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Why is it important to manage safely?

An accident includes any undesired circumstance which give rise to ill health or
injury; damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production
losses or increased liabilities.
Moral Reason
Moral reasons are based on the concept of an employer owing a duty of
reasonable care to his employees. The moral arguments are reflected by the
occupational accident and disease rates.
In addition to the physical impact on a person, it is often the case that individuals
involved in any form of safety event suffer some form of physiological ill health;
the effects upon the families and dependants of those who suffer injury or ill
health caused at work.
Employees rights and expectations
Employees have the right to the provision of a safe workplace, as implied by the
employers duty of care, but there are also expectation placed on them to
exercise reasonable care in their own actions at work. This means that they must
behave in a manner which does not jeopardise their own, or others health and
safety including cooperating with the employer in the use of safe working
practices as provided.
Legal reason
The legal arguments, concerning the employers duty of care in criminal and civil
law. Failure to meet these obligations can result in a claim for compensation by
the individual/s who suffered a loss.
Legal reason employers duty of care
Every employer must provide a safe workplace. This means that, if an employer
is aware of a health and safety risk to employees, or ought to have known of its
existence (in light of current knowledge at the time), he will be liable if an
employee is injured, killed or suffer illness as a result of the risk and the
employer has failed to take reasonable steps to avoid it happening.
Financial Reason
Cost associated with an accident / incident or ill health may be direct and indirect
costs and incur an insured and an uninsured cost.
Financial Reason Costs include to the company
Insures costs premium will increase
Loss of production or reduced output( due to loss of staff or staff being
diverted to investigate the incident)
Sickness cover / sick pay
Damage to plant, materials, premises
Fines and penalties
Reputation of business(opportunities, share prices, etc.)
Reporting of accident and incidents
The reporting of injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences regulation
(RIDDOR) require employers or in certain circumstances others who control or
manage the premises to report to the relevant enforcing authority and keep
records.
If you are an employer who must keep an accident book under the social
security (Claims and payments) regulation 1979, an entry about and over-three-
day injury is a sufficient record for the purpose of RIDDOR.
Insured and uninsured cost of accidents
It is often assumed that most accident and incident costs are recoverable
through insurance. This is a dangerous misconception. The HSE estimates that
uninsured loses are ten times the cost of insurance premiums paid with
uninsured losses from the accidents in smaller firms adding up to Euro 315 per
employee, per year.
Impact of serious accident
Physiological Consequences
High level of psychiatric morbidity
A significant proportion of accident cases at risk of post-traumatic
stress disorder
A higher number of cases of anxiety and depression compared to a
control group
Behavioural Consequences
Common instance of disturbed sleep and noticeable changes in
temperament
Cognitive changes for example in concentration and decision
making
Behavioural changes that could last for several months
Detrimental changes in the behaviour of children
Social Consequences
A pervasive and damaging impact on personal and family life
Feelings of frustration, depression and social isolation
Frustration and anxiety about the future
Additional social consequences for those living alone.
Vocational consequences
Over the half the cases reported that their working life is
significantly affected.
A lack of formal return or remain at work schemes
Economic Consequence
A serious loss of income among the workers
Additional medical and travel expenses
Family and friends losing pay and time for work
A high level of compensation claims as individuals saw their
employer as responsible
Cost associated with retirement, fines and payments to the injured
person
Repair and replacement costs
Fines, regulatory activity, settlements and associated fees

What is your role in influencing managing safely?


You should already know that you have health and safety responsibilities.
You are in the front line and expected to ensure good health and safety is
effectively established in your assigned area.

As a Manager you are responsible for making decisions about local safety
practice.
As a Manager you can assign responsibility to other but cannot give away
accountability
You as a Manager, are ultimately accountable.
Think about health and safety when planning a work
Talking about health and safety with your team
Demonstrating safe and healthy behaviour.
1. Know whether an issue needs your attention, or attention of the senior
management.
2. Identify your responsibilities and accountabilities as a manager.
3. Know when to act, and when not to.
Enhance your reputation
Increase your business profit.
Reduce waste and lower insurance premium.
Maintain a happy, health workforce.
Managing health and safety is an integral part of your job.
Not something you do in addition to your job.
Assessing Risk Module 2
What is Risk?
A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm, damage, production
losses or increased liability.
Hazardous event occurs when someone or something interacts with the hazard
and harm results.

Identify the Hazards


Communicate with your employees and their representatives . They will have a
lot of first hand experience with the work activities and would be a very
important source of knowledge for identifying hazards.
Observe the physical layout of each location and the activities being carried out;
pay particular attention to the amount of space available in relation to the
number of staff and volume of activities carried out.
Examine relevant company records; accident records, manufactures instruction
and material safety data sheets.
Thoroughly familiarize yourself with your areas, especially if hazardous
substances or electricity are an integral part of the work activities that your staff
is involved in.
Hazards generally arise from the following aspects:
The physical environment
The equipment, material and substances used at the workplace
Work tasks and how they are preformed
Work design and management
Examples of hazards
Physical : heat, light, noise, vibration, pressure, etc.
Chemical: Any acid and alkalis, metals, gases, etc.
Biological: these may be animal borne such as anthrax, rabies.
Ergonomically: poor layout of workstation
Psychological: stress, unsocial working hours, lone working, etc.

What is risk?
Risk is a combination of the likelihood of a hazardous event occurring, and the
consequence os the event.

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