Hazardous Materials Management - Assignment Example

 Hazardous Materials Management Introduction The significance of safety managers cannot be ignored as they play an imperative role in providing active support to the companies through identifying hazards and constructing a healthy workplace. Safety management is the topmost priority for companies engaged in manufacturing hazardous materials that are quite similar to the case of plastic manufacturing companies. In this regard, as per the situation provided, the plastic manufacturing company has been facing an emergency wherein the loading dock was found to be engulfed in flames. This eventually raised the requirement of performing appropriate safety management practices in the company. As a safety manager, relating to the situation provided, one of the prime responsibilities would be to handle the hazardous materials and toxic smoke that released in the workplace. Thesis Statement The assignment intends to prepare an incident action plan so as to respond to the above mentioned situation. Accordingly, two incident goals and operational objectives will be identified that might help in responding to the situation effectively. In addition, two responsive strategies as well as tactics will also be described in order to accomplish the operational objectives. An organization list will also be prepared, which will outline the primary roles and specific tasks that the owners of the plastic manufacturing company need to undertake. Finally, an incident using a map or precise verbal description will be located, which will permit the responders to avoid such incident in future. Identification of Incident Goals and Operational Objectives A safety manager plays a decisive role in handling emergencies within a particular company. Therefore, it is duly considered that a safety manager must develop certain incidents goals that reduce the extent of danger and harm, causing to a company and its personnel. In relation to the provided situation, wherein the loading dock was observed to be engulfed with flames and the presence of hazardous materials at the site, certain incident goals are required to be developed. The first incident goal will be reducing the potential of fire incidents in future. The second incident goal will be ensuring that the hazardous materials found in the site do not cause any harm to the workers in the workplace. It is strongly believed that these incident goals are quite important to be taken into concern with the intention of lessening the possibility of occurring fire incidents in the company (Gantt, 2009). Thus, in order to attain the above stated incident goals, certain operational objectives ought to be developed such as quantifying the effects of hazardous materials on the workers and the manufacturing process. Likewise, the next operational objective will include introducing effective training programs for the workers, ensuring that they will appropriately handle the situation with preserving healthy environment in the workplace. It can be affirmed that the first operational objective i.e. quantifying the effects of hazardous materials will provide a perfect understanding about the consequence of this particular incident and impact on the workers and the workplace. This, in turn, will ensure that the workers are aware enough to avoid these sorts of incidents in future. Likewise, the next operational objective of introducing effective training programs for the workers will help in asserting that the issue in the workplace is addressed within a specified period and the incident goals are accomplished successfully (Hurley & Bukowski, 2008). Response Strategies and Tactics Response strategies will be mainly developed for accomplishing the aforementioned operational objectives. In relation to the operational objective of quantifying the effects of hazardous materials on the workers and the workplace, the strategy will be designing a fire curve, which will represent the extent of hazardous materials that released in the workplace. After designing the fire curve, the next strategy will be predicting the effects of fire and the released hazardous materials in the workplace. This prediction will be based on a structural analysis of the incident, making sure that the effects of the hazardous materials are effectively quantified. Likewise, for attaining the operational objective of introducing effective training programs for the workers, the response strategy will be making the training program mandatory for the group of workers. In addition, this strategy will include designing a fire scenario for the workers and train them to address such scenario in a practical situation, aiding them to understand the implied risks of such incident (Jones, 1992). In relation to the above discussion, one of the response tactics for designing a fire curve will be using a smoke control method, helping in determining the burning rate and its duration. Likewise, the other response tactic for making the training programs mandatory for the workers will be initiating an organizational policy wherein the instruction mandating such training program would be mentioned clearly (Rosato & et al., 2001). Organizational List Showing Three Primary Roles and Assignment List with Three Specific Tasks Organizational List Primary Roles Specific Tasks Production Manager Responsible for reducing the release of hazardous materials in the workplace Procure raw materials that release lesser hazardous smoke Ensure that experienced personnel or drivers are used to transport the goods from one place to another Develop production techniques that reduces the possibility of employees getting exposed to excessive hazards Supervisor Responsible for training the workers for preventing further accidental incidents Introduce a procedure for conducting safe work Train employees in using protective equipment of production Develop a protection system for employees and accordingly train them so as to prevent explosions and incidents related to fire Field Manager Responsible for investigating the manufacturing plants and processes Check the production plants on a weekly basis Review the plastic processing system and accordingly introduce safety measures Inspect the conveyor system and make sure that the machines are lubricated in a timely way Health and Safety Plan Health and safety plan is important for each and every company and most significantly plastic manufacturing companies as these companies deal with varied hazardous materials. This plan will be focused towards enhancing the management process along with inducing health and safety measures that will result in ensuring personnel safety. The first provision in the health and safety plan will include visibility and responsible initiative within the management process. This provision will include the following steps. Authorizing the required resources for preventing accidental activities Safety methods will be discussed in staff meetings Responsibility will be assigned to the safety management personnel for preventing accidental activities An effective process of safety management will be initiated and accordingly it will be assessed on a yearly basis in terms of personal interview as well as survey and The employees will be encouraged so as to ensure that safety is maintained in the workplace The second provision will include employee involvement. This provision will include the following steps. Setting up health and safety committees in the company Employees will be engaged as a part of the accident investigation team Involvement of experienced employees acting as instructors for offering training concerning health and safety The third provision will include medical treatment practices. This provision will include the following steps. Employees will be informed regarding how they can avail a medical treatment Any sort of illness or injury experience by the employees will be immediately reported to the respective supervisor Investigation will be undertaken regarding the injuries of the workers and accordingly corrective measures will be executed Source: (Bureau of Workers’ Compensation, 2001) Summary of Communication Plan Communication plan is important to exchange information between dissimilar functional areas or departments in a particular workplace. The primary communication method will include attaining verbal feedback from the employees performing varied operational functions regarding the safety management techniques used by the manager. In addition, the primary communication plan will entail conducting general meeting with the managers of each functional area in order to determine the effectiveness of the safety management process. Memos will be used as one of the secondary communication methods for communicating the employees of each functional area in order to prevent such incident in future. Moreover, bulletin board will be used as a potential secondary communication tool, outlining the measures to be undertaken by individual employees in preventing accidents (Herman & Jeffress, 2000). Location of the Incident Using a Verbal Scenario As per the given scenario, a truck full of cartons with pellets that are used in the manufacturing process slid on ice in the parking area and consequently crashed into empty trailers. These empty trailers were parked in the loading dock and after this truck crashed with the empty trailers, the loading truck was engulfed in flames. Since the emergency services will be delayed due to ice storms that caused road blockade, a team of emergency response will be created on behalf of the company so as to reduce the effects of toxic smoke being released from the burning pellets. An immediate short meeting will be conducted with three key personnel including the field manager, supervisor and the production manager. As the field manager will possess a complete idea regarding the entire plant layout, the layout structure of the plastic manufacturing company can be ascertained. Likewise, supervisors will provide information regarding the employees who were engaged in performing certain activities while the incident occurred. In addition, production manager will provide an understanding regarding the type of pellets used in the production process. Subsequently, the incorporation of these valuable information will certainly aid in guiding the emergency response team, ensuring that the hazardous materials found at the site are handled in an effective manner. The responders i.e. the emergency response team will be guided by the loading dock wherein the incident occurred through a safe passage in the manufacturing plant. Correspondingly, a restricted area will be established in the site, which will avoid the non-responders i.e. the office staff to enter in that particular area. A group of 20 emergency response individuals who are effectively trained and equipped will be appointed to manage the situation. Accordingly, 5 response individuals will be used to clean the hazardous materials found in the site and 10 individuals for lessening the toxic flame. The remaining i.e. 5 individuals will be used to check whether any employee was injured or got stuck in the incident. Conclusion Based on the above analysis and discussion, it can be ascertained that the proposed incident action plan will be effective in handling the given situation. This might be owing to the reason that the incident goals will be identified and accordingly strategies would be made as well as implemented to attain such goals and most vitally to mitigate the adverse situation. It is often considered that the operational objectives of quantifying the effect of hazardous materials on the workers and introducing effective training programs for them will certainly help in addressing the incident goals effectively. On the whole, it can be concluded that the above proposed strategies, goals, communication plan along with health and safety plan will prove to be successful in reducing the effects of hazardous materials on the workers and the workplace as well as at large. References Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. (2001). Safety handbook for plastics. A Resource Guide for the Plastic Industry, 3-75. Gantt, Paul W. (2009). Hazardous materials, regulations, response, and site operations. US: Content technologies Inc. Herman, A. M., & Jeffress, C. N. (2000). Hazard communication guidelines for compliance. OSHA, 1-27. Hurley, M. J., & Bukowski, R. W. (2008). Fire hazard analysis techniques. Information and Analysis for Fire Protection, 121-134. Jones, G. A. (1992).Nomenclature for hazard and risk assessment in the process industries. England: IChemE. Rosato, D.V., Schott, N. R., & Rosato, M. G. (2001). Plastics institute of America plastics engineering, manufacturing & data handbook. Berlin: Springer. Read More