Occupational Health and Safety Management

Assignment 1: Risk Management Cycle

Part I: Introduction

The Company provides home care services in a Brisbane neighborhood, in Australia. The business comprises indoor and outdoor services. Interior home care services include basically cleaning of rooms. Exterior services include lawn mowing, cobweb removal, outdoor furniture cleaning, and basic gardening. The company has 5 employees, 2 full-time, i.e. the owners, and 3 part-time. The company has been in existence for 5 years. It began as a commercial, home cleaning service provider, in 2007. It expanded its business to include out-door home environment in its third year. The company provides a customized home care plan for homes, which are the guidelines for all the services offered to customers in different homes. In relations to the standards of service and occupational health and safety procedures, the company utilizes the services of qualified and certified employees provided with training.

The company conducts regular audit checks, in order to check the standards of service and customer satisfaction at the homes. The company has back-up cleaners used in case of sickness and emergency. The company uses environmentally friendly home care products. The company utilizes cleaning products that are completely safe for infants and toddlers. In addition to superior cleaning, the goal of the company is to provide services that meet health and safety standards. According to the company, the employees are careful and have full insurance cover.

Part II: Identification of Health Hazards, assessments and Control of Risks

OHS and Risk Management Systems

Cleaning Products: In relation to the interior services, the company uses cleaning products certified by the Safe Work Australia, the national policy formulation organ of the government. The company does not procure cleaning chemicals that appear in the list of atmospheric contaminants. It classifies hazardous substances and the national exposure standards as regards atmospheric contaminants. This practice facilitates customer satisfaction while enabling the creation of an environment that is safe for the workers and owners of the homes involved in the home care services provided by the company.

Recruitment and Training of Employees: The company owners train employees upon recruitment on customer services, use of products, occupational safety, and emergency response. This normally takes two days and then the workers can learn as they participate in the activities. The company has three employees that work part-time. The two owners of the company perform management activities and double up as workers as the company’s resources are insufficient and cannot manage more than five workers. In view of this limitation, the company trains employees in all the areas, in which the company provides services. The workers, therefore, multi-task and perform activities including lawn mowing, cleaning of the internal home environment, and cleaning furniture both in the inside and outside environment. This is an area with the potential for occupational health risks. In view of the extent of the work that the company does, the employees are few.

Health Insurance: The Company provides insurance cover for employees and compensation for damages to health incurred in line of duty. This is a requirement of the Australian national occupational health standards. The employees receive compensation and medical finances in case they are injured during the course of their work.

Police Certification of Employees: The Company recruits workers that have police certification. These guards against recruiting persons who have an undesirable past record, in terms of regard for human well being. The company recruits employees based on their potential to be careful and regard life of others. This is a way in which the company screens for persons who are likely to cause environmental mayhem in the course of work. This is a plus in terms of customer service and the safety of workers.

Back-up employees: The Company also recruits back-up employees to act as cover in times of emergency. The company also uses back-up workers in case an employee is ill. This is also in line with the Safe Work Australia requirements.

License and registration: The Company obtains and renews its license for its business activities from the authorities in Brisbane. Licensing procedures encourage accountability and responsibility for activities performed by the company. It is process that shows conformance to the national standards of business and occupation health and safety. It provides a line of process and accountability to the law in case the employees break the environmental, safety laws during when performing their duties at the customers’ homes.

Systems of Identification of Risks

Audit Checks and on-Site Observations: The Company conducts regular audit checks of their work processes at the customer’s home environment. This meant to appraise their business practices in relation to customer satisfaction. The procedure is also vital for appraisal of the employee observation of occupational health guidelines stipulated by the Safe Work Australia, an independent statutory body for occupational safety standards and policies. This is done by the company’s worker-managers. The short coming is that the company does not engage external auditors in appraising their activities and safety procedures.

Records and Consultation: The Company keeps record of all activities and products used in every customer’s home. In addition to the names of products and equipments, the workers record their names, and the quantities of each product used including the time, in which the services were provided. However, the company does not have procedures for consultation with the expert institutions. They do not enroll the services of professional, expert input in their business procedures.

Employee Reports: The employee performs daily reporting of the activities and areas of concern, written and handed over to management. The feedback procedure facilitates timely identification of health hazards and response.

Hazard Assessment Systems

The company’s policy for environmental health includes a list of areas that constitute potential health and safety hazards. These are elements that form the rubric for assessment of hazards during audit checks conducted by the management. The company does not have a suitable number of staff. It does not conduct proper risk assessment of the home environment. In addition, the employees do not attain proper training on hazard identification and safety measures. These are the areas that proper assessment must look at in determining the quality of its environmental, safety plan. Hazard assessment is a continuous process, and so there is need for design of system that identifies threats in the employee work environment. Reporting, appraisals, and consultation procedures contribute to hazard assessment. In this respect, the system should integrate the various aspects that facilitate hazard identification and assessment.

Safety Training Programs

The training programs comprise the national guidelines for environmental safety; company policy for occupational safety; home care products, ingredients, and use; use of equipments such as irrigation pumps and lawn mower; emergency response including communication and first aid procedures; and protective clothing. The programs are non-inclusive of vital programs such as fire fighting. The training takes less than a week and so may not confer appropriate and adequate knowledge.

The Systems Hazard Control

The Company uses the national occupational safety guidelines as its prevention mechanism for hazards. It identifies from the list of products listed by the Safe Work Australia as environmental or occupational hazards. This, however, is not sufficient considering that the guidelines provided by the agency are national frameworks. The company needs a customized system of hazard control to manage the micro level activities and items that constitute environmental risks. The national protocol of hazard control is broad and provides the guideline, on which companies and organizations base the design of their individual protocols. There are aspects of work that are specific to home cleaning and other environmental procedures involved in home care services.

Part III: Role of Supervisor/Team Leader

The company is a small agency with a small number of employees. The Company managers are two owners who double up as workers. In addition to the management activities such as systems management, the worker-managers perform supervisory activities including employee appraisals, and development of the guidelines for health and safety, in relation to the work environment. Their participation in work activities acquaints them with the work environment and procedures. Therefore, they are better placed to design structures that are efficient in occupational safety. They appreciate the reports forwarded by employees and can respond appropriately. The problem is that the company lacks sufficient number of employees to relieve the managers of some of the work load.

In relation to records keeping, the management of the company reviews daily reports prepared by workers after every day’s home care activities. During the random audit checks, the managers meet the home owners and get their views on the services provided by the company. The company’s management plays the role of the executive and supervisory with no clear structure. There are no stipulated organizational structure and roles and responsibilities played by the managers. Therefore, for effective reporting, the company should draw a structure that guides the distribution of responsibilities among the managers. In addition, the managers double as workers and complicate reporting system. Development of a company policy for occupational health and safety risk management system can clarify the confusion that exists in the reporting system. Supervisory and leadership roles facilitate the determination of the training needs of the employees. Supervisors operate at the level of the workers and observe the participation and the practice of safety standards. They provide the point of contact between the top management and the lower level employees.

Assignment 2: OHS training program

Outline of the Occupational Health and Safety Mentoring Plan

Introduction

The occupational health and safety mentoring plan outlines the desirable health and safety management practices, measurement protocol for health and safety performance, communication and reporting system, weaknesses of the company, and gains recognition of the standards of health and risk management embraced by the company.

The Principles of Mentorship

In relation to the principles of mentoring, the plan embraces the vital nature of learning relationships, context of work, client as the driver of the learning process, the mentor as a facilitator, change as the outcome, values, and ethics. The role of a mentor, as guided by the occupational health and safety risk management plan, is to facilitate the clients, in this case the home care company, to set the agenda and direct learning. In line with the adult learning principles, the mentoring plan is goal-oriented, practical, learner-centered, relevancy-oriented, and experience-based. The goal of the mentorship is to achieve change in the company culture, values, management system, communication, and risk appraisal procedures.

Summary of OHS risk management needs

The home care services company has insufficiencies in a couple of areas. The occupational health and safety risk management needs are evident inadequacies in identification of system elements, hazard management plans, management structure, and development of the various components required by the government authorities. The mentoring plan of the company bases its approach on the needs in these areas. The summary of key items in each of the need areas is as follows.

System Elements: These comprise health and safety policy; risk management; training and competence; information control; and system evaluation.

Major Hazard Management Plans: These include response strategies for fire outbreaksandchemical injuries.

Management structure includes the procedure for nomination of team leaders and their responsibilities and accountabilities;organizational chart for identification of people within management;and,records and registers kept at work sites.

Components required by the Regulations: The list includes audit and inspection programs; information and communication arrangements; supervision and monitoring arrangements; and ventilation arrangements.

The risk management needs mentioned above form the areas of mentorship, on which the training will focus. The next section describes the other aspects of the training.

Training Participants

The occupational health and safety risk management is all encompassing. It is a system that incorporates the role of all members of the company from management to employees including back-up. In terms of the general areas of management, the training will combine all employees. However, there are areas of the training protocol that requires categorization of employees. Supervisory, monitoring, inspection, and audit management are areas meant for the company management and will not require participation of workers.

Risk Management Principles

The goal of the mentoring plan is to create a protocol that promotes a healthy and safe environment for the workers, in which the company provides its services. In addition, the company has an obligation to comply with the OHS law formulated by the Safe Work Australia. Within this framework, the training fosters effective and meaningful consultation between the workers, management, and home owners (the company’s clients). The training will facilitate the adoption of the safety principles and practices set out by the Safe Work Australia agency. The goal is to guide the company develops the occupational health and safety risk management plan that undergoes continuous review and update. The primary areas stipulated by the principles include design and outline of OHS policy, workers responsibilities, consultation procedures, training, accident reporting, and framework for employee compensation and rehabilitation.

Consultation Procedures

Consultation is also a prime element fostered by the mentoring plan. This is a component of the OHS risk management system that implies that a company should put in place mechanisms for knowledge and information sharing both within the company and between the company external agencies that provide best practice advice for companies. In addition, the mentoring plan guides the company to develop a strategy for consultation with other companies that provide home care services. Internally, workers require clear guidelines as regards consultation with management.

The Organizational Reporting Mechanisms

The goal of the OHS risk management mentoring plan is that the company’s system should include a protocol for reporting. This facilitates implementation of the OHS risk management system, and the process of monitoring and follow-up. Through the active exchange of information between employees, management, and customers facilitates acknowledgement of best practices and identification of flaws in the system. This facilitates immediate remedy of potential health risks before they occur. Developing a communication protocol involves open meetings, participation in work teams, work site supervision, design of accident investigation procedures, health and safety training development, and direct communication with immediate supervisor. It is basic communication protocol of employees and management at all levels.

Company’s Policies and Procedures

The mentoring plan defines the company’s policy to include management commitment, planning, hazard management, consultation and reporting, and training and supervision. The company’s policy should define safety protocols relating to the company’s work. In terms of the commitment of management to occupational health and safety risk management, the company should draw a clear organizational structure. This facilitates expression of roles of the various people in management so that management is accountable both to employees and clients. In addition, it promotes employee compensation and rehabilitation because it sets out the relevant authorities that handle employee complaints. In terms of training, the policy statement should include schedules for training including the programs and the required time for each program. This facilitates appraisal of the system and employees. In terms of consultation, the OHS policy statement should include the role of external agencies in the development and appraisal of the company’s OHS risk assessment system. Hazard management covers all aspects including procedures for identification, assessment, and management.

Conclusion

The OHS risk management mentorship plan is an all encompassing approach that integrates hazard identification and assessment, consultation procedures, reporting mechanisms, training, and policy development. It utilizes best practices in informing the development of a customized OHS risk management protocol for the company, with regard to the activities related to home care service provision. It has guidelines for employees and management practices in issues regarding occupational health and safety.

Reference

Safe Work Australia (2012). “National OHS Strategy target Measurement”. Retrieved from,www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au.

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