INTRODUCTION TO SAFETY MANGEMENT

Most legislation and approaches to Occupational Safety Health (OSH) are based on the principle that
the employer or company operating the workplace are responsible for safety and health at the
workplace. There are many regulations and management systems that describe what employers
should do on Occupational Safety and Health (OSH). One definition of risk management, based on
the technical reliability standard states:

“Risk management is the systematic application of management policies, procedures and

practices to the tasks of analysing, evaluating and controlling risk.”

In some industries the word “safety” is preferred, e.g., this definition related to major accident sites:

“Safety management may be defined as the aspect of the overall management function that
and implements the safety policy. This will involve a whole range of activities, initiatives,
programs, etc., focused on technical, human and organisational aspects and referring to all
the individual activities within the organisation, which tend to be formalised as Safety
Management Systems (SMS).”

“Safety management is a way of managing the hazards (safety risks) of a company.”

 1) The policy should express the general intention, aims and approaches, in relation to
occupational safety and health issues at the company.
 2) Organising for health and safety is the process of designing and establishing the
responsibilities and relationships that form the social environment within which work
takes place. More simply stated: “Organising is having an effective management
structure and arrangements in place for delivering policy.”
 3) Planning is essential for effective implementation of OSH policy. Planning requires the
allocation of human and financial resources, and the setting of precise goals. A number
of other activities are also related to planning including design of rules, accident
investigations, and risk analysis.
  4) Measuring is an essential aspect of maintaining OSH-performance. The
implementation of plans needs to be checked to ascertain whether a company complies
with standards. Accidents, incidents, and health problems need to be monitored.
 5) During the review process judgements are made about the adequacy of performance
and decisions about improvements and other changes are made.
 6) Feedback is an essential element in all parts of management systems. Managers and
workers need information about activities, accident rates, etc, to enable them to take
effective and positive action.
 7) Auditing is a structured process of collecting independent information on the
efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of a total OSH management system. Corrective
actions may also be proposed if necessary.

The feedback of information and problems can take many forms from formal, written reports to
informal discussions between individuals. Person to person communication may be a very important
source of information in both formal and informal systems.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS OF A SUCCESSFUL HEALTH & SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS:

RISK ANALYSIS & TOOLS FOR THE RISK ANALYSIS:

Risk analysis is a useful tool to systematically identify hazards and problems at the workplace, even if
no accidents have occurred (a proactive approach). The term “safety analysis” is often used as an
alternative. Within the technical field of reliability there is a standard from the International
Electrotechnical Commission, which states that: “Risk analysis is the systematic use of available
information to identify hazards and to estimate the risk to individuals or populations, property or the
environment.”

The key steps for the Risk Management Process are:

 Risk Identification;
 Risk Assessment;
  Risk Control; and
 Risk Control Review.

1. JOB SAFETY ANALYSIS:

“Job safety analysis” is a simple example of a safety analysis method. Attention is

concentrated on the tasks performed by a person or group in the workplace in order to
identify the hazards related to the task, and to find appropriate means to reduce the risks.
Basically, the method is focused on accidents, but it may also be useful in identifying other
hazards such as exposure to chemicals.
The analysis procedure in the above Figure consists of 6 main stages, plus a preparatory and
concluding stage; it is recommended that each stage is completed in sequence. Preparation
includes defining the job tasks to be analysed, and gathering information about the job. Job
instructions are often useful. It is beneficial to involve a team of people from the workplace
which may include someone familiar with the job analysis method, a supervisor, and a
person who performs the job and knows its potential problems.

I. Identify the Job Task:

Select jobs or activities based on the following priorities. JSAs can be completed by
individual activities or by a collection of activities that make up an individual’s job.
The latter can be quite useful when you have several employees doing many of the
same activities. The former is useful when an employee has few activities or when a
new activity is added.
• Jobs with highest rates of injury, illness, or frequency.
• High-risk jobs with potential to cause severe injury or illness.
• New jobs.
• Jobs with changes to equipment, process, or procedure.
• Jobs with complex procedures.
• Ultimately, all jobs within the unit.
II. Break Job Steps:

Now that you are prepared to perform the analysis, observe the job or activity being
performed and document the individual steps or tasks completed. Take good notes
to assist in completing the JSA form.
• List each step/task sequentially as to how the job/activity is done.
• Document potential hazards for each step/task.
• Review the steps/tasks with employee(s) and get their input on hazard controls.
• Address any dangerous hazards immediately.

III. Identify Potential Hazards:

When identifying the hazards for each step it is vital to look for things that could go
wrong. Be on the lookout for unsafe behaviours and unsafe conditions that exist or
might occur.
Unsafe behaviours

• Failure to follow established standards & procedures for the task or activity.
• Examples: Not meeting required qualifications and/or training and not
implementing safe work practices.
Unsafe conditions
 Failure to recognize critical elements in the workplace environment, such as
Environmental, Biological, Chemical, and Physical conditions
 Examples: Not implementing safe work practices and toxic chemical build-up.
IV. Assess Risk:
 An adequate risk assessment requires extensive knowledge of the work processes,
health hazards and occupational hygiene practices. It is important to begin with:
 a detailed observation of the workplace;
 the collection of information on hazards from surveys already conducted
from similar workplaces or from the literature.
For Example:

V. Determine Control Measures:

The “Hierarchy of Controls” provides the preferred type of controls by effectiveness

(see Definitions above). One should always try to implement elimination,
substitution and engineering controls before moving to administrative controls. The
last line of defence, when all other options have been implemented or found to be
infeasible, is the use of Personal Protective Equipment. Often, unless a hazard is
entirely eliminated, more than one type of control measure may be necessary.

VI. Communicate and Implement:

Obviously the more reliable or less likely a hazard control can be circumvented, the
better. Discuss your recommendations with all employees who perform the job and
consider their responses carefully. If you plan to introduce new or modified job
 procedures, be sure they understand what they are required to do and the reasons
for the changes.

2. HAZARD IDENTIFICATION & RISK ASSESSMENT:

HIRA reviews may be performed at any stage in a works life cycle-conceptual design,
detailed design, construction, Commissioning, on-going operation, decommissioning or
demolition. In general, the earlier that a hazard is identified (e.g., during conceptual design).
The more cost-effectively it can be eliminated or managed. studies performed during the
early design stages are typically done at corporate or engineering offices. Studies performed
once a process is near start-up, during operation or before decommissioning are typically
done in a plant environment.

A HIRA study is typically performed by a team of qualified experts on the process, the
materials, and the work activities personnel who have formal training on risk analysis
methods usually lead these teams, applying the selected analysis technique with subject
matter experts from engineering, operations, maintenance and disciplines as needed. A
simple early-in-life hazard identification study may be performed by a single expert:
However, a multidiscipline team typically conducts more hazardous or complex process risk
studies, especially during later life cycle stages involving operating and maintenance
personnel early in the review process will help to identify hazards when they can be
eliminated or controlled most cost- effectively. When the study is complete, management
must then decide whether to implement any recommended risk reduction measures to
achieve its risk goals.
 Example HIRA Worksheet for Flat-iron Work Machine:

Current Risk Risk Risk Risk

Control Severity Likelihood Level
Activities Hazard Effect
Accidentally External body Training
knocked injury; cuts, provided to the
linen cart torn and workers before
Sorting position at scratches start work. 1 4 4
work path
Struck by External body Training
the injury; sprain, provided to the
chemical torn workers before
Washing containers ligaments or start work. 2 4 8
in high muscles and
Briefing on safe
space broken bones
work
procedure.
Drying Burn due to Warning sign
contact pasted on the
with hot outer surface
surface of Burn skin of dryer. 1 4 4
the outer
part of
dryer
The device may
stop function if
any non-flat
Fingers or object gets into
hands flatwork ironer.
Permanent
drawn into
disability; Provided
trapped
severed workers with
Ironing between 3 3 9
fingers or operational
the moving
hand manuals to
flatwork
operate the
ironer
flatwork ironers.