Xsaimen workplace

INTRODUCTION




Occupational safety and health is regarded as a key element in improving workplace safety and health management. Hence, this report is provided to design safety and health management system and programs with the purpose of ensuring the safety, health and welfare of persons at work and protection to other people form hazards to safety and health arising from the activities of persons at workplace in various sections and sectors. A safe working environment means that the workplace has been assessed for hazards and that the hazards are eliminated or that controls have been implemented so that the company is able to operate safely. Health and safety at workplace can be a challenge. If you work in a processing factory, you probably work with large and complex machinery, or unusual environments such as extremes of heat or cold. You might work on a conveyor line, for example, and experience time pressures and production deadlines, repetitive work movements, heavy lifting, and sharp tools such as knives. A workplace injury can have a huge effect on your whole life. For people working in a processing factory, some of the body parts most affected by injury are the hands, finger and thumbs. Wrist and shoulder injuries are also very common. So try doing these every day tasks using either your ‘wrong’ hand, or with one hand tied behind your back to see what it’slike having a hand or arm injury:

• do up a button or zipper

• make a cup of coffee or a pot of tea

• do your shoes up

• eat a meal, including cutting up food

• drive your car

• hang out the washing

• do your hair, brush your teeth, use the toilet

• take money out of your purse or wallet

• do any writing or computer work.





CONTENT

Workplace safety is about preventing injury and illness to employees in the workplace. Therefore, it’s about protecting the public entity’s most valuable asset: its workers. By protecting the employees’ well-being, the entity reduces the amount of money paid out in health insurance benefits, workers’ compensation benefits and the cost of wages for temporary help. Also factor in saving the cost of lost-work hours (days away from work or restricted hours or job transfer), time spent in orienting temporary help, and the programs and services that may suffer due to fewer employees, stress on those employees who are picking up the absent workers’ share or, worse case, having to suspend or shut down a program due to lack of personnel.

The employer has the main responsibility for health and safety at workplace. The employer must make sure that the factory is safe and will not damage the health or that of the co-workers This means providing a safe workplace. This includes our physical work environment and the equipment and any chemicals we use, as well as the work methods and processes we use to do the job. Then, checking our workplace regularly for anything that may cause illness or injury, and fixing any problems as soon as possible. The employer also must provide the employees with the information, instruction, supervision and training they need to do their job safely, talking with the manager, or talking to our elected employees’ safety representatives about health and safety issues.



There are also things we must not do like deliberately misuse or interfere with equipment. Remove guarding from machinery unless the employees and others have followed the necessary specific safe operating procedure and be adversely affected by alcohol or recreational drugs (tell the employer if we are taking any prescription medication that could affect our ability to work safely). If we don’t follow these basic requirements, we could put our health and safety and that of our co-workers at risk.



Everyone in the workplace has a legal responsibility for workplace health and safety, and the best way to improve health and safety at work is by working together. Working in processing factories involves working near heavy machinery or machinery that either moves or has moving parts.



This entails some very specific safety problems. It’s important that our employer, supervisor or elected employees’ safety representative is told about any hazards that may affect health and safety, so they can take the appropriate action to minimize them. They need to tell the manager about any problems, too. Times when we might work with the employer and co-workers (or when we elected employees’ safety representative might, on our behalf) include doing risk assessments of our tasks and workplace, and developing safe work policies and procedures that affect us.



A risk assessment is a simple but thorough way of identifying the safety problems that exist in our workplace or in the tasks we do and then controlling them. The employer may use the four steps to do this. Safe work policies and procedures ensure everyone is doing their job safely and is committed to improving health and safety in the workplace.



Our hands are used in almost everything we do, at home, work and play. Think about what we might be doing right now: turning the pages of this guide, perhaps having a cup of tea or a meal break, before we go back to work. Often, we take these vital tools for granted. It is perhaps only when something goes wrong and we cannot use our hands or arms that we realise just how much we need them. For people working in a processing factory, some of the body parts most affected by injury are the hands, finger and thumbs. Wrist and shoulder injuries are also very common.

We might think that only a traumatic injury one that causes an amputation of our hand or arm, for example, would affect our life. But the consequences of other seemingly smaller accidents can have a big impact, too. We might experience broken bones, and damaged nerves or tendons. We might require surgery, and then rehabilitation like physiotherapy. We might be left with long-term effects such as a loss of sensation in the fingers, hands or arms; or a greater risk of arthritis. We could be out of work for a long time; this could affect our income, how you

We pay our rent or mortgage and other bills, including any healthcare costs. We might even need to think about changing jobs if we can’t physically do the same tasks.



Even though the employer has the main responsibility for health and safety at the workplace, employees need to be aware of the types of hazards they might experience. Over the following pages are some common safety problems found in processing factories, and ways to fix them.

Problems that may occur at the workplace and the solutions are as follows:

1) Being hit or trapped by falling objects (such as products or boxes)

This can cause crush injuries, lacerations, bruising, sprains and strains to the part of your

body that is hit or trapped. You could ultimately suffer mutilation and amputation

ssible solutions

Don’t stack products or cartons too high

Don’t overload benches, trolleys or pallets

Don’t overload stack racks

All these ideas should stop objects from falling onto you



2) Unguarded nip points (these are points in or around a conveyor belt that could catch or snag a body part)



PossiblThese can cause crush injuries, lacerations, and amputation

PossiblMake sure all nip points are adequately guarded

Follow lock-out or tag-out procedures before you do any cleaning or maintenance work

on the belt

Make sure safety cut-out switches are within easy reach



3) Being hit by machinery that moves, such as forklifts and other vehicles

Possible result

This could cause crush injuries, lacerations, bruising, sprains and strains to the part of

your body that is hit. You could ultimately suffer mutilation and amputation, or even die

Possible solutions

Make sure all moving machinery works in clearly defined areas

Make sure pedestrian traffic is kept clear from vehicle traffic

Operate machinery at a speed appropriate to the workplace



4) Unguarded moving parts of a machineult

You could become entangled in the unguarded moving components, which could cause

you to lose your fingers, hands or arms. You could also suffer lacerations, bruising,

sprains, strains and mutilations

Possible solutions

Make sure machinery is shut down correctly before you do any cleaning or maintenancework on the machinery.

Make sure there are adequate guards in place

Don’t wear loose clothing; if you have long hair, tie it back or tuck it under a cap

Use tools (not your hands) to clear blockages, or to fill or empty machinery with moving

or cutting parts

The Workplace Safety & Health Act defines the responsibilities for the following stakeholder groups:

If we are an employer, we must s far as reasonably practicable, protect the safety and health of employees or workers working under your direct control, as well as all who may be affected by their work. Your duties include:

• conducting risk assessments to remove or control risks to workers at the workplace

• maintaining safe work facilities and arrangements for the workers at work

• ensuring safety in machinery, equipment, plant, articles, substances and work processes at the workplace;

• developing and implementing control measures for dealing with emergencies;

• providing workers with adequate instruction, information, training and supervision.

If we are a principal, we are required to take, so far as is reasonably practical, such measures as are necessary to ensure that the contractor we engaged:

• has the competency to carry out the work we engaged them for;

• has taken adequate safety and health measures necessary in relation to any machinery, equipment, plant, article or process used by the contractor or the contractor’s employees.

However, if we are involved in directing the work of our contractors or subcontractors we hired, our duties are the same as that of an employer.

To make the workplace safer, the entity has to acknowledge which potential health and safety hazards are present. Or determine where and what and how a worker is likely to become injured or ill. It starts with analyzing individual workstations and worksites for hazards—the potential for harm—be it a frayed electrical cord, repetitive motion, toxic chemicals, mold, lead paint or lifting heavy objects.

OSHA describes a job hazard analysis as a technique that focuses on job tasks to identify hazards before they occur. The Nonprofit Risk Management Center thinks of it as looking at the parts to strengthen the whole. From either view, the analysis examines the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools and the work environment.

Depending on the nature of the entity (i.e., parks and recreation department, public works department, public healthcare facility), senior management may have to help workers manage specific hazards associated with their tasks:

• chemical (toxic, flammable, corrosive, explosive)

• electrical (shock/short circuit, fire, static, loss of power)

• ergonomics (strain, human error)

• excavation (collapse)

• explosion (chemical reaction, over pressurization)

• fall (condition results in slip/trip from heights or on walking surfaces—poor housekeeping, uneven surfaces, exposed ledges)

• fire/heat (burns to skin and other organs)

• mechanical (vibration, chaffing, material fatigue, failure, body part exposed to damage)

• noise (hearing damage, inability to communicate, stress)

• radiation (X-rays, microwave ovens, microwave towers for radio or TV stations or wireless technology)

• struck by (falling objects and projectiles injure body)

• struck against (injury to body part when action causes contact with a surface, as when screwdriver slips)

• temperature extreme (heat stress, exhaustion, hypothermia)

• visibility (lack of lighting or obstructed vision that results in error or injury)

• weather phenomena (snow, rain, wind, ice that increases or creates a hazard)

Any policy, procedure or training used by the public entity to further the safety of employees while working for the entity is considered part of a workplace safety program. Workplace safety programs to reduce work-related injury and illness are concerned with:

• promoting and rewarding safe practices at work

• reducing injuries and illnesses at work

• eliminating fatalities at work

Public entity employee’s’ health and safety are affected not only by their own actions but by those of their co-workers. Senior management must help employees manage hazards associated with their work (tasks or responsibilities). They also need to make certain employees are fit for work. Fitness for work involves drug and alcohol issues, physical and emotional well-being, fatigue, and stress.

People need to be engaged with the creation and implementation of the safety program for it to succeed. For example, the public entity is responsible for supplying employees with appropriate safety equipment, but workers are responsible for wearing it at the right times and places. The entity should provide employees with training to help them carry out their assignments, but these workers are responsible for attending this training, asking questions and telling supervisors if they do not understand what is being explained. This may require staff members to act assertively—to speak up for themselves—and say: ‘I do not understand how to use these, could you please show me.’ Senior staff are instrumental in encouraging and supporting such behavior.

In safety and health, continuous improvement involves seeking better ways to work, measuring performance and reporting against set targets. It is also about systematically evaluating compliance with procedures, standards and regulations; understanding the causes of incidents and injuries; and openly acknowledging and promptly correcting any deficiencies.

Performance can be measured by:

• reduction in lost-time injury frequency

• reduction in medical treatment injury frequency (beyond first aid care)

• reduction in sick days used

• lower workers’ compensation costs

• lower medical benefits payments (doctor’s visits, prescription drugs)





















CONCLUSION

Workplace safety is about preventing injury and illness to employees in the workplace. Therefore, it’s about protecting the public entity’s most valuable asset: its workers. By protecting the employees’ well-being, the entity reduces the amount of money paid out in health insurance benefits, workers’ compensation benefits and the cost of wages for temporary help. Also factor in saving the cost of lost-work hours (days away from work or restricted hours or job transfer), time spent in orienting temporary help, and the programs and services that may suffer due to fewer employees, stress on those employees who are picking up the absent workers’ share or, worse case, having to suspend or shut down a program due to lack of personnel.

Although safety is everyone’s responsibility, it is important that workplace safety oversight be assigned specifically to one person. The role of “workplace safety coordinator” can be incorporated into someone’s job description—it does not have to be a separate position. The public entity should empower the workplace safety coordinator to act as needed to safeguard employees, and provide the training and resources needed to manage these risks effectively. One of these resources is a workplace safety committee. It is up to the management of a public entity to vigilantly protect staff safety. Implementing a safety policy for your organization should be a top priority. Staff should be encouraged to report any unsafe conditions right away and should be trained how to react in an emergency involving potential violence at the workplace.

By linking performance reviews and financial incentives with safety goals and objectives, employees and managers can observe senior management’s commitment to change. Safety can also be a conduit that shows the link between efficiency and employee morale. Emphasis on safety shows employees that their employer cares about their well-being, and can open the door to better management/employee relations. Management also achieves the same objectives by demonstrating how commitment to safety is commitment to the state or local government’s citizens.