Safety and Risk Management at Work Places

This article discusses the importance of safety and risk management in workplaces, citing a case example of a construction company in Australia that was fined for poor safety management and lack of a risk management system. The article highlights the need for compliance with Work Health and Safety laws and regulations, and suggests measures that should have been undertaken to prevent the incident. It also outlines steps that a safety officer can take to address such issues. Subject: Workplace Safety and Risk Management. Course Code: N/A. Course Name: N/A. College/University: N/A.

Running head: SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 1
Safety and Risk Management at Work Places
[Name]
[Institution]
[Date]

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Executive summary
Lack of a risk management and safety management system in Australia is criminally
culpable and prosecutable under the Work Health and Safety laws and regulations. A case
example is one of a Canberra Construction Corporation that was found guilty of violating and
breaching work place safety processes and procedures by an industrial court. Lorraine Walker,
the court magistrate found Kenoss Contractors company guilty of failing to put into place
measures to guarantee safety of its workers and visitors. This was after Michael Booth a truck
driver who had gone to deliver some gravel-type load material at the company’s fenced off
compound adjacent to a road resurfacing project being undertaken by the company was
electrocuted by low-slung power lines and died.
It was realized that the company safety officer was the son of the general manager and he
was not qualified for the job. The company therefore ought to have hired a competent and
qualified safety officer to ensure that the prescribed safety measures and regulations under the
Work Health and Safety laws were adhered to. The company through its officers should have
sensitized the workers at the compound and visitors on the underling risks and hazards posed by
the compound due to the poor access of the work site and lack of proper signage and spotters to
caution the workers and visitors of the low-slung live power lines. It was therefore important for
the company to put into place measures to assess and manage safety and health risks to prevent
cases of death and injuries.

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Contents
Executive summary.............................................................................................................2
Introduction..........................................................................................................................4
Discussion............................................................................................................................4
The Work Place, the Hazards and the Preventive Measures...................................4
How Safe Work Resolved the Issue........................................................................6
Safety and Risk Management Measures that Should Have Been Undertaken........7
Steps I Would Take to Address the Issue as the Safety Officer..............................9
Conclusion.........................................................................................................................10
References..........................................................................................................................11

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Introduction
Workplace safety and risk management is an important aspect of a workplace
environment management. Failure to comply with this aspect is highly prosecutable and
punishable under the Work Health and Safety laws. Under section twenty seven of the Work
Health and Safety laws, officers in a business undertaking have an obligation to ensure that the
business complies with the law (Gunningham & Sinclair, 2017). An officer, in this case, must
wield substantial influence and control of power in the business undertaking so that he/she can
be in a position to make decisions that ensures compliance with the Work Health and Safety
laws.
A Canberra construction corporation was fined $ 1.1 million for poor safety management
and lack of a risks management system. Kenoss Contractors Company was found guilty by the
ACT industrial court of workplace safety breaches that led to the death of Michael Booth. Booth
who was a subcontractor had gone to deliver some load of gravel type material to a fenced off
compound adjacent to a road resurfacing project under Kenoss Contractors Company (The
Canberra Times, 2015). The court found the company to be in contravention of section 27 of the
Work Health and Safety Laws and regulations.
Discussion
The Work Place, the Hazards and the Preventive Measures
The general manager breached the principle of due diligence when he appointed his
unqualified son as the company's safety officer. The incompetent son was complacent to the
roles and duties of a safety officer leading to failure to instigate the necessary steps as stipulated

SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 5
in section 27(5) of the Work Health and Safety laws (O'Neill & Wolfe, 2014). The safety officer
ought to have ensured that; the company is in compliance with the WHS laws, is up to date with
the operation activities taking place at the company's fenced off compound adjacent to the road
resurfacing project and the hazards and risks associated with those operations (Ellen, Kosny,
Ståhl, OHagan, Redgrift, Sanford & Mahood, 2016). The officer should have then mobilized the
necessary resources to ensure minimization or elimination of these risks and hazards.
The compound gates had no locks and piles of materials and piping were stored there. At
a closer look, the compound appeared more of a dumping site than a storage facility. And
although the company employees had been warned of the underlying risks and safety threats
posed by the state of the compound, visitors such as Booth who had visited the compound
thirteen times on behalf of his trucking company had not been notified of these risks and dangers
(ABC News, 2015).
The industrial court through the court magistrate Lorraine Walker pronounced Kenoss
contractors guilty of breaching the workplace safety guidelines as outlined in the work health
safety laws. There were no safety signs around the compound or flags to warn truck drivers like
Booth of the low-slung live power lines. Booth was electrocuted by an electric arc after his truck
either touched or came close to the loosely hanging power lines (Enhance Solutions, 2015).
The possibility of an occurrence of injuries or death to users of the site was not only
foreseeable due to the lack of signs and spotters but also due to the poor access to the work site.
The power lines were still turned on as the work went on in the compound. The management of
the contract site was also found to be wanting with serious questions being raised on the
competency and integrity of the safety officer of the company (ABC News, 2015).

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Empowerment of the company's senior executives was cast into aspersions when the former
project manager of Kenoss Contractors Company was found not to be qualified to be termed as
an officer due to lack of influence and control in the company's activities and decision making
process.
Lorraine Walker found Kenoss contractors guilty of ignorance as the workplace safety
risks at the compound were well known by the company and it only required simple and easily
affordable solutions to eliminate them. However, the management failure to rectify the situation
led to the death of Michael Booth. The corporate culture of the company was also found to be
poor and morally unacceptable as the safety officer was found to be closely related to the general
manager and highly incompetent in his role. The organizations' approach to safety was not
systematic and lacked documentation (Enhance Solutions, 2015).
How Safe Work Resolved the Issue
Safe Work Australia is a statutory body that oversees the development of a national
policy geared towards the improvement of the workplace safety and health and offers guidance
on employees or workers compensation in case of an injury or occurrence of death at the
workplace due to negligence and failure of an organization to implement fully the work safety
and health laws in Australia (Abubakar, 2015). The body leads in the drafting of workplace
health and safety requirements for businesses in Australia and delivers these requirements inform
of acts and regulations. The Acts stipulates the legal mandate of the business owners as the
employers while the regulations outline the standards to be met on specific risks and dangers. In
the policy also, the regulating agencies responsible for administering the workplace health and
safety laws are defined.

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Through the hefty financial penalty prescribed by Safe Work Australia, a strong message
was conveyed to employers and companies violating the workplace safety and health laws in the
country. Specifically, a strong warning was sent to the industry players on the dangers of taking
lightly the workplace safety requirements such as a workplace environment with loose overhead
live power lines and poor safety systems. The ruling made by the industrial court magistrate
based on the laws outlined in the workplace health and safety laws provided precedence for
future cases similar to that of Kenoss contactors and Michael Booth incident (The Canberra
Times, 2015).
Safety and Risk Management Measures that Should Have Been Undertaken
A safe and healthy work environment is not only important for the purposes of keeping
employees safe but also in meeting the set laws and regulations (Bailey, Dollard & Richards,
2015). A set of precautionary measures ought to have been undertaken to prevent this incident
from happening. First, the power supply at the compound should have been switched off at the
entire working hours of the day. This would prevent cases of electrocution due to
electromagnetic effect or direct contact with live cables. Alternatively, proper and visible signage
or flags should have been erected at strategically designated points around the compound
signaling to workers and visitors the presence of live hanging power lines (Glendon & Clarke,
2015).
Secondly, the access to the worksite compound ought to have been modified with proper
planning of the compound space and the items and materials in there being done in a
systematically structured approach. Regulatory, hazard and emergency information signs should
have been erected close at the entry points. A workplace risk assessment procedure should have

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been carried at the compound to assess the level of disaster management and preparedness in
case of an occurrence of a risk (Bahn, 2013).
Employees should be trained on how to offer first aid services and provided with stations
to do that when an emergency comes up. First aid kits should be provided around the workplace
environments where injuries and emergencies are most likely to happen. If Booth had been
offered first aid services, maybe he would have been saved and taken to the nearby hospital.
Vehicles being ushered in at entry points of the compounds should have been inspected to make
sure that they have the requisite first aid toolkits.
The company should have dismissed the safety officer of the company and hired a
qualified officer in that capacity. With signs of impending risks and hazards glaring at the
company workers and visitors, the safety officer should have taken the necessary steps to
mitigate and prevent the risks from happening. It is the role of the safety officer of any company
to ensure that the organization complies with the requirements of the work health and safety laws
(Biggs & Biggs, 2013). The failure of the company's safety officer to ensure that Kenoss
Contractors Company complies with these laws should have signaled incompetence to the
company senior management and the officer dismissed and replaced with a qualified competent
person.
When the incident occurred, Kenoss Contractors should have notified the territory
regulator instead of tampering with the attendance record of Michael Booth. This was found to
be criminally culpable on the part of the company as it was interfering with the investigations
being carried out by the authorities.

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Steps I Would Take to Address the Issue as the Safety Officer
There are two levels of safety management in an organization or business according to
work health and safety laws. Safety at the workplace may be supervised by the "Person in
Control of a Business Undertaking" (PCBU) or the directors of a company (Hale & Borys,
2013). If I was in charge of the safety systems at Kenoss Contractors Company, I would institute
the following measures to address the problem:
 First I would see to it that a provisionary budget is set aside to ensure that the cost
of maintaining a safe working environment and structures is met.
 The officers at the company are empowered and given full mandate when
handling workplace health and safety issues. The project manager will be given
more power and privileges to ensure he carries out his mandate effectively and
efficiently.
 A risk assessment exercise is undertaken and the risks associated with the
activities at the workplace compound minimized or completely eliminated (Bahn,
2013).
 I would see to it that all resident workers and visitors are provided with the
requisite instructions and information on how to keep off from danger zones and
how to offer first aid services to the injured.
 I would also establish a committee to handle investigations on any workplace
safety and health incident and the findings of the investigation results documented
for future reference in the process of continuous safety management practice
(Friend & Kohn, 2018).

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I would also institute measures to minimize risks in cases where the entire risk cannot be
eliminated. I would oversee the implementation of the work health and safety policy in the
company while as well documenting all the processes and procedures undertaken in the
implementation process.
Conclusion
Work Health and Safety management in any business undertaking or organization is not a
question of compromise. The industrial court in Australia affirmed this by penalizing the Kenoss
Contractors Company after it was found guilty of contravening the provisions of the Work
Health and Safety laws. The death of Michael Booth would have been avoided if only the
company leadership had done things according to the law. The general manager should have
hired a competent and qualified person for the position of a safety officer instead of his own son.
A competent officer would have made decisions and put into place measures to ensure that the
company complies with the Work Health and Safety laws (Bahr, 2014).
After Booth's incident, the company should have run a risk and safety assessment
exercise to identify and minimize or completely eliminate the risks and hazards underlying at the
company's workplace (Zhang, Teizer, Eastman, & Venugopal, 2013). An overhaul of the overall
top leadership was a necessary precaution and immediate replacement of the dismissed persons
with qualified, competent and ethically upright officers required. The officers at the senior
management level should have been given enough power to enable them to make decisions that
relate to the safety and health of themselves and the other workers.

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References
ABC News. (2015). Canberra construction company fined $1.1 million over death of truck
driver. Available from: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-19/construction-company-
fined-1-million-over-workplace-death/6708032
Abubakar, U. (2015). An overview of the occupational safety and health systems of Nigeria, UK,
USA, Australia and China: Nigeria being the reference case study. American Journal of
Educational Research, 3(11), 1350-1358.
Bahn, S. (2013). Workplace hazard identification and management: The case of an underground
mining operation. Safety science, 57, 129-137.
Bahr, N. (2014). System Safety Engineering and Risk Assessment (2nd ed., p. 38). Boca Raton:
CRC Press.
Bailey, T. S., Dollard, M. F., & Richards, P. A. (2015). A national standard for psychosocial
safety climate (PSC): PSC 41 as the benchmark for low risk of job strain and depressive
symptoms. Journal of occupational health psychology, 20(1), 15.
Biggs, H. C., & Biggs, S. E. (2013). Interlocked projects in safety competency and safety
effectiveness indicators in the construction sector. Safety science, 52, 37-42.
Ellen, M., Kosny, A., Ståhl, C., OHagan, F., Redgrift, L., Sanford, S., ... & Mahood, Q. (2016).
Systematic review of qualitative literature on occupational health and safety legislation
and regulatory enforcement planning and implementation. Scandinavian journal of work,
environment and health, 42(1).

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Enhance Solutions. (2015). Poor safety culture and lack of systems lead to fatality. Available
from: http://www.enhancesolutions.com.au/blog/poor-safety-culture-and-lack-of-
systems-lead-to-fatality
Friend, M., & Kohn, J. (2018). Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health (7th ed., pp.
82-108). Lanham: Bernan Press.
Glendon, A., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human Safety and Risk Management (3rd ed., p. 40). Boca
Raton: CRC Press.
Gunningham, N., & Sinclair, D. (2017). Leaders & laggards (1st ed., p. 224 pages). London:
Routledge.
Hale, A., & Borys, D. (2013). Working to rule or working safely? Part 2: The management of
safety rules and procedures. Safety science, 55, 222-231.
O'Neill, S., & Wolfe, K. (2014). Officers' Due Diligence: Is Work Health and Safety an
Accounting Problem. Journal of Health & Safety Research & Practice, 6(1), 15-21.
The Canberra Times. (2015). Kenoss Contractors fined $1.1 million for workplace death.
Available from: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/actnews/kenoss-contractors-fined-11-
million-for-workplace-death-20150819-gj2fra.html
Zhang, S., Teizer, J., Lee, J., Eastman, C., & Venugopal, M. (2013). Building Information
Modeling (BIM) and Safety: Automatic Safety Checking of Construction Models and
Schedules. Automation in Construction, 29, 183-195. doi: 10.1016/j.autcon.2012.05.006

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