Safety Recommendations For A Scrap Glass Recycling Plant Essay.

Plant Description

Now that you are familiar with asking the right question at the formative design meetings ,  have a little bit of experience in recognizing risks and hazards and dealing with them via control and mitigation strategies, comes the next stage.

A design of a plant which recycles scrap glass is required. Once again, you are the safety expert and it is now your role to ensure that the designs of the various major items of the plant and their layout is done to optimize all aspects of safety but still allow an efficient operation.  The design of each of the plant items is being done by other Engineers who are experts in their field but not necessarily have your familiarity with safe design or be aware of the need to integrate a safety in design  approach across the whole plant.

The site:   100m X 100m flat ground situated in the Humpty Doo area adjacent to the Arnhem Highway , near Darwin. Serviced by an all weather sealed road with three phase power at the site boundary .  The land has appropriate zoning and the plan has approval from  the appropriate Planning Authority.

The Plant :  

1. The site plan has allowed for an open air receiving area to dump incoming loads of scrap glass to be divided into clear whole items for direct refilling, clear but damaged glass items and other coloured glass items.
2. The glass is then moved to either  a press  (for crushing) or to a packaging line.
3. Pressed glass  bundles of approximately  2,000 kg  are then stacked undercover awaiting loading.
4. Containers of crushed glass weighing approximately 2,000kg are also stacked under cover awaiting shipment.
5. The large press and the packing machines are housed in separate sheds on the site and are large enough to allow the entry of road trains to enter at one end and leave at the other.
6. Material handling on the site is done by forklift trucks and in the large sheds id done by 2 overhead travelling cranes of 5000kg capacity. These cranes are able to move over the entire length of the shed and are used to load and unload the processing machines ( press and packing machine ). They are also used to load trucks to facilitate shipment.
7. The plant will operate over two shifts from 6am to 12 midnight  during the months of April to November inclusive and then be maintained by a crew of 2 maintenance fitters during the rest of the year.

In addition to the main plant areas there will be a Management office/reception are, an employee facility, various storage sheds and a service maintenance workshop.

Tasks for the Safety Expert

You are required to select some aspects of this plant and/or its operations  and to make a series of recommendations  as to safety.  Issues may include recommendations about the roadways on site, turning radii, clearance between buildings, safe stack heights  of bundles, crane operations, forklift operations, lighting requirements both indoor and outdoor, positions of employee facilities, stocking of the medical room in the employees facility, fencing and/or gating needs of the site, sizing and positioning of the receiving area, fire fighting needs, sizing and positioning of the main sheds and internal clearance heights etc.

You must also select  5 identified hazards and complete a Risk Analysis with mitigation/control measures. (You may use and update these items from assignment  3. )

This list is just some examples of the issues to think about. The list is not intended to be addressed or to limit your thinking but is included to give you an idea of the scope of the safety in design issues.

You are required to write a technical report of approximately detailing how you would address some issues similar to the above including your recommendations . Some of these are already covered  by appropriate standards so you may need to do some research.  Most are not and are dictated by the task at hand.

In any plant, there are some designs which are set up, and in consideration, with the system, the workers need to work. As such there are many kinds of hazards which offer as a danger to the workers as well as the society. In such concern, there are many cases which have earlier been noticed and reported by the workers as well a the others related directly or indirectly with the organisation. In this assignment, the risks and the hazards mainly relate with the plant of the Humpty Doo which is related to the plant of recycling scrap glasses. The main stipulation related in the ground of every aspect needs to be the salient points of every aspect of the plant according to the specific order of the plant. As such it is recommended that launching the plant should be planned with grand mapping and tendencies of hazards which are structurally operated with the safety precautions.

In a particular plant or organisation, there should be proper safety and management at the end of the workers. The specific purpose of the paper intends to ensure the identification of all the possible hazards which can be entailed from the plant. These hazards need to be controlled so that there is an overall safety in the work environment. There have been various consequences which have been faced by the workers earlier and have been caused to die. Therefore there should be proper mitigation methods so that these issues does not prevail any further issues (investopedia.com, 2018). The specific hazards and its impact has been identified which are then analysed and recommended successfully. The organisations have to look into the proposals carefully to inherit proper diminishing factors and save the workers from further dangers.

This is a critical issue which has to be noticed that there are possible hazards which are being dangerous regarding the life of workers. Hazards can also be explained as something which is injurious to health and if not prevented perfectly can cause a severe issue to the health. As a plant comes in context then several hazards which comply to chemical toxic, intrusion comes in the basic scenario which subtitles in the form of dangers to lives and livelihood when being operated directly and indirectly with the people (simplicable.com, 2018). The workers are often forced to accidental injuries due to such harmful hazards. Some such areas are being subjected to various problems which are being highlighted in this assignment. Therefore a proper identification of risks diminishes the unwanted problems of the people who are directly or indirectly related to plant as well as the organisation. 

Tasks for the Safety Expert

Intrusion

These hazards mainly inform in the point which notifies that there are some restrictions regarding the visit of some places. There are many areas in the plant where powerful operations are done and are restricted for people or worker who are expert in such areas. The only reason behind these is that some precautions have to be taken when these areas are to be entered which the expert knows well, but the person who is less aware of the functional part of the area will miss many such precautions. Therefore it is a considerable hazard for the workers operating in the plant of the concerned organisations where recycling of scrap glasses is being carried. In this case, the authority should provide clear notice and hang it so that the workers become aware of the disposition or restriction of the entry (Falkner et al.  2015). As in these plant of recycling of scrap glasses, there involves the mixture of some chemical components to process the recycling process.

These need to be only accessed by the experts correctly. As they know the various regulations of measuring safety from such chemicals. All these factors affect a lot in the overall health of the employees of the plant. Therefore there should be a proper team in the organisation to ensure about the risks before and so that the authority becomes aware of the issues and accordingly provide notices in the rooms of the different operational works which are being carried out for the complex process of glass recycling. These hazardous risks can only be removed if the authority and the employees jointly perform to reduce it by only following the guidelines with proper care. Some such activities can reduce the overall level of hazards from intrusions (Hayne and Free, 2014). Therefore proper identification and mitigation can adequately solve these problems. So the manager of the glass recycling organisation should look on these matters perfectly.  

Electrical Hazards

These hazards generally arise from the short circuit of various electronic components present in the plant. These can often lead to a stop of the operation of the whole plant. If the situation is not handled correctly, the destruction can even touch to a level where it can burn the whole plant and subsequently everything will be in flame. This type of hazards can lead to suffering which is untold and unexpected leading to a huge massacre. The destruction will be of the workers, authorities as well as the properties of the organisation as well. Some such electrical hazards arise from the welding machines as well as the machines which are related to the plants that are oil oriented pieces of equipment (Bowers and Khorakian, 2014). There are various components in a plant in which the workers are trained with so that the work can be done smoothly. When being trained of work, then they have to be also trained on the unexpected behaviour of the machine so that in any case if the machine behaves unintentionally, then proper training can guide the specific precautions which are required to manage the situation tactfully. The authority must send people for checking the electronics pieces of equipment of the plant and the electrical warnings so that there is no chance of any short circuit which can destroy the whole planet. There should be a proper strategic management team who are involved in the overall identification of issues and proposing the mitigation process to overcome such a dangerous life taking hazards skillfully (Wu et al. 2014). There has to be proper maintenance of fire control within the firm so that if flaming issues occurs then there could be adequate resources to control the flame tactfully. As this is a considerable hazard because it can instantly take away the life so proper maintenance of safety and management are a must to deal with. Involvements of modern techniques as a fire extinguisher can also help a lot in the overall improvements and dealing such situations.

Identified Hazards and Risk Analysis

Not only these the workers should be previously trained in managing such situations are should be provided with specific guidelines of escape so that no one can lose a life. This should be done because it may happen that the strategic management teams are not present every time in managing situations, so the workers only have to manage the whole situations tactfully. Therefore all this should be done and maintained by the organisation so that there are no issues with electrical health hazards in the plant of the concerned organisation (Heckmann et al. 2015). The managers also need to incorporate modern technical design for the purpose. So the manager of the glass recycling organisation should look on these matters perfectly.

Chemical Hazards

Chemical hazards are also a form of hazards which are very much injurious to the health of the workers who are involved directly in the organisation. These occur in almost every firm as because every organisation is dealing with some of the dangerous chemicals. These chemicals saturate in the environment and mix with the air and which in turn forms an environment which is corrosive in nature as well as if comes in contact with air can be ingot (Rampini et al. 2014). These kinds of hazards not only harm the environment but as well as mix herms the breathing system of the workers along with the skin.

When both lungs and skin are getting affected, then it is seriously affecting the overall work performance of the employers, and the whole working is getting stopped. There are different versions through which chemicals make an impact (Kotseva, 2016). They may be corrosive, they may have huge smokes and are dull. They can also be so strong that a little ignorance while working with acids can either burn the specific area or else can make a severe injury on the person dealing with those specific chemicals. For such purpose different steps have to be taken by the authority to manage such hazards carefully. There are various chemicals which affect the sensitive parts of the organisation in such a way that it can be life taking at times. Therefore organisations need to instal various new technologies to maintain the balance properly and also have to look upon various management strategies so that these kinds of risks are identified along with the substances which are posing risks and also provide immediate mitigating techniques (Mengze and Wei, 2015). The managers need to incorporate modern technical design for the purpose. These kinds of hazards are dangerous like the electrical hazards as it can take away the life of the workers in an unexpected way. So the authority has to very much care about such issues and its management strategies (Cole et al. 2017). These hazards are nasty that it can make the environment much polluted harming the people who are linked and are not linked with the plant and its operation (Wynne, 2016). All these make degradation to the environment too. So the manager of the glass recycling organisation should look on these matters perfectly.

Chemical Hazards

Toxicity Hazards

These hazards generally retail one of the most critical hazards of the workers working in glass recycling plant. As if there is an increase in the overall toxic or harmful matters, it can mix with the body and gets transported to the kidney, brain as well as in the liver. The organs slowly stop working when the accumulation level of such toxic element increases to a level. Such kinds of toxic which are generally accumulated from the plants are so heavy that the organs also fail to excrete these. These slowly deteriorate the health conditions of the workers and finally cause death. This is so because the failure of multiple organs cannot let the person survive for too long (Bromiley et al. 2015). The primary organs which are threatened by the toxic hazards involve reproductive organs. These generally threaten the arrival of the next generation.

Therefore various techniques have to be indulged by the recycling authority which involves the use of stringers and minimises the use of harmful chemicals so that the toxic accumulation increases slowly. Therefore the recycling company needs to be much more effective in such parts of the management so that they do not have to lose workers from their organisation. More improvements relating to the matters are to be checked by the concerned organisation to decrease the level of hardness and illness of the workers who are working in the concerned organisation. Therefore this has to be kept in the right order for a proper management process of the organisation (McNeil et al. 2015). Toxic is a weighty issue and needs to be managed accordingly as it cannot be avoided as chemical usage will be there which cannot be mitigated. So the concerned organisation needs to see that the minimum amount of chemicals should be used to decrease the level of toxicity in the air. If the level of toxicity in the air decreases then there will be a natural fall of these hazardous matters or substances. This will, in turn, save the lives of the worker as well as the other related person in the concerned organisation.

Poor Communication channel Hazards

The communication issues mostly matter in such recycling glass plant operations. As because there can be various problems which can arise in the society to communicate with the authority or the safety team there should be a proper communication channel. The poor communication channel leads to severe problems and is considered as a part of the hazards in respect to the workers. This is because if any kinds of unexpected issue occur which can lead to serious harm to the plant or the property of the organisation as well as the members. There should be a toll-free number planted in every area of the organisation and its plant so that these hazards can be mitigated accordingly. The organisation also has to look at the installation of part of new sensors which can detect any kinds of issues in any part of the plant to get the solution before the whole mishappenings (Hillson, and Murray-Webster, 2017).  This is a significant threat on the part of the employers which are needed to be resolved to save the lives of workers.

Electrical Hazards

Conclusion

The assignment overall concludes that there are various health hazards which are identified and mitigation process have also been mentioned to reduce all the problems which can relate to dangers and can be life taking. The authority and the management have to be aware of such dangers before the final operation of the plant. If this is slightly ignored, then there will be various management issues which have to be further dealt with ethical issues properly. Therefore strategic management regarding the mitigations of risks is to be carefully handled. The concerned management has to report every detail of the organisation and the ongoing operational process to prevent any harmful and life taking dangers.

There should be necessary equipment is provided by the firm for operating inside the plant where the central recycling of glass is being done. So that the workers can work safely with perfect job satisfaction. The worker's safety should be the main aim of the organisation as they are a soul of the firm, and without them, the operation would not be carried on correctly. Therefore if the worker's lives are at stake, then the management must solve it accordingly. There are some recommendations provided below by the plant site and the operation which should be followed for a better and successful result. Therefore proper maintenance and proper strategic management should be involved to mitigate risks and instil safe working within the organisation.

• The organisation should look at the roadways on the site before the construction of the plant. This is because without proper roadways the construction of such a huge plant is not at all possible.
• The turning radius also needs to adequately measure so that afterwards it does not show any problems.
• The buildings which are already situated one by one should have clearance between them for proper industrial planning. Without proper clearance, there cannot be a proper work structure inside the plant of the concerned organisation.
• The stack heights of bundles need to be checked because if the height increases then the operation can be delayed, it can also lead to a massive problem for the workers working there. The height hazards are the central part of such problems.
• The crane operations should be safe and technologically checked to avoid any mishappenings or danger with the lives of the worker involved with the operation of the plant. If technical issues persist in the crane, then it can take away someone's life
• The technical operations related to the forklift are to be handled with proper care. If there are any technical errors in the forklift part, then it can harm the work performance and can also lead to problems.
• There should be proper lightings both inside the plant as well as outside the plant so that due to lack of less light the work does not hamper, or any other risks does not occur. Less light can be very harmful and can lead to problems.
• There should be enough facilities given to the employees so that the workers do not feel that there is no space given to them. Lack of facilities might drop down the level of work and can cause problems to the authority of the organisation.
• The employees should be provided with the medical rooms so that if they are sick at times, then they can be admitted in the medical sections for the primary treatments. In working with the plant, there can be mishappenings, and sudden accidents can take place. Therefore to avoid such problems a medical team and a medical place has to be there inside the plant.
• The sides of the plant should have high fencing so that the operations of the plant do not harm the society. The society can get disturbed by the operation of the plant so the area should be covered by any means.
• The area where the plant will be set up has to be wide so that during the time of operations there is no miss management with the spacing issues. Recycling of glass has to dumped, chemically transform and other processes also involve a requirement of the large area. So more full space area is a must.
• Definite techniques of safety measures related to fighting with fire should be installed in the plant so that if there are any issues relating to short circuit, it can be handled with care. Without improved techniques and signalling detectors the fire cannot be detected. So proper installation and fire safety devices have to be present.
• Lastly, the glass recycling organisation also has to give focus on the positioning of the main sheds and the heights of the internal clearance.

Reference List

Hillson, D. and Murray-Webster, R., 2017. Understanding and managing risk attitude. Routledge.

McNeil, A.J., Frey, R. and Embrechts, P., 2015. Quantitative Risk Management: Concepts, Techniques and Tools-revised edition. Princeton university press.

Bromiley, P., McShane, M., Nair, A. and Rustambekov, E., 2015. Enterprise risk management: Review, critique, and research directions. Long range planning, 48(4), pp.265-276.

Wynne, B., 2016. Misunderstood misunderstanding: Social identities and public uptake of science. Public understanding of science.

Cole, S., Giné, X. and Vickery, J., 2017. How does risk management influence production decisions? Evidence from a field experiment. The Review of Financial Studies, 30(6), pp.1935-1970.

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Falkner, E.M. and Hiebl, M.R., 2015. Risk management in SMEs: a systematic review of available evidence. The Journal of Risk Finance, 16(2), pp.122-144.

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Bowers, J. and Khorasan, A., 2014. Integrating risk management in the innovation project. European Journal of innovation management, 17(1), pp.25-40.

Online articles

Mengze, H. and Wei, L., 2015. A Comparative Study on Environment Credit Risk Management of Commercial Banks in the Asia?Pacific Region. Business Strategy and the Environment, 24(3), pp.159-174.

Macaulay, S., 2018. Non-contractual relations in business: A preliminary study. In The Law and Society Canon (pp. 155-167). Routledge.

Thomson, I., 2015. ‘But does sustainability need capitalism or an integrated report’a commentary on ‘The International Integrated Reporting Council: A story of failure’by Flower, J. Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 27, pp.18-22.

Short, J.C., McKenny, A.F., Ketchen, D.J., Snow, C.C. and Hult, G.T.M., 2016. An empirical examination of firm, industry, and temporal effects on corporate social performance. Business & Society, 55(8), pp.1122-1156.

Websites

investopedia.com, (2018), Business Risks, Available at https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/businessrisk.asp

simplicable.com, (2018), 20 types of Business risk, Available at https://simplicable.com/new/business-risk

toppr.com, (2018), Nature of Business Risk, Available at https://www.toppr.com/guides/business-studies/nature-and-purpose-of-business/nature-of-business-risk/