Occupational Health and Safety Culture

Questions: 1. A description of your safety culture vision? 2. Strategies for implementing? 3. Criteria for evaluating how well you are achieving it. 4. A description of the cultural leadership model which you believe would work best in your organization? 5. A brief recruitment, orientation, and training package that supports your vision of the safety culture in your chosen organization? 6. The Reflective Summary requires you to reflect on your learning experience in online discussions and journalling. As an online learner, much of your interaction in this course may have come from participation in the online discussions? Answers: 1. Safety Culture Vision: I work in an organization that operates its business in the engine, transmissions and construction sector, and consequently the employees of my workplace are regularly exposed to medium to high level of workplace risks for performing tasks, such as lifting cranes, handling heavy machineries or being exposed to deafening noise. Hence, the following report intends to examine the safety workplace culture that s required at my workplace. Description: The industry professionals of any organization are exposed to a variety of risks, and hence it is imperative that the organization adopts an effective strategy that in turn can promote workplace safety. The safety culture vision of the organization is to ensure that none of the employees fall ill owing to work overload or get injured as a result of workplace accidents (Aaltonen 2014). In order to create a positive workplace culture, the organization not only believes in investing in occupational safety measures, and drafting workplace safety policies but also engaging the employees actively so that they can also make a positive difference at all levels of work from their ends. It should be noted here that an integral part of the safety culture vision of the organization is to ensure safety for each employee of the company, irrespective of the designation he is working for. The safety culture of the organization intends to address the safety needs of all the employees, and we want to ensure that the higher management authority owns the responsibility needed to ensure a safe workplace for all the employees. In fact, the organization believes I incentivizing the employees for offering recommendation or reporting an accident, and each little share of contribution only can assist the organization in accomplishing its goals of a healthy workplace. 2. Strategy of Implementation: For implementing the safe workplace culture, the organization will first organize a meeting with the management authority and other stakeholders, and identify the occupational stress associated each profession. Once the risks are being identified, the organization will arrange professional seminars and workshops that will train the employees in risk-preventive measures, by demonstrating similar situations before them (Biggs et al., 2013). It is important to generate an environment that promotes employee learning, so that the employees can be made aware of the potential risks involved in their kind of works. The management authority will also actively participate in these training programs, so that they can ensure the use of safety devices as well as individual protective equipments that will be responsible for protecting from workplace hazards. Since the organization at hand is a construction industry, employees may encounter injuries owing to new installations, upgrades or any new kind of repair. In such situations, the employees must comply with the Construction Safety Standards that will be drafted by the HR manager of the organization and strict adherence to the safety rules will be ensured. In case the organization is going to handle a new task, the risk level of which is not yet evaluated by the authority, it will designate a qualified safety person for the purpose of coordinating the implementation of the job (Kagan Barnoy, 2013). Besides, in case the task is new, it is also equally important that the organization analyzes the risks associated and plan for the safety measures be forehand, in order to prevent the possibility of any fatal accidents. Besides, the organization will also need to ensure that the organization hires risk analysts who will be entrusted with the job of on-site health safety inspection, as well as for conducing health monitoring. Each job area may have some or other kind of risk associated with it, and the risk analyst will be entrusted with the duty of identifying potential workplace hazards and adopting preventive measures for the same. Besides, the organization cannot expect its employees to adhere to the set of workplace regulations each time, they are performing a task. Hence, the organization will arrange interactive sessions as well as meetings at regular periodical intervals for communicating the workplace safety guidelines to the employees, and explaining them the importance of the same. A five minute talk on safety can always help in drawing the attention of the employees, and building awareness among them regarding the importance of adhering to the health guidelines. It should be noted that if an organization keeps on reporting accidents or employee illness, it will directly affect the productivity and efficiency rate of the employees (Reason, 2016). Above all, the presence of a health committee, such as a Safety Health Committee within the organization is also highly important, and the members of the organization will be responsible for revising the workplace safety guidelines as well as tracking the month ly progress of the same. There should be a strong administrative mechanism within the committee that will keep a track on the occupational accidents taking place within the organization. As and when an accident is being reported to occur within the organization, the head of the supervisory committee must be informed within 72 hours. In case the employee is being injured owing to workplace related issue, he must be entered in a highly modified job program, whereby light duties, less stressful job functions are being assigned to him. 3. Criteria for Evaluation: It is not sufficient for an organization to introduce a safe workplace culture, as it is equally important that the organization adopts effective means for evaluating and monitoring the effectiveness of the workplace safety policies. As mentioned above, the organization will set up a supervisory committee that will be responsible for supervising the implementation of the workplace safety policies, and for following up with the employees of the respective departments as to how far the workplace safety guidelines are being followed. Besides, a strong investigation system is it be created within the organization so that once an accident occurs within the organization, it is immediately being noted and is being reported back to the authority, so that the root cause of these fatal accidents can be analyzed (Singer Vogus, 2013). Again, the organization will also arrange meetings and workshops if necessary so that the organization focuses on the behavior-based safety methods. The organizat ion will introduce the system of anonymous observation of co-workers, whereby the employees of the organization will be encouraged to observe as well as report unsafe behavior as conducted by their colleagues at workplace. A series of evaluations will also be done every month, so as to compare the number of fatal or non-fatal work related injuries occurring in a specific month, as compared to the same of the previous months (Zero, 2014). Besides, conducting survey on the employees, asking them to share their views regarding the workplace health and safety procedures, can also help in assessing and re-examining the existent workplace health and safety procedures. 4. Cultural Leadership Model: Since I work in a construction company, I believe that Procedure is the Key is the best and most effective style of cultural leadership model that will suit the purpose of the organization. Being an industry that involves heavy works, such as the use of heavy machineries, equipment such as cranes, or installation of devices, fatal accidents can occur while handling such heavy jobs. On the other hand, overload can also lead to emotional tension or mental breakdown. Accordingly, the procedures will be drafted keeping into consideration the specific needs of the organization. 5. Package that Supports the Vision of the Safety Culture: In order to ensure the effective implementation of the workplace safety policies, it is highly important that the organization hires the service and recruits highly proficient in the field of identifying and evaluating risks associated. First of all, risk analysts will be hired for assessing the risks associated with every profession, as well as analyzing the impact of the same on the concerned employees. Besides, risk advisors and supervisors will need to be hired who will monitor the implementation of the workplace safety measures, and will recommend further changes in future, if needed. The risk supervisors will be hired for on-field supervision of the employees while they will be performing very risky jobs (Singer Vogus, 2013). Besides, since this organization deals with construction activities, a construction safety consultant will also be hired, who will be entrusted with the responsibility of offering advices and personal tips needed for heavy construction works. Besides, it is also important to note that apart from hiring the employees, the organization will be required to train the existent employees. With the help of training courses, seminars as well as professional workshops, the organization will be providing training to the employees. The training programs will help the employees recognize the safety hazards arising out of their exposure to risky circumstances and will also train them how to deal with the same (Zohar, 2014). The workshops will also train the employees, by demonstrating them how different accidents can occur owing to occupational stress or workplace related injuries. Besides, the employees will also be trained so that they can understand as well as implement the safety best practices. Since the industry is primarily based on construction-related activities, the employees will be primarily rained to identify as well as combat risks of hazards, forklift and crane operation, electrical supply, eye protection as well as exp osure to noises. Besides, the employees will also be trained in crane rigging activities or in activities that involves compressed gases. Besides, it is important to observe that fire accidents can occur at any time in any industry. Thus, the employees must be well-trained so that they can combat with fire risks as well, and hence they must be trained to deal with fire extinguishers. Again, the employees will also be trained so that they can remain prepared as well as doubly cautious while dealing with professional activities that are likely to involve slips, trips as well as falls (Kagan Barnoy, 2013). The employees will also be trained so that they are able to combat with emotional exhaustion as well as occupational stress, while handling work. It is not sufficient for the organization to draft a series of safety policies and guidelines, as it is equally important that the employees are being sufficiently trained to follow the same. 6. Reflection Part: By participating in the online learning process, I realized that workplace safety is an integral issue that each organization must implement at the respective workplace. An organization should not merely encourage its employees to follow a set of safety policies introduced at the workplace, but must also regularly supervise and monitor employee safety issues at workplace. The other learners made me aware of the fact that regular or at least periodical evaluation of the safety policies plays an important role. Besides, I would like to highlight here that through the participation of their learners, I realized that workplace safety plays an integral role in any organization as the occurrence of a single fatal incident may lead to a huge financial loss of the said company. Besides, through the interaction with my fellow learners, I realized the importance of workplace safety rules in a construction industry, as an organization operating in the industry is usually exposed to different co nstruction or repair related activities. The workers are entrusted with risky jobs such as construction of buildings, lifting of cranes, handling of heavy equipment, and hence it is the duty of the management authority of the organizations to identify, eliminate and reduce these occupational hazards. While I always thought that the responsibility of my organization should be limited to the drafting of a number of workplace safety guidelines policies, the interaction with other learners helped me understand the importance of employee training. The organization we work in has an obligation towards us, and is responsible for building awareness among all the workers, regarding the importance of adhering to the safety guidelines policies. Besides, job safety training should be provided to all the employees irrespective of ranks and designations. One of the learners pointed out that it is important that the on-site workers should be trained about the safety guidelines policies so that they can take precaution while dealing with risky jobs, while the departmental heads of each administrative division, should be trained to supervise employee safety at workplace. Besides, I would also like to mention that I learnt from one of my co-learners that in case an organization is dealing with any risk-involving project, it is recommendable that the organization demonstrates the risks involved and the ways of combating the same beforehand, via audio-visual demonstrating aids. Accordingly, incentive programs can also be launched to the specific teams or employees for exemplary safety performance. From the postings of the other learners, I have become aware of the roles and responsibilities of the management authority as well as each individual employee towards the safety of each employee working in a company. Each organization should identify, recognize and take steps in order to eliminate the workplace risks present in every organization. I have realized that since I work in a construction based industry, it becomes doubly important for us to remain aware of the potential risks and workplace hazards, and hence our organization must necessarily comply with the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) policies and laws. One of the learners also pointed out that it is not enough to provide workplace training to the employees working in the organizations, but the management authority must also ensure that once a job is identified to be risky, the management authority must ensure that a handwritten safety data sheet is being sent and is made available to each of the employees executi ng the task. Besides, one of the learners also pointed out that it is not sufficient to train the employees, but even a single incident of fatality occurs within the organization, it is highly important that the management authority does keep a track of the time, nature and any kind of loss caused by the fatality or the work-related injury. I have understood that it is highly important that the organization does report to the nearest OSHA office for any kind of work-related injury or accident or loss within 8 hours and the OSHA office located nearby, should be made aware of any kind of employee hospitalization, amputation or loss of the employees. Another fellow learner made me aware that a organization should introduce workplace safety measures not merely because it helps in promoting workplace safety, but also because any sort of occupational injury can directly affect the productivity at workplace. For example, work-related injury would imply paid leave, employee absenteeism as w ell as low rate of productivity, as the injured employee cannot be asked to execute jobs with equal risk level in the coming month or so. Besides, I have realized that occupational health and safety policies of my organization should not merely encompass the areas of physical well-being of the employees, but should necessarily cover each aspect of mental and social well-being of the workers as well. For instance, some of the workers in our industry are regularly exposed to deafening sounds of machines, and are compelled to accomplish the same manual tasks repetitively, which often result I mental health disorders of the employees. Hence, our organization must ensure that it ensures that the employees are able to sit in relaxed postures or are being frequently given breaks between their works. Reference List: Aaltonen, M. (2014). Zero Accident Vision in Promoting Safety Culture. InXII International Conference on Occupational Risk Prevention. Biggs, S. E., Banks, T. D., Davey, J. D., Freeman, J. E. (2013). 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