Safety Management Assessment 1

Either, if you agree, argue, based on evidence, how can safety culture do so and Assignment One is a submitted discursive assessment task which is primarily theoretical and relates to the concepts and constructs of safety systems, safety culture and safety management.

Length: 2000 words

This assessment is intended to expose students to the knowledge and skills to undertake WH&S research, in particular how to research current, relevant local, national and international WH&S issues; in this instance, the role of safety culture and safety leadership as opposed to safety management and safety systems and compliance with WH&S legislation to enhance safety performance: This knowledge and skills prepare students to successfully undertake research which can also be applied in students' workplaces.

Task 

Based on an evidentiary basis from the study package material and other sources including the literature, the Internet and, if applicable, your workplace experience:

• Do you agree with the proposition that mere compliance with WH&S legislation is not enough to improve safety performance? agree
• Do you agree that safety culture and safety leadership have the capacity to improve safety performance beyond what safety management systems can achieve? agree

Introduction:

In present-day world where there exist heavy competition in the professional domain and a challenge that exists and as undercurrent is the exposure of the working class to a variety of risks and hazardous element. The issue related to exposure to hazardous elements and its safety measure is one of the important aspects that have to be concerned (Osha.gov, 2015). In most of the organization, a separate unit has been assigned that particularly deal offers risk management of the employees. To address this particular issue on the preliminary ground it is essential to identify the risk associated with a particular job profile. Hence, it may be rightly stated that exposure and evaluation of risk are closely bridged with the professional health and hygiene programs wherein the incorporation of a systematic approach to managing this issue is required. The overall process of risk management in the professional domain include assessment of the risk that is followed with recognition of the risky component it analysis, investigation and finally treatment of the particular risk (Osha.europa.eu, 2015). Therefore, in order to eliminate the risk factors within an organization, it is equally important to establish a basic managerial skeleton that is further linked with the overall process of risk elimination. In this regard, it is also important to incorporate educational program, strict medical monitoring, radiation safety, administrative regulations and efficient management of the bio-hazardous element.  

Need for improvement of safety culture beyond the legal guidelines as implemented by WH&S: 

The objective to achieve a secured risk-free working zone cannot be accomplished by merely following the legal statements that have been produced by the legislative body of the nation. Further emphasis is required to be exerted to strengthen the risk management system and the establishment of a safety culture. Therefore formation of risk management policy is needed to improve the organization’s risk management system. The policy should essentially be inclusive of the rationale for addressing the elements of risks, should bridge the objectives of the workplace with the terms of the risk management policy and also should be accountable with respect of the management of risks. Apart from this, the policy formed in this regard should also accommodate the approaches to resolve the disputes with respect to conflict of mutual interests, work commitment and an investigative procedure to quantify the performance towards identification and management of the elements of risks (Austlii.edu.au, 2015). Further analyzing the above-stated points with respect to risk management issue the concerned policy should also initiate to look into the drawbacks and rectify as required. Well, communication is also an inherent part of risk management policy. 

On a more descriptive note, certain corrections are also required with respect to the legal guidelines formulated for reserving the safety factor within the workplace. In this regard, it is essential to strengthen the surveillance of the risk factors and emphasis should also be given towards the identification and control of the bio-hazardous elements. A systematic review of the procedures applied to risk management should also be implemented. Additionally, the practice of self-regulation addressing the risk management and safety measure is also required wherein both individual and group-wise self-regulated is required to be applied (Osha.europa.eu, 2015). Workplace inspection and emphasis on injury management and dispute resolution is also required to be undertaken by the respective organizations.