safety management

Safety ManagementBy

Channa Karunathilaka

Management Responsibility

Legal Responsibility: Should adhere, at least to the minimum requirements stipulated under the Factories Ordinance and other legislations

Social Responsibility: Should be socially accountable

Economic Responsibility: Should avoid losses to survive

Executive managementResponsibility Authority

Subordinate levels of

management


management


management

First line management



Operating personnel

Operating personnel

Operating personnel

Specialist staff

Acc

oun t

abili

ty

Aut

horit

y

The Distribution of Responsibility, Accountability and Authority

SOME THOUGHTS ON SAFETY One point that is absolutely essential to high capacity as

well as to humane production, is a clean, well-lighted and well-ventilated factory (quoted in Willson, 1985:251)

The faster work tempo imposed by modern rationally organised production only worsens the [health and safety] situation, since the nervous tension and increased physical effort required undermines the worker's resistance unless we also introduce appropriate preventative measures (Willson, 1985:252)

Incidentally, guarding and other action of an 'engineering revision' nature often provide an immediate remedy even for accidents caused chiefly by man failure (Henrich,1959:34).

Two Independent Approaches Behavioral approach

Legislated Engineering approach

SOME VIEWS ON TWO INDIPEDENT APPROACHES

Over time the proponents of the behavioural and legislated-engineering approaches have adopted a dismissive and sometimes hostile stance towards each other.

Criticisms of the behavioural approach emphasise employees' limited control and capacity to influence factors underlying injury and ill-health (Bohle, 1993:109).

Mathews (1985:8) argues 'the very fact of intervention by the law to set a minimum standard of safety is a recognition of the point that safety lies in the system of work rather than in the behaviour of any worker'.

SOME VIEWS ON TWO INDIPEDENT APPROACHES

On the other hand, Denton (1982:6), in seeking to establish the difficulty in changing employee behaviour, dismisses the tasks of hazard identification and control as relatively easy.

It might be noted that Heinrich did not ignore control at source as a control solution. He placed the safeguarding of mechanical equipment as the first remedial method and saw it as "the very first common sense step" (1959:22). But his conception of the limited role of the 'unsafe condition' in accident causation relative to the 'unsafe act' made it a lower priority with an incidental status:

1.1 9.1

1.9

5.5

9.9

Con

cent

rat io

n o n

Peo

ple

Concentration on Engineering Controls

The Hazard Management Grid

1.9. Attention to people’s needs leads to program visibility and general safety awareness.

1.1. Minimum effort to meet hazard-control objective.

5.5. Adequate performance thorough balancing need for involving people and eliminating physical hazard at a satisfactory level.

9.1. Maximum reduction of hazard-producing designs and layouts, but minor attention to likely human error performance.

9.9. Accomplishment is from involved people and maximum elimination of error-(hazard) producing engineering designs.

1

5 to 50

Cost of property damage

1 to 3

Miscellaneous costs

Insured cost

Uninsured cost

Accident Cost Iceberg

Insured Cost

Compensation cost Medical cost

Uninsured Cost Cost of wages paid for working time lost by the other

workers Net cost on repairs or replacement of damaged items Cost of wages paid for working time lost by the injured

worker Cost of wages paid to supervisors Wage cost due decreased output of the injured worker

after return to work Cost of time spent by staff and other officers on work

connected with the accident Cost of training of a new worker

Degree of control

Cos

tTotal Cost to Community

Cost of damage

Cost of control

ORGANISATION, RESPONSIBILITY, ACCOUNTABILITY

Senior manager/involvement Line Manager/supervisor duties Specialist personnel Management accountability and

performance measurement Company OHS policy

CONSULTATIVE ARRANGEMENTS

• Health & safety representatives-a system resource

• Issue resolution-HSR employer representatives

• Joint OHS committees • Broad employee participation

SPECIFIC PROGRAM ELEMENTS & PRINCIPLES

Health and safety rules and procedures Training program Workplace inspections Incident reporting & investigation Statement of principles for hazard prevention and control Data collection and analysis/record keeping OHS promotion and information provision Purchasing and design Emergency procedures Medical and first aid Dealing with specific hazards and work organisation

issues Monitoring and evaluation

Safety Specialist (Safety Department)

Safety officer/Safety Manager/Safety Director- The person appointed to organise safety in the firmQualifications- Most outstanding quality he should posses is that of

making his advice carry weight with all grade within the works

He must be a person of standing and integrity He must be able to appreciate other people’s problems

and their arguments He must be able to interpret correctly the working of

related laws He should be a competent technician He should keep in touch with sources of information,

safety devices and equipment

Duties of Safety Specialist He should organise a statistical service of some

kind He must be familiar with different techniques of

propaganda, the use and limitations Safety inspections with special attention to fire

prevention Investigation of accidents and job safety

analysis He should be the secretary of the safety

committee He should take the responsibility of organising

training programmes

Constitution of the Safety Committee

CEO- Chairman of the committee Safety Officer- Secretary of the committee Supervisors and workers’ representatives

for each section Sub-contractors’ representatives Representatives from others whose work

has some impact on safety and health

Functions of the Safety Committees

Organise safety planning of the workplace Review accident reports & other incidents Evaluate new measures Carry out weekly inspections Organise training and promotional

activities

Safety Programming

Secure principal management's involvement Organise for achievements Detail the operating plan Inspect operations Consider engineering revisions Use guards and protective devices as last resort Provide education and training

Why Information of Accidents Is Needed?

For compilation of statistics To review the policy To initiate appropriate action For prevention of accidents For payment of compensation To control cost

Classification of Industrial Accidents

Diseases The nature of injury The bodily location of injury Type of accident The agency The time of accident The age

Accident Analysis

Analyze the facts to determine, why? Is it due to working conditions and

environment Is it due unsafe act? Is it due to combination of both Is it due to an unsafe personal factor? Is there any violation of legal

requirements?

Accident Investigation Investigate as early as possible Survey the scene of accident Collect the objects for evidence and analysis Approach witnesses early Question them to get the correct information Question the witnesses separately Question the witnesses on what he knows, but not on

what he thinks Try to get more information from experienced people Be careful when getting evidence from those who are

likely to be responsible

Comparative Measures

Frequency Rate =Total number of accidents x 1,000,000

Total number of man hours worked

Incident Rate =Total number of accidents x 1000

Average umber of persons exposed

Severity Rate = Total number of days lost x 1000

Total number of man hours worked

The Concept of Health and Safety Integration

The first approach integration of health and safety into an organisation's business plan

A second approach also locates health and safety as an integral organisational objective, but proposes discrete health and safety objectives and strategy plans developed through health and safety committees that are appropriately resourced and located at the heart of organisational decision-making

A third approach is centred upon more innovative integration opportunities such as the holistic approach to the integration of health and safety into quality management systems and recent innovative or best practice management techniques

The fourth approach is consistent with a traditional safety engineering approach and focuses on the integration of health and safety into the design of equipment and productive processes, and its inclusion in contractual agreements and quality assurance initiatives

Finally a behavioural approach can be identified, where integration is focused on infusing health and safety into the corporate culture in order to raise employees' awareness of the risks they face and their responsibility to behave safely

Percentage distribution of accidents by type of accident

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Misc

Hand tools

Manual handling

Fall of objects

Step on/striking obj

Fall of persons

Electricity

Harmful substances

Fire & Explosions

Transport

Machinery

Type

of a

ccid

ent

Percentage

1988

1987

1986

1985

Percentage distribution of accidents by tupe of accidents 1985

Misc

Hand tools

Manual handling

Fall of objects

Step on/striking obj

Fall of persons

Electricity

Harmful substances

Fire & Explosions

Transport

Machinery

Percentage distribution of accidents by time of the day

0

5

10

15

20

25

06to08

08to10

10to12

12to14

14to16

16to18

18to20

20to22

22to24

24to02

02to04

04to06

Time of the day

Perc

enta

ge 1985

1986

1987

1988

Percentage distribution of accidents by location of injury

0 10 20 30 40

Multiple

Foot

Leg

Trunk

Arm

Hand

Eye

Head

Loca

tion

of in

jury

Percentage

1988

1987

1986

1985

Percentage distribution of accidents by age group

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

<20 21-25 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 >55

Age group

Perc

enta

ge

1985

1986

1987

1988

safety management

Healthcare