Tutorial 4

HRM 22413- EMPLOYEE SAFETY AND HEALTH

MANAGEMENT
SAFETY AND HEALTH
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
PLANNING- PART 1

Isuru Chandradasa
Assistant Lecturer
Department of Human Resource Management
Faculty of Management and Finance
University of Ruhuna
IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING
• Planning to implement the health and safety policy is the third
element of the ILO-OSH 2001 health and safety management
model

• Planning means the process by which the objectives and

methods of implementing the health and safety policy are
decided
IMPORTANCE OF PLANNING

• It is concerned with allocating resources

(e.g money, time or effort) to achieve
objectives and decide priorities.
• An effective planning system for health
and safety requires organizations to set
up, operate and maintain a management
system that can detect, eliminate, and
control hazards and risks.
PLANNING A HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INVOLVES

• Creating and implementing suitable management arrangements,

risk control system (RCSs) and workplace preventive measures

• They should be proportionate to the hazards and risks of the

organization and appropriate for its needs
PLANNING A HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INVOLVES

• Using , maintaining and

when necessary,
enhancing the system to
accommodate changes.
PLANNING A HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM INVOLVES

It is necessary to answer three key questions

1. Where are we now?
2. Where do we want to be?
3. How do we get there?
 For planning to be effective it must be properly
coordinated throughout the organization to avoid
overlaps and omissions
THE HEALTH AND SAFETY PLANNING
PROCESS COMPRISES THREE SECTIONS
1. Correct information about the existing situation
2. Suitable benchmarks against which to make
comparisons
3. Competent people to carry out the analysis and
make judgements
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES
• Doing everything at once is not practicable,
• Health and safety plan is necessary to guide the organization,
• Setting out the objectives for a specified time period
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES

• What needs to be done will depend on the resources available,

• The current state of health and safety compliance and the policy
aims of the organization
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES
There are several ways of setting objectives within an organization

1. Top-down approach
2. Bottom- up approach
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES

1. Top-down approach
• Directors and senior management must set an example
• Demonstrate the standards they wish to achieve
• They must identify the performance standards for the
organization and provide the necessary resources to
achieve them
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES

2. Bottom- up approach
• Objectives are set at the workplace by those who are exposed
to the significant risks
• These are then approved at higher levels
• Coordinated with other workplaces within the organization.
SETTING HEALTH AND SAFETY OBJECTIVES
• Health and safety objectives need to be SMART
• Both short term and long-term objectives should be set and
prioritized against business needs
• Objectives at different levels or within different parts of an
organization should be aligned so they support the overall policy
objectives
COMPLEMENTARY OUTPUTS FROM THE
PLANNING PROCESS
• Health and safety plans with objectives for developing,
maintaining and improving the health and safety management
system,
1. Such as requiring each site of a multi-site firm to have an annual
health and safety plan and an accident and incident investigation
system,
2. Establishing a reliable risk assessment process for occupational
health issues, involving employees in preparing workplace
precautions,
3. Completing all manual handling assessments by the end of the current
year, providing a new guard for a particular machine.
COMPLEMENTARY OUTPUTS FROM THE
PLANNING PROCESS
• Specifications for management arrangements, risk control systems
and workplace precautions
• Performance standards for implementing the health and safety
management system, identifying the contribution of individuals to
implementing the system
SUMMARY OF THE PLANNING PROCESS
As a foundation of competence is established a
sound health and safety planning and risk
assessment process should emerge which will
lead to improved control over significant risks
As improved control is established, the emphasis can
shift to
• Devising more comprehensive risk control systems (RCSs)
• And more effective management arrangement to establish a
complete health and safety management system.
THREE STAGES IN ESTABLISHING WORKPLACE
PRECAUTIONS
1. Hazard identification- identifying hazards
which could cause harm
2. Risk assessment- assessing the risk which
may arise from hazards
3. Risk control- deciding on suitable measures to
eliminate or control risk
RISK CONTROL SYSTEM
• RCSs are the basis for ensuring that adequate workplace
precautions are provided and maintained
RISK CONTROL SYSTEM
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
• Risk assessment is an
essential part of the planning
stage of any health and safety
management system
• A suitable and sufficient is
important as it defines the
limits to the risk assessment
process
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
A suitable and sufficient risk assessment should
1. Identify the significant risks and ignore the trivial ones
2. Identify and prioritize the measures required to comply with
any relevant statutory provisions
3. Remain appropriate to the nature of the work and valid over a
reasonable period of time
4. Identify the risk arising from or in connection with the work
PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
• The significant findings that should be recorded include a
detailed statement of the hazards and risks,
• The preventive, protective or control measures in place and
• Any further measures required to reduce the risks and
• Present proof that a suitable and sufficient assessment has been
made.
TWO BASIC FORMS OF RISK ASSESSMENT

1. A quantitative risk assessment

• Attempts to measure the risk by relating the probability of the risk
occurring to the possible severity of the outcome and
• Then giving the risk a numerical value
• This method of risk assessment is used in situations where a
malfunction could be very serious.
TWO BASIC FORMS OF RISK ASSESSMENT

2. Qualitative assessment
• The more common form of risk assessment
• It is based purely on personal judgment and
• It is normally defined as high, medium or low
MAIN OBJECTIVE
OF RISK
ASSESSMENT
To determine the
measures required by
the organization to
comply with relevant
health and safety
legislations and thereby
reduce the level of
occupational injuries
and ill health.
MAIN OBJECTIVE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
• The purpose is to help the employer or self- employed person to
determine the measures required to comply with national legal
obligations.
• The risk assessment will need to cover all those who could be at
risk, such as customers, contractors and members of the public
Any accident or incidence of ill health will
cause both direct and indirect costs and
incur an insured and an uninsured cost. It
is important that all of those costs are
taken into account when the full cost of
an accident is calculated.
ACCIDENT CLASSIFICATION
The principal classification of industrial accidents according to type
of accident in the ILO code of practice is as follows.
1. Falls of persons
2. Stuck by falling objects
3. Stepping on, striking against or struck by objects excluding falling
objects
 ACCIDENT
CLASSIFICATION
4. Caught in or between objects
5. Over exertion or strenuous movements
6. Exposure to or contract with extreme
temperatures
7. Exposure to or contact with electric
current
8. Exposure to or contact with harmful
substances or radiations
9. Other types of accident, not elsewhere
classified, including accidents not
classified for lack of sufficient data
HEALTH RISKS
• Risk assessment is not only concerned with injuries in the
workplace
• But also needs to consider the possibility of occupational ill-
health. Health risks fall into the following four categories
Four categories of health risks

1. Chemical
2. Biological
3. Physical
4. Psychological
TWO POSSIBLE HEALTH EFFECTS OF
OCCUPATIONAL ILL-HEALTH
1. Acute,
• which means that they occur soon after the exposure and are often
of short duration
• Although in some cases emergency admission to hospital might be
required.
TWO POSSIBLE HEALTH EFFECTS OF
OCCUPATIONAL ILL-HEALTH
2. Chronic,
• Which means that the health effects develop with time
• It might take several years for the associated disease to develop and
• The effects could be slight (mild asthma) or severe (Cancer).
FIVE STEPS TO RISK ASSESSMENT
• The UK HSE has produced five steps to risk assessment
• It gives practical advice on assessing risks and recording the
findings and
• It is aimed at small and medium sized companies in the service
and manufacturing sectors
FIVE STEPS TO RISK ASSESSMENT
1. Look for the hazards
2. Decide who might be harmed and how
3. Evaluate the risks and decide whether existing precautions are
adequate or more should be done
4. Record the significant findings
5. Review the assessment and revise it if necessary
THANK YOU!