An Occupational Health and Safety Management System ( OHSMS ) may be defined as “ a series of procedures which provide a model, for pull offing occupational wellness and safety ( OHS ) duties so that they become more efficient and more incorporate into overall concern operations, around which good public presentation can be established and maintained and which will back up the development of a safety civilization. ” ( International Labour Organisation ( ILO ) -British Standards Institution ( BSI ) Joint-Definition )
The chief purpose of the OHSM is to plan steps to command and extinguish the likeliness of jeopardies in the workplace and advance a safe work environment.
.1 Management committedness
An effectual direction addresses all work-related jeopardies and employees ‘ public assistance installations and non merely those stipulated by Torahs. There is a demand for direction to do the wellness and safety of workers a precedence. It is indispensable that there be strong direction committedness and strong worker engagement in the attempt to make and keep a safe and healthy workplace. In each workplace, the lines of duty from top to bottom demand to be clear, and workers should cognize who is responsible for different wellness and safety issues. Management is responsible that the administration has the appropriate policies, programmes in topographic point to guarantee a healthy and safe workplace.
Management committedness and employee engagement
Charles reese ( accident ) Management committedness and employee are complementary. Management committedness provides the actuating force and the resources for forming and commanding activities within an organisation. Employee engagement provides the agencies through which workers develop and/or show their ain committedness to safety and wellness protection, for themselves and for their fellow workers.
Safety and wellness ends and aims are besides included to help you in set uping workplace ends and aims that demonstrate your company ‘s committedness to safety.
.2 Health and Safety policy
It is the duty of direction to provide for the wellness and safety of its work force. Clearly developed and concise policies set the way for the administration by pass oning direction ‘s ends and aims.
A good wellness and safety policy demand to be:
1. Specific to the administration and appropriate to its size and nature of plants ;
2. Clearly written so as to educate workers, clients, providers and general populace about the wellness and safety policy of the administration ;
3. Specific about the duty and answerability of directors and supervisors at all degrees ;
4. Efficaciously communicated to all employees ; and
3. Reviewed on a regular footing to guarantee go oning sustainability.
The best wellness and safety policies align wellness and safety with human resources direction as employees are the cardinal resource of an organisation. ( HSE Successful Health and Safety Management HS ( G ) HMSO 1997 )
The OSH policy should include, as a lower limit, the following cardinal rules and aims to which the organisation is committed:
1. protecting the safety and wellness of all members of the organisation by forestalling work-related hurts, sick wellness, diseases and incidents ;
2. following with relevant OSH national Torahs and ordinances, voluntary programmes, corporate understandings on OSH and other demands to which the organisation subscribes ;
3. guaranting that workers and their representatives are consulted and encouraged to take part actively in all elements of the OSH direction system ; and
4. continually bettering the public presentation of the OSH direction system.
( ILO Guidelines on the Occupational Health and Safety Management System 2001 )
Health publicity in the workplace
This complements occupational wellness and safety steps to better the well being of workers at the workplace.
Workplace wellbeing
Harmonizing to ILO, it relates to all facets of working life, from the quality and safety of the physical environment, to how workers feel about their work, their on the job environment, the clime at work and work administration.
Workers ‘ good being is straight related to the productiveness of the administration. The higher the workers ‘ good being, the higher will be the productiveness of the organistion.
Safety undertakings and responsisbilities
Health and Safety audit and Performance reappraisal
Health and Safety audit and public presentation reappraisal are the concluding stairss in the wellness and safety direction.
Safety civilization
2.2 Health and Safety civilization
In order to develop good wellness and safety patterns, a good wellness and safety civilization is needed at work. Employers need to integrate wellness and safety patterns in their twenty-four hours to twenty-four hours running of the concern. Successful occupational wellness and safety patterns necessitates the coaction and engagement of both employers/owners or direction and employees in wellness and safety programmes, and it involves the consideration of issues associating to occupational medical specialty, industrial hygiene, toxicology, instruction, technology safety, biotechnologies, psychological science, etc. Both workers and employers have a legal duty to look after wellness and safety at work together. Workers who contribute to wellness and safety at work, are safer and healthier than those who do non.
Building and keep a wellness and safety civilization involve the usage of all available agencies to increase consciousness, cognition and apprehension of the constructs of jeopardies and hazards and how they may be prevented or controlled.
“ The safety civilization of an organisation is the merchandise of single and group values, attitudes, perceptual experiences, competences and forms of behavior that determine the committedness to, and the manner and proficiency of, an administration ‘s wellness and safety direction. ” – Successful Health and Safety Management by HSE ( 2nd edition ) , pg 22
Training for wellness and safety
Training means educating people on what should be done and non, how it should be done and when it should be done.
Based on a study carried out by ILO, workers frequently experience work-related wellness jobs but do non recognize that the jobs are related to their work, peculiarly when an occupational disease, for illustration, is in the early phases. Hence, there is a demand to develop workers on safe manner to make the occupation, jeopardies associated with the work and how to extinguish or command them.
It is besides of import to develop workers how to respond in instance of exigencies, like a fire eruption. Training on first assistance is besides of import.
Training can be conducted at different degrees:
1. during initiation class for new employees where they can be educated on how to work safely and besides about the jeopardies and hazards associated with the occupations, how to extinguish or command them.
2. Training can be organized for direction and Supervisors so that they know what are the jeopardies nowadays in the workplace and this enable them to develop policies to battle these jeopardies
3. Regular preparation to bing employees, to update them on new equipment and engineerings being used.
2.10 Health surveillance
Health surveillance at work is really of import. It is performed to look for early marks of sick wellness caused by substances and other jeopardies at work. It includes maintaining wellness records for persons and may include medical scrutinies and proving of blood or urine samples, so that disciplinary action can be taken.
Health and Safety Committee
2.5 Health and safety plans
For all of the grounds given above, it is important that employers, workers and brotherhoods are committed to wellness and safety and that:
workplace jeopardies are controlled – at the beginning whenever possible ;
records of any exposure are maintained for many old ages ;
both workers and employers are informed about wellness and safety hazards in the workplace ;
there is an active and effectual wellness and safety commission that includes both workers and direction ;
worker wellness and safety attempts are ongoing.
Charles D. Reese ( 2001 ) Accident/Incident Prevention Techniques – In order to efficaciously pull off safety and wellness, a company must pay attending to some critical factors:
1. policy of direction sing wellness and safety of workers
2. wellness and safety ends of the company
3. who is responsible for occupational safety and wellness
4. how are supervisors and employees held accountable for occupation safety and wellness?
5. what are the effects of non following the safety regulations
6. are at that place set processs for turn toing safety and wellness at the workplace?
A written safety and wellness plan is of primary importance in turn toing these points.
