Safety and Risk Management in Organizations

This article discusses safety and risk management in organizations, including the importance of workplace policies, hazards, and how to prevent incidents. It includes a case study of a construction company fined $1.1 million for safety breaches.

Running head: SAFETY AND RISK MANGEMENT 1
Safety and Risk management
Student’s name
Institutional affiliation

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Executive summary
The key issue considered in any organization is safety and risk management. Ensuring
safety within an organization will require continuous inspection of the workplace,
training/education of employees on safety and risk management, investigating incidents and
practicing safety as an organizational culture. Organizations can be faced with different types of
hazards depending on the type of business. Some of these hazards include; chemical hazard,
ergonomics, chemical hazard, safety hazard among others. These hazards have a negative impact
within and outside the organization. Therefore, organizations are required to come up
strategies/policies addressing the safety of employees and the surrounding community.
Therefore, to safeguard the life of employees and surrounding people, it is important for an
organization to identify risks before engaging in any internal or external activities. Identification
of risks will involve site inspection, reviewing organizational work practices and exploring any
legal exposure in regards to the organization. The article is about a construction company which
was fined a total of $ 1.1 million over the death of a truck driver. Michael Booth, 48, had been
electrocuted when his truck touched a low-slung power line. The company had been found guilty
of not maintaining safety standards in the work station.

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Safety and risk management
Introduction
Safety culture is a collection of values and attitude in regards to the safety of a
workstation or environment shared by members/employees at all levels in the organization
(Hopkin, 2018). In this case, a safety culture in an organization is based on the extent to which
people and employees are aware of the risk and unknown hazards that are induced by
organizational activities both within and outside the organization (Aven, 2016). A safety culture
is characterized by commitment, awareness, information, justness, and adaptability. Therefore, to
safeguard the life of employees and surrounding people, it is important for the organization to
identify risks before engaging in any internal or external activities. Identification of risks will
involve site inspection, reviewing organizational work practices and exploring any legal
exposure in regards to the organization (Pidgeon, Turner, Blockley & Toft, 2018). The article is
about a construction company which was fined a total of $ 1.1 million over the death of a truck
driver. Michael Booth, 48, had been electrocuted when his truck touched a low-slung power line.
The company had been found guilty of not maintaining safety standards in the workstation. The
magistrate judge concluded that the construction had a poor corporate culture.
Description of the workplace
The workplace in the organization was carelessly handled. As an illustration, the
employees who were working had not indicated any warning on ongoing work to alert the
pedestrians and drivers. Their carelessness can be proven by the fact that there were working
without any warning signs or attach a flag to themselves to indicate that there is ongoing
construction. The construction company had a poor working corporate culture. In this case, the

SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 4
company employed a safety officer who was underqualified for the position. This shows that the
organization had no set of rules and regulation to be followed when it comes to hiring and
selection of employees (Akintoye & MacLeod, 1997). When a construction company hires a
person with inadequate knowledge or skills, there will be a lack of competence and
accountability because they don’t understand the nature or requirement of their work. The
carelessness of the employees can be described as a lack of employee engagement in their work.
There is a lack of effective leadership and management style (Tah & Carr, 2000). As an
illustration, when it comes to leadership, the management of the company doesn’t have clear
guidelines on how organizational activities should be done.
Furthermore, they don’t have a clear and defined risk management in case of any
accidents (Clothier & Walker, 2015). In the article, the son of the general manager was able to
recruit an employee without the knowledge of the father and selection procedures. This is an
example of an organization where employees mix their work and family without considering the
impact (Maguire, 2017). Lastly, there is a lack of teamwork since the son of the general manager
was able to recruit an employee without another department within the organization knowing.
This led to the recruitment of underqualified employee.
Hazards
Hazards are stressors that cause stress and strain within a work environment. In the
article, the major types of hazards include safety hazards which are the common type of hazards
in organizations across the globe. In the article, the organization was carrying out an activity
without adequate resources. As an illustration, while the employees from the construction
company were working, they never indicated any warning sign or erected safety warning
equipment to indicate that there was an ongoing construction taking place (Khan et al., 2016).

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Secondly, employees were able to leave a live wire which was insulated in a place that is used by
the public. This resulted in the death of a 48-year truck driver. This is negligence which could be
avoided. This types of hazard are known as an electrical hazard. The second type of hazard is
known as an ergonomic hazard which often arises due to poor set up of the working station.
According to the article, the employees set up their workstation careless which resulted in the
death of a civilian who was never aware of the status of the workstation.
How the safety breach could have been avoided
The main cause of the safety breach was lack of effective corporate culture. The safety
breach could have been avoided in different ways. First, the general manager should have known
the importance of separating work from family. With this, the general should have prevented the
son from interfering with organizational practices when it comes to hiring and recruitment of
employees.
Additionally, the organization should have an effective leadership and management style.
In this scenario, effective leadership and management style should ensure that employees have
adequate resources when it comes to any organizational activities carried within an outside the
organization (Flin, Mearns, K., O'Connor & Bryden, 2000). Furthermore, effective leadership
and management have a set of rules, regulation, and policies that should be used as a benchmark
when carrying out any organizational activity. These policies are effective especially when it
comes to a construction company (Hofmann, Burke & Zohar, 2017).
Safety breach could have been avoided by employing a person who had the appropriate
skills and knowledge regarding the position which was required by the organization. A safety
officer is a significant position in regards to the safety of employees within the organization and

SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 6
outside. The safety officer would be responsible for the lives and safety of everybody within the
operating environment. In their working environment, the employees ought to have placed
warning signs to alert motorists and pedestrians about the ongoing construction. Additionally,
they ought to have a given alternative route to be followed. With the diversion routes, pedestrian
and motorists will be safe from harm.
What happened?
The death of the truck driver started when the son of the general manager recruited a
candidate who didn’t qualify for the position of a safety officer. After the officer had been
employed, he was given a responsibility that he couldn’t handle. This means that he wasn’t
aware of any protocol, safety, and risk management techniques to be used in case of outdoor
activity. While at work, the safety officer poorly arranged the workstation. As an illustration,
they were not in a position to put warning signs. As a result, the motorist drove past the
workstation and came across a live electrical wire. He was the electrocuted to death.
How can safe work resolve this issue?
A safe working station involves employees being aware of dangers, precautionary
measures, and regulations to be followed. Within a safe environment, there will be the reduction
in injuries because an injured worker or civilian will cost the organization large sums of money
through compensation. According to the article, the construction had to compensate a total of $
1.1 million to the deceased family. A safe environment improves the quality of work being
offered by employees (Lisenkov & Bestemyanov, 2015). This is because they will not be worried
about the occurrence of an accident or any eventualities while doing the work. Through working
in a clean environment, workers level of satisfaction will increase hence improving their

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performances (Lysenko & Bestemyanov, 2015). This is because of increasing employee
engagement. A safe environment ensures that the organization is adhering to the safety standards
as indicated by the law. This will minimize issues to deal with litigation. This may affect the
corporate image of the organization. According to the article, a safe environment can help in
increasing the number of a customers through customer loyalty. With the information that was
released about the construction, it is clear that they will be experiencing a reduction in the
number of customers because they can’t take care of their environment which affects the people
and community (Tran, 2018).
What could have been done differently to prevent this incident from occurring.
In conclusion, safety and risk management is essential when it comes to organizational
practice and corporate culture. Certain mistakes within an organization could be avoided if there
are guidelines and policies to be followed. Additionally, workplace rules or station policies are
important in an organization. According to the article, employees carelessly handled workplace
pilicies. Their carelessness can be proven by the fact that they were working without any
warning signs or attaching a flag to themselves to indicate that there is ongoing construction. The
construction company had a poor working corporate culture which could be evident from the
way a new employee was being recruited.
The safety officer who was introduced into the business never had the desired skills. This
made it possible to have an idea of what he was expected to do as a safety officer. In the article,
the son of the general manager was able to recruit an employee without the knowledge of the
father and selection procedures. This is an example of an organization where employees mix
their work and family without considering the impact. The death of the truck driver could be
prevented if the management of the company had employed skilled personnel and dedicated

SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT 8
adequate resources towards completion of the project. When it comes to appropriate resources,
employees were to have warning signs or flag that could be used in signaling any incoming
civilian about the presence of construction work. Most importantly, employees should always be
aware of their working environment.

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