IA7 Flashcards
Give
the meaning of the term ‘safety
culture’.
Safety culture means s
hared perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour
patterns and values that members of an organisation have in the area of health
and safety.
Outline a range of organisational issu es that may act as barriers to the improvement of the safety culture of an organisation.
Organisational issues that could act as barriers to the improvement of the safety
culture of an organisation include:
ü
the lack of senior management commitme nt
ü
a failure to allocate adequate resources to support improvement
ü
the absence of effective means of communication with workers to secure
their involvement
ü
a lack of trust and confidence in management by the workforce
ü
high staff turnover making cultural im provement difficult to embed
ü
a history of poor industrial relations
ü
the existence of a blame culture
ü
workforce cultural issues such as race and language
ü
the lack of positive decision making by management on the level of priority
accorded to health and saf ety leading to uncertainty among the workforce.
The management of an organisation intends to introduce new, safer working procedures but th e workers are resisting this change. (a Outline practical measures the organisation could take to communicate effectively when managing this change. 10 marks (b Outline additional steps the ma nagement could take to gain the support and commitment of wo rkers when managing this change.
(a
The desire to introduce new procedures and the need to obtain support and
commitment and to overcome resistance to change is a common scenario in sa fety
management. Measures that could have been considered in this scenario include:
ü
the provision of regular and frequent newsletters or memos using language
and technical content which is clear and easily understood
ü
holding regular meetings between manag ement and the workforce such as
team briefings and tool box talks
ü
providing the opportunity for regular meetings between the workforce and
their safety delegates
ü
placing notice boards at various locations on the site and ensuring that they
display relevant information and are updated at regular intervals
ü
introducing team building activities and staff suggestion schemes
ü
and providing accident and incident data to all the workers.
(b
Additional steps that management might take to gain the support and commit
ment
of workers include:
ü
finding out the reasons for the resistance whether fear of redundancy, de
skilling or simply a dislike of what is being suggested
ü
consulting with the workforce and others affected such as in meetings of the
safety committee where there should be equal representation of management
and workers
ü
using a progressive or step wise change process and using pilot trials
ü
setting out clearly the reasons for, and the benefits of, the proposed changes
and affording the workers the opportunity t o comment on and contribute to
the change
ü
providing training to support those affected and ensuring that managers
demonstrate personal commitment to the changes.
Outline
the concept of the
organisation as a system.
Just as a system is comprised of a number of interlinked components so might an
organisation be. These components include:
ü
inputs , such as design, procurement, recruitment of personnel, and informat ion
ü
processes , such as operations, both routine and non routine, plant and maintenance
ü
outputs such as products, packaging and transport.
The system as a whole (the organisation) would need to interact with the environment in
responding to matters such as the current markets and client needs, and would need to be
subjected to monitoring procedures and react to any changes found to be necessary.
Identify suitable risk controls at EACH point within the system AND give an example in EACH case.
Identification of the risk controls for each component was necessary.
For
inputs , this would involve
ü
the quality of physical resources such as managing the supply chain and ensuring
conformance with set standards
ü
human resources by adopting s trict recruitment standards designed to ensure
competence in those who were invited to join the organisation information by ensuring
it is always up to date, relevant and comprehensible.
Control of the process and work activities
would be concerned with the premises, plant,
procedures and people and would, by the use of risk assessment, involve the application of
hierarchical measures such as risk avoidance, risk reduction, risk transfer, risk retention and
behaviour safety.
The control of outputs
would be concerned with products and services and would address
matters such as waste management, product liability insurance, contractual obligations and
customer aftercare.
Outline the reasons for establishing effective consultation arrangements with workers concernin g health and safety matters in the workplace.
Reasons for establishing effective consultation arrangements include:
ü
meeting the legal requirements for consultation
ü
providing a demonstration of management commi tment to health and safety
ü
developing ownership of safety measures amongst workers
ü
improving perception about the value and importance of health and safety
ü
obtaining the input of workers’ knowledge to ensure more workable improvements
and solutions.
O utline the range of formal and informal arrangements that may contribute to effective consultation on health and safety matters in the workplace.
For
mal and informal arrangements include:
ü
setting up safety committees and appointing safety representatives
ü
taking advantage of opportunities that could arise at normal departmental or team
meetings
ü
delivering tool box talks
ü
discussions as part of safety cir cles or improvement groups
ü
use of staff appraisals, questionnaires and suggestion schemes.
Give
the meaning of the term
‘healt h and safety culture’.
Health and safety culture’ means shared perceptions, beliefs, attitudes and behaviour
patterns and values that members of an organisation have in the area of health and safety.
Outline
the role of an organisation
in the development of a positive
health and safety culture.
An important role for the organisation in th
e development of a positive health and safety
culture would be to demonstrate leadership and commitment from the top, which would
include the development and implementation of a health and safety policy, identifying and
allocating key health and safety res ponsibilities and ensuring both that adequate resources
are provided for health and safety but that also it is given the same importance as other
objectives such as production and quality.
This should then lead to the completion of the necessary risk asse
ssments, the introduction
of safe systems of work and the provision of training for the workforce.
During this process communication and consultation with the workforce will be of
paramount importance.
Once the systems are in place, it will be imperative
that their effectiveness is monitored on
a regular basis and that any deficiencies are seen to be rectified in as short a time as
practicable.
Identify
ways of measuring
the effectiveness of a health
and safety culture.
Ways of measur
ing the effectiveness of a health and safety culture include the assessment of
records such as those of:
ü
accidents and/or incidents together with the findings of any investigations that were
carried out
ü
cases of ill health
ü
staff turnover and sickness abse nteeism
ü
the effectiveness of communication with the workforce and any complaints received on
the subject of working conditions.
The organisation might also make use of surveys, value questionnaires on the subject of health
and safety, appraisal interviews and/or simply by observing the behaviour and commitment of
the workforce.
An organisation should carry out a risk assessment before developing a safe system of work. Outline recommenda tions to assist the employer to effectively consult with the workers on health and safety matters.
There are a number of recommendations that might be made to the employer in the
scenario describe d including:
ü
arranging for safety representatives to be appointed for each site, by election if
required, and protecting them from dismissal or other measures prejudicial to
them; ensuring that the safety representatives have access to appropriate
resource s to fulfil their functions and have time off their normal duties for
training
ü
setting up a formal safety committee, to meet on a regular basis to a set agenda
and ensuring that the minutes of the meetings are circulated throughout the
organisation
ü
providi ng adequate information to the workforce on health and safety and
consulting them when alterations to work processes are planned which will
have health and safety implications
ü
allowing access to representatives to all parts of the site to carry out inspect ions
and arranging for them to meet representatives of the enforcing authority when
they pay a visit to the site
ü
ensuring there is a visible interest by management in health and safety matters
with a readiness to have consultations on an informal basis wit h all workers
ü
setting up an individual appraisal system where health and safety concerns will
be discussed on a par with other relevant issues.
Organisations are said to have both formal and informal structures and groups. Outline the difference between ‘formal’ AND ‘informal’ in this context
A formal structure or group is hierarchical, generally shown in an organisational chart and
characterised by defined responsibili ties and agreed reporting lines. A n informal structure ,
on the other hand, is characterised by social and person al relationships, habitual and
related contacts and the presence of strong characters with personality and communication
skills who may exert personal influence.
The development of a health and safety culture requires control, co operation, communication and competence. Outline what ‘co operation’ means in this context, AND give examples to support your answer.
The meaning of ‘co
operation’ in this context refers to formal consultation arrangements,
suc h as those with safety representatives, direct consultation with workers at team
meetings, and participation in safety committee meetings. It also refers to informal
consultation on safety issues during day to day discussions with workers.
‘Co
operation’ would also include:
ü
the involvement of workers in safety processes, such as carrying out risk assessments
and developing systems of work
ü
playing their part in incident investigations, inspections, audits and other monitoring
processes being encouraged to r eport hazards and ‘near miss’ incidents
ü
being invited to become members of safety circles for problem solving.
Finally the provision of training and development would be an important factor in
maximising the involvement of workers in health and safety mat ters.
Organisational change can, if not properly managed, promote a negative health and safety culture. Outline the reasons for this.
Organisational change can, if not properly managed, promote a negative health and safety
culture for a number of reasons such as:
ü
the profile of safety may not be maintained during the change and new job responsibilities
may not have covered safety issues comprehensively
ü
normal consultation mechanisms and routes may be disrupted
ü
training in safety issues for new job holders or for new responsibilities may not have b een
completed
ü
the lack of adequate means of communication during the change may compromise trust
and poor consultation on change issues may have a negative effect on co operation and
on other issues including safety
ü
there may be concern about job security which could encourage risk taking
ü
redundancy processes or cost reduction measures may produce a perception that the
organisation is not concerned with personal well being
ü
experience or knowledge of risk controls may be lost with changes of personnel
ü
the sa fety implications of changes in personnel or numbers may not have been properly
assessed
ü
extensive movement of personnel makes it harder to establish shared perceptions and
values
ü
a greater use of outsourcing without good control may result in lower safety standards by
contractors which may affect the perception of priorities
ü
the effects of natural resistance to change.
Outline organisational factors that may act as barriers to the improvement of the health and safety culture of an organisation.
Organisational factors that could act as barriers include:
ü
lack of leadership and commitment from the top
ü
a health and safety policy not developed and implemented
ü
key health and safety responsi bilities not identified and allocated
ü
adequate resources are not allocated
ü
health and safety not given the same importance as other objectives such as
production and quality
ü
high staff turnover
ü
lack of communication and consultation with the workforce.
