Introduction
In Identifying health and safety hazards in the workplace there are a number of external factors that influence the process. These external factors include health and safety requirements, acceptability of risk, and quality management requirements for documentation. (Health and Safety Executive, 2021) “The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations (MHSWR) 1999 as a health and safety statutory requirement, requires that employers put in place arrangements to control health and safety risks”. To comply with this requirement, the employer must be able to identify specific hazards relating to its work activities in order to analyze and control risks. This means that the health and safety legislation determines the conduct of business in a manner that identifies hazards to safeguard workers.
Risk Acceptability and Decision Making
When risk assessments are carried out, there has to be an indication of its severity to allow for an assessor to set priorities for which risks require urgent attention. Risk
External Factors Influencing Hazard Identification
acceptability allows the organization as applicable, to evaluate for acceptance or rejection risks so that high standards are maintained at acceptable levels and within budget. “Acceptable risk has been defined as a risk which has been evaluated in accordance with accepted practices and for which an informed decision to accept the frequency and consequence that comprise that risk has been made and documented” (Muhlbauer, 2004). The issue of risk acceptability has been debated but with minimal understanding. Hence more subjective and resulting in poor decision-making. Sterling Safety Services engages in activities that expose people to a risk of harm. In principle, these risks cannot necessarily be reduced to zero. Therefore, some form of trade-off between the benefits to the organization and the potential harm is required.
ALARP Principle
This is where the strength of reasonable practicability is utilized as a basis to have a trade-off. At the heart of this is the concept of ‘as low as reasonably practicable’, also known as ALARP. (Health and Safety Executive, 2021) Writes that “ALARP involves weighing a risk against the trouble, time and money needed to control it. Thus, ALARP describes the level to which we expect to see workplace risks controlled”.
Quality Management and Standards
In rendering services to clients, standards are followed to ensure that specifications are met.
Meeting the needs and expectations of interested parties allows the organization to strengthen its partnership base for commercial success while making improvements in the health safety and Quality system. Standards are incorporated into work processes which allow the organization to identify conditions that will otherwise affect the output of work. These are presented in the form of non-conformances when failures or specifications are not met by Sterling Safety Services. The HSEQ Management system maintained by Sterling Safety Services makes provisions for Audits which includes Quality. This enables the organization to identify weaknesses including non-compliance with statutory requirements. In an ever-changing world of business, there are market trends that influence customer preferences. For example competition, and supply chain
relationships. These are tracked in quality documents and are resolved with the full support of senior management. (496 Words)
References
Health and Safety Executive, 2021. ALARP "at a glance". [Online]
Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/managing/theory/alarpglance.htm
[Accessed 17 March 2021].
Health and Safety Executive, 2021. Legal Duties. [Online]
Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/managing/legal.htm
[Accessed 18 March 2021].
Muhlbauer, W. K., 2004. Risk Acceptability. [Online]
Available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/risk-acceptability
[Accessed 17 March 2021].
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Wilson, J.P. and Campbell, L., 2016. Developing a knowledge management policy for ISO 9001: 2015. Journal of Knowledge Management.
Jones-Lee, M. and Aven, T., 2011. ALARP—What does it really mean?. Reliability Engineering & System Safety, 96(8), pp.877-882.
