Essay on a Safe Working Environment

Role and responsibilities of the employer and employee

In every working environment, there exists health and safety management that covers employers just as it caters to the employees. Employers need to offer a safe working environment to the constituents while the employees, on the other hand, need to strictly adhere to the set rules and regulation in the work orientation (Lingard & Rowlinson, 2005). There should be a health and safety manager responsible for handling various issues related to the workplace condition as explained in the organizations safety certificate. The guidelines and standards are often explained in detail in the safety certification. Apart from the workplace condition, employers are responsible for the following:

Inform the workers of the likely hazard in the working environment during health and safety job training, and in case of emergency alarms.

Keep records and safeguard the medical record related to employee injuries and illness and present them immediately they are needed.

Run tests to ensure everything works effectively for the benefit of the workers as stipulated by the OSHA standards.

Examine to ensure maximum health of employees which can be detrimental in case of illness.

Inform OSHA periodically in case workplace accidents occur, in case of death or when there are more workers sent to clinics for emergency as decided by organization doctor.

Prevent discrimination of employees when they attempt to use their rights against the organization which is likely within or below the discretion of safety manager.

The following are the responsibilities of the employees:

Report work-related cases that result in injuries in case the employer declines to report.

When an employer discriminates employees, it is the responsibility of the employees to inform OSHA to instigate sanction.

Asses working condition and report if it is unsafe or unhealthy so that necessary actions can be taken by OSHA to protect the safety and common good of the majority in the organization

Responsible for ensuring that the organization is inspected by OSHA to enhance workplace health and safety.

Principles and Procedures of a Good Housekeeping

Safety forms the core value of the office environment to enhance institution safety culture coupled with strong programs of personal safety, wellness awareness and strict compliance with applicable health and safety regulations. The organization has made reasonable efforts to:

Enhance the occupational, safety and health wellness

Promote health and safety of staff

Inform staff of relevant health and safety hazards

Periodically control health and safety hazards while at the same time encouraging staff to report potential hazards

Perform all activities in the office in a manner that is protective of the surrounding environment.

Implement a risk-based management program to reduce the impact of emergency in the organization.

The Elements and Functions of a Safety Statement

Organization management has invested significant time and money with the aim of ensuring that the safety statement formulated complies with the section 19 and 20 of the safety and welfare at work Act. The elements of the statement include:

Safety content

The act requires organization management to provide maximum risk assessment and mandates that everyone should have safety statement and indicate that each safety statement should be specific.

Hazard identification and risk assessment

Employees need to have the ability to assess workplace hazards and evaluate the degree of risk. Hazard is a condition or various activities in the organization that can inflict harm on the employees, employer or members of the public. The element also involves plans set to manage emergency issues.

Employee protection initiatives

This is intended to offer high-level controls and ensure prospective hazards are identified and eliminated or the risk reduced to a moderate level. At this level, specific measures are incorporated with the departmental risk assessment in the organization such as policies and procedures for operation and design for office space.

Resources used for protection

This element is fundamental and facilitates the allocation of resources for protection. These involve resources to enhance compliance with legal and organizational requirements.

Identification of the Hazards Using Primary Sources

The initial step of controlling hazards in an office environment is identification. After possible hazards are identified, an analysis is conducted to assess the nature of the hazard, how it looks and the nature of impact it might cause and how the resulting injuries might be to the employees (Ridley & Channing, 2008). In this analysis, every item or component needs to be examined and see how it influences the entire organization effectiveness and employee safety. Inspection of the health hazard should go beyond the simple identification of the hazardous condition and provide essential information for the purpose of an effective analysis and final evaluation of the safety management system in the organization. The primary sources for the identification of hazards before their occurrence include:

Observations

Interviews

Walk around inspections

Company surveys

In the process of learning, it is fundamental to observe the day to day activities and identify hazards work practices and equipment. Interviews are valuable and will uncover hazardous scenes in the organization, unsafe working procedures, and their primary causes. The survey in the organization will take advantage of the awareness of hazards. The inspections, on the other hand, will be beneficial in locating hazardous conditions and unsafe work practices in the office. There are numerous computers, hanging wires and printers which can be the main sources of hazard in the organization.

Evaluation of the risk(s) associated with each hazard

Each hazard relays some risk, and there are chances that they can transform into harm. It is fundamental to evaluate the hazards and determine how high the risk may be. Hazards with more than the mild risk in the working environment need to be controlled. The most straightforward method of evaluating the risks associated with a hazard is to multiply two factors: possible consequences linked with the hazard and the possibility of the consequences occurring.

The table illustrates the relationship between potential consequences and the likelihood that a consequence can occur (Lingard & Rowlinson, 2005).

Part A- in this part, the hazards can occur at any time. Employees need to stop their day to day activities and ensure the hazard is controlled before going on.

Part B-in this part, the hazard possesses significantly little risk. Nevertheless, there is a need to take appropriate steps to ensure the hazard is controlled.

Part C- when a hazard fall in this section, there is relatively little to no risk.

The class under which a hazard is categorized is used to make a decision how priority is given and plans for controlling them formulate for the betterment of the employees in the organization. The table provides a simple way of evaluating the risk (which include computer rays, hanging wires and printer noises) and giving priority to most hazardous.

The situation can be diverse from one organization setting to another hence the need to consider other things such as the frequency of exposure, duration of exposure and whether there exist situations that may influence the effect of the risk. With the issue of computers for instance, the more the users are exposed, the higher the health and safety risk involved. At the same time, the longer the duration of printer noise, the higher the risk. This indicated that various circumstances might influence the magnitude of risk. The risk of getting electrocuted for instance in the office due to the hanging wires is higher is the employee works there throughout the day. This can have a greater risk in case the employee has a poor vision as compared to someone with clear eyesight. Working independently is also another example. In a retail shop, there exist numerous steps which can be used to prevent robbery, but the issue with robbery regardless of the size of the retail store can occur. By virtue of working alone, hazards linked with robbery are increased. This indicates that control of hazards need multi-faceted approach

Control Procedures

Hazards can be eliminated but, in many instances, procedures need to be taken to control them. The control procedure requires an evaluation of business decisions that influence safety and begin with the most significant. The hierarchy of controls will be implemented for the control of each risk at the office.

First: The hazard can be eliminated such that in case a computer machine is the cause; it can be removed entirely or replaced.

Second: The hazardous tools or equipment can be substituted with safer ones. A noisy printer can be replaced with a quiet printer.

Third: isolate the hazard with the employees.

Fourth: utilize engineering controls to reduce the risk.

Fifth: application of good administration practices in the organization to warn of hazards.

Finally: The fifth and final step is applied if all the five measures fail to eliminate the risk. At this point, employees are provided with the right protective equipment.

Ideally, with the hierarchy of controls, more than one control is applied. A quiet printer can replace a noisy printer but the employee still benefits from the protective equipment that reduces the levels of noise.

Re-Evaluation of Risks after Implementation of the Control Measures

There is a need for re-evaluation to ensure that the control measures are still effective and suitable. It can be part of the management safety inspection. One effective method is to talk with the staff and the organization health and safety committee appropriately to begin and get the idea on how effective the controls are and what can be done to improve or maintain the procedures.

Conclusion

Every stakeholder in an organization needs to understand their specific responsibilities ensure a safe and healthy working environment. This is because safety is part of the core values of operation management in enhancing safety culture and strong programs of personal safety, wellness awareness and compliance with applicable health and safety regulations. It is for this reason that organizations have formulated safety statements to facilitate hazard identification, risk assessment, employee protection initiatives and mobilize resources used for protection. Order to control risks, it is fundamental to evaluate the hazards and determine how great the risk may be. Hazards with more than the mild risk in the working environment need to be controlled. A control measure that can be applied is the hierarchy of controls where more than a single control is applied. Finally, after the control measures are implemented, re-evaluation needs to be done to assess if the implemented control strategies as still suitable and effective for the various health and safety risks in the organization.

Bibliography

Lingard, H., & Rowlinson, S. M. (2005). Occupational health and safety in construction project management. Taylor & Francis.

Lingard, H., & Rowlinson, S. M. (2005). Occupational health and safety in construction project management. Taylor & Francis.

Ridley, J., & Channing, J. (Eds.). (2008). Safety at work. Routledge.