Health and Safety Management - Essay Example

Health and Safety Management Name Institution Health and Safety Management Introduction Accidents as well as mishaps are often unforeseen circumstances that can influence people as well as groups of individuals at any time and place (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). A number of accidents are often preventable although aspects such as carelessness and negligence of the involved contribute to key injuries and grievances. In addition, accidents can happen in workplaces consequently affecting the health of the individuals working. In this new era, corporations tend to solely aim at developing their workforce which is believed to benefit them through different approaches (Dyck, 2015). Therefore, health and safety is a very fundamental element in an organization in order to ensure a smooth flow of operations. Most of these accidents that occur are caused by the inconsistencies of a human being such as negligence, carelessness as well as recklessness at their workplaces (Dyck, 2015) . These accidents and mishaps are also preventable if individuals take effective safety measures and at the same time minimize any form of hazards around them. Furthermore, any occurrence of accidents and disasters can adversely affect the employees involved in the absence of both safety procedures as well as precautions. Therefore, this reflection will highlight the causes that led to the sinking of MV Sewol in South Korea supported by various accident theories. Furthermore, it will also focus on aspects of mindfulness and how effective it can be in preventing safety failures. Reflection on the causes of the MV Sewol disaster The sinking of Sewol ferry reminds me of how many people lost their lives due to avoidable causes of the incident. The accident took place in 2014 in South Korea and capsized while carrying about 476 individuals mostly school going students (Cheng, 2014). I believe that this accident was among the most serious event that attracted widespread social and political reactions in South Korea and around the world. No one factor caused the accident. The sinking of the ferry was attributed to many factors. The multiple causation theory highlights that there are many contributory factors that result to a single accident. However, accidents only occur when there are certain combinations of these factors. The contributory factors are categorized into two; behavioural factors and environmental (Drew and Jad, 2014). The behavioural factors include improper attitude, inadequate physical conditions and lack of skills among others while the environmental factors include degradation of equipment, and hazardous working environment. The major contribution of the multiple Causation theory is that it is rare that an accident is caused by one factor (Dyck, 2015). Multiple causes and sub-causes contribute to the occurrence of a single accident or disaster. The causes of the Sowel accident can be divided into two; direct causes and secondary causes. After the accident, the ROK coast Guard concluded that the main cause of the sinking was the unreasonably sudden turn to starboard (Jeyup, 2014). The sudden turn resulted to most cargos in the ferry to shift to the left which led to the ship to experience incline which was difficult for the crew to manage. In addition to this, overloading as well as lack of proper securing of cargo which could be controlled contributed to the accident. It was found out that the ferry was carrying about 3600 tons of cargo which was way above its limit of 987 tons (Drew and Jad, 2014). According to Roughton (2002), the direct causes of the accident were classified as human reliability. The overloading of the ship could be avoided which could have reduced the risks associated with the accident. According to Domino Theory, about 88% of accidents are as a result of unsafe acts caused by individuals, 10% by unsafe actions and about 2% by natural causes (Friend and Kohn, 2010). The theory has presented a five-factor accident sequence whereby each factor actuates the next step lined up in a row. The sequence starts from ancestry and social environment, worker fault, unsafe acts and physical hazard, accident to damage and injuries. According to the Domino theory, the elimination of one element from the sequence will prevent the occurrence of accidents. The key element that will reduce the potential for accident is unsafe act and physical hazards (Friend and Kohn, 2010). Overloading of the ferry was unsafe act caused by people and the elimination of this element could have prevented the occurrence of accident. Secondary factors also contributed to the capsizing of the ferry. The crew believed that lack of restoring force was one of the causes of the disaster (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). Also, the renovations made in the ferry by adding extra cabins were a cause of the accident. The addition of extra cabins for passengers added weight to the ship which made it lose control before subsiding. The rescue mission started immediately through cranes and air-sea rescue operations. The death toll stood at 294 out of the 476 who were on board. It is considered the deadliest ferry disaster of South Korea since 1970 (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). Few days after the accident, the captain and other crews were arrested on the counts of negligence of duty and maritime infringement. It was evident that the captain abandoned the ferry while still with the passengers aboard. I believe that as part of managing health and safety of people, one must control risks by thinking of what might cause harm to people and make a decision on how the risks can be prevented (Chaskalson, 2011). One step of controlling risks of disaster is through identifying the potential hazards. When working in a place, it is very easy to overlook some hazards which can prevent the occurrence of disasters and protect people from harm. After identifying the risk, it is important to evaluate it to determine how likely it is to occur. Evaluating the risks makes it easy to manage them responsibly. The Sowel sinking raised questions about the regulation of shipping in South Korea (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). It was argued that although the country’s regulations were strong, they were poorly enforced which contributed to the disaster. According to Friend and Kohn (2010), with comprehensive risk control methods and effective management, an organization can reduce the occurrence of accidents. Some of the way that I think can assist in managing and controlling risks include checking manufacturer’s instructions for equipment, looking back at the causes of past accidents, and taking into consideration the non-routine operations such as maintenance, and chances in cycles. The Sowel incident was avoidable to some extend since its main cause was unsafe acts caused by people which could be managed and controlled (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). Reflection on the elements of mindfulness and its effectiveness in preventing safety failures Mindfulness is the ability to influence and induce awareness of discriminatory capacity for action. It is the capability to identify and correct potential unsafe conditions and mistakes made in an organizational context (Chiesa, Calati and Serretti, 2011). Mindful people and firms often focus on the risk of failure and are not satisfied until a situation is proven safe. Although the environment might be safe, “mindful” organizations have contingency plans put in place in case of an occurrence of disaster or accident in the workplace. Mindful employees are often considered as highly desirable asset. They have the ability to foster process and occupational safety and productivity and commercial performance (Chiesa, Calati and Serretti, 2011). Mindfulness is especially important where workers face high uncertainty in their work environment and need to act on emerging and weak signals which could require the identification and analysis obscure interdependencies. Mindfulness in a company reflects its culture and the way it conducts its operations. The development of mindfulness is based on safety culture of an organization which is important in health and safety management (Chaskalson, 2011). Safety culture can be termed as the attitude, beliefs and values that workers of an organization share with regard to safety in the workplace. According to research, workplace related incidences are due to a breakdown in policies and procedures that have been adopted to deal with safety issues (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). The breakdown is caused by lack of employees’ attention to safety issues. A good safety culture is often implemented by the senior managers who are committed to safety and promotes the sharing of hazards across the workplace. Attention has been placed on the causes of occupational accidents for decades now. The occurrence of disasters in the work place raise questions such as what factors may have caused the incident? Who was responsible for the outcome? How can the hazards be avoided? Through developing an understanding of these questions, appropriate methods of hazards prevention may be developed through focussing safety culture (Siu, Phillips and Leung, 2002). In the past, workplace safety was improved through provision of safer equipment and training of employees. Today, organizations are applying the concept of safety culture to prevent workplace-related incidences. Safety culture influence worker behaviour and reduces worker injury rate. According to Lingard and Yesilyurt (2002), safety culture affects the behavioural aspect of employees since it influences their beliefs, values and cognitive thoughts. Another important element of mindfulness is human behaviour. The emotions, cognitive thoughts and values of employees influence their readiness to take part in safety awareness and improvement. How employees behave in the workplace will determine health and safety adjuration (Lingard and Yesilyurt, 2002). To promote safety and health in the workplace, employees have a stake in the success of the initiative. Their behaviour influences their willingness to take part in safety and health programs. These behaviours are influenced by safety culture. Safety culture may revolve around education and training of workers to shape their values, cognitive abilities and beliefs to in order for them to be involved in safety and health promotion in the workplace (Lingard and Yesilyurt, 2002). Another element of mindfulness is safe systems of work. Safe systems are procedures and methods applied at work to systematically examine a task to identify, minimize and eliminate risks of hazards (Glendon, Clerke and McKenna, 2006). Many hazards can be recognized and eliminated by separating people from them. However, in some situations, hazards cannot be separated from people, which raise the needs for a safe system of work. There are five steps to a safe system of work; assessing the tasks, identifying the hazards, defining safe methods, implementing the system and monitoring the system (Glendon, Clerke and McKenna, 2006). Companies need to take into account the what, who, where and how of tasks to gain insight into the risks they present. After assessing the task, an organization need to identify the hazards and weigh up the risks it presents before adopting a safe system of work (Palali and van Ours, 2017). The next step is to define safe methods through written procedures and methods by involving other people, their practical expertise to assist in avoiding unusual risks. The definition of the safe methods of work is followed by its implementation which involves clear communication with the employees (Glendon, Clerke and McKenna, 2006). Companies should ensure that the workers understand the system and that the entire workforce is trained in the skills required in using the system. The last step involves monitoring of the system periodically to ensure it is successful in accomplishing its task. Mindfulness is effective in preventing hazards and risks in the workplace. Through its elements, employees gain insight on how to prevent and avoid hazards through application of principles to routine work (Chaskalson, 2011). Mindfulness can reduce carelessness, increase cognitive functioning of employees, and improve performance of employees with regard to the observation of safety and health programs. The key concepts of mindfulness at work include open communication, participation of employees, safety goals, commitment and effective leadership. Developing these areas often result in a successful organization supporting mindfulness (Chaskalson, 2011). Lesson Learnt From the study, I have able to learn that problem solving is a very fundamental skill to any health and safety professional. I learnt that through my profession as a health and safety professional, we will always encounter a number of problems on a daily basis; some of the problems tend to be more severe than others. Therefore, having the ability to solve problems effectively and also in a timely manner without any form of difficulty can benefit almost everyone in times of a hazard (Swuste, Koukoulaki and Targoutzidis, 2010). In addition, if one possesses the necessary problem solving skills, more lives can also be saved in times of disaster. In addition, I also learnt that coming up with a health and safety culture as well as system would also benefit me as a health and safety professional. These healthy and safety systems would immensely help me in offering the necessary strength, flexibility as well as a base which would lead to the growth of a more sustainable health and safety culture within the workplace (Hilton and Whiteford, 2010). This is entirely because these systems are formulated on the basis of both national as well as international agreed principles with regard to health and safety. Furthermore, I also learnt that developing training and awareness courses for staff members’ within a workplace is very important in order to prevent any form of accidents as well as well as mishaps. I also learnt that staff members largely contribute to achieving goals aligned with health and safety but only if they are aware of the various safety standards that are available within the workplace. Therefore, if staff members are effectively trained and made aware of the safety standards, they gain the ability to recognize unsafe and unhealthy conditions whenever they come across one (Hilton and Whiteford, 2010). In addition, I also learnt that such education as well as training can also help the staff members identify various mechanisms which can eradicate identified hazards. Also, training and creating awareness also helps employees recognize the root cause of any accident (Hilton and Whiteford, 2010). Additionally, I learnt as a health and safety professional that organizations ought to have full control over their health and safety systems (Swuste, Koukoulaki and Targoutzidis, 2010). I realized that in order for an organization take care of an accident of hazard effectively, they need to have full control over the situation at hand. This can be effectively handled if the organization has a system which identifies a head of health and safety department with a task force capable of handling any form of hazard that occurs (Sitzman, 2006). Conclusion The sinking of Sewol ferry is an indication of how incidents and disasters are caused by many factors. The case has showed how some incidents can be prevented by minimizing the likelihood of risk occurrence. Human negligence and unsafe acts were the main reason for the accident which led to many people losing their lives. Therefore, elimination of these factors can result in a safe working environment. An important element in promoting safety and health in the workplace is mindfulness. Mindfulness is the ability to identify and correct potential unsafe conditions in an organizational context. Mindful organizations have contingency plans put in place to manage and prevent hazards. Mindfulness may be in form of safety cultures, employee behaviour, and safe system of work. Developing these elements in the work place often leads to successful health and safety programs. This assignment has impact on my learning and has assisted me in understanding the elements required in preventing hazards and accidents such as developing safety cultures, enhancing health and safety systems, and improving company training and staff awareness among others. References Chaskalson, M. (2011). The mindful workplace : developing resilient individuals and resonant organizations with MBSR. Malden, MA: Wiley. Cheng, Jonathan (2014). "Children’s Day Becomes Day of Grief". The Wall Street Journal. 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WOS2008, prevention of occupational accidents in a changing work environment. Safety Science, 48(8): 933-935. Read More