Workplace hazards and the importance of risk management

Question:

Discuss about the Checking of Construction Models and Schedules.

Risk management is the process of identifying and prioritizing risks in the workplace and making changes to reduce or eliminate the risks (Glendon, Clarke & McKenna, 2016). In every working environment, in hospitals, construction sites, offices and many other environments, risk management plays a major role. Various effects occur due to overlooking of risk management. Among these effects includes accidents, injuries, loss of productivity, damage products and finally causing the liquidation of the company (Glendon, Clarke & McKenna, 2016). Putting all these effects together, every workplace should implement safety and risk management practices that help in identifying and eliminating the hazards. Hazards are very dangerous; they are any source of potential damage, harm, or adverse effects on someone’s health (Hopkin, 2017). Identification of hazards is possible, and hence preventable measures should be in place. This paper analyses a workplace identifies the available risks and gives responses to solving the risk.

In the article, Michael Booth a driver of a truck succumbs to electrocution when his truck hit low-slung power lines when working for Canberra Companies Kennos contractors. The workplace was not conducive, making it risky for the driver. The following gives the workplace description.

Despite the formation of various acts by the ACT Worksafe to safeguard working places and ensure workers safety, Canberra Construction Company did not provide the necessary safety to the workers. The working environment was full of risks and hazards, which was dangerous to workers. For instance, the electric wires, which were hanging and finallyelectrocuting the truck driver, were avoidable hazards (Tylor, 2015).Hanging power lines are dangerous and for the company not to consider themhazardous, was ignorance. There were no signs on the power lines or a flag indicating danger; this was total ignorance.

The company had no remorse for the losses that most of the employees were having. After the death of Booth, there was no documentation from the company explaining how the incident happened and how remorseful they were in losing a worker (Tylor, 2015). This helps us understand the working place for this construction company. The working environment was unsafe for the workers. Workers had no protective clothing when at work (Tylor, 2015). At some point, this company had a case where a painter fell down and died due to injuries to the head. This is an avoidable instance in that a helmet would be of help. With this condition of the workplace, it is very unsafe for any worker and any employment happening is against the set rules and standards (Knaus, 2012).

Analysis of a workplace: Hazards and risks

The conditions, highlighted in the above discussions, show the hazards that were predisposing factors to harm. The risk factors contributing to the breach were avoidable, but preventive measures were not in place before the occurrence of the safety breach. The hazard that we find in the article is the low-slung power line, which was exposed. This hazard is avoidable when effective preventive measures are in place. There are many preventive measures which when applied, could lead to the avoidance of safety breach. Some of these measures are engineering control measures, substitution and isolation control measures (Gharaie, Lingard & Cooke, 2017).         

Power lines are very dangerous on any construction site, and so precautions have to be in place before the damage occurs. There are several precautions, which when considered could have saved the life of the driver and the future of the company too. First, before the establishment of a construction site at that place, safety and risk manager could probably have pointed out the risk (Hegeman, 2013). This means that no risk manager was involved in choosing the construction site as the present risk manager within site had no qualifications. When deciding on a workplace site, companies should involve risk managers to identify any risk available and analyze the danger of the risk, before establishing a site or abolishing the site.Electrocution of the driver was an avoidable condition; it is only that the company did not put in place the preventive measures.

Secondly, the company could install different signs at the power line; this will send a message to workers of the available danger. Whenever any point in a site is hazardous, indicating by use of different methods will help prevent any safety breach from occurring. In this incident, the company could install flagged warning lines to mark both the horizontal and the vertical power lines and thus helping workers to understand where there is a danger. With flagged power lines, every worker or a visitor within site will know of the availability of the hazard at that point. Many companies employ this measure in preventing electrocution or other minor injuries caused by electricity. It is a preventive measure, which keeps everyone alert of the danger (Kim, Lewko, and Garritano, 2016). 

Training workers is also a method that could prevent the breach from happening.  Training is an important aspect that helps to prevent workers from hazards and risk which they could easily avoid (Demirkesen& Arditi, 2015). Workers should undergo various training to understand the different types of hazards; they should be enlightened on hazard identification and hazard avoidance (Demirkesen& Arditi, 2015). The worker needs to be enlightened on their rights and in case of any risk they have to report. Training gives employees authority and voice which is important for every employee.

Preventive measures to avoid safety breach

Apart from preventive measures associated with the hazard, there are administrative control measures which when put in place will prevent a breach from occurring. The company should employ a qualified risk manager who would help in identification of the hazards and risks and work towards eliminating or reducing the effects of the hazards (Zhang et al., 2013). Training of the employees is also part of administration role to help prevent them from hazards that can easily be avoided.  If the company had all these preventive measures in place, the safety breach would not occur. The security breach was an avoidable scenario, and it occurred out of ignorance and negligence.

From the article, we get to understand the incident and what happened to the construction site. A truck driver, working in the site was delivering the materials for construction. At the point of delivering material, there were power lines which were lying low. This was a hazard dangerous enough to cause death but wasn’t addressed. The truck of the driver hit the power lines, and finally, the driver succumbed to electrocution. This incident was one that could be easily avoided by the company, but the company did not put any measures in place. The company was very irresponsible that they did not remorse the death of the driver, the company also tried to hinder investigations of the driver’s death. A security officer at the company tried to alter the attendance records of the driver; this was to clear evidence (Tylor 2015). All this indicate how irresponsible the company was to his employees.

The incident occurred due to the state of which the company was regarding risk management provision. The company did not consider the life of a worker as important. It valued the services provided by the workers most and not worker’s safety. This describes why the company was not able to employ the preventive measures to help avoid such an incidence. This is just one of the many incidences that do occur daily in different construction sites. The Canberra Company is one among many of the companies in Australia that have safety cases on the court. Many construction companies have different incidences of accidents at sites, but they do not address, as they take the incidence to be minor. With the new safety and risk management rules created in by the government in 2012, companies should understand the risk they take when they do not ensure safety at the workplace (Takala et al., 2014).

Safe Work Australia: Resolving workplace incidents

Safe Work a governmental agency, whose main responsibility is to improve work health, safety and workers compensation, is important when an incident occurs. It fights for the rights of the workers against their ruthless employers (Takala et al., 2014). Safe work is responsible for fighting for any employee when there are incidences occurring at the workplace (Takala et al., 2014). In this construction site, where an employee has died due to hazards, there are several ways that safe work used to resolve the problem.

In this incidence, Safe Work Australia employed some of their practice codes for construction sites to help reach resolutions. Among the codesused, we have to monitor, collecting, analyzing and reporting of the incidence as the first implemented policy (McInnes et al., 2016).  From the article, several investigations were taking place within site, this made the company to get ways of walloping the required information. An officer in the company was directed to alter the driver’s duty records in order to cover up the evidence. The incident was then reported to the necessary authorities. We see the company ending up in court. This is one of the methods that the safe work used in resolving the incident.

Secondly, the incident was solved with workers compensation code which states that any work within a construction site or workplace, when encounters accidents while on the site, receives compensation from the company (Battaglia, Frey & Passetti, 2014).  The incident in the article, led to the death of the driver and so the company was required to compensate. Although the compensation fee could not exactly replace the driver’s presence in his family, it helped in making the family understand justice can prevail.The company had to pay a compensation fee of 1.1 million dollars to the family of the diseased.

Arrangements to abolish the construction site took place after the court trial. After a trial, the company was ordered to undergo liquidation, meaning there will be no re-establishment of the company. The company was found with many allegations, which could have been avoided. Since the company was ignorant and could not give value to their workers, the company had to undergo liquidation. The compensation fee imposed to this incident was huge that could lead to the company’s bankruptcy (Battaglia, Frey & Passetti, 2014).

The method used by safe work to handle the problem in the incident was good. There were investigations that took place, the company ended up in court for trials and finally, a judgment was out which did not favor the company. The company had to pay a fine of 1.1 million dollars due to negligence. This is great way employed in dealing with the construction companies, although few aspects have to be emphasized on, for effectiveness in an incident that could happen in future. First, the compensation fee or the fine given to the company could be made slightly high, maybe 1.5- 1-8 million dollars, this would be a huge amount of money that will make other contractors careful with safety measures. Having proposed thisdoes not mean the fine was little but increasing that punishment would send a great communication to the rest of the constructors as they will work to ensure workers’ safety and target not to get the penalty.

Workers at the construction site should undergo training to help them understand the different types of hazards (Sacks, Perlman & Barak, 2013). The Safe Care team should always enlighten workers on the need to having a voice at a workplace. Whenever an incident occurs on a construction site, they should give training to the workers who by any chance did not undergo the safety training. Workers should also undergo training to identify the different hazards and how this hazards can be avoided and reported. When safe care embarks in doing this, most of the workers will be enlightened, and the country will have reduced cases of accidents at the construction site (Sacks, Perlman & Barak, 2013).

Every company, either small or big, should have safety rules that govern it. A company running without the safety rules, is at risk of causing injuries to workers (Ozmec et al., 2015). The safety rules will define to workers on the procedure to follow in case they identify a hazard. Safe Care should employ different mechanisms in which they are able to identify companies with no safety rules (Ozmec eta l., 2015). Prevention should be Safe Care’s priority and not handling the matter after the incident. The following are some of my suggestion on how I would have addressed the problem the in the company if I were among the workers.

Identifying the hazard and taking the appropriate measures could be my priority. Workers in any company have other roles to play, they are not limited to performing the duties allocated to them but should be concerned with their health and safety (Perlman, Sacks & Barak, 2014). Communicating to the management would have been my first step when no actions are taken in, would move to the external forces like Safe care. Company’s ignorance and negligence on the hazard that was visible enough on the site led to the death of the driver. This is enough to stop the company from proceeding further with their construction. 

Conclusion

The Australian Government through Workplace Health and Safety agency has set rules on how construction companies or any other working place should prioritize safety and risk management. This will help in minimizing the damages caused by hazards. Many people get injured, some become disabled, and others die every year due to overlooking risk management. Putting this important function into place will help reduce the increased cases of accidents at workplaces.

References

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