Health and Safety at Work Essay Example
Critically review your own organisation’s Health and Safety Policy and procedures and make recommendations for improvements
Organisations today widely regard their employees as their greatest assets, so it is no wonder that they are spending an increasing amount of their resources on ensuring that the workplace and work systems enable its staff to feel safe and secure; as management continues takes an active role in their wellbeing. Failure to ensure and provide a safe working environment can raise concerns in a variety of areas such as legal, financial and ethical issues. In the United Kingdom there are legislations in place designed to ensure that correct and appropriate systems of work, in regards to health and safety, exist within every organisation.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASWA), section 2, “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.” This highlights the responsibility employers have in ensuring their employees are safe of chemical, physical and machinery hazards and risks. Hazards can be defined as something that can cause adverse effects, such as water on a staircase because of the possibility of you slipping on it and hurting yourself. A risk is the likelihood that a hazard will actually cause its adverse effects, together with a measure of the effect. Risks are usually expressed as facts with a quantifiable likelihood, such as “one in a hundred”, paired with the effect and hazard, “fatal accident [effect] at work [hazard]”.
Other important sections to highlight within the HASWA are section 3 “It shall be the duty of every employer..., so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety.” This underlines the responsibility employers have of ensuring members of the public and non-employees are not exposed to any risks.
Organisations today widely regard their employees as their greatest assets, so it is no wonder that they are spending an increasing amount of their resources on ensuring that the workplace and work systems enable its staff to feel safe and secure; as management continues takes an active role in their wellbeing. Failure to ensure and provide a safe working environment can raise concerns in a variety of areas such as legal, financial and ethical issues. In the United Kingdom there are legislations in place designed to ensure that correct and appropriate systems of work, in regards to health and safety, exist within every organisation.
Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASWA), section 2, “It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees.” This highlights the responsibility employers have in ensuring their employees are safe of chemical, physical and machinery hazards and risks. Hazards can be defined as something that can cause adverse effects, such as water on a staircase because of the possibility of you slipping on it and hurting yourself. A risk is the likelihood that a hazard will actually cause its adverse effects, together with a measure of the effect. Risks are usually expressed as facts with a quantifiable likelihood, such as “one in a hundred”, paired with the effect and hazard, “fatal accident [effect] at work [hazard]”.
Other important sections to highlight within the HASWA are section 3 “It shall be the duty of every employer..., so far as is reasonably practicable, that persons not in his employment who may be affected thereby are not thereby exposed to risks to their health and safety.” This underlines the responsibility employers have of ensuring members of the public and non-employees are not exposed to any risks.