The following report is based on a company called Cheapo Oil and the main safety issues faced by the company. Cheapo Oil is an oil Supplier for domestic users. They store approximately 200,000 litres of oil, have 8 delivery tankers and 7 full-time and two part-time drivers. There are 3 administration personnel and one receptionist. There are also two managers, one of which is responsible for Health and Safety. The director of the company is also the owner. The premises consist of a large yard with the oil tanks bunded at the bottom.
The gantry (where the oil delivery vehicles fuel from) is a few feet to the right of the tanks. There is an area where the oil delivery vehicles can be parked at night. The office is at the opposite end of the yard to the storage tanks, beside the main gates. This is so that the office workers can easily get to the assembly point in case of fire. There are many issues that face an oil distributor but only the major issues will be dealt with in this report. They are required to comply with the Carriage of Dangerous Goods Regulations, in the delivery of the oil, but again that area will not be covered in this report.
The main safety issues concerning the yard are:The basis of successful safety management is the installation and maintenance of effective systems aimed principally at the prevention of accidents, ill-health and other forms of incident which result in loss to an organisation. Such systems should identify the standards to be maintained and the systems for monitoring and measuring performance in the achievement of these standards1. Safety management is also concerned with influencing human behaviour, and with limiting the opportunities for mistakes to be made which would result in harm or loss.
To do this, safety management must take into account the ways in which people fail (fail to do what is expected of them and/or what is safe). The techniques are aimed at the recognition and elimination of hazards, and the assessment and control of those risks which remain. A common characteristic of successful policies for H&S is that they accurately reflect the value and beliefs of those who devise and implement them. Effective policies are not simply examples of management paying lip service to improved H&S performance but a genuine commitment to action3.
Successful H&S management demands comprehensive health and safety policies which are effectively implemented and which are considered in all business practice and decision-making. Written policies are the centrepiece of good health and safety management. They insist, persuade, explain and assign responsibilities. As an organisation Cheapo Oil will endeavour to successfully manage health and safety and recognise the relationship between the control of risks, general health and the very core of our business.
Our Health and Safety Policy will align with our Human Resource Management Policy, and this should secure the commitment and involvement, and to promote the well being of our employees (acknowledging that people are the key resource). Cheapo Oil intends to carry out health surveillance in association with EMAS to guard against sensitisation to oil products (Derv, gas oil, kerosene). Effective prevention and loss control has to focus on the causes of incidents because outcomes may be random and uncontrollable.
For instance, if a person slips on a patch of split oil they may be unhurt, damage clothing or equipment, break an arm, or fracture their skull and die. Examining the causes of all such outcomes can provide valuable insights into inadequacies in risk control and point toward action which can prevent future injuries and losses. A key feature of an effective health and safety policy is to examine all unsafe events and the behaviours which give rise to them. This is a way of controlling risk and measuring performance. Cheapo Oil’s policy will aim to exploit the strengths of our employees.
It will aim to minimise the contribution of human limitations and fallibilities by examining how the organisation is structured and how jobs and systems are designed. Organisations that are good at managing health and safety create an effective framework to maximise the contribution of individuals and groups. That is what Cheapo Oil will be striving for. Health and Safety objectives are to be regarded in the same way as other business objectives. They will become part of the culture and this is recognised explicitly by making health and safety a management responsibility.
The approach has to, and will start at the top. Visible support and commitment of our managers and director are fundamental to the success of health and safety management. The whole organisation shares management perception and beliefs about the importance of health and safety and the need to achieve the policy objectives3. Organising for Health and Safety The policy sets the direction for health and safety but Cheapo Oil needs to create a robust framework for management activity and to detail the responsibilities and relationships, which will deliver, improved performance.
To achieve high standards in H&S Cheapo Oil must create and sustain a ‘culture’ which motivates and involves all members of the organisation in the control of risks. The activities necessary to promote positive H&S culture are split into: Control Establishing and maintaining control is central to all management functions. We must secure control by ensuring our managers lead by example. Everyone should know and believe that Cheapo Oil is committed to continuous improvement in H&S performance4.
Control arrangements are very important and should form part of our organisations written statement on health and safety. A key part of the process of establishing control is to set performance standards which link responsibilities to outputs, recognising that the achievement of goals is based on specific defined work with measurable outputs. “What gets measured gets done” Setting performance standards is essential if policies are to be translated from good intentions into a series of co-ordinated activities and tasks. Good performance standards link responsibilities to specific outputs.