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#1 Posted : 05 October 2000 13:06:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ian J. Bruce Dear All, I have been fortunate to secure a position as a Safety Officer on a brand new site in England after many months of trying to break into this field as a full time practitioner. The facility has a multitude of activities including engineering workshops, kitchens, laundry, offices, vehicle presence etc. As the establishment is totally new, I will be responsible for implementing all safety management systems. My initial thoughts are that I need to be reviewing company safety policy, emergency plans, first aid protection etc. etc. I would however, be grateful if anyone out there in IOSH land can give me some pointers/advice on how they would handle this situation and where they might focus their attentions in the first few weeks. I guess it's a process of begining risk assessments; should these in the first instance be very broad, site based, or should I focus very clearly on specific work areas and slowly work my way around the site? I'd be grateful of any feedback. Cheers, Ian.
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#2 Posted : 05 October 2000 16:43:00(UTC)
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Posted By Jay Joshi Try BS 8800:1996 GUIDE TO OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS. These guidelines based on the general principles of good management are designed to enable the integration of occupational health and safety management within an overall management system. Presents two approaches in detail and one in outline. The first detailed approach is based on the Health and Safety Executive's Successful Health and Safety Management HS(G)65. The other detailed approach is based on BS EN ISO 14001, the environmental systems standard. The guide is designed for use by organisations of all sizes and regardless of the nature of their activities.
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#3 Posted : 06 October 2000 17:13:00(UTC)
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Posted By peter gotch I'd start with the central strategy is policy and procedures, ie HS(G)65 considerations, then work from the centre, moving from the generic to the specific, and working with line managers getting them to take ownership and do their own risk assessments, inspections etc with input from you as appropriate. Good luck, Peter
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#4 Posted : 07 October 2000 11:29:00(UTC)
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Posted By Arran Linton - Smith MIOSH RSP Ian, Building an effective management system these days, is recognised by most UKAS. Accredited Certification bodies as a process of continual improvement. In short, it is like playing monopoly, and building on your effective management game (and skills) as you repeatedly go around the board. The current trend for safety management is through an integrated management approach. Which would be through OHSAS 18001:1999. This International specification has evolved from BS 8800:1996, which originally evolved out of HSG 65. OHSAS 18001 is designed specifically for integration with ISO 14001:1996 (environmental) and the new ISO 9001:2000 specification for quality. The mistake a lot of organisations make when building a management system, is they don’t like facing up to safety performance deficiencies. I have seen many management systems which do not perform for the organisation, because they have not changed it in any way, since it was first constructed.
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#5 Posted : 07 October 2000 22:02:00(UTC)
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Posted By Stuart Nagle Ian. You may well think that the quotes of BS numbers and HSG65 etc etc are not a great deal of help. They will be, but first you need to priortise. I suggest, as you have already mentioned yourself, that risk assessment initially will give the best results in assisting in this process. Make a list, starting with the most serious or likely cause of an incident, going down to the least likely. This list is likely to change over a few days once you see, hear and talk to the staff and line managers etc. However, at the end of this (short) process, you should have a firm idea of where your initial actions should be focused and how to proceed. From this you can then consider the requirements, needs of company, legislation, QA, best practice, practicable achievements etc etc... Once established, you have in essence your 'action plan' enabling you to move forward. As mentioned above, this will be an on-going and continual process aimed at achieving continual betterment. Policy, in essence, is not written, it is made. Once it has been made, it can be written and improved upon. Hope this gives you some practical thoughts to be going on with. Good luck in the new post... Stuart Nagle
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#6 Posted : 07 October 2000 23:38:00(UTC)
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Posted By peter gotch I agree with Stuart. Now that I am at home and marginally less frazzled (only marginally as I have been working on staff appraisals - ie getting them right not just going through the motions).......... To do the HSG(65) BS and ISO principles you will need an overview of how the whole site operates, and do a broad inspection to give you a feel of what is right / wrong to help you work out where to prioritise your attenions and to help you work out whether existing policies and procedures meet local needs. Like many, you may have inherited off the shelf systems which have not been tailored to the needs of the organisation. Good luck, Peter.
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#7 Posted : 09 October 2000 08:01:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ian J. Bruce Gentlemen, Many thanks for your advice within your responses to my request. It's nice to know that my line of thought was more or less correct. Your assistance is greatly appreciated. Regards, Ian.
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