Introduction to Health and Safety at Work

Introduction to Health and Safety at Work
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Appendix 3.1 Typical organizational responsibilities
Organizing for health and safety
Senior managers
➤
Are responsible and held accountable for 
the relevant organization’s health and safety 
performance.
➤
Develop strong, positive health and safety atti-
tudes among those employees reporting directly 
to them.
➤
Provide guidance to their management team.
➤
Establish minimum acceptable health and safety 
standards within the organization.
➤
Provide necessary staffi ng and funding for the 
health and safety effort within the organization.
➤
Authorize necessary major expenditures.
➤
Evaluate, approve, and authorize health and 
safety-related projects developed by members of 
the organization’s health and safety advisers.
➤
Review and approve policies, procedures, and 
programmes developed by group staff.
➤
Maintain a working knowledge of areas of health 
and safety that are regulated by governmental 
agencies.
➤
Keep health and safety in the forefront by includ-
ing it as a topic in business discussions.
➤
Review health and safety performance statistics 
and provide feedback to the management team.
➤
Review and act upon major recommendations 
submitted by outside loss-prevention consultants.
➤
Make health and safety a part of site tours by 
making specifi c remarks about observations of 
acts or conditions that fall short of or exceed 
health and safety standards.
➤
Personally investigate fatalities and major prop-
erty losses.
➤
Personally chair the organization’s main health 
and safety committee (if applicable).
Site managers
➤
Are responsible and held accountable for their 
site’s health and safety performance.
➤
Establish, implement, and maintain a formal, writ-
ten site health and safety programme, encom-
passing applicable areas of loss prevention, that 
is consistent with the organization’s health and 
safety policy.
➤
Establish controls to ensure uniform adherence 
to health and safety programme elements. These 
controls should include corrective action and 
follow-up.
➤
Develop, by action and example, a positive health 
and safety attitude and a clear understanding 
of specifi c responsibilities in each member of 
management.
➤
Approve and adopt local health and safety pol-
icies, rules, and procedures.
➤
Chair the site health and safety committee.
➤
Personally investigate fatalities, serious lost 
workday case injuries, and major property 
losses.
➤
Review monthly health and safety activity reports 
and performance statistics.
➤
Review lost workday cases injury/illness investi-
gation reports.
➤
Review health and safety reports submitted by 
outside agencies.
➤
Attend site health and safety audits regularly to 
appraise the programme’s effectiveness.
➤
Review annually the health and safety pro-
gramme’s effectiveness and make adjustments 
where necessary.
➤
Evaluate the functional performance of the health 
and safety staff and provide guidance or training 
where necessary.
➤
Personally review, sign and approve corrective 
action planned for lost-time accidents.
➤
Monitor staff’s progress toward achieving their 
health and safety goals and objectives.