Safety at Workplace - Essay Example

The first step I will consider as a safety professional is to review the firm’s past safety issues.  By knowing the weak areas, I can easily identify the precise place to start implementing new safety measures. It is also important that I ensure direct access to the top manager in the manufacturing plant, since a lack of management buy-in may make the safety initiatives not long-lasting. I should also have access to every work area and department and must question employees freely for information gathering. Regular status reports will be prepared so that I can update supervision on current safety proposals and identify areas that should be improved on (Pradeep 8).

Record keeping and documentation will help me to give written evidence provided by the new safety program to show positive results and also to protect the firming case of a safety inquiry or when a lawsuit is filed. I can also include consultants cite testing to determine employee preservation of safety information.

According to Janicak (182), a manufacturing plant needs some OSHA regulations applicable to it as not all the regulations apply. To determine the type of regulation, I will first consider the types of products that are being manufactured by this plant. For example, if the company deals with chemicals, then OSHA regulations dealing with chemicals will be applied, while if the plant does not deal with chemicals, then different regulations will be followed. By clearly reading the regulations from the OSHA website, I will use my knowledge that every type of manufacturing plant has some regulations to follow and thus will reform the old ones and update the newest ones regularly.

To be an effective advocate for safety in an organization, I need to stay firmly in charge by letting all the employees know that I am concerned and doing all I can to create a safe environment (Gail 30). Taking my time as their representative by being close to them and being inquisitive about what they are doing will demonstrate good safety leadership. A good safety leader also shares information with the employees immediately they are available and encourage employees to talk freely about their painful experience in the workplace.

Exercise 2

Voluntary Protection Programs

OSHA created a VPP to recognize industrial firms that show exemplary health and safety programs, exceeding the least requirement put up by the Code of Federal Regulations. As a safety professional, I would advocate that our manufacturing plant strive to be recognized as a VPP star company.  This is for the reason that the firm has a responsibility to train workers, watch their health status, and correct issues related to safety. This will ensure that the workplace and the environment are free of any possible risks or require engineering directions to be implemented, that is, the use of protective equipment to limit existing and known hazards. It is also important for continual improvement safety and health training and recognizes excellence in the programs offered by the company.

Advantages of a company being involved in VPP

Some of the advantages of the company being involved in VPP include reduced employees’ compensation cost, improved motivation for employees to work safely, resulting in better productivity and quality, recognition in the industry and community, and improvement in existing safety and health programs.

Disadvantages

OSHA has set compliance criteria that must be met by employers. They must invest the potential funding into attaching all workplace sites, which may be hazardous. Manufacturing plants like in this case may not be able to implement such endeavors due to the high costs. The improving of the working environment for health and safety compliance can be labor-intensive and time-consuming which could interrupt normal firm operations (Pradeep 25). In addition, VPP involves employee participation, which may overpower them over workplace issues, leading to employee and management disagreements over safety and health issues.

Exercise 3

From the safety excellence mindset, I realized that what I perceived as right is false. For instance, I missed out that the major differentiating characteristics of a useful safety program are a safety committee, a safety budget, and the quantity and quality of safety rules. I also learned that safety in the manufacturing plant should be a process rather than a program.