In the book “safety and environmental management”, the author, Daniel Della-Giustina describes the principle responsibilities of safety environmental management team, and its policy and regulatory processes. The author also endeavors to discuss the benefits of employees’ environmental management as well as its significance role to an organization. Della-Giustina begins by explaining that safety and body fitness are factors of prime priority at workplace. As he introduces his work, Daniel emphasizes that safety is a factor of paramount importance to all organizations, and consents that every organization should provide secure and conducive working environment.
The target of the author is to show the various bodies how the can achieve a better and healthy working environment, hence enabling high production in the organizations. Environmental management involves several bodies which are endowed with the responsibility of ensuring workers are not exposed to risky working conditions. The responsibility of ensuring good working conditions involves external policy makers, the organization and the employees.
In maintaining safe and conducive working environment, the author observes that policies and regulations should be amended occasionally, so as to meet the newly emerging challenges brought about by the upcoming contemporary technologies. The author point out that the emerging technological developments have their distinct effects, implying that occupational safety and health organization have got the responsibility of amending the existing environmental policies or formulating new ones to meet these challenges. Significance of environmental policy and regulations
Environmental policies and regulation are important in many ways. They are beneficial to both inpidual workers and the organization. According to the Daniel’s texts, safety issues incorporate the tools and equipment used in the accomplishment of a particular duty. This means that safety is a factor in the production and manufacturing process. Thus, environmental policies and regulations enable achieving higher level of productivity. Furthermore, it eradicates the possibilities of halting production due shortages of workforce, helps to maintain higher efficiency, minimizes time and material wastage together with losses of employee’s salaries/ wages.
Formulation structure of environmental policy and regulations
Della-Giustina’s work shows that environmental policies and regulations which guide are geared towards attaining a conducive working environment are enacted and implemented in a up-to-down system. Environmental policies and regulations are established in accordance to the set standards of the occupational safety and health administration body. This body is obliged to carry out investigation on health hazards which may affect the workers, and make the necessary corrective recommendation measures which organizations should take. This is made possible through investigation of the organization’s records or accounts.
A number of accounts are taken into consideration during the probing process. However, each of the probing depends on the occupational situation. The main records which are investigated include the medical accounts, certifications and several protection and prevention codes put in place. The occupational safety and health administration body is the overall overseer and regulator of the other bodies working under it. It ensures that employers of various corporations adhere to the set environmental standards that help to improve workers’ protection against injuries or incidents that may lead to deprivation of their lives.
Apart from the Occupational safety and health administration organization, each private and public corporation is obliged to formulate its own policy and regulations to provide better working environment. Despite the fact that these policies are set by the organizations, they must be evaluated by the OSHA authorities to ensure that they are not against any of the regulatory codes. Though the mandate of establishing the working environmental policies might be seen as an obligation for the OSHA organization, it’s perceived that much of the policies are well generated by the corporation’s administration.
Therefore, the OSHA is not the sole provider of the policies and regulations that are applied in the protection and prevention of worker from being exposed to hazardous working environments. The OSHA thus acts to guide and mentor the other organization on the issues concerned with reduction of risks in workplaces. The particular organizations are mandated to implement its policies and regulations through customizing of the OSHA regulatory policies to best the best practices of saving lives in the workplace (Della-Giustina, 2007).
Chemical policy and regulations
Chemical manufacture and application have been advanced at very high rate. These advancement and increases in the production of the various chemical is to drive development in the different industries. Chemicals are needed for the manufacture of new products used in the transportation, agriculture, construction among others. Despite the enormous benefits which are generated from the use of these chemical, there are equally or even more detrimental effects which are generated by the manufacture and usage of such products. A chemical substance is any material that reacts when it comes into contact with another one forming a new product.
These materials are made available in all areas in workplaces as raw materials or as pollutants. Hazardous Chemical materials have huge potential of causing severe injuries, or even depriving lives of employees. As these materials have become the most common substances and also the most dangerous in many industries, this has drawn the attention of OSHA administration and the management team of many organizations. The policies and regulation on these materials are essential to ensuring the safety of employees not only within their workplaces but also in any other place they may be.
Practices of ensuring workers’ safety
According to Daniel, safety for workers is a complex and complicated process that integrate many elements of management and leadership responsibility. First and foremost, essential policies and regulations must be formulated to act as guiding principles to inpiduals working on a particular environment. Policies and regulations that are formulated are mainly meant to assist and help the employees but not the administration team or the policymakers. Then, the best way in ensuring change and improvement is observed in workplace as well as off workplaces is by making the information available to the users.
Like in many other areas, access to information by workers is very crucial in enhancing safety awareness. However, this begins with the people at the high authorities whom must show high coordination. The OSHA authority should work closely with companies to unveil any disturbing environmental problem that a particular organization or industry might be facing. Proper coordination between the inpiduals at different levels in the hierarchy of environmental checks is also necessary for the transfer of information from the source to the designated audience. Thus, information from policymakers flow smoothly down through the organization’s management team to the junior employees of the organization (Della-Giustina, 2007).
Empowering workers for safety concern
The success of safety practices in an organization depends on how the policy and regulations are in practice. Most members of the management group have developed a tendency of dictating what the employees ought to do. As a result of this, there is low rate of change in the reduction of the occurrence of accidents. It’s explained that the most effective methods of reducing risk in organization in workplaces concerning hazardous substance is through empowering the inpiduals. This is a more involving activity albeit being much fruitful or advantageous.
In the struggle for better working environment, the management group shoulders the duty of training the employees on safety matters. Training of the employees is crucial factor in combating the problem of chemical hazards. Training entails transferring of the knowledge and skills of handling, labeling and storing of hazards materials from the management levels to the employees of lower ranks. Furthermore, employees requires to gain knowledge on the ways the can prevent and also respond to different situations in time of the occurrence of different chemical hazards at different condition such as locked or confined places.
Training therefore is a process of empowering the employees by imparting the essential knowledge and skills necessary for ensuring safe working conditions. The acquired knowledge and skills are applied both at workplaces as well as at the residential places.
Conclusion
The successful improvement and enhancement of safe working environment appears to lies within the management level. The management group has several obligations that it should undertake in the process to the realization of successful implementation of healthy working conditions. Generally, the best way in dealing with the problem of unsafe working conditions is not by penalizing the perpetrators of set standards, but through empowering those at risk through training them to acquire the knowledge and skills that would enable them to determine circumstances a potential risky substance, situation, the best way of respond to the danger.
It’s thus believed that the safety and security of the workers in organizations is wholly within the hands of the management team, and incidents of chemical hazards are definitely preventable through communication, information access and training process.
Reference:
Della-Giustina, D. (2007). Safety and Environmental Management” Government Institutes