9 b] Explain the roles and responsibility of workers and managers in occupational safety and health hazard.
Safety policies
Safe and healthy working conditions do not happen by chance. Employers need to have a written safety policy for their enterprise setting out the safety and health standards which it is their objective to achieve. The policy should name the senior executive who is responsible for seeing that the standards are achieved, and who has authority to allocate responsibilities to management and supervisors at all levels and to see they are carried out. The safety policy should deal with the following matters: Arrangements for training at all levels. Particular attention needs to be given to key workers such as scaffolds and crane operators whose mistakes can be especially dangerous to other workers;
- Safe methods or systems of work for hazardous operations: the workers carrying out these operations should be involved in their preparation;
- The duties and responsibilities of supervisors and key workers;
- Arrangements by which information on safety and health is to be made known;
- Arrangements for setting up safety committees;
- The selection and control of subcontractors.
Workers
Every worker is under a moral, and often also a legal, duty to take the maximum care for his or her own safety and that of fellow workers. There are various ways of involving workers directly in site conditions, such as:
- “tool-box briefing” (figure 2), a five- to ten-minute session with the supervisor just prior to starting a task gives the workers and the supervisor a chance to talk about safety problems likely to be encountered and potential solutions to those problems. This activity is simple to implement and it may prevent a serious accident;
- safety check”; a check by workers that the environment is safe before starting an operation may allow them to take remedial action to correct an unsafe situation that could later endanger them or another worker.
Safety officer/manager
Every construction company of any size should appoint a properly qualified person (or persons) whose special and main responsibility is the promotion of safety and health. Whoever is appointed should have direct access to an executive director of the company. His or her duties should include:
- The organization of information to be passed from management to workers, including those of subcontractors;
- The organization and conduct of safety training programs, including induction training for all workers on the site;
- The investigation and review of the circumstances and causes of accidents and occupational diseases so as to advise on preventive measures;
- acting as consultant and technical adviser to the safety committee;
- Participation in pre-site planning. To carry out these functions the safety officer should have experience of the industry and should be properly trained and qualified and, where such exists, should be a member of a recognized professional safety and health body.
Supervisors
Good planning and organization at each work site and the assignment of clear responsibility to supervisors are fundamental to safety in construction. “Supervisor” here means the first level of supervision, which on site is variously termed as “foreman”, “charge hand”, “ganger”, and so on. Each supervisor requires the direct support of site management and should seek to assure within his or her field of competence that:
- Working conditions and equipment are safe;
- Workplace safety is regularly inspected;
- Workers have been adequately trained for the job they are expected to do;
- Workplace safety measures are implemented;
- The best solutions are adopted using available resources and skills;
- Necessary personal protective equipment is available and used.