Bronte Construction's OHS Programs Are Essential.

Go to the Discussion Area in D2L Brightspace for this course and do the following: Check the Administration link in the Discussion area for any changes to course administrivia or answers to Frequently Asked Questions.

Check out this module's Topic for Discussion. This week's topic is: How much should management rely on inspections to identify workplace hazards. Please provide one or two ideas to answer the question.

What are the reasons for investing time and effort to establish an incident investigation program?

1. Learn about root causes of potentially serious events
2. Legislated requirements to investigate incidents
3. Continual improvement of the OH&S Management System
4. More freedom to complete a through investigation
5. All of the above

In establishing an accident investigation program what is the best practice or method to ensure the program is not a burden to the organization?

1. Investigations are performed only if there were changes in personnel, hardware, equipment or the work environment
2. The scope and level of investigations of accidents are based on the potential for injury or damage
3. What are the other key components that must be considered in the development of an effective investigation program?
4. Investigations are only performed if a very serious accident occurs
5. Investigations are carried out by supervisors for all incidents and accidents
6. All of the above Verify Answer

In Ontario who is required by legislation to conduct workplace inspections?

1. Supervisors and managers of a manufacturing organization.
2. The certified members of the Joint Health and Safety Committee, JHSC c. The certified worker representative of the Joint Health and Safety Committee, JHSC
3. Any employee or supervisor may conduct an inspection
4. The manager of the facility or the manufacturing plant.

What is the main purpose of establishing an inspection program?

1. To make additional work for organizations by mandating that they inspect their workplaces.
2. To identify situations that may be sources of danger or hazards to workers and then eliminate or minimize the danger.
3. To identify escape routes and emergency resources for development of rescue plans and arrangements.
4. To enable supervisors to become aware of and familiar with hazards in the workplace.
5. All of the above.

What are at least three factors that need to be considered in the development of an effective workplace inspection program?

1. Easy to do, personnel are willing participants, communication system.
2. Competence of personnel, critical items for inspection, communication of findings and system for corrective action.
3. Increased employee satisfaction, rationale to make modifications, frequency of the inspections.
4. Method for ranking hazards, easy to perform, fun to do.
5. Demonstrates concern for employees, scope and comprehensiveness, is fun to do.

Working on your own or with another on-line student, review the TTC subway accident described in the article at the end of the unit 7 Appendix. Prepare a one page overall plan for the successful implementation and continuing effectiveness of an ongoing inspection program for this company. Clearly identify how you expect to develop and implement the inspection program so that it would have prevented this accident and other possible subway accidents. Send me your one page overall plan via D2L Brightspace e-mail (if you work with a partner please identify the partnership on the submission).

Considering Top 3 Priority Safety Programs And Why?

Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is related to laws, policies and programs which targets to make the workplace better for the health and safety of the workforce (Rotich & Kwasira, 2015; Ejdys & Lulewicz-Sas, 2010; Yazdani et al, 2015). It is associated with several types of risks such as physical, chemicals, accidents etc. which affects the working environment for all workers. In this context, the current report is based on OHS programs mainly three types including investigation, inspection and training & education. Moreover, a Canadian company Bronte construction has been selected to assess the OHS programs which are followed by the company for health and safety of the workers. Further, certain improvements have also been suggested for the effectiveness of the company’s image.

Health and safety programs are necessary for the all construction and mining companies for the safety and security of workers (Johnstone, Quinlan & McNamara, 2011). In this context, a construction company can consider several health and safety programs such as training and education, disability management, inspection, emergency response and investigation etc. for the safety of employees (COHS718, Module 7, 2018). At this juncture, a construction company can contemplate three major Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) programs out of all for the health and safety workers as follows-

Inspection programs have a significant role in the safety of the workers because these programs held to inspect the current safety measures of the workplace. Inspection programs can be two types involving planned and unplanned to examine the unsafe conditions in the workplace (Marks, Teizer & Hinze, 2014). In this regard, the planned inspection can be held on a periodic basis to identify the hazardous conditions; however, these are just based on the formal responsibilities which can be related to reporting program, list of critical items, corrective actions, verification of the issues etc. On the other hand, unplanned inspection programs conducted on a random basis to pinpoint the hazardous situations of workers which are directly specified by the supervisors to higher level authorities (Ghahramani, 2016). By considering this, a construction company can apply the safety measure as inspection in the norms for the regular safety of workers through which superiors can be obliged towards the health and safety of workers at the workplace. Hence, the inspectors need to be aware regarding the safety measures and on the basis of eye views, the head of the department of the firm can take the required actions to verify the rules related to safety and health.

A construction company implement the new training and educational programs in OHS act to reduce the accidents at workplace. It can be helpful to train the labor regarding work by transferring the skills and knowledge to workers (Alkilani, Jupp & Sawhney, 2013; COHS718, Module 7, 2018). In this context, a manager contacts with health and safety committee to get awareness related to hazards so that unsafe conditions can be highlighted at work by getting information through committees. If the workers will be fully trained regarding legal responsibilities and how to perform at hazardous sites then the ratio of accidents can be minimized. For instance, if the workers will be adequately educated and trained regarding the operation of machinery and use of heavy equipment then the chances of accidents can be reduced at a workplace.

Assessing Companies Ohs Programs

Investigation program is a system of OHS which is basically used in accidental cases so that supervisors can recognize that why the accident and mishappening have occurred and what are the reasons which led the accidents (Lingard, 2013; Ali, Kamaruzzaman & Sing, 2010). On the basis of investigation OHS programs, the organization can focus to deal with the reasons to prevent the accidents at the working site. In this context, a construction company can involve investigation program in OHS because in absence of investigation program, prevention of hazardous and unexpected losses cannot be minimized. Further, if any injury or death has occurred at the workplace then as per the OHS act it is needed to investigate the complete scenario of an accident with the involvement of legal requirements.  In this regard, corrective actions can be taken so that accidents cannot occur in future and workers remains safe and healthy at the site.

A Bronte construction company has been selected to assess the OHS programs. The company is a medium sized construction firm and deals in heavy civil construction, bioengineering projects. It also involves in the utility installation, environmental restoration and marine projects for the development of construction criteria. The company is located at Oakville, Ontario and associated with environmental constructions. The selected company is certified by Certificate of Recognition (COR) from the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association (IHSA) because the company is performing extremely better in health and safety concerns (Bronte construction, 2018).

Here, yes, Bronte construction company is following the health and safety measures for the workers so that hazardous acts cannot take place in the firm or if it happens then safety measures can be used for the betterment of workers at the workplace. In this regard, Bronte construction company includes the training, inspection and investigation programs in OHS system in Ontario. Further, it is also recognized by the Canadian Federation of Construction Safety Associations for outstanding safety commitments (Bronte construction, 2018).

Table 1: List of OHS programs adopted by Bronte construction company

On the basis of the above-mentioned table, it has been derived that Bronte construction company has already incorporated OHS programs in the health and safety measures so that workers can perform the work without the occurrence of hazards. However, the company can improve the OHS programs by incorporating the new policies regarding the existing inspection program. Additionally, inspection can be done on a random basis to improve the quality of measures because in this hidden matter will be disclosed. Accordingly, the health and safety committee will take the action to reduce those hidden mishappenings. Apart from this, the company can also include the advanced training programs along with running practices. Meanwhile, the working if the workers are not getting the exact point to operate the heavy tools then the instant training will be helpful and it will be helpful for the company to minimize the unsafe acts by providing keen instruction regarding usage. Further, inspection programs can also be improved by involving the regular checking of workers activities that how they are managing the work. If any wrong thing is identified then on the spot effective actions can be implemented to reduce the huge accidents and hazards.

Conclusion

On the basis of the report, it has been concluded that construction companies must follow the OHS act and includes the safety practices and programs for the wellness of workers. Inspection programs are helpful to identify the unsafe conditions whereas investigations programs help to identify the reason of hazards and accidents. Apart from this, it has also been summarized that training practices provide clear instructions regarding use of equipment which is beneficial to reduce the chances of risk and accidents at the workplace in current and future situation.

References

Ali, A. S., Kamaruzzaman, S. N., & Sing, G. C. (2010). A Study on causes of accident and prevention in Malaysian construction industry. EDITORIAL BOARD/SIDANG EDITOR.

Alkilani, S. Z., Jupp, J., & Sawhney, A. (2013). Issues of construction health and safety in developing countries: a case of Jordan. Construction Economics and Building, 13(3), 141-156.

Bronte construction, (2018). About Bronte construction. [Online]. Available at: < https://bronteconstruction.ca/about/>. [Accessed on 30^th November 2018]

Bronte construction, (2018). Health and Safety. [Online]. Available at: < https://bronteconstruction.ca/health-safety/ [Accessed on 30^th November 2018]

COHS718, Module 7, (2018). Inspection programs. [Pdf]. Available at: < file:///E:/877408_Occupation%20Health%20and%20Safety/2877121_1631898696_combinemodules.pdf>. [Accessed on 30^th November 2018]

Ejdys, J., & Lulewicz-Sas, A. (2010). An OH&S management system as a source of information. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 16(4), 445-454.

Ghahramani, A. (2016). Factors that influence the maintenance and improvement of OHSAS 18001 in adopting companies: A qualitative study. Journal of Cleaner Production, 137, 283-290.

Johnstone, R., Quinlan, M., & McNamara, M. (2011). OHS inspectors and psychosocial risk factors: Evidence from Australia. Safety Science, 49(4), 547-557.

Lingard, H. (2013). Occupational health and safety in the construction industry. Construction management and economics, 31(6), 505-514.

Marks, E., Teizer, J., & Hinze, J. (2014). Near-miss reporting program to enhance construction worker safety performance. In Construction Research Congress 2014: Construction in a Global Network (pp. 2315-2324).

Rotich, L., & Kwasira, J. (2015). Assessment of success factors in the implementation of occupational health and safety programs in tea firms in Kenya: a case of Kaisugu tea factory. Int J Econ Commer Manag, 3, 797-812.

Yazdani, A., Neumann, W. P., Imbeau, D., Bigelow, P., Pagell, M., Theberge, N., ... & Wells, R. (2015). How compatible are participatory ergonomics programs with occupational health and safety management systems?. Scandinavian journal of work, environment & health, 111-123.