Workplace safety and health promotes brand image

by Timothy Edwards

The World Day for Safety and Health fell on Thursday, April 28.

It is a good sign nowadays, to see companies giving greater prominence to Occupational Safety and Health Management (OSHM). OSHM hinges on three cornerstones: standards, good practices and legislation. In all these, the senior management's commitment plays a crucial part in ensuring a workplace that upholds the health and safety standards for everyone who comes in contact with the business,

Proper health and safety management systems ensure excellence at workplaces. If we analyse some industrial and road accidents in the recent past, we see that many of them could have been avoided, if human behaviour, attitude and safety culture had been practised. We should take steps to promote healthy human behaviour, attitude and safety culture with OSHM practices.

Companies which have OSHM as one of their key competencies, improve brand image in the eyes of their stakeholders, internal and external. This we see in some of the brands that are held in high esteem,where key OSHM competencies are deeply embedded in their culture and in all their interventions.

Their holistic approach towards safety encompassing core areas make them stand out. These core areas include good management, well defined safety procedures and goals, safety and health competency overseen by managers, having systems and processes in place to learn from accidents and internal audits to manage risks.

Major role

How can human resource practitioners contribute towards OSHM? Human Resources must play a major role by determining:

*Whether staff is adequately trained in OSHM systems and processes

* Whether the organisation is sufficiently staffed

* Whether staff is prevented from working continuous shifts without mandatory breaks

* Whether the workload is divided according to the skills and competencies of staff.

Failure to observe these may lead to compromising OSHM situations.

When visiting hotels in Sri Lanka, one may observe beautiful and well-built hotels, but their general day-to-day operations are in disarray. In many hotels, the toilets are not clean and the area where food is served infested with flies. It would be interesting to find out how ad hoc recruitment is conducted by some hotel managers without adhering to a proper recruitment and selection procedure. In one instance, a handyman, who went to attend to some repairs in a hotel, ended up filling an urgent vacancy in the kitchen department. Resorting to unconventional recruitment methods to meet urgent manpower needs may work adversely in the long run.

Although, we can fully empathise with employers because of the dearth in finding suitably skilled personnel in this sector, situations like these, serve as classic examples to show how failing to employ people with the right technical skills, attitude and behaviour can compromise OSHM standards and strategies in establishments.

Change agents

We are familiar with the many hazardous conditions that prevail in industries which are ergonomically not conducive for workers. For example, in the garment sector, there are factories where employees perform tasks standing all day-long in highly hazardous conditions.

Although immediate remedies cannot be found for situations like these, the human resource practitioners in these factories should take on the role of change agents and usher in ergonomically conducive work environments.

Leadership

It is evident that shared leadership models are important in implementing successful OSHM strategies. For example, in the construction sector, OSHM principles and policies should be regulated and implemented rigidly.

It is a common sight to see road development staff working without proper protective gear in hot and humid conditions. Construction sites are no different. Despite these drawbacks, it is encouraging to see the authorities correcting these lapses, such as having a safety officer at all construction sites.

Therefore, OSHM boils down to having appropriate work systems and processes which are steered by a leadership that gives adequate attention to quality, effective policies and proper regulation.

To create an organisational culture that is embedded with OSHM principles, the leadership should influence all layers of an organisation; Allocate sufficient resources, including time and manpower to complete tasks safely and successfully; Develop a good understanding of how human-technology interactions take place, and take note of high risk factors, human performance, task planning and technology. Then your organisation will be on the road to success.

The writer is a trainer, human resources practitioner and business consultant.