adminThe concept of safety at work is the same in all industries. Whether the workplace be a nuclear power plant or a fabrics factory, safety management systems are similar. Accidents are principally caused by unsafe human behaviour and unsafe conditions with the former taking the lion’s share. Most accidents are caused by the unsafe acts of human beings rather than unsafe conditions or natural phenomena such as earthquakes, lightning and hurricanes.
NSSA’s Occupational Safety and Health Division encourages companies and organisations of all sizes to establish a well-planned safety management system that ensures safe working conditions and operating procedures and takes into account the human element, through promoting safety awareness among workers and involving workers in ensuring their own safety.
The division runs occupational safety and health courses, workshops and conferences and is ready to offer advice on establishing safety and health management systems.
A safety and health management system comprises a relevant, documented and communicated policy, risk (hazard) register, objectives and targets at every level of the organisation, funded programmes, procedures to implement the programmes and an emergency and response plan to handle abnormal situations. Above all, there must be evidence in the organisation that an occupational safety and health management system is being implemented.
Occupational safety and health management systems pay in the long run. While some organisations may see the establishment of a safety and health management system as a cost they can ill afford, the benefits of good safety and health practices, including high morale of workers and financial benefits, outstrip this cost and contribute to the bottom line.
A well-established occupational safety and health management system is of fundamental importance. Apart from the benefits that accrue from preventing accidents, which can have a detrimental effect on an organisation’s performance and reputation, such a system shows employees that they are appreciated and valued by their employer and that their safety is one of the employer’s primary concerns.
The organisation must assume the major responsibility for any accidents that occur and for its workers’ safety. While human error or unsafe behaviour is to blame for most accidents, that does not mean that managers can shift the blame for accidents to their workers.
Management designs working conditions, controls the resources, including supervisors and safety, health and environment (SHE) officers, and sets the production priorities. It must, therefore, assume the larger share of the responsibility for accidents that occur in the workplace it designed.
On the other hand, safety is everyone’s business. Workers must learn to take responsibility for their own safety and that of their co-workers. The safety of workers, especially in a factory environment, depends on both management and workers.
Management has a responsibility to put in place effective safety and health management systems, which include the provision of the necessary protective clothing and equipment to workers free of charge, as well as ensure that every worker is aware of the safety and health requirements and the importance of adhering to them.
Workers, for their part, need to ensure that they adhere to the safety procedures put in place and make use of the protective clothing and equipment provided for them.
Moreover, if they consider that such protective clothing or equipment needs replacing or if they consider a danger exists to their safety, they should bring this to the attention of management, which should act on such concerns promptly.
When an accident occurs, rather than blame the workers involved, managers should ask themselves what they have done wrong or failed to do to allow the accident to happen. In other words every accident must be fully investigated with a view to preventing a recurrence once the causes are established.
Most individuals will help identify the cause but hate accepting blame. If blame rather than remedial action is the main aim of an investigation, then the real cause becomes obscured and may never be identified as parties become defensive. Accidents are best investigated by a team. Where this procedure is used, accident rates generally decline.
Workers need to understand the system and believe in it. This is much easier to do if the workers are involved in the development of the system as they see it as their own.
NSSA has inspectors who inspect factories for adherence to safety regulations that it is a legal requirement to observe. However, while adhering to these laid down regulations minimises the likelihood of accidents, doing so is not sufficient. Managers and workers need to go beyond the minimum requirements.
Effective safety and health programmes need to be put in place. Everyone needs to take responsibility for ensuring his/her own safety and that of others.
Theoretical knowledge of safety and health is not enough. The concept of safety must be indoctrinated into all workers and must be an intrinsic part of each work process. It must be practised religiously on the shop floor.
Every organisation should strive for continual improvement in its management of safety and health in its work place. NSSA is happy to assist with whatever practical advice may be required.
Talking Social Security is published weekly by the National Social Security Authority as a public service. There is also a weekly radio programme, PaMhepo neNssa/Emoyeni le NSSA, discussing social security issues at 6.50 pm every Thursday on Radio Zimbabwe and every Friday on National FM. There is another social security programme on Star FM on Wednesdays at 5.30 pm. Readers can e mail issues they would like dealt with in this column to [email protected] or text them to 0772 307913. Those with individual queries should contact their local NSSA office or telephone NSSA on (04) 706517-8 or 706523 5.
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