Safety and Health Management Systems - Essay Example

How would you develop a safety and Health Management System that Achieves Management’s objectives? Name: Professor: Course: Date: Definition of safety and health management systems Safety and health management system refers to the implementation of rules and regulations that are aimed at mitigating cases of accidents in the workplace. In some instances, organizations are forced to invest a lot of resources for the goal to be. Organizations have their unique safety and health measures that can be difficult to be replicated because they face their challenges due to the nature of the work that varies (Alberta, 2014). The role of management and resources needed The development of safety and health management system solely lies with the management of an organization. In order for safety and health management to be successfully, the top leadership must ensure they are committed to promoting health and safety initiatives. The leadership of the organization has to pronounce their promise to support the safety programs boldly. Policies of the organization regarding safety and health management should address issues relating to the purpose of having a health safety programs. Measures are taken to safeguard the employees in the workplace and policies that protect the health and safety of an employee. The input of the worker in coming up with safety and health measures is very vital because their interests will be for because the policies affect them directly (OSHA, 2013). XYZ Company needs to form a special task force that should be the responsibility of investigating accidents in the workplace. The composition of the team should include representatives from the different departments in the organization to ensure theirs equal representation. Proper investigations should be on health and safety issues monthly reports should be done to evaluate made in addressing safety and health issues. Through such a taskforce, cases that deserve compensation will be in time hence avoiding legal lawsuits that seem to have drained the company’s revenues in the 2013 financial year (OSHA, 2013). It is prudent that the organization identifies high-risk zones within an organization and caution employees in advance. Some areas in the organization can be classified as high-risk zones because they pose severe threats to the health and safety of employees. It is important to create awareness amongst employees and discourage them from accessing such areas unnecessarily without getting prior permission. Training employees who operate in the danger zones is very essential because it offers them skills that can help them avoid accidents. When a hazard is in advance, it becomes simple to come up with measures that can be used to control them and lessen the severity of its occurrence (OSHA, 2013). After the completing the estimation of the risks involved in the workplace, the preceding activity will be coming up with strategies to mitigate the severity of the damages that employees may be exposed to. Despite the fact that the organization may find it difficult to prevent some catastrophes from happening, it can utilize the available resources to reduce the intensity. This may help to reduce the amount of damages that the organization will be liable to pay. One of the ways of controlling risks in the workplace is through ensuring that its structures are built according to the specified standards set by authorities. The measure will reduce accidents related to engineering works. In addition, the administration has the role of developing a framework that will be used in formulating rules and regulations that promote activities that are at reducing hazards in the organization. Lastly, employees should be encouraged to ensure that they protect themselves from encountering serious accidents by ensuring that they wear protective gears that reduce the severity of the injury (OSHA, 2013). Examining continuous employee employees working environment is an imperative activity that shows the seriousness of the management in managing safety and health. It also verifies whether the existing mitigation measures are producing the desired results and detects other risks that had not been spotted before.XYZ needs to introduce inspection plans that cover a clear scope of operational activities of the organization. Inspection evaluates the existing health and safety practices and identifies areas that require radical changes (OSHA, 2013). Training of employees is a key aspect which XYZ Company needs to carefully. It is imperative to understand that workers are the most valuable assets that organizations cannot afford to lose. It is, therefore, important for XYZ to equip them with the necessary skills and tactics that are for risk prevention and disaster management.XYZ needs to invest in continuous health and safety programs so that workers can be on how to avoid and defend themselves against certain disasters in the workplace. Emphasizes should be laid on such programs to be taken seriously because labor laws require employers to train their employees on how they can protect their health and safety. Continuous assessment programs should be conducted to evaluate whether employees have mastered the safety training offered, and incentives should be given to encourage others to be more interested in the programs. Orientation of newly hired employees is essential because the majority of the employees are unaware health programs. Research indicates that newly recruited employees are at highly exposed to risks making them much prone to accidents and incidences (Alberta). XYZ should constitute a disaster management response team whose main responsibility will be responding promptly to distress calls within the organization. Absence of such a crucial unit within the organization puts employees at a high-risk in case an emergency. Dependence on external teams such as firefighters and ambulances is very suicidal because they may encounter delays caused by traffic jams and poor accessibility of places.XYZ, therefore, needs to purchase well-equipped ambulances and fire fighting engines which are supposed to evacuate victims of tragedies in the place of work. Such investments will help save more lives in case of accidents because the victims will be transported to medical facilities in good time (Alberta). Accidents in the workplace should be properly investigated in order to establish their causes. They should be carried within a specified timeframe to ensure that speculations are put to an end regarding the proximate cause of the accident. The report should be presented to all parties in order to confirm the direct causation of the problem and give recommendations on how similar accidents can be in future (Alberta). The last stage in developing a safety and health and health management systems involves the monitoring of the measures that have been implemented. Monitoring is at ensuring that the program produces the intended results. It is important for XYZ to maintain a database of safety and health issues. The database should contain information about trainings that have been attended by employees, inspections that have been carried out, cases that have been investigated fully and protection measures that have been successful implemented. Communication is imperative in reporting the progresses that have been made in safety and health management. Workers must be given an opportunity to suggest new ways that can improve safety in working sites. Lack of communication is likely to kill the ambitions made in attaining favorable health and safety working conditions in workplaces. The steps covered in this paper will help XYZ achieve its health and safety objectives (Alberta,2014). Challenges Developing an effective safety and health system can be very daunting task. Organization has their own unique fair share of challenges that need to be. Each safety and health policy document is tailor-made to address the issues that are affecting performance of a particular organization. Coming up with such, a document has been a major impediment for organizations wishing to improve the safety of their employees and health.XYZ Company seems to be entangled in this unfamiliar predicament. The company has to devise new game plans outlined in this report in order to address the high number of accidents that have had a severe impact on its revenues (NOHSC, 2001). References Alberta. (2014). Building an Effective Health and Safety Management System [21.11.2014]. National Occupation Health & Safety Commission, (2001).Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems: A review of their effectiveness in securing Healthy and Safe Workplaces. [21.11.2014]. OSHA, (2013).Safety and Health Management Systems: A Roadmap for Hospitals. [21.11.2014]. Read More