Work Health and Safety Management System - Case Study Example

Name Institution Course Date Work Health and Safety Management system Introduction Over many years, there has been the desire to better the conditions of workers. Many researches have dug deep into this field in order to come up with excellent ideas to better this portion of the working community. There have been suggestions to establish efficient and effective work and health safety management systems to be adopted by the employers and companies to facilitate efficiency in the working environments. A safety management system is a method which is organized and in document form which can be verified and is used in the management of menaces and related dangers. It encompasses a step by step methodology to manage safety, comprising the essential operational blocks, roles, strategies and techniques. It is from this that the work and health safety management system draws its origin from. The most concrete definition of such a terminology is that it is an assemblage of strategies, methodologies, gears and prototypes that are employed in the management of health and well-being at work and management of sicknesses, cases, when they happen (NSW, p. 4). It aims at accomplishing lawful responsibilities as well as improving managerial operations (Kitney, p. 3). Such a system can either be ‘stand-alone’ or interconnected to others such as surroundings and value. It is intended to assist organizations systematically achieve safety at work. Objectives A work health and safety management system designed in an organizational framework is aimed at achieving several imperative objectives for a business: complying with the lawful obligations in health as well as safety, creation of safe and healthy workplaces, facilitation of safety leadership and good decisions, safe doings and healthy decisions, promotion and protection of the reputation of an organization, clearly show the choices made, activities taken and results. Components of a WHS Management System A work health and safety management system, just like any other system is made up of several components such as: WHS policy and commitment - it is an open avowal that gives effect to the pledge of an agency to the work health and safety. Management responsibility: structural and governance organizations- each of the officers in the managerial positions has a key and specific role that they have to be delegated to doing. Planning process- each officer in must ensure that the repercussions related to work health and safety are taken into consideration and presented in document form during decision making and performance of activities of planning. Work health and safety and strategic, operation-based and service delivery planning - decisions should be made after an analysis of the repercussions of their effect on work health and safety. Incorporation of WHS in the process of planning – this can be done by taking WHS as the main agenda during meetings held by team members. WHS planning- this includes the development of plans to improve work health and safety. Consultation, Representation and Participation – mechanisms need to be put in place for consultations that aim at achieving the lawful needs. There should be joint representation in the planning for work health and safety as well as effective participation by all the parties in the decision making process. Effective consultation with workers before making decisions is essential because only the workers may have a knowhow regarding the dangerous practices of work as well as any loopholes in work health and management of safety. As seen from the discussion above, each of the components of a work health and safety management system deals with peculiar features of health and safety management and they have to be put into consideration during the development an effective WHS management system. Implementation of a WHS Management System An organization ought to evaluate a current WHS management system using an initial review. In situations where there is no such a system, a prior review is used as the starting point in the establishment of a work health and safety management system. Planning, development and implementation of the system. An effective plan creates a system that funds passivity with national rules and regulations, components of the WHS management system and recurrent improvements in the performance of such a system (Tedera, p.106). The plan should clearly outline the steps to be taken in order to achieve the respective goals and a clear definition of the responsibilities and the criteria for performance that shows the work to be performed by each individual. Adequate support in terms of finance and resources as well support in the technical areas. The implementation procedure has to take into consideration each of the preset objectives of the WHS management system. Effective implementation therefore requires the organization to establish skills and supportive mechanisms that are essential in the achievement the aims and goals as well as health and safety policies (Department for Education and Child Development, p. 8). The organization ought to quantify, observe and appraise the performance of its health and safety. This can be achieved either by measuring performance contrary to the criterions set to show the time and place where there is need for improvement or by monitoring self actively to show the effectiveness in the functioning of the work health and safety management system. Monitoring aims at achieving two objectives, first to establish the subsequent roots of Sub-standancy in performance and second to come up with any core bases and repercussions for the making and working of a work health and safety management system (the Health and Safety Authority, p. 10). Management Review The management has to assess the general policy of the work health and safety management system in order to establish if it complies with the purposes agreed upon in the plan and its capability to accomplish the general requirements of an organizational framework. The organization has to determine the regularity and range of reviews periodically in accordance to its laws and regulations. Thus, the effectiveness and resultant outcomes of the inspection and audit of the entire proposition (Nielson et al., p. 13). Reviewing includes judging how adequate the performance is and decision-making with regard to time and type of activities that are essential for the correction of inadequacies. It examines the working, maintaining and how effective a system is according to the plan (the Health and Safety Authority, p. 34). Maintenance The organization has to keep accounts of the process of managing risks so as to demonstrate agreement with the regulations in the work health and safety act. Such an act is a source of the bases in the preparation of safe procedures of working. During maintenance, the organization should check to ensure that all the required equipment and personnel are in good working conditions and should take the necessary steps to make sure that all the loopholes in the work health and safety management system are corrected. An organization should also maintain its and resources in order to ensure their efficiency in the facilitation of a good management system for the work health and safety. By doing this, the organization keeps track of its progress on the road towards the achievement of an effective work health and safety management system. It also ensures that the system is flowing according to the planned objectives that were agreed upon in the development of the work health and safety management system. This is key in analyzing the general progress of the system. Changes that have occurred While work health and safety management system are perceived differently, there is the belief that such systems have improved safety performances in different sectors of the working community. For instance in the transport industries in Australia, such systems have been seen to reduce occurrence, have reduced costs both directly and indirectly by enforcement of work health safety measures, the travelling public has recognized safety, there is a reduction in premiums of insurance and the evidence of attentiveness in events of lawful and or controlling examinations (Thomas, p. 9). In the business perspective, the investment in work health and safety management systems improves performances by businesses through: reduction of costs, encouraging presenteeism and discouraging absenteeism, reduction of accidental related costs, efficiency in work , betterment of risk-management, protection of the assets of the firm that are impalpable and boosting the reputation of the business (Gahan, p. 10). Goods and services that are produced in conditions that favor work health and safety can be used to place a business in the competition based markets and companies can use this to promote themselves as ergo brands (Neumann, p. 25). Companies that have effective work health and safety platforms in industrial frameworks with high risks encourage safety and related records of performance as an advantage for competition (Rechenthin, p. 20). Work health and safety programs outcomes can be used to influence practices at the places of work in order to market goods and service produced by an organization (Neumann, p. 27). The enforcement of work health and safety management systems is mainly advantageous to the organization as it provides an opportunity for the organization to market itself in the globally competitive business world. Such systems are also advantageous in the sense that they help the organization to minimize the costs that would have been incurred in the risky working environments and as a platform for the company to market the goods and services that are produced by a company. Steps Taken During the reviewing process, there are lessons that an organization learns as far as its work health and safety management system is concerned. Therefore, plans have to be made to make sure that the lessons from the process of audit and review are enforced. Thus, core sources of not conforming to and counter-checking how effective actions of to correct and documentation of such can be identified. Plans have to be established to make sure that continuing improvements in the work health and safety management system and achievement of standards necessary for improving the organization from the work force, committee members and the representatives of safety. Conclusion The tremendous journey towards the establishment of an effective and good work health and safety management system is a process that requires dedication from both the organizational management as well as the workers of such an organization. Its development involves coming up with a plan and setting of objectives that the system wishes to achieve in the long run. Each party plays a very significant role according to the plan. Implementation of such a system requires the cumulative efforts from all the members of the organization as well as the managerial members. Resources have to be allocated adequately in order to ensure that the company sticks to the course towards the achievement of the preset objectives. The performances of the system need to be reviewed each time and monitoring are effective throughout the process. Maintenance of the system is essential to affect the lessons learnt during the reviewing process. The organization needs to keep count of all the changes taking place in the business on an evaluative basis so as to track the effectiveness of the WHS management system. Necessary measures should be taken to deal with the challenges that arise as discussed in the essay above. Works cited Department for Education and Child Development. “Work Health Safety and Injury Management Policy.” South Australia: Department for Education and Child Safety, 2013. Department of Construction and Infrastructure. “Guide Document of WHS Management Plans.” 2012. Gahan, Peter, Ben Sievewright, and Paul Evans. “Workplace Health and Safety, Business Productivity and Sustainability.” Safe Work Australia, 2014. Kitney Occupational Health and safety. Workplace Health and Safety Management Systems. Kitney occupational health and safety publishers, 2012. Neumann, Patrick Dixon & Shane Nordvall. “Consumer Demands as a Driver of Improved Working Conditions: The ‘Ergo- Brand’ Proposition.” In Ergonomics. 2014. Nielson, Kent J. et al. “Realistic Evaluation as a New Way to Design and Evaluate Occupational Safety Interventions.” Nerd Press, 2012. NSW Government. “Work Health and Safety: Better Practice Procedures. Sydney: Ministry of Health NSW.” 2013. Taderera Hope. “Occupational Health and Safety Management: Institutional and Regulatory Frameworks in Zimbabwe.” In International Journal of Human Resource Studies. 2012. Thomas, Mathew. “A systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Safety Management System.” Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2012. Read More