2.2 Identification, description, and analysis of a suitable management system

2.2.1 ISO, BS OHSAS, PLAN, DO, CHECK, ACT.

International Standard (ISO) addresses the quality management including strong customer focus, implications of the senior management and motivation approach with continual improvement (Cots, Casadesús and Marimon 2014). BS OHSAS in Occupational Health and Safety Management is the identification and management of occupational health and safety hazards and risks during the starting of a business. This would help the business to create possible working conditions with the identification of risks and hazards and ways to control them (Ferreira Rebelo, Santos and Silva 2014). Moreover, this would also help to reduce the workplace accidents and to cut the downtime. BS OHSAS also promotes engagement and motivation of the employees with safer and better working environments. This also demonstrates the compliance to the suppliers and contractors.

BS OHSAS provide great benefits to the organization and helps in solving business issue like compliance, reputation, absenteeism, injury and engagement. It demonstrates the compliance to suppliers and regulators and provides financial benefits. It also helps to show better trust and stakeholder satisfaction and provides a competitive edge to the business. It also helps to reduce the workplace accidents, provide clear visibility on better practice, better control over the risks and hazards and lee downtime for accidental injuries and illness. It also provides a workforce that is able to understand their responsibility towards the occupational health and safety and inculcate the OH&S culture in the organization. It shows better commitment of the workforce by promoting wellbeing and safety of the employees (Forbes and Walker 2016).  

BS OHSAS helps the business to fulfill the legal requirements and work in compliance with the employees’ requirements. It protects the workforce by identifying and minimizing the health hazards and risks. This helps to identify the potential causes of accidents and reduce absenteeism. It also promotes engagement by encouraging active participation and accountability with regards to the OHSAS management system (Kafel 2016).

Yang, (2015) defines health safety as measures geared towards protecting the health of concerned parties within a particular environment. This encompasses policies that have been formulated to realize this core objective. It also deals with the planning of procedures and resources for developing and maintains the safety of people at work place. The environmental hazards are mainly focused in laboratory where the environmental health and safety directs the activities of the organization. With the upcoming of technological advancement communication has improved and more hazards can be experienced through social matters which need to be controlled fully (Monagle, 1985). Health and safety hazards include harmful dusts, chemicals, noise, power tools, and equipment among others which are harmful to the health and lives of people. A qualified personnel should be designated to coordinate the whole program of construction by conducting a regular job site safety and health inspection.

Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA) cycle is employed and a critical aspect in (Operational Health and Safety) system OHSAS standard. In the PLAN, there is establishment of the processes and objectives that are necessary to deliver the results in accordance with the OH&S policy. DO refer to the implementation of the plans within the structured framework of the management. The measuring and monitoring of the actual results those are against the planned objectives refers to the CHECK. ACT is the correction and improvement of the plans that are required to meet and exceed the results that are planned (Nasution 2016).

In the PDCA cycle, PLAN outlines the policy requirements, objectives and the targets for the organization. The hazard identification and assessment of risk along with control measures forms the basis for the management system. It also encompasses the legal and standard requirements that are necessary to develop and evaluate the procedures related to the workplace situations and depending upon the significance of the specific hazards related to the workplace. Plan also consists of the objectives and legal obligations like documentation, record control, emergency preparedness and response plans. The achievement of the health and safety policy is possible through defined goals and objectives. Prior to the setting of the management system, it is important to make sure that the objectives are specific, agreed, measurable, time bound and realistic. At this instant, there is requirement and review of plan at regular intervals along with the authority and responsibility for the achievement of the objectives is also a part of the plan. For example, there is a need for planning and implementation of action plan that reduces the risks as low as to a reasonable practicable level (Bernal 2014).

DO is the implementation stage where there is responsibility, structure and provision of resources is involved. The competency, training and consultation along with internal system communication and reporting of the performance of the OHS internally and externally are the steps involved in the DO stage. The hazard identification, assessment of risk and control risk through operational and practical controls, process evaluation, emergency preparedness testing and response are also included in the implementation stage. Documentation control and responsiveness to emergencies and incidents are also a part of the DO stage (Meiling, Sandberg and Johnsson 2014).

In this stage, the senior management of the organization would ensure the availability of the resources for the proposed project. The management also takes the responsibility to report performance and compliance to the requirements of the management system. There is a need to ensure the competency, training and awareness among the employees in the management system. The employees should be made aware of the roles and responsibilities adhered to the health and safety policy taking care of the knowledge gaps and in creating awareness among them. In this step, there is a need for participation, communication and involvement of the staffs in the hazard identification, assessment of risk and investigation according to the good levels of communication (Riis et al. 2016). Essential documentation and record is also required with continuous updating and control. It is important to ensure that the procedures and framework are reviewed to check for the deviation from the policy and targets. The risk control measures should also be managed with the development of procedures and maintenance of records. The records are related to purchase of goods, services and equipments and contractors. The most important part of DO stage is the emergency preparedness and response. The PLAN that is in place has the ability to respond to the emergency situations and review of the existing plans to ensure that it works.

In the CHECK stage, there is measurement and evaluation of the key safety parameters along with incident investigation, preventive action, corrective and evaluation in effectiveness of the action plans. The recording and reporting of the results along with audits that verify the effective operating of the system plans comprises of the CHECK stage (Zeng, Tam and Tam 2015).

ACT stage involves the scope for improvement. The implementation of the preventive measures along with effective evaluation of the action plans provides the opportunity to manage and review the existing plans that are appropriate to the organization. The internal audits provide evidence about the working of the health and safety policy with periodic reviews ensures that the management system is effective and suitable working in accordance with the objectives and policy. The management review should also encompass the changing business demands and future programs (Gidey et al. 2014).

They should also respond to safety and health issues management of the construction workers by taking any necessary and appropriate action on all employees’ reports of hazards. In addition to this, safety and health inspection should be done periodically such as, daily, weekly, or monthly (Cameron, 2005).

3.0 Management of health and safety hazards

Any source of harm that can lead to health problems is referred to as hazard. Examples of health and safety hazards are loud vibrations; the workers should be protected from loud sounds that can cause damage on auditory canal. Skin sensitizers are also health hazards that need to be avoided. The effective way to control the hazard of skin sensitizers is avoiding coming in close contacts with them and also using an alternative sensitizer that is less reactive with human skin (British Safety Council, 1985).

Socio-political hazard

All construction is always carried out in the society made up of people with different cultures. Socio-political hazards can threaten the lives and health of people in the surrounding environs, such as, political instability, electricity supply, transportation networks, and excessive bureaucratic contract procedures. In recognition of these peculiar problems, it is ideal to come up with better framework, primarily to reduce any hazardous impact to the lives of the people within a specified locality (Fenandez, 2014).

Environmental hazards

Environmental hazards are numerous, they include, community issues, weather conditions, economic situations, government policy, technological, cultural and sociological resources among others. Before the setup of any new construction, the above environmental hazards should be considered. The community should be consulted as a means of creating a good rapport between them. The weather condition is a very crucial factor to consider, construction should be done during the dry season to reduce the risk of collapse. The construction should adhere to the government policy in order to reduce political conflicts. (Caesar et al., 2013)

4.0 Description and explanation of health and safety management system

A fall hazard conflicts.

The aforementioned term refers to any form of threat within the workplace and that which can lead to fatality or major body injury and thereby incapacitating one from conducting their daily activities in a normal way. According to (Ferreira,2017), most construction fatalities are caused by fall hazards such as, weak ladders, carrying heavy objects, stairways, wet floors, poor lighting and ledges without adequate railing. The health and safety management system encourage employers to take preventative measures to stop fall injuries by ensuring that the workplace is safe for its employees and, people must also be able to move around the workplace safely.

Electricity hazard

Electricity is very dangerous; it can kill if it is mishandled. Each construction work and refurbishment  involve electricity for the machines or appliances operation to run smoothly and effectively. It is common knowledge that open circuits and other electronic gadgets pose imminent danger to those who are using such items. The damage that may be caused by such faulty gadgets is very great as one may lose their lives or even causing fire which would in turn destroy the property. Therefore, it is always important for skilled personnel who are well versed with the usage of the said items to make some corrective measures so as not to cause danger to the lives of those around those electric gadgets. One is not experienced to operate such electronic gadgets is supposed to report to the concerned parties if they realize any slightest anomaly in their machine rather than attempting to repair it (Gurcanli, Billis and Sevim,2015).

Systematic risk management is simply a market risk that affect the overall market but not just a specific industry. This kind of risk is very difficult to avoid because it is unpredictable. It can only be mitigated by proper planning and allocation of resources before the implementation of any new innovation. Implementation of any project usually go through various steps that starts with decision to evaluation (Gurcanli, Billis and Sevim,2015). Each step should be handled with future benefits in mind, the product should be of good quality because innovation is all about improving. Some examples of risks include interpersonal and intrapersonal conflicts, inflation in the job market, recessions and interest rate changes. The role of systematic risk management in successful implementation of innovation involves,

To meet the set goal and objectives of the project involved. All innovations like stated earlier should have some guidelines that controls all the activities that is being carried out in the specific market. When the goals and objectives of any innovation is met that is when the success of that innovation is achieved. For instance, installation of smart grid in the electric sector which the main goal is to innovate transformers and coming up with smart transformers that can reserve more energy even during operations caused by electric hiccups to avoid blackouts. A goal and objectives should be the guideline of any innovation.

To solve financial crisis, finance is the most crucial part of any development in industries. It can be a risk that affects the whole system if it cannot be handled by expertise and with transparency and accountability. Finance is the backbone of any innovations in various industries because it involves the purchase of new products, resources and manpower labor for effective accomplishment of the whole task at hand. Budgetary allocation should be involved before the Implementation of any successfully innovation, budgets help in proper planning of finances, resources and time(Miller & Sorochty, 2015). This would reduce unnecessary conflicts and risks in the market.

In addition to that, it helps in maintaining peace and stability to both internal and in external partners. Peace contributes to the development of any sector by reducing the time span of carrying out the relevant task and it promotes the quality of the end product(Miller & Sorochty, 2015). The end product of any innovation should be of quality because that is where we aim.

Moreover, it helps in bidding the time frame allocated for that innovation. Every innovation should have a time span that must be adhered for effectiveness. Too short and too long time span should be avoided, but we also have some innovations that take short time possible like in the electric sector, this time span should be adhered to because electricity is part and parcel of most daily activities.

It also helps in development, growth and expansion of an industry hence promoting its name to both internal and external markets by improving its reputation. When the name of any industry gets positive reputation from both within and without, it will expand and earns the government good economic growth. For instance, the innovation in the telecommunication sector is found all over the world because of its positive reputation. The internet, emails and umber   are found all over. It is a great invention that promotes the communication sector hence fast and reliable.

5.0 The effectiveness of safety measures

It is incumbent to state that the safety measures majorly employ the formulation of good policies and strategies that sees to it that health hazards are limited for smooth running of activities. The safety measures thereby involve identification, assessment and lastly provisions of workable remedy to avert danger in the system (Heidari, 2017).   

The workplace should prepare the effective policy program that covers the health and safety of its workers by providing clear direction for the organization to flow. The division of labor and responsibilities to people and the working environment will be met in a way that motivate the spirit of its workers.

In addition to that, it should come up with a plan which will aid in the smooth running of the construction work in order to maintain safety, health and the environment. An effective arrangement and management of structures ought to be judiciously employed for efficacy purposes. Health and safety measures to be formulated so as to curb such challenges that centers on it. The effectiveness of environmental health and safety can only be realized with good planning, exploration of activities carried out in that environment, project development, their operation and how they can be rehabilitated. The effectiveness of aforementioned system squarely can be analyzed by the performance and improvement in the environment.

5.1 Identification of a specific risk management system

 Vast resources

House building and refurbishment is sometimes carried out on limited budgets hence the end product becomes of poor quality. Vast resources should be used, therefore the construction work carried out should be within the capacity and lifespan that suits its effectiveness. Financial, environmental, operational and health and safety factors should be considered before the construction of a new building which reduces the refurbishment risks hence making house building and refurbishment a single approach. (Glendon, Clarke and Mckenna,2016).   

5.2 Risk management system

Risk management can simply refer to the process of identifying, assessing, and prioritization of types of risks that can be experienced in the environment. Risk management involves the practice of coordinating resources to ensure that the unfortunate events in environment are minimized monitored, and also controlled (Richardson, 1992). Risk can originate from many sources including the threats from failed projects, financial markets, accidents, legal liabilities among others.

 Examples of risk management standards that have been put in place include the project management institute. It gives the definitions and objectives on verily on the risk management. The institute also comes up with strategies to manage threats and reducing their effects on the environment.

Efficacy of Integration

Chartier (2014) asserts that the above framework involves the provision of risk management throughout the organization structures, processes, and culture. It aligns risk management with all management activities of the organizations. It considers health and safety risks, environmental strategies and assessment of house building during the construction and refurbishment process. This helps the organization to achieve the objective while complying with the societal and legal expectations and to better respond and adapt to surprises and disruptions. It also   helps in making more decisions in managing environmental, financial, and operational risks that are within their control and help them respond to risks beyond their control. Integrated risk management is a vital tool that is used to manage all risks associated with all scheme funding. Integrated risk management forms a part of good governance in any organization. It is one of the trusted risk management groups as its codes gives the information on the importance of trustees in a company. The guide of the integrated risk management should be used by all employers and the trustees to minimize the number of risks as it has to provide practical guidance to all members of the company. The IRM helps the managers to identify factors that affect the attaining of particular objective and especially if the factors are affecting more than one location (Merkle, 2015).

5.3 Relationship between business continuity and risk management

Effective business continuity management, (Hopkin, 2017), should be risk based. It helps prevent the business from any disruptive incidents such as, financial constraints, health and safety hazards, and failing to meet societal expectations. It also helps to identify the business assets such as, facilities, people, technology, and supply chain components that are vulnerable. Moreover, it helps the management to create objectives to address certain risks.Business continuity should have a good plan just the same way the risk management has to be planned. The failure of planning in business simply means the discontinuity of the whole business program. For a business to continue well it has to be connected with right people who can give instructions and control the business right people with good entrepreneurial ideas will help your business to grow efficiently. Also your business has to be linked with other teams to ensure it is fruitful. Business continuity is closely related to risk management as all need to plan to ensure their effectiveness (Burton, Richardson, Mc Caffery, & Haodha, 2009).

5.4 Refurbishment risks in construction

With the current identification of the buildings that exists, the available conditions that is water, ventilation vents among others need to be assessed and reconstruction carried out. This is because the buildings were constructed in a way that there are no safe running systems and this increase the unsafe condition of the buildings. With refurbishment constructions a plan has to be drafted in order to minimize the risks on the existing buildings. A thorough assessment on risk has to be taken to ensure that construction site and the nearby buildings have been undertaken by a person who is qualified. For appropriate construction and management of buildings a potential engineer has to be identified and all the personal and administrative control measures has to be followed to the latter (Miller & Sorochty, 2015).

Recommendations

As a consultant project manager an individual controls all activities that are carried out in the environment. Thus all environmental managers need to be innovative enough to reduce all the risks that may be witnessed in our present environment despite the factor that risk management may be challenging consultations should be made to ensure its efficiency.

Conclusion:

The effective and appropriate way to manage house building and refurbishment risk is to ensure that integrated risk management system is incorporated because this will help the management to make informed decisions of aligning risk management with all management activities of the house construction ranging from excavation to refurbishment. In today’s world there are more competition where many of the organizations   venture into business that they are not ready to control all the risks related to the business operation. Human life is so important and it should be read with great concern to ensure that all people works in a safe environment.            

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