Identification of Hazards - Term Paper Example

Name Course Tutor Date Abstract The Greenland medical facility constitutes one of the well-known facilities in the country. It is made up of over 300 workers and more than 1000 outpatient and inpatient who utilize the services of the facility. This has lead to stress of medical resources. Construction of the new offices to accommodate those departments that initially used to share offices has been an important step as far as meeting this requirement is concerned. This has led to the reduction of the cases of congestion, which had initially hampered the service deliverance. Additionally, it has encouraged the efficient and effective deliverance of services. However, the current information from the workplace health and safety department has that the new offices does not offer an environment fit for offering medical services. The place is actually situated few meters from the road-railway terminus and hence the frequent noises from the vehicles and/ or train have been a main detractor to the workers working in those offices. The new offices accommodate 60 workers and unknown number of patients who visits the facility. As per the national guidelines, any medical facility should be serene environment so as the patients as well as the workers of such facility gets conducive environment. These guidelines help in facilitating efficient deliverance of services. Contrary to these guidelines, the workplace health and safety department has realized that the location of the new offices does not offer such a serene environment for the patient as well as the workers. Noise pollution is thus a challenge that should be addressed by the management. Addressing this issue may be difficult if it is done without conducting the risk management system. Introduction Different issues in an organization are normally solved using different mechanisms. Workplace hazards constitute some of the common organizational hazards. Risk management mechanism is one of the common ways of handling those issues related to workplace hazards (Ridley & Channing 2008, p.65). In the past three months, complaints from the medical staff of Greenland medical facility about headaches and poor concentration have raised concern especially to the department concerned with occupational hazards. It is believed that the cause of headaches and poor concentration might be due to noise pollution. This has prompted to the development of appropriate ways through which noise pollution hazard can be assessed and development of appropriate measures can be established. This work therefore meant to design a risk management system that could be used to manage the issue identified above. Various aspects shall form the basis of designing the risk management system. Topping up the list is the aspect of proper identification of the hazard involved. The actual hazard(s) involve shall be identified using appropriate hazard identification methods (Ridley & Channing 2008, p.75). This step is important, as it will form the basis on which other steps shall be centered. It also reduces the issue of addressing wrong issues. It should be noted that headaches and lack of concentration might be due to other hazards apart from noises. Another aspect would constitute assessing the risk from the hazard. This step would then followed by decision of the appropriate measure to be taken. Upon the decision of the measure, the system would find out the efficient way of implementing the measures arrived upon and finally the monitoring plan, which shall review the effectiveness of the new control measures, shall be established (Bos & Farr 1993, p.49). Resolving this matter would thus entails the following steps Identifying the hazard Identification of hazards associated to the frequent headaches as well as lack of concentration would form a crucial step to be taken as far as resolving the problem is concerned. The workplace environment shall be assessed to determine the possibility of noise pollution being the hazard responsible for headaches and lack of concentration. The identification process shall involve consultation with workers, reviewing the existing risk assessment, basing on the reports from the staff on the hazard (hazard reporting) Assessing the risk This would constitute an important step as far as managing and resolving the prevalence of headaches is concerned. Various factors that affect the likelihood of harm because of exposure to the hazard shall be assessed. These include the frequency of the occurrence of hazardous situation, the number of persons exposed to the situation, duration of the exposure, the housing standards, and other external factors (Glendon 1994, p.47). These factors shall assist in the development of appropriate measures to be taken and the urgency of the implementation of these measures. Establishing the severity of the severity of the harm suffered from the hazard shall also form important action to be taken in this step. In this case, the nature and level of the noises from the vehicles as well as the train shall be measured and then the severity would be based on comparison of the amount of sound wavelength in hertz, which the ear drum can withstand with the wavelengths released from the vehicles and train. if the wavelengths from the train or vehicles are higher than the amount of wavelength a brain can withstand, then it would imply that the risk of noise pollution is high (Ridley & Channing 2008, p.59). The number of people exposed shall also act as a good bearing through which the promptness and the nature of the action to be taken shall be based on. Lastly, the physical location of the hazard shall be assessed so as to provide the basis from which to determine the appropriate measure. The severity of the hazard shall then be measured basing on the Position of workers relative to a hazard. The distance from the office to the roads and railway shall be measured and the severity of the hazard shall be based on the distant obtained. The shorter the distance, the greater the hearing damage can occur. This step shall then rate the risk basing on the numeric scale as either low risk, medium risk or high risk (Glendon, 1994, p.38). These ratings shall help in determining the kind of the action to be taken. For example if the risk would be classified into level three, the high risk, then it would imply that the control measures must be developed and implemented immediately. The risk at this level is unacceptable. On the other hand, if the risk would be classified into the second level, medium risk, the training and supervision would be the appropriate line of action to be taken. Deciding on control measures The appropriate control measures would be established based on the findings from step 2. Depending on the severity and the severity of the hazards, specific control measures shall be adopted. Some of these measures shall include the following. Imposition of traffic legislation that discourages unnecessary hooting would be one way of curbing the hazard (Glendon, 1994, p.53). Isolation of hazard would also constitute a possible control measure of preventing or minimizing the risk. This may be done advocating for the use of acoustic booths around the noisy equipment. Alternatively, the management can built a tall wall or barrier to separate the train and bus terminals from the facility to reduce the intensity of noise from the hooting train and buses. The use of personal protective equipment would also constitute one of the control measures to be taken (Glendon, 1994, p.53). The use of hearing protective device such as ear plugs shall be encouraged both to the staff members and those patients admitted as inpatients. Implementing the control measures developed in the step 3. This step constitutes an important step as far as resolving the problem related to noise pollution is concerned. For proper implementation, the following measures would be taken. An implementation plan that would describe what to be done in execution process would be developed. This would guide the management in implementation process. Safe work procedures shall also be developed to ensure that the contact of workers with the hazard is minimized (Stranks, 1994, p.103). Communication of the control measures to members would also be done, as this would assist in facilitating efficient and effective implementation (Stranks, 1994, p.94). Furthermore, training and giving appropriate instruction to both the workers and the public in general on the effects of exposure to such health hazard as well appropriate ways of reducing or eliminating exposure shall be relayed. The workers would be trained on how to use some equipment in elimination and control of the identified hazard because some hazard requires the use of devices that are complex and therefore needs training (Stranks, 1994, p.120). Therefore, training and giving out instruction would constitute an important step during implementation process. Finally, implementation process would have to be accompanied by keen supervision. Monitoring and evaluation During the implementation process, monitoring and evaluation would be carried out to determine the effectiveness of the measures. Monitoring and evaluation would assist in ensuring that the chosen control measures are in place and are being used correctly. Monitoring would also assist in ensuring that the measures are actually doing what was intended (Fuller & Vassie, 2004, p.47). Also in establishing whether the exposure to the assessed risk has been eliminated or reduced. Monitoring would also help in identification of any new problem that may arise because of implementation process or determining whether the implemented control measures worsened any existing problems (Fuller & Vassie, 2004, p.47). Conclusion This risk management model is a model designed to help in managing the workplace hazards. It is like a template on which an organization can. As explored above, risk management model is made up of about five steps. However, there are other important aspects of risk management system that worth noting. Firstly, it is important to bear in mind that the risk management system must be continually reviewed and updated this would ensure that what was planned is actually what it is being done (Fuller & Vassie, 2004, p.47). Workers should also be consulted at each stage. This would help in determining the impact of the implementation measures taken. Additionally, any action, steps to be taken, or those taken should be documented. Documentation helps during evaluation process in determining what was actually done and whether what was done is in consistent with what was had been planned. Training of workers should also be done (Goetsch, 1996, p. 23). Workers should be sensitized on various forms of occupational hazards as well as their control measures. Through this, the exposure to hazards would be significantly reduced. Introducing, documenting and continually updating a risk management system will be a significant step. It is in the docket of the committee in charge of the workplace hazard management to pass out any aspect pertaining the hazard anytime there is new occurrence. This would allow for timely measures and hence help in reducing the severity of the risk. Additionally, constant documentation and updating of the risk management system would assist future planning (Goetsch, 1996, p. 35). It is therefore the role of committee concerned with the risk management to ensure that the above requirements should be part of the risk management model. References Fuller, C & Vassie, L 2004, Health, and safety management: principles and best practice, Prentice Hall/Financial Times, Harlow. pp. 6-56 Goetsch, D 1996, Occupational safety and health in the age of high technology, Prentice Hall, New Jersey. pp. 1-45 Stranks, J 1994, Management systems for safety, Pitman Publishing, London. Pp. 34-123 Ridley, J & Channing, J 2008, Safety at work, 7th edn, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford. Pp. 1- 97 Mol, T 2003, Productive safety management, Butterworth-Heinemann, Sydney. Pp. 23-453 Glendon, I 1994, ‘Risk management in the 1990s’, Paper presented at Risk management: approaches from international strategic management, quality perspectives and workplace health and safety conference, 3 November, Brisbane. Pp 24-72 Bos, N & Farr, T 1993, Workplace health and safety handbook, Clark & Mackay, Brisbane. pp. 1-137 Appendix The Greenland medical facility constitutes one of the well-known facilities in the country. The facility was founded in 1987. Since its foundation, the facility has witnessed a drastic growth and hence the need for expansion was inevitable. Actually, the facility was founded by minimum of twenty members. Then it had only one block building. The facility is located 1km off the train and bus station. During foundation, the management had constructed the building such that the side facing the road and the railway had a long barrier of bricks which was about 20m tall and 4km wide. During that time, the measures that were used to prevent noise pollution had not yet been established since the facility was actually far from the bus and train stations. However, in recent past, due to increase in the number of clients that utilize the facility increased, then the need to expand the facility came up. Money was raised. Then the problem of the suitable site arose. The other side of the facility, which was far from the road and the railway line, could have been appropriate had it not been so hilly and hence it was difficult for the new site to be established there. Therefore, the only suitable site was the site just adjacent to the road and train. Due to lack of other alternatives, the management had to establish the new block in that place. The new building measures 50m by 40m. It accommodates over 300 workers and over 1000 outpatients. The average number of inpatient per day is about eight. These bring an equivalent of about 60 inpatients per week and an average of 240 per month. Therefore, the people at risk of noise pollution in this facility constitute mainly the inpatient and the workers as this two groups are always located within the department. Currently, the management has encouraged the use of earplugs as one way of reducing the impact of the hazard. Read More