The Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

Ron C. McKinnon

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781000751222
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Management
• Index: Business

This book covers the design, implementation, and auditing of structured occupational health and safety management systems (SMS), sometimes referred to as safety programs. Every workplace has a form of SMS in place as required by safety regulations and laws.

The Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems describes some of the elements that constitute an SMS, the implementation process, and the auditing of the conformance to standards. It covers more than 60 processes, programs, or standards of a system, and gives important background information on each element. Guidelines and examples show how to design and implement the risk-based processes, programs and standards, and how to audit them against standards.

The text is based on actual SMS implementation experiences across a wide range of industries. It offers a roadmap to any organization which has no structured SMS. It will guide them through the process of upgrading their health and safety processes to conform to local and international standards. It will lead them away from relying on reactive safety measures such as injury rates, to proactive actions which are measured by the audit of the system.

Features

• Covers more than 60 elements of a safety management system (SMS)
• Provides practical examples of how to design, implement, and audit a structured SMS
• Based on actual SMS implementation experience across a wide range of industries
• Presents the integration of an SMS into the day-to-day functions of the organization

Part 1

Introduction to Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems

1
Introduction

DOI: 10.1201/9780429280740-2

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

Modern workplaces call for a structured and sustained effort to reduce risk and consequent loss on an ongoing basis. Focusing on injury rates and reacting to safety losses is inadequate management control and does not contribute to making organizations safer places to work in. Implementing and maintaining a proactive structured occupational health and safety management system (SMS) is the only way to integrate health and safety into the day-to-day management of the organization. This will ensure ongoing processes and activities to identify and minimize risks taking place on an ongoing basis.

TERMINOLOGY

To understand the meaning of various terms and concepts used in this book, the following terms are explained:

Occupational Safety

Occupational safety is the identification and control of accidental loss before it occurs.

Occupational Health

Occupational health refers to the identification and control of the risks arising from physical, chemical, environmental, and other workplace hazards in order to establish and maintain a safe and healthy work environment. Occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards.

Occupational Injury or Disease

An injury is the bodily harm sustained as a result of an accidental contact. This includes any illness or disease arising out of normal employment.

Loss

A loss is an unplanned, preventable waste of any resource, be it through injury, loss of time, damaged product or equipment, or loss of process.

Damage

Damage is the physical harm to buildings, structures, equipment, product, process, and the environment normally caused as a result of an accident.

Business Interruption

A business interruption is a temporary delay in the work process as a result of an accident.

Accident (Often Called an Incident)

An accident is an undesired event often caused by high risk acts and/or high risk conditions which results in physical harm, occupational illness, or disease to persons and/or damage to property and/or business interruption or a combination thereof.

Near Miss Incident (Near Miss, Close Call, Warning, or Near Hit) (Often Called an Incident)

A near miss incident is an undesired event which, under slightly different circumstances, could have resulted in harm to people, and/or property damage, and/or business disruption or a combination thereof.

Occupational Health and Safety Management System (SMS)

An SMS is an ongoing activity and effort directed to control accidental losses by implementing and monitoring critical health and safety elements, processes, or programs on an ongoing basis.

SMS Elements

Elements of an SMS are components of the SMS that, when combined, constitute the complete SMS. Examples are risk assessment, inspections, hearing conservation, ladder safety, safety committees, and safety training.

Element Standards (Processes, Programs, Standards)

Standards are written measurable management performances required by a structured SMS. They detail what must be done, how often it must be done, and who must do it.

SMS Processes

An SMS process is a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular objective. Examples are the machine guarding process, risk assessment process, and safety orientation process. Processes are ongoing activities within the SMS and do not cease when the objective is achieved.

SMS Programs

SMS programs are a collection of planned activities and actions that constitute one element of the SMS and which have an objective. Examples are a hearing conservation program, safety training program, and off-the-job safety program.

2
The Philosophy of Safety

DOI: 10.1201/9780429280740-3

INTRODUCTION

Occupational health and safety (safety) is about the prevention of all forms of unintended or accidental losses. These losses could be in the form of fatal injuries, serious injuries, industrial diseases, or damage to property, products, and equipment.

Safety involves more than employees being injured as a result of undesired events, normally termed accidents. It also encompasses damage caused to equipment, installations, and the environment. Unfortunately safety and injury have become synonymous, and therefore the broader picture of the devastating results of accidental events are not always appreciated.

TIP OF THE ICEBERG

In safety, the serious injury only represents the tip of the iceberg. Below the waterline are numerous deficiencies and close calls that occur without consequence. Treating the tip of the iceberg is treating the symptom and not the cause. Often the cause is a weak control system caused by the absence of a structured safety management system (SMS), which should be integrated into the day-to-day management of the business.

Many misguided efforts have been directed toward employees in an effort to reduce accidental loss. These have proved ineffective, as the root cause of behavior, and of safety culture, lies in the organization’s leadership and the systems and controls it puts in place to reduce total risk within the organization.

SAFETY PARADIGMS

Numerous safety paradigms also exist that hamper the progress of risk reduction by leading management down the wrong path. Internal company politics are also stirred by safety issues, and this too hampers positive action and acceptance of responsibility and accountability for safety.

The bottom line is that management at all levels are responsible for the health and safety of the organization, its employees, and its contractors, and can only fulfill that obligation by the implementation of a safety management system that is integrated into the existing management processes.

ACCIDENT CAUSATION

There are numerous loss causation theories, but one thing is agreed: accidents are normally a series of small blunders that result in some form of loss or disruption. They are caused and can therefore be prevented. This excludes acts of nature such as flashfloods, earthquakes, and other natural phenomena.

THE LUCK FACTORS

One factor that skews one’s perception concerning accidents is that there are certain undefined factors that determine the outcomes of an undesired event. This means high risk behavior, or a high risk situation, may sometimes result in no loss. Nothing happens! Sometimes the consequence is of a minor nature. Sometimes the outcome is catastrophic. Many undesired events result in a close call, near hit, or near miss incident, where under slightly different circumstances a major loss may have been experienced. After many years of research into accidents and their outcomes, three Luck Factors have been proposed by McKinnon (2014).

The high risk conditions and/or acts normally give rise to an exchange of energy and a contact which is the stage in the accident sequence where a person’s body or a piece of equipment is subject to an external force greater than it can withstand, resulting in injury or damage, or both.

A luck factor exists here because the high risk act or condition may only result in a near miss incident with no loss. A close call or close shave, as some would call it. There is no contact with the energy, no energy exchange, or the energy is insufficient to cause harm.

Near Miss Incident Example

Two employees working at an ore crushing mill were removing the heavy steel liners from the inside of the mill which stands about two storeys high. The common practice was ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Author
• Part 1 Introduction to Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems
• Part 2 Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Safety Leadership and Organization Elements
• Part 3 Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Workplace Environment Conditions
• Part 4 Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Accident and Near Miss Incident Reporting and Investigation Elements and Processes
• Part 5 Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Emergency Preparedness and Fire Prevention and Protection Elements
• Part 6 Design, Implementation, and Audit of Occupational Health and Safety Management System, Electrical, Mechanical, and Personal Safeguarding Elements
• References
• Index