Occupational Health and Safety Priorities

The assignment requires determining six key priorities for occupational health and safety in a workplace. These priorities include ensuring management is responsible for creating a safe work environment, conducting regular checks on equipment and machinery, evaluating the progress of safety and health programs, determining the effectiveness of new processes or procedural changes, implementing whistleblower mechanisms, and managing risks. The document also references relevant laws and regulations, such as Ontario's Occupational Health and Safety Act.

Running head: Occupational Health and Safety
Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational Health and Safety 1
Contents
Section A. Define the Problem...............................................................................................................2
Section B. Audience Analysis.................................................................................................................3
Section C. Constraints.............................................................................................................................4
Section D. Determining Priorities............................................................................................................5
References................................................................................................................................................8

Occupational Health and Safety 2
Section A. Define the Problem
I am Thomas King, the lawyer appointed by the ABC Manufacturing company, to
address the case regarding the death of Mr. William Carlson, the compressor testing
inspector of the company.
He was working in the company for five years as a compressor testing inspector of the
air conditioners. He died two years ago, while testing a compressor in the premises of
the company. Our company has formulated training programs in which proper
mechanisms for testing compressors are described and depicted. Also, it is mandatory
for all the inspectors of the company to follow the mechanism designed for testing the
equipment as per its manual.
The company follows the provisions of Occupational Health and Safety Act which
provides the framework for making the workplaces safe and healthy for the human
resources working in the commercial establishments (Ontario Ministry of Labour, 2018).
The company has stated the fact that it had provided proper training, clothes and
warned the employees about the possible hazards due to the nature of work.
During the analysis of the problem, it was found that some of the inspectors including
Carlson had developed certain shortcuts to decrease the time which was required to
test the compressors. Most of them continued to use the shortcut even after the
incidence.

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Section B. Audience Analysis
The interested audience of this case is the directors and management of ABC
Manufacturing Company, Mr. Carlson’s family, the representatives of the Occupational
Health and Safety Department, Ontario and the stakeholders. The objective of the
audience is to analyze whether the company had violated the provisions of the
Occupational Health and Safety Act or if it was the carelessness of the inspectors by
adopting shortcuts for reducing the time taken to test the compressors.
The opponent’s lawyer had argued that if Carlson had violated the rules and regulations
of the Act, it was the responsibility of the company and the stakeholders to know about
the diversions and take suitable actions so that the inspectors follow the regulations in a
proper manner. He further argued that the company is accountable to convince that it
has provided proper training, reinforced proper processes and implemented the
regulatory practices to ensure conformity to proper procedures. The intention of the
audience is to know whether the company has implemented appropriate regulatory
mechanisms to ensure that the staff follows the safety measures on the workplace
(Ferrett, 2015).
According to the section 66 of the Act, the maximum penalties for violating the
provisions of the Act are a fine up to $100000 for an individual and /or up to 12 months
of imprisonment.
Further if a company contravenes the provisions, it is liable to pay $ 15000000 to the
government (Ontario Ministry of Labour, 2017).

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Section C. Constraints
The constraints or roadblocks in examining the case were lack of knowledge of the staff
and the stakeholders regarding the provisions of the Occupation Health and Safety Act.
The main purpose of this act is to safeguard the workers from the threats posed by the
health and safety hazards. It states the duties and responsibilities of the owners of the
workplace and the rights of the workers.
It defines the procedures for managing the workplace hazards and states the penalties
and liabilities in case the rules and regulations are not complied with (Dukpa & Dendup,
2017).
According to O’connor et al. (2014) the workers lack in their knowledge regarding their
right to participate in workplace health and safety. The Joint Health and Safety
Committee is formulated to fulfill the goal of recognizing the hazards and obtaining the
information from and making recommendations to the employer. It also inspects the
work refusals and serious accidents. Moreover, the workers are unaware of the
measures to be taken by them if one of their coworkers or themselves has been injured.
Chambers et al. (2013) suggested that due to unawareness regarding the occupational
health hazards on the workplace, the illiterate workers have adopted the attitude of
acceptance of injuries and accidents as a part of their life.

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Section D. Determining Priorities
Determination of priorities is essential to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths. There
are six main reasons to avoid them. Some of them are:
1. Devastation of human life is ethically unfair.
2. It is the accountability of the management to undertake preliminary safety
methods.
3. Accidents create a hindrance in the efficiency and productivity of the staff.
4. Occupational hazards create a far more social harm.
5. The adoption of safety techniques can decrease the occupational injuries.
So, the priorities related to the issues pertaining to the Occupational Health and
Safety Act are as follows:
1. Identification of the existence of hazards: The first and foremost priority should
be that the Company should organize workplace inspections and surprise visits
from time to time. Audits should be conducted in the premises of the company to
assess whether adequate measures have been adopted by the company to
safeguard its workers from possible hazards due to nature of work
2. Determination of the company’s rules and regulations: The next priority should be
that the management must ensure that the applicable rules and regulations are
well complied with. It should be assessed whether the company is complying
with the applicable rules and regulations stated in this behalf according to the act.

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The vigilance team must inspect whether Acid Fire Extinguishers are put on
places where they are easily accessible (Friis, 2015).
3. Determination of the safety and health conditions of the workplace: The third
priority should be the accountability of the organization to train its employees
regarding the health and safety rules to be followed at the workplace. As all the
industries are confronted by the health and safety issues which have an adverse
impact on then workforce and work place. It is mandatory for the management to
identify the possible hazards at the work place and take all the necessary
provisions for safeguarding the health of the employees.
The working of the equipment such as first aid alarms should be analyzed by
them. The fire power tools and gas cylinder respirators are installed at easily
accessible places by the management or not should also be evaluated by them.
The employees should be trained and updated regarding the use and importance
of the equipment (Ontario Ministry of Labour, 2018).
4. Determine the safe condition of equipment and machinery: The forth priority
should be that the management must ensure that the equipment and machinery
are in a safe condition to work upon. Proper and regular checks should be
conducted by the supervisors or middle level management to ensure that the
equipment and machinery does not pose any hazard to the health and safety of
the workers (Ghani, 2015).
The workers should be properly trained about the malfunctioning and the
possible hazards posed by the machinery and equipment to their occupational

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health and safety. A whistleblower mechanism should be introduced so that they
are able to redress their problems regarding the occupational health and safety.
5. Evaluation of the progress regarding safety and health issues and risk
management systems: The fifth priority should be that the progress regarding the
implementation of the health and safety program and the risk management
systems should be evaluated and reported by the representatives of the Joint
Health and Safety Committee.
Moreover, the committee should ensure that the rules and regulations are
complied with. The non –compliance should be strictly dealt with and the
concerned employees should be strictly penalized (Calixto, 2015).
6. Determination of the effectiveness of new processes or procedural changes: The
sixth priority is that the vigilance committee should evaluate the effectiveness of
the implementation of the new processes and mechanism at the premises of the
organization.
The committee should ensure that the new processes and mechanisms are put
in place and they must have a positive impact on the occupational health and
safety. In case of any inefficiency, the committee should ensure that the newly
introduced practices are well put in place and are strictly followed by the workers
and the management (Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety,
2018).

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References
Calixto, E. (2015). Safety Science: Methods to Prevent Incidents and Worker Health
Damage at the Workplace. Bentham Science Publishers.
Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety (2018, February, 23). What are
examples of responsibilities of workers? Retrieved February 24, 2018 from
http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/hsprograms/basic.html
Chambers, A. Mustard, C.A., Breslin, C., Holness, L. & Nichol, K. (2013).Evaluating the
implementation of health and safety innovations under a regulatory context: A
collective case study of Ontario’s safer needle regulation. Implementation
Science, 8(2013).
Dukpa, D. P. & Dendup, P. (2017). Occupational Health and Safety practices and
challenges in the construction industry of Bhutan: a situation analysis.
International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications, 7 (10), 153-162.
Ferrett, Ed (2015) .Health and Safety at Work Revision Guide: For the NEBOSH
National General Certificate in Occupational Health and Safety. Routledge.
Friis, R.H. (2015). Occupational Health and Safety for the 21st Century. Jones & Bartlett
Publishers.
Ghani, M.U. (2015). Occupational Health and Safety Management System.
Omniscriptum Gmbh & Company Kg.

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O’Connor, T., Flynn, M., Weinstock, D. & Zanoni , J.(2014) Occupational Safety and
Health Education and Training for Underserved Populations. HHS Public Access,
24(1), 83–106.
Ontario Ministry of Labour (2017). Occupational Health and Safety in Ontario : 2015-16
Annual Report. ? Retrieved February 24, 2018 from
https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/pubs/report/
Ontario Ministry of Labour (2013). The Occupational Health and Safety Act: FAQs.
Retrieved February 24, 2018 from
https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/faqs/ohsa.php
Ontario Ministry of Labour (2018). Workplace fatalities. Retrieved February 24, 2018
from https://www.labour.gov.on.ca/english/hs/fatalities.php