risks. However, what lacked is the enforcement measure for the system. However, after reviewing the statement of the operation procedure, it was found that the process for rewinding the coil had not been included in the written procedure since it was not among the ordinary jobs of the slitting machine. The standard procedure also did not allow operators to stand in the gap between the safety light curtains and the slitting machine. Risk control measures after the accident After the accident occurred, the company started efforts to streamline its risk control measures. Some of the safety measures that were implemented include installation of laser beams, addition of guarding, interlocking gate, emergency buttons, further employee training, and documentation of safety procedures for operating the slitting machines. The staff members were also issues with copies of written manual and offered some training and supervision. The teams were also reshuffled to mix the more experienced members with the less experienced ones to assist in on job training. More was done on the operators of the slitting machine where they were advised to re-read the standard procedures to ensure that they fully understand the occupational health and safety standards. They were also advised not to carry out any procedure that is not stated in the safety procedures unless it is approved by the metals manager. Improvements were also done on the machine and other similar machines after they were assessed by external consultants. Refresher course was also conducted on all the employees who were also given a safety test at the end. Conclusion Health, safety and environmental laws are very important guiding tools in an organization. They ensure that the workers work in a safe environment that is free from risks. However, since risks may be inevitable in most cases, it is important to have measures put in place that will be observed when dealing with risky undertakings. The case shows that the defendant company had put in place the risk management plan although it did not cover all the aspects of possible operations in the organization. Implementation of the safety management plan was also not followed properly. Compliance to the safety standards was also not at the maximum and this landed the company into court charges after occurrence of an accident. Bibliography Tooma, M, 2008, Safety, Security, Health and Environment Law, The Federal Press, Sydney Creighton, B., & Rozen, P., 2007, Occupational Health and Safety Law in Victoria, Federation Press, Mexico City. Confer, R., 1999, Occupational health and safety: terms, definitions, and abbreviations, Lewis Publishers, Nashville. Reese, C., 2008, Occupational health and safety management: a practical approach, CRC Press, Vatican. Read More