Health & Safety Monitoring & Measuring Techniques Flashcards
Give types of active monitoring data
Specialist staff Safety policy Training Extent of compliance Risk assessments H&S committee meetings Perceptions of Management commitment
Gives types of reactive monitoring data
Sickness absences Fatalities Near misses Damage-only accidents Lost-time accidents Reportable dangerous occurrences Reportable major injuries Three day, lost time injuries Health surveillance reports Cases of occupational diseases
Provide examples of active monitoring techniques
H&S AUDITS
Should be in-depth, systematic, critical investigation into all aspects of safety. Needs to include management systems, policy, attitudes, training and practice.
WORKPLACE INSPECTIONS
Someone walks around a part of the premises, looking for hazards or non-compliance with legislation, rules or safe practice, taking notes.
SAFETY TOURS
Follows a predetermined route through the area or workshop and can be conducted by a range of personnel. Tours last for 15 minutes and may be carried out at weekly intervals.
SAFETY SAMPLING
Organised system of regular random sampling. Its purpose is to obtain a measure of safety attitudes and possible sources of accidents, by the systematic recording of hazard situations observed during inspections made along predetermined routes.
SAFETY SURVEYS
Detailed examination of a particular safety aspect.
CLIMATE SURVEYS
To assess an organisations attitude towards H&S so that improvements can be made.
BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS
Monitoring the way workers behave i.e. the use of PPE; this is a valuable active monitoring technique as it detects issues that can be addressed through behavioural change programmes before injuries occur
BENCHMARKING
Comparing an organisations performance to others within the sector or country as a whole. Benchmarking can also be carried out between sites within the same organisation to identify strengths and weaknesses and therefore develop improvement plans.
What is the purpose of collecting and analyzing information relating to why employees are off sick.
To identify patterns and high level causes of short/long-term sickness absence
Identify work-related/other cause of absence
Plan cover for absent employees
Benchmark the organisations performance
How does the measurement of information support the maintenance of the H&S management system?
Provides information on how the system operates in practice
Identifies areas where remedial action is required
Provides a basis for continual improvement
Provides feedback and motivation
What are the limitations of a H&S audit?
Time-consuming
Not feasible to carry out a full audit more than once a year
Likely to be a lot of things to correct, taking more time
Value of the audit is reduced if there is a long time between recommendation being made and the solution being put into effect
What are the limitations of workplace inspections/safety tours/safety sampling
If inspections are too frequent, it is possible that an action point required by the previous inspection will not have been corrected when the next inspection takes place.
Some inspectors are lenient whilst others are strict
What is the purpose of a Safety Conversation?
Safety conversations provide the opportunity to respond to non-compliant behavior in an effective but non-confrontational manner.
The conversation is used to deliver feedback, describe a safer alternative, listen to the response and close the conversation in a productive manner.
Explain the role of the in-house H&S practitioner in an external audit
The practitioner is familiar with the organisation’s H&S communication and information systems and is therefore well placed to ensure that suitable documentation is available for the external auditor.
The practitioner can organise interviews with appropriate responsible persons at all levels in the organisation and give briefings to key personnel if necessary.
The in-house practitioner knows the workplace well and can advise on what observations are likely to be most productive in assessing control systems.
