Features
Research & Innovation
Management Responsibility for Safety Management
P&PC is pleased to introduce Safety Matters, a new column focussing on safety at the workplace. Topics will range from safety management and perspectives (by John E. Little, risk management consultant...
July 1, 2002 By Pulp & Paper Canada
P&PC is pleased to introduce Safety Matters, a new column focussing on safety at the workplace. Topics will range from safety management and perspectives (by John E. Little, risk management consultant) to safety alerts and information provided by Herb Tessier (senior consultant with DuPont Safety Resources and coordinator of the safety aspects within PAPTAC’s mechanical engineering and maintenance committee). Readers are encouraged to contribute information and feedback at anyao@businessinformationgroup.ca
| OBJECTIVE | METHOD | COMMENTS/NOTES |
| TO STOP ALL INJURY, ILLNESS, DAMAGE, ACCIDENTS AND INCIDENTS, MANAGEMENT MUST LEARN: | ||
| To direct efforts | Leadership & administration | Set policy, goals, budgets, management |
| commitment, etc | ||
| To identify and/or anticipate all hazards/risks | Health, ind. hygiene controls | You can’t stop what you can’t see. These |
| to its employees, materials, equipment and | Incident reporting, investigation & analysis | elements all critical to recognising the hazards |
| the workplace environment | Job analysis | that must be controlled on a worst- first basis. |
| Planned inspections | Hazards include process chemicals, | |
| Purchasing & engineering controls | equipment, work methods, | |
| Job observations | Employee/management attitudes | |
| Audits, surveys | ||
| To take corrective action by eliminating these | By making the necessary changes to the | Establish priorities. |
| hazards/risks where practical and | safety management system element(s) | After analysis (technical, financial-roi), |
| economically feasible. | concerned to eliminate the underlying (root) | implement the most cost-effective risk |
| causes | control solutions | |
| IF TOTAL ELIMINATION OF HAZARDS/RISKS IS NOT FEASIBLE, | ||
| IMPLEMENTATION OF ADEQUATE CONTROL MEASURES BY MANAGEMENT IS NECESSARY: | ||
| To accommodate these hazards/risks with | Safe job procedures | Avoid the exposure to the hazard with safer |
| proper safeguards | Personal protective equipment | work methods or protectve equipment |
| To choose the appropriate people | Hiring and placement | Assess/control possible health risk to |
| employee of tasks to be performed | ||
| To train them to work safely, properly | Employee skill/safety training | Provide employee with necessary knowledge, |
| & productively | Workplace safety rules | information and skills to avoid exposures |
| Personal communications | and review new risks immediately | |
| To ensure that they maintain standards | Planned job observations | Verify employee safe work behaviour, |
| Group meetings | review hazard exposures constantly. | |
| To be prepared for all contingencies | Emergency preparedness | Despite best plans, fires, disasters, |
| Health & ind. Hygiene controls | injuries -illnesses occur. Be ready. | |
| To get injured/ill employees back to work | Return-to-work procedures, | Proper, timely follow up of injured/ill |
| as soon as possible | claims management | employees can accelerate return to work |
| To ensure continuous safety performance | Performance metrics | Every element of the system should be |
| measurement | measured for effectiveness | |
| To maintain good flow of timely, accurate | OHS information system, | Information is critical to successful safety |
| information to all concerned | documents and records | system management, continuous |
| improvement & optimization | ||
| To keep employees on the job by keeping | Off-the-job safety | Off-the-job injuries still penalize both |
| them safe & healthy off-the-job | employer and employee. | |
| To ensure total accountability of compliance | OHS program audit/survey system | Audits and surveys (hygiene, perception) |
| are essential evaluation tools | ||
Note: This summary was first produced by the author in 1980 when he was with Abitibi-Price Inc. (now Abitibi-Consolidated), as a tool to explain the basics of the International Safety Rating System (ISRS) developed by the International Loss Control Institute Inc. (ILCI) of Georgia, USA. ILCI has since been purchased by Det Norske Veritas(DNV), a well-known global loss management consulting firm. The ISRS formed one of the world’s first comprehensive set of standards for safety management systems. It was used by many employers as a profiling tool to identify strengths and weaknesses in their safety programs. It came in the form of a questionnaire that focused on the safety management process composed of those activities designed to generate the desired safety performance outcomes ( i.e lower lost time accident rates). It emphasized the use of near-miss or close call incidents (vs. lost time injuries) as before-the-fact or pro-active indicators of hazards that allowed management time to take correct action before these hazards led to serious lost time accidents. It stressed that the safety management activities were “upstream” activities designed to prevent accidents.It listed activities and practices used by companies that had established the best safety performance at the time. It set standards for those activites that could then be measured for compliance and effectiveness. It is still in use by thousands of companies world wide. An earlier version of the Management Responsibility summary produced by the author was used by ILCI in its ISRS training course material as a tool to assist participants and management to grasp the principles of the safety management system.
John E. Little is a risk management consultant specializing in safety management optimization technology. He can be contacted at jelittle@solabs.com
Print this page
