Hazards and Risks in Hoppers Bar and Eatery in Australia - Case Study Example

HOPPERS BAR AND EATERY (Student Name) (Institution) (Instructor) (Course No) (Date) Executive Summary The health and safety of the workers in an organization is an important concern for the management as it helps in the reduction of organization’s financial burden. Furthermore, the safety of the workers in an organization is of important consideration since the workers determine the success of an organization, and unsafe working conditions are likely to demotivate the workers. This paper discusses the different types of hazards that are associated with organizations that deal with food and drinks, specifically the Hoppers Bar and Eatery in Australia. The paper further assesses the methods used in the identification of risks namely observation, checklists and inspection of the workplace. The paper then discusses the laws and regulations that are relevant to the worksite and finally proposes recommendations for hazards identified. 1. Introduction At the core of an organization’s success is the health and safety of the workers. The workers form an important component of an organization because their well- being determines the success or failure of an organization. The need to ensure safety in the working environments makes occupational health and safety one of the important considerations in several organizations (Baker, McKenzie, CCH Australia Limited &Macquarie University, 2010, p. 261). Today, many organizations strive to ensure the safety of their workers to minimize emotional problems on the workers as well as the financial burden on the organizations caused by injury and death resulting from unsafe working conditions. This report investigates the occupational health and safety practices at Hoppers Bar and Eatery in Australia. The report further assesses the different hazards within the organization and provides recommendations for curbing such hazards and maintaining a safe working environment. The organization deals mainly with the sale of food and drinks and is one of the busiest sellers in Australia. Considering the amount of work in the organization, there are a total of 15 full-time staff and around 35 others who are employed as casual laborers. Since the Christmas season attracts more customers, the organization employs more casual workers during this period. The organizational working environment comprises of a kitchen, the cocktail bar, the restaurant, main bar and the office administration. The toilets are adequate for the staff and the patron of the organization. Additionally. The organization has a first aid book in which all the workers are required to record injuries no matter how small. Team meetings are held in the organization every Monday, and the workers are given the opportunity to raise their concerns to the management. However, the meetings are only attended by the full-time staff. The organization has a policy that requires all the staff to undergo training when commencing work. However, there are no plans for conducting refresher trainings and the workers continue to apply the knowledge learnt in the initial training throughout their stay in the organization. The overall housekeeping practices in the organization are good. Moreover, the organization provides its workers with aprons and footwear to ensure their safety while performing their duties. 2. Methods of Hazard Identification One of the methods used in the identification of hazards in the organization is inspection. Workplace inspection is important in the identification of various hazards in the working environment that may result in illness or injury of the workers. By conducting thorough investigations of the working environment, inspections help in identifying the possible causes of problems and record them for corrective action. Regular inspection of the workplace is important in ensuring occupational health and safety and is conducted by the joint occupational health and safety committees. Regular inspection in organizations is important because it allows the organizations to listen to the concerns of both the workers and the supervisors, helps in the identification of potential hazards in the workplace and helps in identifying the causes of such hazards. Additionally, regular inspection of the workplace enables the employees to better understand their tasks and job roles, monitoring hazard controls and devising corrective actions for the risks identified. Moreover, hazards can be identified by the checklist method. A checklist refers to a list of the known hazards or causes of hazards derived from past experience. The list of hazards in checklists result from previous risk assessments or incidents that occurred in the past. In this method of risk identification, an appropriate checklist is chosen for use and each item on the checklist is considered for possible application to a particular system. Checklists should, however, be validated for applicability before use. Checklists are commonly used in hazard identification because they are easy to use hence can be used by non-system experts, they ensure that all problems within an organization are captured and cover an array of previous information and experience (Mannan, 2014, p. 83). The use of checklists is disadvantageous because they can inhibit imagination in the process of risk identification and are unable to capture the hazards that have not been previously known. Observation is another important method that can be used in the identification of hazards in the working environment. Apart from conducting regular inspections in the workplace, the hazards in the workplace can also be identified by the use of both formal and informal observation. Informal observation takes place when both the employees and the managers spot hazardous conditions or behavior when performing their daily duties. Formal observation, on the contrary, takes place when simple observation programs, plans and procedures are used in the collection of data that can be used in improving the safety management practices of an organization. Observation is an important method of hazard identification since it enables the employees to be cautious when conducting their duties. In several organizations, the observation programs fail because the final decisions are made by the management (CCPS, 2010, p.156). 3. Hazards Identified 3.1. Torn Carpet One of the hazard identified in the organization is the torn carpet. The torn carpet is found at the entrance between the manager’s office and the payroll staff office. According to the organization’s manager, the entrance is used by the staff every day and they are often very careful when using it. Since this entrance is used by many workers in the organization including the manager, there is the likelihood that the people using the entrance could fall. Depending on the fall, the workers are likely to have head or spinal injuries. Tripping is considered as a high risk since the consequences may be severe. 3.2. Cuts from using sharp knives Another hazard that is associated with the activities in the Hoppers Bar and Eatery is the cutting of lemons for drink by the bar staff. Since the bar offers a variety of drinks to its customers, there is the need for the preparation of lemon to be served with some of the drinks. The garnish is prepared when the customers ask for such drinks, requiring the bar staff to cut two or three lemons per shift using sharp knives. Since the staffs are rushed to deliver, they do not use the chopping boards. The use of sharp knives without chopping boards by the bar staff increases the risk of getting cut. While investigating the organization, it was established that six of the workers were cut this way and one of them had six stitches. 3.3. Other Concerns Another problem identified in the organization is the lack of refresher training. Although the organization has a policy that requires the induction of all the workers joining the organization, refresher trainings are not conducted and the workers that have stayed in the organization for a long period of time still rely on the knowledge taught during induction or the ones that are self-learnt. The method used in cleaning the kitchen trap is one of the oldest methods that was learnt by the chef during his apprentice days. The method involves the use of caustic soda which is dissolved in a bucket of water and poured immediately into the trap. Moreover, the organization does not keep the records of the workers’ injuries. An investigation into the organization’s first aid book reveals that that the book is new and has only two records. One of them is a glass cut in 2015 and the other one is a knife cut in 2016. Further inquiry reveals that the other records present are the compensation of the workers. The consequence of such poor records that the workers of the organizations continue to suffer both financially and emotionally from the dangers that they are exposed to. Additionally, the management of the organization cannot be held responsible by the regulatory authorities for the safety of its workers since the records give false information. 4. Legal Implications 4.1. The WHS Act In Australia, the health and safety of the workers are guided by the Work Health and Safety laws (WHS). An important component of the WHS laws is the WHS Act 2012. The main purpose of the act is to ensure that all organizations within Australia comply with the set rules and regulations concerning the health and safety of the workers. The act ensures that the workers and all other people in the workplace are protected from the workplace hazards, and encourages both the employees and the employers to take the necessary steps towards ensuring that the work environment is safe (Archer, Borthwick and Tepe, 2015, p. 17-31). Additionally, the Act provides that the employees must undergo training of the employees both when commencing work and continual training while at work (Archer, Borthwick, Travers & Ruschena, 2014, p.28-33). The organization, however, provides training to the employees during the induction process but does not perform any refresher trainings. This results in the use of very old methods of doing things in the organizations such as the application of old cleaning methods by the chef. The organization should ensure compliance with the WHS Act, 2012 by providing training to its employees as required in part 9 of the act. 4.2. Codes of Practice One of the codes of practice relevant to this worksite is the management of the risk of falls in the workplace. The code of practice applies to all the workplaces that are covered under the WHS Act and is applicable in situations where the fall from one level to another is likely to cause injury (Gatchel &Schultz, 2012, p.33). In this case, the torn carpet at the entrance of the manager’s office can result in the injury of the employees. This code of conduct is designed to help the owners of business undertakings in managing the risks in the workplace that may result in falls. Another code of conduct that is applicable to this worksite is first aid in the workplace (Western Australia, 2007, p. 15-48). Although the organization provides the employees with a first aid book where they record the injuries that take place while working, there are no first aid equipment such as the first aid kits and facilities. This code of conduct is important in ensuring the safety of the employees in the workplace since it gives practical guidance to individuals with the duty of managing health and safety risks under the WHS Act, 2012 in providing adequate first aid facilities in organizations. 5. Recommendations for control and management The control and management of risks can be done using the ALARP risk register which involves reduction of the risks as low as reasonably practical (Popov, Lyon &Hollcroft, 2016, p85). In essence, for risks to be ALARP, there is the need for the cost involved in reducing the risk to be disproportionate with the benefits gained. The ALARP method of controlling risks involves the use of time, effort and money in reducing the risks to zero. To minimize the falling of the employees, the torn carpet should be replaced with a new one. This way the employees do not have to exercise a lot of caution while moving to and from the manager’s office. Additionally, there is the need for the organization to conduct on the job training for the employees. Although the training of the new employees is equally important, there is the need to conduct on the job training (Noe & Winkler, 2009, p. 31-56). This helps the employees to learn new ways of doing things and abandon the old, less efficient methods. There is also the need to keep records of the hazards that occur in the workplace for future assessment. 6. Conclusion With regards to the above discussion, it clear that organizations should strive to ensure that the working environments are safe for the workers. This can help in reducing the financial costs incurred by such organizations in the form of compensation to the injured workers (Smedley, Dick & Sadhra, 2013, p. 5-28). Furthermore, organizations should identify the causes of safety hazards and take measures to minimize and eliminate them before occurrence thus providing safe working environments for the employees. References Archer, R., Borthwick, K., Travers, M., & Ruschena, L. (2014). WHS. South Melbourne, Cengage Learning, p. 28-33. Archer, R, Borthwick, K & Tepe, S 2015, WHS - A Management Guide, 3rd Edition, Cengage Learning Australia, Victoria, p. 17-31. Baker & McKenzie, CCH Australia Limited, & Macquarie University. (2010). Australian master human resources guide. North Ryde, N.S.W, CCH Australia, p. 261. CCPS. (2010). A Practical Approach to Hazard Identification for Operations and Maintenance Workers. Hoboken, John Wiley & Sons, p. 156. Gatchel, R. J., & Schultz, I. Z. (2012). Handbook of occupational health and wellness. New York, Springer, p. 33. Mannan, S. (2014). Lees' process safety essentials: hazard identification, assessment and control. Amsterdam: Butterworth-Heinemann, p. 83. Noe, R. A., & Winkler, C. (2009). Employee training and development: for Australia and New Zealand. North Ryde, N.S.W., McGraw-Hill, p. 31-56. Popov, G., Lyon, B. K., & Hollcroft, B. (2016). Risk assessment: a practical guide to assessing operational risks. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, p 85. Smedley, J., Dick, F., & Sadhra, S. S. (2013). Oxford handbook of occupational health. Oxford, OUP Oxford, p. 5-28. Western Australia. (2007). Codes of practice: first aid, facilities and services, workplace amenities and facilities, personal protective clothing and equipment: 2002. Perth, W.A., Commission for Occupational Safety and Health, p. 15-48. Read More