02 Health and Safety Management Systems 1 - Policy Flashcards
Outline the Key elements of a health and safety management system
- Policy-A clear statement has to be made to establish health and safety as a prime commitment of management at all levels of the organization, but particularly at the top
- Organizing- A framework of roles and responsibilities for health and safety must be created within the organization, from senior management down to the front-line workers, including appointment of specialist staff.
- Planning and Implementing-Detailed arrangements must be made for the management of health and safety. Central to this idea is the concept of risk assessment and the identification and implementation of safe systems of work and protective measures.
- Evaluation-Methods must be devised to monitor and review the effectiveness of the arrangements put into place. This might be done reactively (e.g. reviewing accident and ill-health statistics) or actively (e.g. reviewing inspection reports).
- Action for Improvement-Any shortcomings identified by the review process must be corrected as soon as possible by making whatever adjustments are necessary to the policy, organization and arrangements for implementation.
- Audit-Arrangements must be made for the independent, systematic and critical examination of the safety management system to ensure that all parts are working acceptably well.
- Continual Improvement-The intention is that the safety management system will not remain static but will develop over time to become increasingly appropriate and useful to the organization that it exist to serve.
Role of the Health and Safety Policy in Decision Making
In particular the policy should influence decision-making within the organisation. This will occur in two ways:
- Firstly, senior management have to decide what kind of health and safety standards they are committing the organisation to and will have to allocate resources accordingly.
- Secondly, other managers have to ensure that their decision-making is in line with the policy and does not work against the organisation’s stated aims and objectives.
There is no one correct format or set of contents for a health and safety policy, but it must reflect the particular circumstances of the individual organisation: the hazards and risks, the size, and the complexity of the organisation. The policy must therefore be developed and tailored to fit the particular organisation that it exists to serve.
Objectives (6) and Targets (2) of the Statement of Intent.
Objectives The Statement of Intent may recognise some general objectives that have to be achieved by the organisation, such as:
- Meeting legal obligations.
- Provision of a safe workplace, safe equipment and safe systems of work, information, instruction, training and supervision.
- Risk assessment of all relevant workplace activities.
- Performance monitoring.
- Provision of adequate resources such as expert health and safety advice.
- Effective communication and consultation with workers.
Targets The Statement of Intent may also set quantifiable targets for the organisation to achieve. Targets are useful as they allow performance to be measured and provide a tangible goal for staff to aim for. They also help to drive continual improvement. Possible targets might relate to:
- Accident rates: to achieve a reduction in the accident or ill-health rate.
- Active monitoring: to complete successfully a number of active monitoring activities, such as:
- Successful completion of 90% of all supervisor safety inspections over a year.
- Completion of key activities such as carrying out risk assessments across the organisation.
- Delivery of training to all workers.
- Development of a consultation process to engage the workforce.
Targets may be set in relation to past performance or the performance of other similar organisations, or the industry as a whole. The process of comparing performance in this way is known as “benchmarking”. So, if fatal road accident rates in an industry as a whole are, for example, one for every 100,000 miles driven, the target for a particular organisation may be to achieve that standard, or have a lower rate.
Organization (Health and Safety Roles and Responsibilities)
The Organisation section will usually reflect the management hierarchy within the organisation and allocate responsibilities accordingly:
- The CEO or MD - ultimately responsible and accountable for the entire organisation.
- Management at all levels - responsible for ensuring that all appropriate safety measures are in place and being carried out effectively within the part of the organisation under their management control. This might be done by breaking down the management hierarchy into discrete layers and allocating responsibilities to each layer, e.g. senior managers’ responsibilities, middle managers’ responsibilities, supervisors’ responsibilities.
- All employees - responsible for acting safely at all times in the course of their duties at work.
- Competent persons - have operational duties but are also considered competent to carry out one or more specialist health and safety duties, e.g. as first-aiders, fire marshals, etc.
- Specialist health and safety practitioners - responsible for providing advice to support management and employees in achieving safety.
General health and safety management arrangements:(11)
- Carrying out risk assessments.
- Identifying and supplying health and safety information, instruction and training.
- Accident and near miss reporting, recording and investigation.
- Consultation with workers on health and safety matters.
- Developing safe systems of work and permit-to work systems to control hazards.
- Welfare and first-aid provision.
- Housekeeping
- Fire safety and prevention
- Emergency procedures.
- Communication of health and safety matters, including hazards and control measures.
- Compliance monitoring, including auditing of systems but also measuring workplace parameters, e.g. noise, to assess the effectiveness of the arrangements.
Circumstances which might require a review of policy:(9)
- Technological changes, e.g. introduction of new plant or processes.
- Organisational changes, e.g. changes to key personnel, such as a new CEO or MD, or changes to the management structure of the organisation.
- Legal changes, such as the introduction of new legislation applicable to the organisation.
- Changes to the type of work that the organisation does.
- Where an audit, investigation or risk assessment suggests the policy is no longer effective.
- When requested by a third party, such as an insurance company or client.
- Following enforcement action.
- Following consultation with the workforce.
- After the passage of time (e.g. an annual review is a common practice).
What are the organisational requirements for effective health and safety management?
There should be a framework of roles and responsibilities for health and safety allocated to individuals throughout the organisation, including the appointment of specialist staff and ensuring that general arrangement roles and arrangements address health and safety issues.
What is the role of evaluation?
To ensure that the organisational arrangements, health and safety standards and operational systems and measures are working effectively and, where they are not, to provide the information upon which they may be revised.
Why might the health and safety policy of two organisations, both undertaking similar work, be different?
Because the policy is a reflection of the particular circumstances of each organisation; so any variations in size, nature and organisation of operations, etc., will mean that the health and safety policy will also vary.
What are the three key elements of a health and safety policy?
The General Statement of Intent, the Organisation (i.e. roles and responsibilities), and the Arrangements.
Who should sign the policy statement?
A senior director or the Chief Executive Officer, indicating the organisation’s commitment at the highest level.
What health and safety responsibilities do all workers have?
To act responsibly and safely at all times, and to do everything they can to prevent injury to themselves and to fellow workers.
What does a safety organisation chart show?
The hierarchy of roles and responsibilities for health and safety, and the lines of accountability between them.
What circumstances might require a review of policy?
The circumstances which should give rise to reviews, either of general policy or specific aspects of it, include: • Changes in the structure of the organisation, and/or changes in key personnel. • A change in buildings, workplace or worksite. • When work arrangements change, or new processes are introduced. • When indicated by a safety audit or a risk assessment. • Following government enforcement action or as the result of the findings from accident investigations. • Following a change in legislation. • If consultation with employees or their representatives highlights deficiencies. • If requested by a third party.
(a) Identify a range of health and safety targets that may be included in the ’statement of intent’ section of a health and safety policy. (4)
(b) Describe the purpose of:
- i) the ’organisation’ section of a health and safety policy; (2)
- (ii) the ’arrangements’ section of a health and safety policy. (2)
(a) An employer may identify a range of targets in the statement of intent. These could include the organisation’s compliance with the law, the provision of a safe working environment with safe equipment and procedures. The targets could also include the development of risk assessments for business activities, and the provision of information and training to employees as a result of the risk assessments. It is also common to include targets to reduce the accident rate in the organisation, which may also include a target to carry out active monitoring to reduce workplace hazards.
(b)
- (i) The purpose of the organisation section of the policy is to establish the roles and responsibilities for health and safety at all levels within the business, from director down to shop-floor and office employees. The organisation section will also include specialist safety roles, such as fire wardens, first-aiders and safety advisors. The organisation section identifies who is going to deliver the objectives in the health and safety policy.
- (ii) The purpose of the arrangements section of the policy is to establish how the safety policy is to be achieved. This is done by producing procedures which detail how hazards in the organisation are to be identified through risk assessment and controlled, e.g. fire, first aid, spill response, etc.
