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Safety and occupational health

Safety and occupational health

These days we often experience companies resolving the work safety issues
just �for effect�. If the company does want to resolve the work safety problem,
then they will ask how the whole procedure could be made as cheap as possible
asserting they had the training last year, it is the same, year in, year out,
where is the signature box, and the like.

Many CEOs or companies�statutory representatives are probably failing to
realize that a quality work safety policy and having their employees respect its
principles on a daily basis will make all the difference between them sitting in
the bail dock or the witness stand when it comes to a trial. Invariably, these
things are considered every time an industrial accident happens or a critical
situation occurs. Operable safety-of-work documentation cannot be compiled
�without workplace-specific research�. Constultants need to spend some time in
the company watching activities, behaviour of employees and the established
practice to get an idea �from the outside�, as it were. This is the only way
they can elaborate one of the statutory obligations of the safety of work, which
is The register and analysis of hazards.

Currently, we see the legislation transition period – when �everybody�
could be dealing with work safety – end. They did not need any specific
education. The transition period as stipulated in Act 309/2006 of the Code shall
end by December 31, 2011, and since that date the safety of work can only be
dealt with by qualified personnel. This Act expressly stipulates that, i.a.,
**in organizations with over 26 employees, they need to have one employee
who is competent, or an external consultant who is a competent person. **Unless
they meet these requirements, the organization will run the risk of real
sanctions and recourse from the side of the work safety inspectorate which is
definitely going to focus on this issue while carrying out their
inspections.

I could give you countless examples of inconsistent and non-systematic
safety-of-work solutions, but, of all the examples, I am going to give just
one. An organization was dealing with the work safety issue in keeping with the
regulations in force, with the applicable training courses being in progress at
pre-arranged intervals and expert knowledge being verified in written tests. One
of the employees tested made a mistake. Due to the fact he was not provided with
the correct answer, he was later, when working on the job, following the wrong
procedure. Specifically, it was the following question: �Working in the height
of 1,50 m and more above the ground shall be regarded as the work at
heights�. The worker�s wrong answer was 1,80 m and he carried on working
under this rule. Unfortunately, he had an industrial accident involving the work
at heights, and, through retrospective investigation, inspectors came to the
conclusion that the worker had not been provided with the correct answer, and
the employer subsequently had to account for what had happened.

The right procedure to resolve the aforementioned issues is a systematic and
permantent safety-of-work solution at all the management levels. In practical
terms, it means creating relevant procedures and records, setting a system of
training to transfer the respective principles of safety to individual workers.
These documents can be prepared by an external consultant, but the correct and
continuous adherence to safety rules is up to the individual executives at the
particular levels of management. In other words, they can prepare a training
scheme for top managers who are supposed to arrange for and be responsible for
training of employees at lower levels of management. The training should also
include the relevant directions to use the pertinent machinery, an aspect all
too often neglected in practice. Introduction of the Occupational Health and
Safety Management Systems according to the standard of �SN OHSAS
18001 appears to be a working systematic tool for implementation of all the
safety-of-work principles.

Author: Ing. Pavel Trvaj

1 for the best, 5 for the worst: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Average: 2.89, assessed 37×
Last assessment: 23. 04. 2011

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ACADEMY

Transition period ending

Test error

SAFETY AND OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

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