previous : Part 1.02 - Safety, health and welfare at work? Why bother?
1.03 Why Have an OSH Manual?
Just as boundary lines help players in most sport know when gameplay is in or out of bounds, guidelines laid down within an organisation's various operational manuals (eg Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Financial Control, Machine Operations, Quality Assurance, etc.) assist all employees and management to know at any one time, what is acceptable, and what is unacceptable activity and/or behaviour. As with any of these other manuals, the OSH Manual lays down guidelines for all persons in the workplace to follow.
Since the Manual is available for all to refer to, this helps greatly reduce misunderstandings. For this reason, as much as any other, a workplace manual, whether for production purposes, industrial relations purposes or OSH purposes, must not be allowed to gather too much dust on a shelf. Working copies of manuals are expected to become dog-eared and thumbed through, coffee stained and crinkled from use, as they are referred to regularly to assist hands, both old and new , review and monitor procedures in the business environment.
The OSH Manual also becomes invaluable should an incident occur. It assists the investigator compare what is supposed to happen with what actually happened (‘gap analysis’).
Though our safety systems are only as good as the last hazard we identified and controlled, the OSH Manual and its tips become part of the OSH training of all personnel. Ideally, the OSH Manual also ensures a heightened awareness of what to look for as clues to what may be tomorrow's new hazard.
In the interest of producing the best possible outcome in OSH, an OSH manual must be considered active at all times, and therefore open to revision as technology, along with human resources, change to suit the business environment.
Programmes, policies and procedures:
The bulk of the Manual consists of programmes, policies, and procedures.
Within any workplace there are hazards and/or groups of hazards that impact on the workplace. Hazards have risks associated with them that have greater and lesser degrees of effect on the workplace. It is usual to have public statements of commitment addressing hazards likely to involve a high degree of risk in a particular workplace. For example, hazardous substances are not of so great a concern to an aged care facility as they may be in (say) a chemical processing plant, whereas manual handling issues are of high concern to both enterprises. The public statement of commitment, which includes outlines of responsibility and so forth, are called ‘policies’.
At XYZ, we have various policies, including the general OSH Policy and the Training Policy. They include the commitments and responsibilities expected of management, supervisors and employees, and form part of the specific hazard’s OSH programme.
Note that though hazardous substances do not have their own specific policy at XYZ, we do have an OSH programme for hazardous substances.
Programmes address the following six elements:
- Purpose: Why do we need this programme?
- Scope: What situations does it cover (includes geographic and systematic)?
- Responsibility: Who is covered by the programme and what is their ethical and legislative accountability?
- Procedure: What steps are to be taken to fulfil the various obligations contained in the programme?
- Training: What training needs do the responsible parties have to ensure the procedure can be followed in a realistic and competent manner, and to ensure all reasonable steps have been taken to control the hazardous situation(s) outlined in the 'Purpose'.
- References: What other information is useful to us? What documents relate to the programme? What legislation may impact on us regarding this programme?
"If there is no reason for a programme, don't make one. If there is a reason for a programme, do it well."OSH programmes are living documents, and must be monitored and reviewed to stay effective. The programmes should be reviewed annually as a planned, proactive approach, and also immediately after an incident occurs or could have a occurred. This post-incident review allows us identify a hazard that has become uncontrolled and to take positive steps to prevent it from happening again.
Finally, note the various programmes and policies and procedures are legal documents. They are part of a paper trail to be followed and assist in translating 'what we say we do' into 'what we actually do'. Therefore, they should be 'controlled documents'.
next : Part 2.01 - Planning for Safety (introduction)
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