Safety management

1. Successful Safety
Management
Dr. Nafis Ahmad
Dept. of IPE, BUET
www.ahmadn.info
Safety is Good Business

2. Contents:
 Recent Legislation & HSA Guidance
 Strategic Aspects of Successful Safety
Management
 Manager/Supervisor Role in Safety
Leadership
Objective:
 Raise awareness of Management and
Supervisors vital role in safety leadership
and management
 Develop a culture of safety thinking

3. Successful Safety
Management
Recent Legislation & Health
and Safety Authority(HSA)
Guidance

4. HSA Guidance
 Guidance for Directors and
Senior Managers on their
Responsibilities for
Workplace Safety and Health

5. Why manage safety and
health at work?
 The liabilities of directors
and officers of
undertakings
 Protecting your
undertaking’s reputation
and assets

6. Why manage safety and health at
work? The liabilities of directors
and officers of undertakings
 Responsibility for safety and health is placed directly on those
in charge in the workplace. Directors and managers who
control the work being done must take on this responsibility.
 Directors may be prosecuted for failing to manage safety and
health in the undertaking.
 A director, manager or other similar officer of the undertaking
may be deemed to be guilty of the same offence as the
undertaking if the doing of the acts that constituted the
offence has been authorised, or consented to by, or is
attributable to connivance or neglect on the part of the
director. In such instances, for example, ignoring a safety and
health issue could constitute neglect.
 If a person is proceeded it is presumed, until the contrary is
proved, that the breach or neglect was authorised by him/her.
 It is for the director or the manager to show that he/she did
all that could be reasonably expected and was not negligent.
 Anyone convicted of a serious breach of safety and health law
could be fined or face going to prison.

7. Why manage safety and health at work?
The liabilities of directors and officers of
undertakings
Case studies: when leadership falls short
 Competent advice, training and supervision
– Following the fatal injury of an employee maintaining machinery at a recycling firm employing
approximately 30 people, a company director received a 12-month custodial sentence for
manslaughter. The machinery was not properly isolated and started up unexpectedly.
– An HSE and police investigation revealed there was no safe system of work for maintenance;
instruction, training and supervision were inadequate. HSE’s investigating principal inspector said:
'Evidence showed that the director chose not to follow the advice of his health and safety advisor
and instead adopted a complacent attitude, allowing the standards in his business to fall.'
 Monitoring
– The managing director of a manufacturing company with around 100 workers was sentenced to
12 months' imprisonment for manslaughter following the death of an employee who became
caught in unguarded machinery. The investigation revealed that, had the company adequately
maintained guarding around a conveyor, the death would have been avoided.
– The judge made clear that whether the managing director was aware of the situation was not the
issue: he should have known as this was a long-standing problem. An area manager also received
a custodial sentence. The company received a substantial fine and had to pay the prosecution's
costs.
 Risk assessment
– A company and its officers were fined a total of £245,000 and ordered to pay costs of
£75,500 at Crown Court in relation to the removal of asbestos. The company employed ten,
mostly young, temporary workers; they were not trained or equipped to safely remove the
asbestos, nor warned of its risk. The directors were also disqualified from holding any company
directorship for two years and one year respectively.

8. Why manage safety and health at
work? Protecting your undertaking’s
reputation and assets
 Adverse Publicity from serious accident
 Safety and health management strategy is a
central component of an organisation’s
corporate social responsibilities
 Financial incentives of effective safety
management
– Increased productivity when using safe operating
procedures
– Reduced insurance premiums
– Less sickness-related absences and training costs
for replacement staff
– Better staff retention and morale

9. HSA Guidance
 The employees’ commitment to safety
and health is influenced by their
perception of ‘your commitment to
safety and health’.
 Visible and active support, strong
leadership and commitment from all
directors and senior managers are
essential for successful safety and
health management.

10. HSA Guidance – Setting
the Best Standard
Key questions the board must ask its senior management when setting the best
standards include:
 Does this organisation have the right levels of safety and health expertise
and competence?
 Is safety and health always considered before any new work is started or
new work equipment is brought into use?
 Do you carry out risk assessments for all new work and for existing
operations?
 Do you involve the safety committee and the safety representative(s) in
these assessments?
 Have you identified what work needs to be assessed?
 Have we reviewed our safety critical processes?
 How do you know our safety and health protection is good enough?
 Have you facilitated the selection of safety representatives?
 Do our safety consultation programmes and safety committee work
effectively?
 Are our employees properly trained and do they attend the safety and
health training provided by us? Do we evaluate the effectiveness of our
training?
 Do we have adequate emergency plans for dealing with serious or imminent
danger, for example for fires, process deviations, accidents? Do we have
adequate safety and health procedures in place?
 Do we review/audit our safety and health management systems on a
periodic basis?

11. HSA Guidance – Assessing
safety and health performance
The following list of questions will help the management team
to judge the level of safety and health monitoring and
auditing being carried out:
 Do we reward excellence in safety and health?
 When did we last review our safety statement and our
safety and health policy?
 Are we committed to continuously improving our safety and
health performance?
 Do we monitor the performance, maintenance and integrity
of safety critical plant, equipment and processes?
 Do we know how well we perform on safety and health
issues?
 Are we as directors kept informed by our senior
management team of our safety and health performance?
 Do we comment on safety and health performance in our
annual report, where relevant?

12. HSA Guidance –
Assessing safety and health
performance
 How do we know if we are meeting our own objectives and standards
for safety and health?
 Are our risk controls good enough?
 Do we have an active monitoring system in place for safety and health
critical issues?
 How do we know we are complying with the safety and health
legislation that applies to our business?
 Do our accident or incident investigations uncover all the underlying
causes – or do they stop when we find the first person that has made
a mistake?
 Do we have accurate records of injuries, ill health, bullying
complaints, accidental loss etc.?
 Do we as directors get reports on our safety and health failures?
 How do we learn from our mistakes and our successes?
 Do we carry out safety and health audits regularly, as necessary? If
we do, what action do we take on audit findings?
 Do these audits involve staff at all levels? Do we involve our safety
representative and safety committee, where it exists, in the audits?

13. Successful Safety
Management
Strategic Aspects of
Successful Safety
Management

14. Safety - Changing
Approach
 Traditional approach to safety
 Improve safety performance by focusing on
operator error
 Modern approach to safety
 Improve safety performance by focusing on
the cultural and management system that
influence safety behavior
 Use the position of leadership to empower
employees at all levels to take responsibility
for safety

15. BASIC SAFETY PHILOSOPHY
FOR SUCCESS
A NEW SAFETY CULTURE
 All accidents are preventable.
 No job is worth getting hurt for.
 Every job will be done safely.
 Incidents can be managed.
 Safety is everyone’s responsibility.
 Continuous improvement.
 Safety as a “way of life” for 24 hours/day
 All individuals have the responsibility and accountability to
identify eliminate or manage risks associated with their
workplace
 Legal obligations will be the minimum requirements fro our
health & safety standards
 Individual will be trained and equipped to have the skills and
facilities to ensure an accident free workplace
What’s your company approach to safety?

16. Safety is Good
Business
Successful Companies have:
 Consistent leadership whereby the whole management
structure proactively and visibly demonstrates its
commitment to safety on a daily basis
 Walk the talk on safety; deal with safety issues on the
spot
 Assigned responsibility and accountability for safety;
safety a condition of employment, part of performance
evaluation
 Focus on success not failure; positive performance
measures (no. of safety talks/inspections/risk
assessments/training)
 Good two-way communication lines on safety
 Periodic Safety Audits
Does your safety system exhibit these
characteristics?

17. The Culture Iceberg
 Iceberg has 90% of its
weight below the
surface, out of sight.
This huge lump below
the surface carries far
more weight than the
110% you see above
 Culture is below the
waterline, its simply
how we do things
around here !

18. Successful Safety Management
Psychological Aspects
How people feel
Behavioural Aspects
What people do
Situational Aspects
What the organisation has
Safety Culture
 ‘The safety culture of an organisation is the
product of individual and group values,
attitudes, perceptions, competencies, and
patterns of behaviour that determine the
commitment to, and the style and proficiency of,
an organisation’s health and safety
management’
 ‘Organisations with a positive safety culture are
characterised by communications founded on
mutual trust, by shared perceptions of the
importance of safety and by confidence in the
efficacy of preventive measures’

19. Safety Culture
 Good Safety is more than just slogans,
safety boots, ear plugs and posters
 The extent to which they are taken
seriously depends on the Health & Safety
culture in the workplace
YOU WILL ACHIEVE THE LEVEL OF SAFETY
THAT YOU DEMONSTRATE YOU WANT TO
ACHIEVE
 Establish accountability for safety
 Define safety responsibilities

20. The Four C’s of a Health
& Safety Culture
 CONTROL – through commitment of all employees
to clear health & safety responsibilities and
objectives
 CO-OPERATION – through encouraging
participation and involvement of employees and
their representatives in planning, writing
procedures, solving problems and reviewing
performance
 COMMUNICATION - of information about health &
safety to employees – verbal, written, visible
 COMPETENCE – of all employees through
recruitment, training and support to make sure that
they make the maximum contribution to health &
safety

21. Time
Incident
rate
Technology
and standards
HSE
Management
Systems
Improved
culture
• Engineeringimprovements
• Hardwareimprovements
• Safetyemphasis
• E&HCompliance
• IntegratedHSE-MS
• Reporting
• Assurance
• Competence
• RiskManagement
• Behaviour
• Visible leadership/ personal
accountability
• Sharedpurpose&belief
• Alignedperformancecommitment&
externalview
• HSEdeliversbusiness value
Successful Safety Management
HSE Performance over time

22. PATHOLOGICAL
who cares as long aswe’re notcaught
REACTIVE
Safety is important,we doa lotevery timewe have an
accident
CALCULATIVE
we havesystems inplace tomanage allhazards
PROACTIVE
we workonthe problemsthat we stillfind
GENERATIVE
HSE ishowwe dobusiness round here
Increasing
Trust/Accountability
Increasingly
informed
Culture Ladder
Successful Safety Management

23. SAFETY EXCELLENCE MODEL requires…
Management
Commitment
Systems
Safety and Health
Site Leadership
Employee
Involvement

24. Ways to involve employees
 Regular communication with
employees on the subject of safety,
risk, and hazards
 Provide access to information
 Provide ways to participate in the
program
 e.g., worksite self inspections, safety and
health annual evaluation process, incident
investigation
 Provide ways to report hazards,
injuries and make recommendations
to control hazards

25. Benefits of a positive
health & safety culture
 Greater co-operation between departments
individuals and levels within the organisation on
what is perceived as an issue of common
concern and mutual interest
 Empowerment of all staff that raises morale
motivation and commitment to the organisation
as people feel encouraged to contribute to their
own and their colleagues success
 Enhanced communication systems and outcomes
with everyone feeling more able to speak up and
listen, fewer accidents near misses and
incidents and reduced levels of occupational ill
health, saving costs and enhancing the
constructive climate in the workplace
 More problems being solved quickly, quietly and
without a lot of fuss as the ownership of the
issue spreads

26. Giving H & S due priority:
 Give overall co-ordinating responsibility to someone
senior whose other management role is at the heart
of corporate planning – someone in the management
team for example
 Put in place a structure for planning, implementing
and reviewing and auditing the health & safety policy
 Introduce a policy for turning policy into strategic
plans
 Put in place a strategy for developing and reviewing
heath and safety targets
 Encourage senior managers to take individual
responsibility for health & safety use a carrot not a
stick
 Build it into the accountabilities in managers job
descriptions so it turns up each year as a measurable
activity during appraisals
 Make it number one agenda item at all safety
meetings and not part of AOB or the last item
 Fund adequate publicity for heath & safety

27. Successful Safety Management
Proactive V’s Reactive Safety Culture
Characteristic Proactive Reactive
Primary measure of
safety performance
Safety of system System output
Incident investigation
focus
Root causes &
management system
Unsafe conditions &
unsafe acts
Management safety
evaluation based on
Improving safety
systems
Absence of injuries
Activites oriented
towards
Improving key system
elements & behaviour
Physical hazards,
contests & gimmicks
Employee safety
meetings
Planned and educational Not well prepared
Safety training Planned & linked to
improved understanding
of system
Conducted in response to
regualtory requirements
Group recognition based on Improving safety & health Safe work hours without
accident

28. Active
Monitoring
Reports Meetings
Inspections
Routine
testing
Health
surveillance
Periodic
examination
of documents
Monitoring Health &
Safety Performance

29. Successful Safety
Management
Manager/Supervisor Role in
Safety Leadership

30. Major Disaster –
Leadership Role
 Many major disaster inquiries such as Three Mile Island,
Chernobyl, the Clapham Junction rail crash, the sinking of the
Herald of Free Enterprise, Piper Alpha, the Kings Cross fire and
the Esso Longford gas plant explosion have found that that
failures at managerial levels were at least as important as
technical failure and human error, in causing the accidents.
 In the report of the Public Inquiry into the Piper Alpha disaster,
Lord Cullen stated: “I am convinced from the evidence…that the
quality of safety management by operators is fundamental to
offshore safety. No amount of detailed regulations for safety
improvements could make up for deficiencies in the way that
safety is managed by operators
 Similarly, Mr. Justice Sheen investigating the sinking of the
Herald of Free Enterprise concluded, “..a full investigation into
the circumstances of the disaster leads inexorably to the
conclusion that the underlying or cardinal faults lay higher up in
the company…From top to bottom the body corporate was
infected with the disease of sloppiness”

31. Safety Studies -
Leadership Role
 Found that management involvement in a number of
safety activities was associated with good safety
performance. Such activities included :
 Personal inspections of work areas
 Open and informal communications between
management and workers
 Frequent contacts between workers,
management and supervisors.
 They concluded that the active involvement of
management acts as a motivational force for both
management and for employees.
 The highest level of performance a
manager/supervisor can expect from the people
he/she supervises is determined largely by his/her
minimum acceptable standards.

32. Safety Leadership
“The people are fashioned
according to the example of their
king and edicts are less powerful
than the life (example) of the
king”
Claudian, c. 365, Egyptian epic poet

33. Manager/Supervisor
Role in Successful
Safety Leadership
“The supervisor or foreman is the key man in
industrial accident prevention. His application of
the art of supervision to the
control of worker performance is the factor of
greatest influence in successful accident
prevention.”
Heinrich (1959 )

34. Managerial Factors for
Successful Safety Management
 Commitment to Safety: resources given to safety, safety
program, policies and procedures
 Involvement in Safety: visibility at the worksite,
informal communications with workers, retaining personal
responsibility for safety
 Priority of Safety: work planning and scheduling, safety
practices intrinsic to production
 Leadership Style: decentralisation of power,
decisiveness, transformational leadership
 Interactions : co-operation between workers and
management, informal contact between workers and
management, multiple communication vehicles
 Communication: open door policy by management,
feedback to employees
 Humanistic Management Practices: appreciating
employees, demonstrating concern for employees, health
promotion policies and practices

35. Supervisory Factors for
Successful Safety
Management
 Supportive Supervision: openness on safety
issues, initiating safety discussions, providing
feedback, fairness
 Supervisor Involvement: regular safety meetings
with workers, involvement in safety programs
and training, involvement in inspections and
investigations
 Supervisor Autonomy: supervisory influence in
decision making, supervisory control
 Participative Supervision: participative style,
emphasis on the importance of teamwork,
valuing the workgroup, recognition of safety as a
major part of the job, trust in subordinates

36. Accidents and Supervision
Failures
The following accidents have been identified where supervision may have had an
influence:
 Explosion and Fire at Texaco Refinery, Milford Haven 1994 - During the
major plant upset that preceded the explosion, personnel with supervisory
roles became too involved in helping the operating team to deal with the
symptoms of the problem. They failed to develop a strategic overview of
what was happening, the causes of the observed problems were not
analysed and the response was poorly co-ordinated (HSE 1997).
 Fire at Hickson and Welch, Castleford 1992 - Removal of supervisory roles
in the organisation meant that work planning was spread across a number
of personnel. There was insufficient experience of the task and inadequate
checks. The result was that an unsuitable work method was developed,
which concentrated on avoiding delays not ensuring safety (HSE 1994).
 Piper Alpha Disaster 1988 - The operating company failed to ensure the
contract company’s supervisor was sufficiently competent in the operation
of the permit-to-work system, and did not do enough to maintain sufficient
knowledge of the status of work being carried out on the platform. This
lack of co-ordination and communication meant that the operating teams
did not know which equipment was in a safe state to start (Cullen 1990).
 Explosion at Nobels, Penrhyndeudraeth 1988 - Individuals had been
known to be violating procedures on a regular basis. Failure to control and
discipline meant that two people were killed because they were
somewhere they should not have been when the explosion occurred
(Harris 2003).

37. Whenever I am managing or
supervising others:
 Safety of everyone is my responsibility
 Provide leadership by example and set a high standard to those I
manage or supervise by demonstrating safe behaviors
 Abiding by all rules and procedures
 Actively promoting safety and health
 Acting with integrity when dealing with others
 Communicating clearly the required expectation for safety
performance and the need to always work safely
 Ensure that all standards rules and procedures are followed
 Ensure that personnel are adequately trained for their work and
are provided with safe plant and equipment and information
which might impact their health & safety
 Acknowledge and act upon reported events
 Ensure that all incidents and hazards are reported promptly
thoroughly investigated and preventative actions implemented in
a timely fashion
 Recognise good performance
 Participate actively in all health & safety activities associated
with my position
 Continually challenge myself by asking have I done enough to
ensure the safety and health of my people

38. Safety Leadership
 Lead By Example and Be Consistent
 Always intervene when you see unsafe behaviours
 Provide constructive feedback on un-safe behaviours
 Demonstrate you are able to positively receive an intervention
yourself
 Take the time to actively listen and learn
 Never turn a blind eye – your silence is your consent
 Make the right decisions, not the easy decisions
 Don’t let others compromise your safety
 Make the effort to know and always follow policies and
procedures
 Have the courage to do the right thing
 Do not tolerate unsafe behaviours from anyone
 Take The Time to Interact On Safety Matters
“A leader takes people where they want to go. A
great leader takes people where they don't
necessarily want to go, but ought to be.”
Rosalynn Carter (Wife of Jimmy Carter former US President)

39. Safety Leadership Principles
 Accidents are preventable
 Up-front planning is essential to success
 Leadership must promote active participation,
communication, and coaching
 Roles and responsibilities must be clear
 All personnel are held accountable for actions
 No “miracle” solutions exist
 Safety is a key component of business success
 Leaders “walk the talk”
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to
do nothing."
Edmund Burke, British politician (1729-1797)

40. Remember
There is no work so important
or so urgent that it cannot be
done safely
+
You will achieve the level of
Safety Excellence…
that YOU demonstrate you want
to achieve...

41. Bangladesh Labour Act,
2006 (BLA 2006)
The Bangladesh Labour Act, 2006 (BLA 2006) has some health and
safety regulations but it does not cover all the matters relating to
health and safety at workplaces.
 Scope of application: All establishments, other than a specified list
of exemptions
 Duty holder: Duty holder is in fact the 'employer' in control of the
establishment.
 Health, safety and welfare duties: Establishments employing more
than 50 workers have to set up a 'participation committee.' One of
its functions is to 'improve and maintain safety, occupational health
and working conditions'.

42. Bangladesh Labour Act,
2006 (BLA 2006)
 Enforcement: Inspector can serve an order on an employer in writing
to make specified changes within a specified period of time if any part
of a building or its machinery is 'dangerous to human life or safety.' In
addition, enforcement can take place through prosecution.
 Offences relating to health, safety and welfare: selling of unguarded
machinery, failure to give notice of an accident, a breach causing
death, a breach causing grievous bodily harm and a breach causing
any harm. Punishment can also be enforced for breaching any
obligation.
 Compensation: An 'employer' is liable to pay compensation to an
injured worker or, following a death, to the dependents. The BLA also
sets out that the employer must deposit Tk 1 lakh to the labour court
for a deceased worker as compensation while Tk 1.25 lakh for
'permanent total disability' of a worker.

43. 867 killed, 465 critically injured in last Nine
months at different Occupational Accidents
around the country.--OSHEBD.ORG
“Weak enforcement of exiting labour law (BLA-2006) at
workplaces, poor labour inspections, lack of awareness,
sensitization, health and safety training among workers,
absence of OSH committee at workplaces level, lack of
decent wage and defective industrial relations were some of
the key reasons for growing occupational accidents, workers
rights violations and labour unrests in the country”
Bangladeshi Senario

44. Thank You