SPP - Chapter 2
SPP - Chapter 2
a) Is a set of processes and procedures that help an organization to manage its safety risks.
c) a series of policies and procedures organizations use to reduce accidents and illnesses in
the workplace
NB: OHSMS can be used to identify, assess, control, monitor health and safety risks
Can be designed to meet an organisation’s specific needs
Aim of OH&S management system
Ensure the workplace complies with relevant health and safety legislation
Save your organisation time and money in the long run and prevent potential legal action
against your business
Occupational Health & Safety Management System should have:
Clear policies, elements, processes and procedures regarding health and safety in the
workplace
NB: These should be communicated to all employees and regularly reviewed and updated as
necessary. The management should provide adequate resources to enable effective
implementation of safety policies and procedures
Characteristics of Occupational Health & Safety Management System
An effective audit
Continual improvement
Implementation of a Occupational Health &
Safety Management System
Employees must know the system and its role
Trained on how to use the system and be able to identify potential hazards
Employees should know who to contact and procedures for reporting an incident
a) includes a commitment to provide safe and healthy working conditions for the prevention of work-related
injury and ill health and is appropriate to the purpose, size and context of the organization and to the specific
nature of its OH&S risks and OH&S opportunities;
b) provides a framework for setting the OH&S objectives;
c) includes a commitment to fulfil legal requirements and other requirements;
d) includes a commitment to eliminate hazards and reduce OH&S risks
e) includes a commitment to continual improvement of the OH&S management system;
f) includes a commitment to consultation and participation of workers, and, where they exist,workers’
representatives.
Elements of a Occupational Health & Safety Management System
PDCA Model
This is an iterative process used by organizations to achieve continual improvement. It can be
applied to a management system and to each of its individual elements, as follows:
Elements of a OH&S Management System
PDCA Cycle
Plan : establish health and safety
management standards based on the
risk assessment and legal requirement
The planning phase includes policy statement that outlines the organizations health and safety
aims, objectives and commitment and lines of responsibility
Risk assessment (hazard identification, risk determination and selection of controls)and occur
in this phase.
Emergency procedures, relevant health and safety legal and other requirements should be
developed together with benchmarks from similar industries
Organisational structure must be defined so that health and safety responsibilities are allocated
at all levels of the organizations
• Effective communication with the workforce for example with clear, safe systems of work and other
health and safety procedures will aid the implementation and operation of the plan and produce
continual improvement of performance which is the key requirement for all management systems
• Effective communication with stakeholders, such as regulators, contractors, customers and trade
unions
Involves a review of the effectiveness of the health and safety management system and
the identification of any weakness
In the review, the organization‘s management will assess whether targets have been met
and the reasons for any under-performance
Issues such as the level of available resources, the vigilance of supervisors and the level
of cooperation of the workplace should be considered at the review stage
The review process must define a timescale by which improvements are implemented
and this part must be monitored
Continual improvement implies a commitment to proactively improving performance without
waiting for a formal review
Most management systems include audit requirement which may be either internal or external
or both
The audit process examines the effectives of the whole management process and may act as a
control on the review process
Many inquiry reports into health and safety management systems issues have asserted that
health and safety performance should be subject to audit in same way that financial
performance must be audited
Planning and Implementation:
Plan for effectiveness and efficiency of operations, the following items should be provided;
Adequate resources “competent workforce, relevant machinery and work equipment’s”
Appropriate workplace safe work procedures and systems
Method statements
Development of safety and health plans, standardized forms, and documents
Strategies to execute plans
Implementation: taking all plans, procedures, will be taken into practice to execute the intentions,
aim and objectives of the organization. Appropriate procedures will be used as per work activity
performed to safeguard or protect the employees from harm, such as;
Carry-out pre task assessment and make some analysis
Training workforce,
Provision and use of personal protective equipment’s,
Introduction of engineering controls when necessary,
Record keeping
Incident reporting, recording and investigation.
Measuring performance
Following-up on what have been implemented is crucial, in order to identify system’s “gaps” weaknesses
and strengths.
Pro-active procedures such as safety inspections can be used to oversee the behaviour of operations,
workplace environment, workplace equipment’s, installations if any and specific or general precautions in
use.
The key performance indicators should also be considered because they define the true view of existing
occupational health and safety management system.
The degree of existing management system should be checked at least once in a year for compliance and
non-compliance.
This will enable the organization to suggest remedies in order to meet the requirements of standards if gaps
were identified or they are some new recommendations by standards.
In ensuring effectiveness of the OH&S management system :
Top Management should be accountable and supportive to all functions which collectively contributes
positively to operations.
Employees safety is the responsibility of everyone in the organization therefore individuals with be required
to play their role in order to accomplish health and safety mission or goal which is to achieve no
injuries/illnesses (ZERO HARM)
In order to promote positive health and safety culture, promote competency, make informed decisions, and to
make safety a collaborative activity, so responsibilities should be clearly defined to everyone within the
organization. It should spell-out who is accountable for health safety matters;
Reporting, recording and investigating workplace incidents
Fire prevention and protection within the premises
Emergency procedures such as evacuation procedure and fire drills
Rendering first aid services
Training the workforce
Inspecting, maintaining and testing installations
Performance review
Performance review is a formal, structured crucial and critical meeting which held periodical, at least once in a year and it
always includes management of the organization. The primary reason of management reviews is to evaluate and review
the effectiveness of existing occupational health and safety Management System, to check compliance and ensure
continual improvement. It normally helps the organization to:
Attain the expected or foreseeable results
Meets the organization’s pre-requisites or stated standards
Performs in accordance with best practices or procedures and well established processes
Identify non-compliance and corrective actions
It gives the management an overview of changes arises in work processes due to introduction of new machinery and
hazardous substances and it also allows them to revise and updates the system
It is a legal responsibility of top manager “CEO” to account, organize, implement, monitor and revise the
management system requirements, this will purely show that indeed the management is committed and supportive.
Continual Improvement
The occupational health and safety management system should be repetitively checked and
always when measures are suggested, or they are some new developments of the standards,
should be implemented, monitored and reviewed if necessary or on regular intervals.
To enhance or improve the standard of the system and operations, the system itself should be
cyclical in nature ‘review after review.
This reviews will eliminate all workplace hazards or unwanted events therefore building a strong
system which will prevent, detect and control safety threats.
The review process;
Decide when to review the occupational health and safety management system
Primary aim is to check for compliance and decide on corrective plan which in future will determine
the system performance, therefore key performance indicators should be observed.
They have to produce a report indicating areas of compliance, and were improvement is need.
Hazard Identification
This is the process of examining each work area and work task for the purpose of identifying all the hazards
which are “inherent in the job”. Work areas include but are not limited to machine workshops, laboratories,
office areas, agricultural and horticultural environments, stores and transport, maintenance and grounds,
reprographics, and lecture theatres and teaching spaces. Tasks can include (but may not be limited to) using
screen based equipment, audio and visual equipment, industrial equipment, hazardous substances and/or
teaching/dealing with people, driving a vehicle, dealing with emergency situations, construction. This process
is about finding what could cause harm in work task or area
Hazard identification
The organization shall establish, implement and maintain a process (es) for hazard identification
that
is ongoing and proactive. The process (es) shall take into account, but not be limited to:
a) how work is organized, social factors (including workload, work hours, victimization, harassment
and bullying), leadership and the culture in the organization;
b) routine and non-routine activities and situations, including hazards arising from:
• infrastructure, equipment, materials, substances and the physical conditions of the workplace;
• product and service design, research, development, testing, production, assembly, construction,
• service delivery, maintenance and disposal;
• human factors;
• how the work is performed;
c) past relevant incidents, internal or external to the organization, including emergencies, and
their causes;
g) actual or proposed changes in organization, operations, processes, activities and the OH&S
management system;
Controls
Sometimes you may be able to fix
simple hazards yourself, as long as you
don't put yourself or others at risk. If it is This where an appropriate
something you cannot control, report to decision is taken as to how the
relevant people. hazards may be eliminated.
To identify and assess hazards, employers and workers:
Collect and review information about the hazards present or likely to be present in the workplace.
Conduct initial and periodic workplace inspections of the workplace to identify new or recurring hazards.
Investigate injuries, illnesses, incidents, and close calls/near misses to determine the underlying hazards,
their causes, and safety and health program shortcomings.
Conduct risk analysis to identify contributors to existence of hazards and incident occurrences
Group similar incidents and identify trends in injuries, illnesses, and hazards reported.
Consider hazards associated with emergency or non-routine situations.
For each hazard identified, determine the severity and likelihood of incidents that could result, and use this
information to prioritize corrective actions.
Some hazards, such as housekeeping and tripping hazards, can and should be fixed as they are found. Fixing
hazards on the spot emphasizes the importance of safety and health and takes advantage of a safety
leadership opportunity.
Action item 1: Collect existing information about workplace hazards
Information on workplace hazards may already be available to employers and workers from both
internal and external sources.
How to accomplish it
Collect, organize, and review information with workers to determine what types of hazards may be present and which
workers may be exposed or potentially exposed.
Information available in the workplace may include:
Equipment and machinery operating manuals
MSDSs provided by chemical manufacturers
Self-inspection reports and inspection reports from insurance carriers, government agencies, and consultants
Records of previous injuries and illnesses, such as OSHA 300 and 301 logs and reports of incident
investigations
Workers’ compensation records and reports
Patterns of frequently occurring injuries and illnesses
Exposure monitoring results, industrial hygiene assessments, and medical records (appropriately redacted to
ensure patient/worker privacy)
Existing safety and health programs (lockout/ tag out, confined spaces, process safety management, PPE,
etc.)
Input from workers, including surveys or minutes from safety and health committee meetings
Results of job hazard analyses (JHAs, also known as job safety analyses or JSAs)
Information about hazards may be available from outside sources, such as:
Botswana Chambers of Mines, Department of Occupational Safety and Health, and Ministry
Trade associations.
Labour unions, state and local occupational safety and health committees/coalitions and
How to accomplish it
Identify chemical hazards—review SDSs and product labels to identify chemicals in your workplace that have low
exposure limits, are highly volatile, or are used in large quantities or in unventilated spaces. Identify activities that may
result in skin exposure to chemicals.
Identify physical hazards—identify any exposures to excessive noise (areas where you must raise your voice to be
heard by others), elevated heat (indoor and outdoor), or sources of radiation (radioactive materials, X-rays, or
radiofrequency radiation).
Identify biological hazards—determine whether workers may be exposed to sources of infectious diseases, molds, toxic
or poisonous plants, or animal materials (fur or scat) capable of causing allergic reactions or occupational asthma.
Identify ergonomic risk factors—examine work activities that require heavy lifting, work above shoulder height, repetitive
motions, or tasks with significant vibration.
Conduct quantitative exposure assessments, when possible, using air sampling or direct reading instruments.
Review medical records to identify cases of musculoskeletal injuries, skin irritation or dermatitis, hearing loss, or lung
disease that may be related to workplace exposures.
Action item 4 (A): Conduct incident investigations
Workplace incidents—including injuries, illnesses, close calls/near misses, and reports of other concerns—
provide a clear indication of where hazards exist. By thoroughly investigating incidents and reports, you will
identify hazards that are likely to cause future harm. The purpose of an investigation must always be to identify
the root causes (and there is often more than one) of the incident or concern, in order to prevent future
occurrences.
How to accomplish it
Develop a clear plan and procedure for conducting incident investigations, so that an investigation can begin
immediately when an incident occurs. The plan should cover items such as:
o Who will be involved
o Lines of communication
o Materials, equipment, and supplies needed
o Reporting forms and templates
Train investigative teams on incident investigation techniques, emphasizing objectivity and open-mindedness
throughout the investigation process.
Conduct investigations with a trained team that includes representatives of both management and workers.
Investigate close calls/near misses.
Identify and analyse root causes to address underlying program shortcomings that allowed the incidents to
happen.
Communicate the results of the investigation to managers, supervisors, and workers to prevent recurrence.
Action Item 4 (B): Conduct risk analysis to identify contributors to existence of hazards and incident occurrences
Risk analysis is a systematic examination method, and most commonly used in different industries. It aims at identifying the
potential incident contributors, evaluating the amount of risk and finding risk-reducing measures. Risk analysis methods
can identify system failures following both technical defects and human errors. Risk analysis methods used mainly in the
industry include Hazard and operability studies, Failure Mode-Effect Analysis and Fault-Tree Analysis.
Action item 5: Identify hazards associated with emergency and non-routine situations
Emergencies present hazards that need to be recognized and understood. Non-routine or infrequent tasks, including maintenance and
start-up/shutdown activities, also present potential hazards. Plans and procedures need to be developed for responding appropriately
and safely to hazards associated with foreseeable emergency scenarios and non-routine situations.
How to accomplish it
Identify foreseeable emergency scenarios and non-routine tasks, taking into account the types of material and equipment in use and
the location within the facility. Scenarios such as the following may be foreseeable:
Fires and explosions
Chemical releases
Hazardous material spills
Start-ups after planned or unplanned equipment shutdowns
Non-routine tasks, such as infrequently performed maintenance activities
Structural collapse
Disease outbreaks
Weather emergencies and natural disasters
Medical emergencies
Workplace violence
Action item 6: Characterize the nature of identified hazards, identify interim control measures,
and prioritize the hazards for control
The next step is to assess and understand the hazards identified and the types of incidents that could result
from worker exposure to those hazards. This information can be used to develop interim controls and to
prioritize hazards for permanent control (see “Hazard Prevention and Control”).
How to accomplish it
Evaluate each hazard by considering the severity of potential outcomes, the likelihood that an event or
exposure will occur, and the number of workers who might be exposed.
Use interim control measures to protect workers until more permanent solutions can be implemented.
Prioritize the hazards so that those presenting the greatest risk are addressed first. Note, however, that
employers have an ongoing obligation to control all serious recognized hazards and to protect workers.
Methods of hazard prevention
To effectively control and prevent hazards, employers should:
Involve workers, who often have the best understanding of the conditions that create hazards and insights
into how they can be controlled.
Identify and evaluate options for controlling hazards, using a “hierarchy of controls.”
Use a hazard control plan to guide the selection and implementation of controls, and implement controls
according to the plan.
Develop plans with measures to protect workers during emergencies and non-routine activities.
Evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls to determine whether they continue to provide protection, or
whether different controls may be more effective. Review new technologies for their potential to be more
protective, more reliable, or less costly.
Action item 1: Identify control options
A wealth of information exists to help employers investigate options for controlling identified hazards.
Before selecting any control options, it is essential to solicit workers’ input on their feasibility and effectiveness.
How to accomplish it
Review sources such as OSH standards and guidance, industry consensus standards, OSH publications,
manufacturers’ literature, and engineering reports to identify potential control measures. Keep current on
relevant information from trade or professional associations.
Investigate control measures used in other workplaces and determine whether they would be effective at your
workplace
Get input from workers who may be able to suggest and evaluate solutions based on their knowledge of the
facility, equipment, and work processes. For complex hazards, consult with safety and health experts, including
OSH’s On-site Consultation Program.
Action item 2: Select controls Employers should select the controls that are the most
feasible, effective, and permanent.
How to accomplish it
Eliminate or control all serious hazards (hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious
physical harm) immediately.
Use interim controls while you develop and implement longer-term solutions.
Select controls according to a hierarchy that emphasizes engineering solutions (including elimination or
substitution) first, followed by safe work practices, administrative controls, and finally PPE.
A hazard control plan describes how the selected controls will be implemented. An effective plan will address
serious hazards first. Interim controls may be necessary, but the overall goal is to ensure effective long-term
control of hazards. It is important to track progress toward completing the control plan, and periodically (at least
annually and when conditions, processes, or equipment change) verify that controls remain effective.
How to accomplish it
How to accomplish it
Implement hazard control measures according to the priorities established in the hazard control plan.
When resources are limited, implement measures on a “worst-first” basis, according to the hazard ranking
priorities (risk) established during hazard identification and assessment. (Note, however, that regardless of
limited resources, employers have an obligation to protect workers from recognized, serious hazards.)
Promptly implement any measures that are easy and inexpensive—such as general housekeeping,
removal of obvious tripping hazards such as electrical cords, and basic lighting—regardless of the level of
hazard they involve.
Action item 6: Follow up to confirm that controls are effective
To ensure that control measures are and remain effective, employers should track progress in
implementing controls, inspect and evaluate controls once they are installed, and follow routine
preventive maintenance practices.
How to accomplish it
Track progress and verify implementation by asking the following questions:
• Have all control measures been implemented according to the hazard control plan?
• Have engineering controls been properly installed and tested?
• Have workers been appropriately trained so that they understand the controls, including how to
operate engineering controls, safe work practices, and PPE use requirements?
• Are controls being used correctly and consistently?
Conduct regular inspections (and industrial hygiene monitoring, if indicated) to confirm that engineering
controls are operating as designed.
Evaluate control measures to determine if they are effective or need to be modified. Involve workers in the
evaluation of the controls. If controls are not effective, identify, select, and implement further control
measures that will provide adequate protection.
Confirm that work practices, administrative controls, and PPE use policies are being followed.
Conduct routine preventive maintenance of equipment, facilities, and controls to help prevent incidents due
to equipment failure
Any questions?