A Systematic Approach to Occupational Health Services Management - Report Example

Running Head; Systematic approach to OHS management Insert Name Module Tutors Name 15th August 2008 Scope of OHS Audit Review Audit is an organised examination which is against defined criteria to determine whether activities and results match to planned arrangements, and whether these arrangements are implemented effectively and are suitable to achieve the organisation’s policy and objectives. The purpose of conducting audit in regard to Occupation Health and Safety varies from what the organisation expects to change and to find more about its proceedings. Nevertheless, OHS audit is conducted to ensure that there is total compliance with the OHS document, record control procedure and OHS system requirements that the organisation has in place. The audit review is also undertaken to ensure the OHS Audit procedure is being implemented, this means that the process takes place to act as a check of whether the earlier conducted audit is/was implemented in the various departments where recommendations for some action to be taken were made. Audit review also has been one process which is used to detect all on-conformances by identifying them and addressing them via the Corrective actions procedure to ensure continuous improvement of various departments in the organisation. Audit in the organisation is conducted annually and after it is undertaken, it ensures that the OHS Inspection Testing and Monitoring Procedure is being is implemented well in the in all the required fields of the audit teams recommendations. OHS Risk Rating Another activity reviewed in the organisation is the Occupation Health and safety is risk rating. This procedure applies to all activities undertaken at all the organisations departments where risk assessment has been carried out. The purpose of the OHS Risk Rating Procedure is to ensure a consistent standard procedure for rating OHS risks across the organisation. This activity ensures that identified risks are controlled to as low as they can possibly be taken using the chain of command of risk controls. Workplace Safety Inspection Workplace safety and inspection is a habitually planned inspection of workplaces using a checklist to help with the monitoring and identification of hazards that pose risk in the organisation. After the workplace review is done, information obtained from the regular inspections is looked at and monitored by the concerned authority. When looking through the information, after checking the trends of the hazards as identified in the report, the need for training and the areas that require raining to enhance responsibility among the people in the workplace. The review is also done to enable the authorities know the reoccurring issues and be able to come up with the appropriate remedies for each of them, it is also done to establish priorities for a corrective action for these reoccurring issues. Workplace safety action review is important to the organisation, for instance it assists in establishing or improving safe work practices and also identifies the need for further risk assessment in the organisation. Regular inspections are very important to the organisation and must be performed to ensure that a safe working environment is maintained throughout all the departments. The main objective of this activity is to identify any steadily occurring hazards in the workplace and to ensure that safety practices are maintained throughout the organisation. An OHS inspection in the organisation uses a checklist to help identify the hazards that are consistent. When this checklist is used, it helps the supervisor have ease at looking at the area that requires attention and create the best way of conducting an inspection. Once the hazards have been identified, solutions are put in place to ensure that the hazards are well controlled. Nevertheless, after this inspection is completed, the items that require corrective actions are addressed. The findings in terms of the hazards that are identified all through the inspection are given corrective actions assigned to an appropriate person and the hazard entered through the hazard reporting system. The review process the workplace safety inspection acts as a follow-up to see whether these corrective actions were implemented or are completed. Frequency The organisations carry out the inspections depending on the level of risk of work practices in specific areas. Areas where the inspection is regular is in high-risk work-areas where potentially hazardous tasks are undertaken, these areas shall be inspected on at least a monthly basis. All other areas in the workplace shall be inspected on at least a quarterly base. Internal Audit Process Occupation Health and safety Audit An internal OHS Audit is a organized and acknowledged authentication process of objectively acquiring and evaluating evidence to determine whether the organisation is conforming to OHS plan. The process of performing the audit is risk-based, with controls designed to manage high risk (critical controls) audited more frequently than lower risk processes. Internal OHS audit The choice of audit protocol to be applied is internal method. The process of internal Occupation Health and Safety audit is conducted by a qualified person from the organisation. Internal audits in the carried out in the organisation are conducted by people who are external to the department/work-area where the audit is to be conducted on and the audits centre of attention is on the systems for management of OHS matters, not on hazard spotting. The aim of this audit is to check whether staff understand the purpose of Internal Audits and are aware of the distinction between an Internal Audit and the regular Building Hazard Surveys / Workplace Inspection. This process applies to management system audits as defined by in the organisations OHS plan. The purpose of this activity is to assess the compliance of the organisations Occupation Health and Safety management with the set requirements of the organisations plan. It is also carried out to assess/check the implementation of the organisations operations and activities it also verifies the implementation and the effectiveness of the OHS policies and procedures. Hazard Management Process This is a procedure which outlines the requirement for the management of hazards and offers a standard form for hazard management. This procedure outlines the employer’s duty as put down in the OHS regulation, which is to identify the hazards associated with the organisations work activities, the workplace environment, the use equipment and also to assess levels of risk and implement appropriate risk control measures. Roles and Responsibilities Employer/Managers and the staff This procedure runs through all the involved personnel in the organisation for implementation of this process in their area of responsibility and accountability. The process then starts with the identification of hazards and the completion of risk assessments using the appropriate Risk Assessment method. The manager/Employer does the implementation of appropriate risk control measures in consultation with staff that are conversant with their specific areas of operation. On the other hand, the staffs have the responsibility of not placing themselves or others at risk of injury. The workers will achieve this by always reporting any hazards associated with the working environment, work tasks or activities to their line manager as soon as they become aware of the hazards. Workers participation in the development of appropriate control measures for the risks/identified hazards to eliminate or minimise risk using control measures as required. Procedure For all the hazards, a hazard management process must be undertaken to ensure that all hazards are identified, assessed, controlled and evaluated for usefulness. From this process the risk levels are to be determined through the risk assessment process and recommended control measures implemented. This required to be done whenever changes are made to the workplace be it on the system or the method of work. It should also be done whenever new information becomes available regarding work processes. Identification of Hazards In the risk management process, this is the most important process. A hazard which is not identified cannot be controlled. Consequently, it is important that this step is as detailed as possible. This process of hazard Identification is done in close consultation with the people performing the activity in the organisation for better outcome. Assessment of Risks Once the hazards have been identified, the next step is to assess the risks. The likelihood of harm from exposure to a hazard occurring, and the likely consequences of that harm or damage is what is termed as s risk. When the consequences are greater the consequences, the risks are greater too, similarly, the more certain the event, the greater the risk. The process of risk assessment which involves analysis and evaluation requires frequent re-visits through audit and review on a monthly basis to assess on their compatibility in the risk management. Risk Control Risk control is to be achieved by using a programmed chain of command of controls. The basic aim of risk control is to eliminate the risk and the best way of achieving this is to remove the hazard. If this is not possible, the risk must be minimised by using one or more of the other control options from the pecking order. The risk control measure which is to be applied should be the very best option within the hierarchy to minimise the risk to the lowest level as reasonably practicable. Existing risk controls should be re-checked to determine if the most appropriate measure is in place to handle the risk. Monitoring and Review Having this process being audited on a monthly basis, hazard management should be an ongoing and constantly improving process. In order to achieve total effectiveness in eliminating or lowering the risk, the process must be continuously reviewed and steps taken to implement revised control measures, where appropriate. It ensures that new findings on hazards and those overlooked initially are pinpointed and controlled. This process involves the systematic checking of the existing risk control measures to assess their effectiveness, collecting data on any new hazards which have arisen, and also formulating new control measures. Frequency This process is repeated step by step quarterly where the original elements of the hazard management program, other related activities should be undertaken periodically and systematically as part of the monitoring and review process. The processes that are repeated or put under review are scheduled inspections; ongoing measurement and testing; monitoring of the workplace where necessary periodic accident and injury analysis References OHS Inspections, 2006 Retrieved on 15th September 2008 from; http://staff.uow.edu.au/ohs/managingrisk/inspections/index.html Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Occupational Health, Occupation Health and Safety Welfare 2007 Retrieved on 14th September 2008 from; http://www.unisa.edu.au/ohsw/procedures/workplaceinspection.asp Occupation Health and Safety 2008 Retrieved on 15th September 2008 from; http://staff.uow.edu.au/ohs/reportingahazardorinjury/reporting/index.html Read More