Workplace Safety and Employee Well-being

This assignment delves into the critical relationship between workplace safety, risk management, and employee well-being. It emphasizes how organizations can implement health and safety protocols to minimize risks and hazards, thereby contributing to a positive work environment. The importance of managing workplace stress is also highlighted, as high stress levels can negatively impact productivity and overall organizational success.

Running head: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Principles and Practice of Risk Assessment
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

1PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
WSH legal requirements (Singapore based)....................................................................................3
Benefits............................................................................................................................................4
Effective Risk Management............................................................................................................5
Recommended risk assessment process/ action required................................................................6
Quantitative vs. qualitative..............................................................................................................7
Strengths of chosen risk assessment................................................................................................8
Weakness of chosen risk assessment...............................................................................................8
Communication................................................................................................................................9
Verbal, written, graphic...............................................................................................................9
Training..........................................................................................................................................10
Correct Equipment and tools.........................................................................................................10
Safety Promotion...........................................................................................................................10
Conclusion (Wellbeing).................................................................................................................11
Reference.......................................................................................................................................12

2PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Introduction
The aim of the current study is to prepare a risk assessment plan for the Eastman
Chemical Company. This is one of the major fortune 500 companies that is based in US, which
mainly specializes in providing quality chemicals that are used in all types of commercial
purposes. They also provide fibers that are needed for the everyday activity. The company has
currently has more 40 manufacturing units in all the major nations across the globe. The risk
assessment plan of the organization will be based upon its internal business environment. It will
therefore help to ensure all the employees within the organization are able to work in health and
safety environment.
The risk assessment plan will mainly focus upon 5 type of hazardous activities which are as
follows:
1. Stress at work: Stress is considered to be one of the most common cause of mental illness
among workers in the internal business environment. Nearly 1 million workers leave
from their jobs due to the effect of occupational stress (Siegrist 2016).
2. Slips, trips and falls: This type of risk is mainly common among employees doing heavy
physical activities that involves high level of hazards. Nearly 40% of the injuries that
occurred in workplace are mainly due to slip, trips and fall.
3. Fire: The fire safety protocols are required to protect all assets of the organization.
Having fire safety insurance is highly essential in this context.
4. Confined space: The confined space within the workplace can increase the hazard of
toxic atmosphere that can compromise upon the health and safety level of the workers.

3PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Nearly 50% of all the diseases that are caused due to unhealthy workplace atmosphere are
due to working within a confined space (Brum 2016).
5. Fall from height: The unsafety work stations within the workplace can result in
accidents like fall from height. This is mainly caused due to the absence of standard work
place plan that can increase the risks of falling.
The business environment within the chemical manufacturing unit is considered to have
high levels of riskthat is caused due to the hazardous substance that are being involved in the
workplace.
WSH legal requirements (Singapore based)
It is one of the major legal duty of the organization is to provide high levels of safe and
healthy environment. This can be achieved by identifying all the major hazards that are
associated with the work profile of every organization. The Workplace Safety and Health Act
2006 was implemented by the government in Singapore that will help in providing maximum
possible occupational safety that is needed in the context of providing safety at the workplace
(Ministry of Manpower Singapore 2018). This act can be implemented in all types of workplaces
and it is essential for all the organizations in Singapore to the follow the protocol of this act to
ensure minimum legal risks are involved. It will also help to ensure high workplace reputation.
According to the framework of the following principles are developed:
 Reduce the chance of occurring the source by identifying its original source.
 The industry needs to take full responsibility and the ownership of all types of risks that
will help to minimize the same.

4PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
 Companies have to pay higher penalty for any types of accidents that will occur due to
the failure of safety management (Ministry of Manpower Singapore 2018).
In the given context, the Work Injury Compensation Actwas implemented to ensure
that all the employees within the organization get proper advantage and compensatory funds
for the accidents that are caused due to the mismanagement of the standard safety protocols
(Ministry of Manpower Singapore 2018). The major types of injuries that occur within the
workplace includes that from fire outbreak, Slips, trips and fall from heights. In the context
of the Chemical industry, the Fire Safety Act is highly essential that are implemented by the
Singapore Civil Defense Force. All the workplaces, which have high risk of catching up
with fire due to the use of flammable materials need to have special protocol for the fire
safety measures. This will help them to get the fire safety license (Ministry of Manpower
Singapore 2018).
Benefits
According toBahr (2014), due to the involvement of high levels of risks and hazards
within the workplace can be the causes for high levels stress within the employees. For a
chemical industry like that of Eastman, the major issues at the work place is due to the high
levels of risks and chemical hazards that are generally involved at the workplace. The health and
safety environment with the workplace is therefore essential to improve the motivation levels
and encourage the workers to take the extra efforts.
Fernández-Muñizet al.(2014), have added in the context that with the introduction of the
safety protocols in the forms of work place safety management, it is possible to increase the level

5PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
of awareness among the employees. The workplace reputation within an organization is also
dependent upon the health and safety procedures that are being applied.
Effective Risk Management
It is important to follow certain fixed steps for implementing effective risk
management plan. In the context of the Eastman Chemical company it essential to implement the
safety protocol depending upon the particular hazards that are involved within the respective
workplace.
 The initial step of the risk management plan is to implement a definite framework for
assessing all the risks. Proper mapping process can also be implemented that will help in
the purpose of identifying all the hazard and in particular respect the chemical company.
The company also need to held counseling sessions with every group of employees which
will help them to identify all the major risks and issues that are confronted at the
workplace. It is also possible to understand the mental health condition of the patient
thereby predicting the cause of stress at workplace (Hopkin 2017)
 The company need to assign efficient risk managers, who are currently having high level
of experience at the job profile of chemical industry. It is thereby possible to predict all
forms of adverse situations that can be encountered within the manufacturing unit of
Eastman Chemicals. The risk manager also need to propose a wide range of solutions that
can be implemented on the basis of the current workplace scenario.
 After identification of the discs with the help of proper planning and evaluation it is
important to properly define the same. This will help to ensure that the root cause of
hazardous activities.

6PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
 In the following step it is important to classify all the risks on the basis of threat levels.
For example, in the context of the chemical industry the threat of fire unconfined space is
high compared to that of fall from height. The stress at work is also high due to the fact
that all the employees have to work under high critical conditions.
 As the level of threat for each hazards are classified it is necessary to perceive the same.
The context of the chemical industry the main focus of safety protocols should be upon
fire control act. It is also essential to held regular mental counselling sessions, which are
needed to deal with high level of workplace stress.
 The management also need to keep a proper record of all the risk incident that occurred
within the organization. This record will help to provide detailed information for
implementation of future safety protocols (Drennan et al. 2014).
 The risk assessment process need to be done on regular time interval. This will help to
ensure that all the heavy machineries that are used in the manufacturing unit are properly
maintained.
With the help of this risk management plan, it is possible for the Eastman Chemical company
to get proper information relevant to high level of hazards that are involved within the
workplace.
Recommended risk assessment process/ action required
The threats at the workplace of Eastman chemical company can be accessed with the help
of a risk assessment template. This will help in the natters of implementimng intervenrtion
techniques. This will encompass all potential hazard that can compromise upon the safety level

7PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
of the employees. Proper documentation in the forms of electromic databases are kept of all the
safety protocols are required that will help in the purpose of providing training to the Employees.
Types of Risks Level of
Threats
Proper Preventive
Measures
/Recommendations
Duty of the
Employees
Stress at work Medium Mental Couselling sessions
with individual employees
to help them inherit the
skills of time management
and the ways to deal with
the pressure at the
workplace
Raise the personal
issues to the
managememt that
they encounter at the
workplace due to lack
of proper risk
assessmemt tools
Slips, trips and falls Medium Better level of
infrastructure during the
constution of
manufacturing unit
Act with cautious
while carrying out
risky activities.
Fire High Fire safet infrastructure that
includes installing of fire
extinguishers and
developiong of the proper
fire safety exist route. The
company also needs to have
Get proper training
for the acting swiftly
during the time of fire
emergency. Also act
with cautious while
dealing with all tyoes

8PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
fire insurance that will help
in the process of damage
recovery.
of volatotile
substances.
Confined Space Low Have proper ventellation at
the workplace
Fall from Height Low Use of proper quality
matrials while developing
infrastructure
Risk assessmemnt chart for Eastman Chemical
Recommendations:
 Development of infrastructure which will reduce the chances of slips, trips and
falls within the manufacturing units such as using chips for increasing the friction
of the pavement surfaces.
 Installation of fire extinguishers at each and every entry and exit point.
Additionally development of fire insurance policies for providing accidental
coverage can help in coping up with aftermaths.
 The site should be properly ventiliated to reduce the risk of closed space disasters
such as suffocation due to leakage of poisonous gases.
Quantitative vs. qualitative

9PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
As per the research work of McNeil et al. (2015), it is essential for an organization to
analyses both quantitative and qualitative aspect of the risk management plan. In the respect of
qualitative method, it is possible to describe theoretical aspect of each risks and hazards. In this
context the risk assessment can be described as a process of combining all the relevant evidences
and information that are collected from respective practical event. In this process the risk is
characterized and represented mainly in the form of non-numerical data (Grote 2015).
On the other hand, in quantitative method of risk analysis, it is essential to collect to
categories the risk and hazard depending upon their chances of occurring. For example, in the
context of the chemical industry the risk of chemical contamination is much higher compared to
that of workplace stress. It essentially uses numerical data to analyses the risk involved within an
environment.
For the management of Eastman Chemical company, it is essential to implement the
qualitative procedure in order to identify the threat level of each risk and hazards. This will be
possible by calculating the probability of occurring of each risks. On the other hand, the
qualitative method will help to identify proper intervention measures for each types of risks. For
example, in case of fire risk assessment, the qualitative procedures will help to ensure that all the
equipment that are needed to deal with fire outbreak situations are kept as basic infrastructure
resource of the company. This can include Fire extinguisher machine and alternative exit route
for fire escape.
Strengths of chosen risk assessment

10PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
The major strength of the existing risk assessment plan of the Eastman Chemical company
includes the following.
 The company is considering the major legal procedures of workplace safety that include
the fire safety protocol and Work Injury Compensation act
 The risk assessment plan also includes identifying the root cause of all the hazards.
 Proper training procedures are also included within the plan that will ensure that the
enoployees are able to cope up with the emergency situations such as using personal
protective equipments effectively, isolating people from the hazard during emergency
situations such as fire. In this regard , fire management training can be provided to the
workers.
 Both quantitative and qualitative approach of risk assessment will help to maximize the
opportunity of risk planning by highlighting the areas where there are loopholes such as
infrasrutural deficit, improperly working fire extinguishers.
 The past records of accidents within the site of work can be used for framing of future
safety directives which helps in the implementation of best practice methods witin the
construction sites.
Weakness of chosen risk assessment
Following on the weakness of the existing risk assessment plan
 It will be highly challenging for the risk Manager to categories each and every form of
hazard activities.
 Due to the fast changing scenario at the workplace it will be highly challenging for the
management of the Eastman chemical to bring about modification in the safety protocols.

11PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
 As the total number of employees within the organization increases, it will not be
possible for the management to include all the workers within the existing safety
protocols.
Communication
Communication is believed to be one of the essential component of implementing
effective risk assessment plan in the context of the Eastman Chemical company. The
management need to implement essential communication strategy that is necessary in the context
of implementing proper culture of safety (Drennanet al. 2014). The management need to held
regular training and discussion session with the employees, which will help them to share
important thoughts and information related to risk and hazardous activities. Hence, it will be
possible to increase the level of awareness of every worker that will help them to effectively
imply the safety protocols (Radawski et al. 2015).
Verbal, written, graphic
Effective verbal form of communication with the employees in the form of team
meetings can help to highlight about the issues related to health and safety hazards. Verbal
communication can also be conducted in virtual meetings, where the employees will get the
opportunity to directly interact with higher authority (Brum 2016). It is essential to share
accurate information through the form of verbal communication, which can thereby minimise the
chance of all forms of misunderstanding or misconception that can compromise upon the health
and safety procedures (Bahr 2014).
It is also important to note that verbal form of communication are considered to be one of
the effective ways that can help in establishing workplace safety culture.

12PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
Written information in the form of proper document also essential. This can be presented
as a book for health and safety protocols and are provided to every group of employees.
Additionally, graphical representation are also essential to ensure that all the employees
understand the practical application of Health and safety guidelines (Fernández-Muñiz et al.
2016).
Training
It is highly essential for the management of Eastman chemical to provide health and
safety training for the working staff. The main content of the training will focus upon providing
ideas of emergency protocols that are needed to be followed during the time of crisis. For
example, in case of fire breakout employees need to have the basic training for evacuation. As
the company involves using of harsh raw materials for manufacturing chemicals, it is essential
for the employees to have proper level of knowledge about the ways to handle the same and
ensure minimum chance of accident (Nasirzadehet al. 2014).
Correct Equipment and tools
Proper equipment that include safety mask and gloves are highly essential to ensure that
the workers are not directly exposed to harmful chemicals in the process of manufacturing.
Proper first aid equipment are also needed for all types of emergency and accidental situations.
Safety Promotion

13PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
The company needs to regular safety promotion program and workshop, which can also
be held in the form of team meetings and group discussions. In this type of program it is possible
to raise important issues related to health and safety protocols. The employees can also be given
proper practical training so that they can efficiently during the time of crisis (Zhao and Lucas
2015).
Employees can also be given mental counselling sessions, which can help them to deal
with high level of workplace stress. As the workers are able to perform efficiently under critical
situation, the chance of risk automatically reduces (McNeil et al. 2015).
Conclusion (Wellbeing)
The risk of fire outbreak is considered to be the highest in a context of workplace of
Eastman chemicals. There is also major risk of confined space, where the employees have the
risk of chemical contamination. All these risk and hazard situations raises the chance of
workplace stress. The level of employee well-being therefore depends upon the ability of the
organisation to promote health and safety protocols. It is also essential for the employees to
manage high level of workplace stress, which can help them to provide high level of
organisational productivity.

14PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
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15PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE OF RISK ASSESSMENT
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