Safety and Risk Management in Construction Industry

Running Head: SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 1
Safety and risk management
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Safety and risk management
What happened in Canberra Construction Company where Michael Booth was
electrocuted when his truck touched powerlines at Canberra Company Kenos Contractors, is
just one of the many safety cases that are being reported daily. Australia is always working
to reduce accidents related to the hazardous construction environment (Better Regulation
Task Force, 2003). However, this continues to be a major challenge especially in Western
Australia given the fact that most companies in those areas carry out their activities in some
isolated locations while still trying to put up with national harmonization of OHS regulation
(Better Regulation Office, 2008). Work safe made it mandatory that employees need to be
trained and certified on safety awareness in their working environments.
The construction industry has the highest fatality rate. Many of these deaths occur
because of illness, and accidents (Industrial Relations Victoria, 2016). This has made
compensation claims to, rise (Johnstone, R. and C. Parker, 2010). It is also very important to
note that in this period the rate of employment has also increased in this industry (Better
Regulation Task Force, 2003). What happened in Canberra Construction Company could
have been caused by the ignorance, and it could have been easily avoided. Reducing such
accidents usually depends upon changing workplace behavior both collectively and
individually (Johnstone, R. and C. Parker, 2016). These include being aware of what
individuals do in the workplace and what is the accepted practice based on the law. These
actions usually depend on the safety culture that surround people in workplaces and which
must be greatly emphasized by the management (Gunningham,2015). Thus, these company
would have avoided such kind of accident by coming up with organization behavior
initiatives and models (Department of Treasury and Finance, 2008). The company would
have come up with a training initiative to try and improve safety measures in the construction
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
site. This would have made sure that the workers in the construction site gain the important
safety measures. They would have informed their workers on some safety issues present in
the construction site that are a risk to their health (Better Regulation Office, 2008). A lot of
research has been done on safety culture and how it reduces injuries in the organization.
Safety culture greatly depends on communication, leadership commitment and the ability of
the management which is also greatly supported by attitudes, training, participation, and
competency of the individual employees (Maxwell, 2004). The administration that greatly
values safety will always train its employees on safety measures. For there to be an
improvement in the organization safety culture, management needs to come up with
initiatives which have universal coverage. Safety training interventions easily led to
reductions in hazards and improvement in safety behaviors (Maxwell, 2004). However, one
major challenge facing the construction industry is that there are no specific details of who
should play which task. Some nonskilled people enter the construction industry without being
well informed of the laws or safety measures (Australian Law Reform Commission 2002). In
my opinion may Michael Booth may not have been well trained in dealing with trucks. This
might be the reason that he could not considered the power lines as a threat to his life
(Ombudsman Victoria (2007). Thus, more regulations need to be put in the construction
industry indicating how tasks need to be carried out and which qualifications are needed for
those carrying out the task. At the moment people in the construction industry are also not
well aware of the definition of safety management and occupational health (Johnstone, R. and
King, M., 2008). Without this definition being put in place people are still uncertain of what
to do and what not to do. However, most of the safety issues that arise in the organizations
arise from training relevant or training related.
Moreover, this issue could have been easily avoided by the management by ensuring
that the construction site was located in a safe environment. From the case study, it is clear
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SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
that the construction site was located near power lines. This would not have been the case if
the management was extra careful (Gunningham,2015). The management ought to have
looked for a better place where there was no powerline for the safety of the employees. It
seems there was a lot of ignorance. The management was well aware that they were dealing
with heavy trucks and confiscated materials thus they should have looked for a safer place.
Otherwise, the management would have put some warning signs to the place near the power
line for employees to be aware of the place not being a safe zone (Johnstone, R. and King, M,
2015).
The management seems it was not aware of some safety measures that are required
in construction sites (Ombudsman Victoria (2007). The management seem to be ineffective
in their work some of them being thought to be unqualified (Environment Protection
Authority Victoria, 2011). The management team should be made up of qualified individuals
who can make proper and sound decisions on behave of junior employees. They also need to
consider the lives of their junior employees, and they should be responsible for their actions.
In this case, the management was very much irresponsible when it came to the welfare of
their employees.
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