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Compensation costs
Legal fees
Medical/treatment costs
Loss of production
Lost time for medical assessment
Overtime costs for cover;
Costs for new worker; cost for employee moved to new job;
Investigation time;
Clerical effort; fines/prosecution costs;
Fee for intervention by enforcements;
loss of expertise;
loss of goodwill by customers/stakeholders;
Reduced productivity by fellow workers; health screening by
other exposed workers;
Increased insurance
Labour Force Survey data (published by HSE) indicates scale of occupational ill-health;
Disadvantages:
Benefits:
Easier Integration with
standards
other
Generate publicity
Perception of the organisation is
proved
im-
Develop
Evaluate
Health and safety performance levels of an organisation
reviewing the impact of changes / recommend
tions / interventions they have made to a business;
Setting personal objectives / goals / targets;
Monitoring / reviewing their performance against
Targets they set
Benchmarking their performance against recognised professional standards (eg IOSH)
For example, H&S control measures are treated as an overhead and the amount
spent is easily calculated.
Costs from poor health and safety however can take many years to show (Civil claims)
Some are indirect so not easily recognised
Reputation damage
Cost of recourses
Poor health and safety culture
Loss of experience
Lost orders/contarcts
eg the costs of resources expended during investigations, loss of skill / experience,
damage to staff morale / H&S culture, reputational damage resulting in lost orders /
contracts etc etc.
Hard to calculate the savings made from GOOD health and safety as this is usually a negativeI.E ZERO accidents is hard to quantify
Insured costs are those costs / losses that are recoverable via an insurance scheme eg
1. Employers liability (compensation / damages);
2. Public liability,
3. fire insurance
Uninsured costs are those that are not recoverable via
an insurance scheme eg
1. FINES imposed for breaches of the relevant statutory provisions;
2. Damage to corporate image / reputation;
3. lost time; clean up costs
Uninsured costs may be between 8-36 times greater than insured costs
(Reduce risks - cut costs. INDG 355 2002)
(a)
The senior managers at your workplace participate in formal annual reviews of health and safety performance as part of the
health and safety management system. Outline the types of information that should form the inputs to this review process. (10)
As the Health and Safety Adviser to a large organisation, you have decided
to develop and introduce an in-house auditing programme to assess the effectiveness of the organisations health and safety management arrangements. Describe the organisational and planning issues to be addressed in
the development of the audit programme. (20)
You do not need to consider the specific factors to be audited.
Staffing/time/resources and whether additional resources are needed- time, money, expertise.
consider whether internal / external auditors should be used to administer the process;
if in-house consider training needs;
the need to consult with and obtain support from senior managers
nature of the audit procedure eg full audit - all H&S management issues across entire
organisation; horizontal audit - looking at a particular issue eg managing emergencies across the whole organisation; vertical audit - focussing on H&S management issues in
a particular department / section etc;
consider the scale / scope of the audit - all issues covered or certain issues targeted - eg
policy documentation; frequency of auditing required (relative to levels of risk in the organisation);
the standards against which the management arrangements would be audited - BSEN /
Trade Association standards
the need to identify the key elements of an audit process (such as planning, interviews,
verification, feedback routes, etc); consider issues such as need for a system of scoring / rating performance - qualitative / semi-quantitative
Workplace inspection
Safety survey
Job Safety Analysis - observation of work activities / behavioural safety assessment etc - compliance;
Measuring if targets have been met which were set by the organisation
A large public limited company has recently experienced a fire and explosion resulting in multiple fatalities and extensive environmental damage.
(a) Outline a range of consequences that may affect the company as a result of the incident. (5)
(a)
1.
Consistent format
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
(a) Strengths;
1. measurable number with defined criteria,
2. easy to plot a trend, benchmark data may be available, represents categories of loss events which have actually happened, and which are
undesirable.
Weaknesses:
1.
cannot predict future performance;
2.
It measures previous not current safety measures effectiveness
3.
accidents may not be reported
4.
absence of accidents does not necessarily indicate that procedures are safe;
5.
does not reflect chronic health issues;
6.
different definitions of accident / different treatment of part-time workers / contractors may make data and / or comparisons invalid.
Your company employs 900 people at a warehousing and distribution site. Your site manager has asked for a set of summary information to be provided each month for its executive meetings in
order to monitor the overall health and safety performance of the
site. Outline the possible contents of that set of information. (10)
The information set should contain both reactive and active
(proactive) data:
Reactive:
1.
numbers of accidents / ill-health / sickness absence / absenteeism /
2.
staff turnover / near-misses / numbers of RIDDORs
3.
Number of enforcement actions taken;
4.
civil claims;
5.
amount of property damage;
6.
responses to staff surveys / questionnaires levels of (dis)satisfaction.
Active:
1.
numbers and outcomes of workplace inspections;
2.
numbers of actions outstanding;
3.
health surveillance data / records;
4.
results of atmospheric / environmental monitoring; - air; noise etc;
5.
H&S training records
6.
tenders won where H&S standards / performance was a factor; l
7.
level of maintenance carried out;
8.
budget / resources allocated to Health and Safety;
9.
progress in meeting H&S targets;
10. levels of hazard reporting;
11. extent of co-operation between staff & managers
Witness interviews are an important part of the informationgathering process of accident investigation. Describe the
requirements of an interview process that would help to
obtain the best quality of information from witnesses. (10)
ancestry / social environment - fault of person - unsafe act / condition - accident - injury.
Subsequent developments of Heinrich's model by Bird and Loftus: lack of management / organisational control basic causes (personal / job factors) - immediate causes (unsafe acts / conditions) - accident - loss.
Bird and Loftus variant is an advance on Heinrich as it takes account of organisatiomal / management failures /
underlying causation.
Multi-causality theory: model developed by Prof James Reason - based on recognition of multiple underlying (organisational, cultural or managerial) failings that interact with each other and with local circumstances to produce accident events at
unpredictable times and locations; each cause may have multiple causes of its
own; characterised by randomness and complexity; emphasises the need for indepth accident investigation; provides a basis for systematic accident analysis
techniques such as fault tree analysis / event tree analysis; provides a link between the number of underlying failings in an organisation and the probability of
accidents occurring.
Limitations: complex / conceptually difficult; requires greater resource - expertise /
time money; diffficult to define boundaries of investigation.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
1.
2.
3.
4.
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6.
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8.
1.
2.
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1.
Health and Safety Exec - accident reports / RIDDOR; H&S policy; risk assessments; accident book
2.
Insurance companies - accident reports; H&S policy; risk assessments; SSW;
PTW;
3.
Courts - legal proceedings / statements / disclosure - criminal and civil;
4.
Contractors - induction, site rules, PTW procedures etc;
5.
Clients - during selection process - policy, risk assessments, enforcement
record;
6.
Customers - Health and Safety at Work Act Section 6 information re safety of
goods, articles, substances;
7.
Professional bodies - IOSH etc - in relation to campaigns / research
8.
The emergency services - COMAH; emergency planning; stock of chemicals
etc;
9.
Training organisations - before sending people on work experience - H&S
(Training for Employment) Regulations;
10. Employees - HSWA S2 & MHSWR - information on risks to their H&S etc. Also
H&S (Information for Employees) Regulations - H&S at Work poster - specific
info
(a) Organisations are said to have both formal and informal structures and groups.
Outline the difference between formal
AND informal in this context. (6)
Formal =
1. Hierarchical
2. well-defined structure,
3. roles and responsibilities, lines of communication
4. Organisation charts
Informal =
1. social and personal relationships or contacts
2. Is based on individual / personal influence;
3. less structural
4. can act so as to by-pass formal systems and procedures
5. Can be undermining to defined roles and responsibilites
Outline how the H&S professional can help to develop and support the
arrangements for consultation with employees on H&S matters. (10)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Initially, the health and safety professional might advise on the requirements of the Safety Representatives and Safety Committees
Regulations and the Health and Safety (Consultation with Employees) Regulations
Advise on the good and accepted practices to be followed both by
safety committees and safety representatives;
Make proposals for local arrangements for formal consultation;
offer advice and support for the training arrangements of safety
representatives and representatives of employee safety
arrange for the necessary resources to be provided to enable them
to carry out their duties.
Encourage senior management to take an active part in both formal and informal consultation and to respond promptly to proposals made and concerns expressed during the consultation process.
Co-operation involves:
Consultation with workforce (formal & informal)
casual discussions;
staff involvement / participation in:
inspections,
monitoring,
audits,
investigations,
campaigns,
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3.
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5.
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7.
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Change can result in lack of focus on H&S matters - other issues take
priority;
loss of skills / competence (staff leave/move);
require people to take up new roles for which they lack competence;
uncertainty about future - redundancy etc results in a lack of confidence / mistrust of management
perception that H&S is not a concern;
increased outsourcing - contractors etc bring a different culture;
movement of staff breaks up units / groups and undermines established
systems / culture;
breakdown in normal arrangements for consultation and communication with staff;
new relationships need to be established;
re-allocation of budgets;
New ways of working may result in unforeseen hazards / risks arising;
increase in accidents / ill-health due to disruption reduced morale;
staff resistance to change
Health and Safety at Work Act presents a number of opportunities for individuals to be prosecuted for breaches of duties under the Act.
Assuming that the individuals are employed within a large company, outline
the circumstances under which they may be prosecuted for such breaches.
(10)
Section 7 - employees 1.
failure to take reasonable care of themselves and other s who may be affected by their acts / omissions at work;
2.
failure to co-operate with employer
Section 8 - any person 1.
interference / misuse of anything provided for a H&S purpose;
Section 36 - offence due to act / default of another person 1.
eg supervisor / manager instructs employee to use unguarded machine
Section 37 - offence committed with consent / connivance or attributable to neglect
of
Director, Manager, Secretary etc
Section 33(1) - impersonating / obstructing an inspector
'Practicable' means that there must be compliance with the duty as far as
technical and practical feasibility allows; within current knowledge and invention; with no reference to cost; though not an absolute duty, practicable
is of a higher standard than that of 'reasonably practicable.' Adsett v. K&L
Steelfounders and Engineers Ltd (1953), Marshall v Gotham [1954]
'Reasonably practicable' requirements are those
1. A balance is made between risk and cost (in terms of money, time and
trouble)
2. e met when the cost of further control is grossly disproportionate to any
reduction in risk. Controls in proportion to risk. Edwards v National Coal
Board [1949]
(b) Outline a range of organisational issues that may act as barriers to the improvement of the safety culture of an organisation. (8)
Remember barriers must be NEGATIVE
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15.
16.
A workman fell to his death while repairing a road bridge over the river
Clyde.
Mr. Armour was the director of Roads for the regional Council
He had a responsibility for supervising the safety of road workers
He had not produced a written safety policy for such work.
Mr. Armours defence was that he was under no personal duty to carry
out the Councils statutory duties, one of which was the formulation of a
detailed safety policy for the roads department.
This was rejected
This he had failed to do and was therefore found guilty of an offence.
A miner was killed when a section of the road on which he was travelling collapsed.
The section of the road concerned had no timber supports, although other sections were
properly supported.
The Coal Board stated that the cost of supporting all roads was disproportionate in relation
to the risk.
Lord Asquith, the judge in the case, said that a balance had to be made in deciding whether
it would have been reasonably practicable to have taken the precaution of providing supports for the section of road which collapsed.
The balance was struck by weighing the level of risk involved (the danger of collapse and
loss of life) against the level of sacrifice involved (the cost, time and trouble).
If there was a gross disproportion between the two and the risk was insignificant to the cost,
there would be no requirement to take the additional precautions.
However, in this particular case the costs of making safe should have been applied.
It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health , safety and
welfare of all his employees
Every employer shall
1)
2) To ensure the Safe Handling, Storage & Transport of Articles & Substances
3) provide adequate Information, Instruction, Training & Supervision
4) provide a Safe Workplace
5) provide a Safe Environment & Welfare Facilities
6) Prepare and revise when necessary a H&S Policy statement of intent & Arrangements for health and safety in the workplace
7) Consultation with Safety Representatives
8) Safety Committee