Element 2: Health and safety management

systems - Plan
Summary

Health and safety management system is a process of well-coordination, systematic and

structured approach to effectively manage health and safety risks at workplace

The following things should be considered to develop and maintain effective health and safety
management system in an organization.

Clear defined policy

Well-defined plans

Strong management commitment

Provision of sufficient resources

Systematic training programme

Effective monitoring and reporting of performance

Process for reviewing and enhancement

PDCA Cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act) or PDSA Cycle (Plan-Do-Study-Act) is a continuous four-stage

management model that is used to gain expertise knowledge for the continual improvement of a
product or service. It is also known as Deming Cycle

Stages of PDCA cycle

S.No Stage Function

1 Plan Identify and define the problem

Determine the root cause of the problem

2 Do Find solutions to the identified problem

Test the solutions on a small scale

Measure the results of different solutions

3 Check Measure effectiveness by comparing the results

If not satisfied with any of the results, repeat “Do” and

“Check” phases until a comprehensive solution is obtained
4 Act Implement the solution which has high success rate

Repeat the phases for further continual improvement of

products or services

ILO Guidelines on Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems (ILO-OSH 2001) based
on the stages of “Plan-Do-Check-Model”. Its key elements are pointed out in the below table

1 Policy (Plan) Employer develops clear and concise written occupational

safety and health (OSH) policy based on the inputs from
workers and their representatives

OSH policy ensures

Protection of safety and health of all employees

Prevention of work-related injuries

Compliance with national laws and regulations

Participation of workers for continual improvement

of OSH management system
2 Organizing Employer and senior management allocates responsibility,
(Plan) accountability and authority right from top level to bottom
level of workforce for development and enhancement of
OSH management system
3 Planning and In this section, the employers develop plans with systematic
Implementation approach for effective implementation of OSH
(Do) management system

Plans are developed and prioritized based on the

deficiencies found in the

Initial review

Risk assessment
4 Evaluation This section deals with measure and monitor of safety and
(Check) health performance to reveal when and where improvement
is needed

Two types of monitoring methods

Active monitoring – Checking safety and health

standards before unwanted event occurs.
 E.g. Safety inspections, safety sampling, safety
tours and surveys

Reactive monitoring – Reacting after things have

5 Audit (Check)
6 Action for
Improvement
(Act)
gone wrong.
E.g. Accidents and incidents investigation, injuries
and illness, absenteeism, property damage or near
misses
In this section , audit is carried out by the competent person
to determine whether health and management system is
effective in satisfying the organizational health and safety
policy and objectives
In this section, arrangements are made to implement
preventive and corrective actions suggested by OSH
management system audits and management reviews

Corrective Action:

Eliminate the cause for a detected non-

conformity (deviates from prescribed
standards) and its recurrence

It is based on past events

Preventive Action:

Eliminate the cause for non-conformity to

occur.

It is based on future

Example of corrective and preventive action

Bike stops in the middle of a road on a long journey and the
problem is due to carbonization of spark plug. In this case
Corrective action: Carry extra spark plug on a long
journey
Preventive action: Identify potential problems that may
occur and establish remedies for the same
7 Continual In this section, the above mentioned steps are repeated for
improvement further enhancement of health and safety management
system

ISO 45001:2018 is the newly developed health and safety management system certification
standard to replace OHSAS 18001. It adopts Annex SL top-level framework for ensuring
enhancement in overall health and safety performance of an organisation. It is also based on
PDCA cycle and its key elements are

1 Context of the Establish and implement OH&S management system by

organisation evaluating organization and its context
(H&SMS
framework)
2 Leadership and Specify roles, responsibilities and authorities to achieve the
worker intended objectives of the OH&S management system
participation
(H&SMS
framework)
3 Planning (Plan) Suggest action plans to identify and assess the risks and
opportunities involving organisation and workers
4 Support (Do) Discuss the requirements of support like resources,
competence, communication for effective functioning of
OH&S management system
5 Operation (Do) Brief on the operational planning and control requirements
relating to the OH&S management system
6 Performance Evaluate the performance of OH&S management system
evaluation by means of monitoring, internal audit etc.
(Check)
7 Improvement Recommend the ways to eliminate non-conformities and
(Act) achieve the continual improvement of the OH&S
management system

Role of the health and safety policy in decision making

Help the top management in achieving the set targets

Guide middle managers and supervisors to decide what type of actions are needed to
satisfy goals and targets set by the organization

Every organization is free to create own policies and procedures, but the only requirement here is
health and safety should be managed correctly, there should be legal compliance and the system
should lead to continual improvement

Purpose and importance of health and safety policy

Contributes to business efficiency and continual improvement

Leads to workforce cooperation, job satisfaction and productivity

Minimizes financial loss by reducing accidents

The health and safety policy is a written document which usually consists of following three
sections

General Statement of Intent - State and illustrate the overall aims and objectives and a
clear picture of management’s commitment towards health and safety

Organization Section - Define structure, role, relationships, and responsibilities of key

personnel within the organisation

Arrangement Section - List out the details of systems and procedures employed to
achieve the aim set out in the statement section

Statement of intent should be signed by the senior person from the top level management to
emphasize organization’s commitment towards health and safety

Difference between Aims and Objectives

Aim Objectives
Aims are statements that states what Objectives are the required actions that
needs to be achieved have to be taken to achieve the goals set
out in the aim section
Aims are general Objectives are specific
It is like strategy It is like tactics
E.g: Aim E.g: Objectives

To achieve risk-free and healthy Appropriate instruction and

workplace training

Periodic risk assessment activity

Use of personal protective

equipment

Health surveillance

Targets are linked to the objectives and are more easily measureable and aid in continual
improvement

S.M.A.R.T. philosophy is used for establishment of objectives

S Specific Cleary state what needs to be achieved

E.g: Increase profit
M Measurable Quantify the target i.e. number value that can be
measured. E.g: Increase profits by 50%
A Achievable (Agreed Can it be achievable?
Upon)
R Realistic Can it be possible to achieve with the available
timeframe, opportunity and resources?
T Time bound Deadline is set to achieve the target
E.g: 6 months

Organisation should consider the following things while establishing and reviewing its objectives

Legal and other requirements

Health and safety hazards and risks

Technological options

Financial, operational & business requirements

Views of interested parties

Health and safety benchmarking is a planned process by which an organisation compares its
health and safety processes and performance with others for implementing the best practices by
identifying the performance lags

Advantages of benchmarking process

Acts as a baseline for measuring improvement

Improve the reputation

Helps to detect performance gaps

Gain knowledge of new technology and systems

Aids in new ideas, innovation sand creative thinking

Initiates effective budget process

Organization section deals with people and their operational duties in relation to health and safety

Impact of allocation of responsibilities in health and safety policy

Make workers aware of their roles and responsibilities in achieving the aims set out in the
health and safety policy statement
 Motivate the workforce by highlighting senior management’s commitment and efforts in
enhancing health and safety culture of the organization

Help to identify individual competencies and training needs

Role of line managers in influencing health and safety policy

State the significance of adhering to health and safety policy among the workers

Conduct effective policy analysis and communicate the issues to the top level
management if the policy fails to satisfy certain criteria

Suggest appropriate measures, standards and practices to make the policy more
effective

Lines of communication and feedback loops

Organisation may lead to disorganized, chaotic and stressful if the system communication
is not appropriate. So lines of communication should be proper for effective transfer of
information between employees and employers

A feedback loop is a system used to enhance the products or services of the organisation
based on the received and gathered feedbacks from the customers

Arrangement section describes about the arrangements that will help in achieving the set
objectives and targets in a systematic way

Some of the general health and safety arrangements are as follows

Employee health and safety code of practice

Accident investigation and reporting

Identifying and providing health and safety information, instruction and training

Consultation with workers in issues concerning health and safety

Emergency preparedness including fire procedures

Welfare and first- aid provision

Monitoring of plant and equipment, their maintenance and risk assessments

Developing safe systems of work and permit to work systems to control hazards.

Some of the specific health and safety arrangements are as follows:

 Lone working

Noise / vibration control

Control of exposure to toxic materials

Control of contractor and visitors

Control of transport risks.

Health and safety policy may be reviewed for the following reasons

Change in the legislation

Enforcement agency after an audit or an accident investigation

Change in the management structure

introduction of new machinery, processes or technology

Employee consultation

5 C’s of health and safety

Control

Commitment

Co-operation

Communication

Competence

Standards and Guidance

In most of the countries, health and safety’s standards and guidance are established to
provide more information and practical advice on the development and implementation of
health and safety policy

It is a legal requirement for employers to establish health and safety policy for their
organization