Safety and Risk Management in Workplace - Incident Analysis

The paper discusses about the Safety and Risk Management, which is a critical aspect of the workplace. The paper cites an incident, which led to the issue of security breach in a workplace, and as a result, the organization was fined heavily for not following the security measures .The paper discusses the safety measures, which could have prevented the incident.

Running head: SAFETY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
Safety and Risk Management
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

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Executive Summary
The paper discusses about the Safety and Risk Management, which is a critical aspect of the
workplace. The paper cites an incident, which led to the issue of security breach in a workplace,
and as a result, the organization was fined heavily for not following the security measures .The
paper discusses the safety measures, which could have prevented the incident.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Discussions......................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Workplace.........................................................................................................3
Overview of the incident.............................................................................................................4
Safety Measures in Context of the Incident.................................................................................6
Recommended Approaches towards the Incident........................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Introduction
Safety and Risk Management is one of the most important aspects of the safety
management system (Glendon & Clarke, 2015). Some of the key factors that are include in
Safety and Risk Management includes hazard identification, understanding and development of
control measures (Khan, Rathnayaka & Ahmed, 2015).The hazard identification includes
identification of risks and mechanisms of hazards. It is also important to understand the safety
behaviour that the influence the safety of any organization .Lastly, it is very vital to develop the
safety control measure so that the associated hazards and risks can be mitigated or curtailed.
Thus, it can be understood that the breaches in safety and risk management can be very severe
and it is punishable under the Work Health and Safety Law. This report discusses an incident of
breach of safety and risk related to the Canberra construction company (ABC News., 2015). The
paper describes the workplace, hazards and how this safety breach could have been avoided. The
paper also provides the recommendations that are necessary to avoid safety breaches provided I
was responsible for the safety system in Canberra Construction Company.
Discussions
Overview of the Workplace
Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was established in the year 1995. It is a construction
company that is located in Canberra, the capital city of Australia. Kenoss Contractors involve in
a type of business that includes construction of highway and street. It was reported that this
construction company based in Canberra gave little emphasis to the Safety and Risk
Management and they had a very poor work culture. They had hired a safety officer who did not

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possess the necessary qualification required to be a safety officer for a construction company
(Peace, Mabin & Cordery, 2017). The appointed safety officer lacked documentation and did not
have the systematic approach to safety .Thus, it can be observed that hiring an incompetent and
ineligible safety officer is itself a risky approach and seems inevitable that this approach of the
company would surely lead to any safety risks and hazards.
Overview of the incident
A 48-year-old truck driver, Michael Booth died after he was electrocuted when his dump
truck or tip truck touched the power lines, which were long-slung on the work site of Kenoss
Contractors, which is a construction company, based in Canberra, Australia (The Canberra
Times. , 2015). He was delivering the load of material, that consisted of gravel type material to a
compound, which was fenced off that, was used to store piles of material and piping, to the
worksite of Kenoss Contractors when this incident took place. The incident took place in a road
that was resurfacing which is a project undertaken by Kenoss Contractors on the Barry Drive,
Canberra. It was suspected that the tip truck or the dump truck either came in contact with or
came near to the power lines, it created a strong electrical current that was powerful enough to
deflate the tyres and it also left burn marks on the road. The sub-contractor driver, Michael
Booth jumped from the truck after he was electrocuted, collapsed and died afterwards. The
construction company was found guilty because of several breaches of safety conduct, which
resulted in the death of Michael Booth. Kenoss Contractors was adjudged guilty in the ACT
industrial Court on grounds of serious safety breaches that resulted in the death of the driver at
the workplace (Australia, 2015). The Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was fined $1.2 million for this
incident (Enhance Solutions., 2015). In Australia, this is one of the first cases when a company
was fined under the newly enacted nationally harmonized work health safety laws (Australia,

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2014). With this decision, ACT Work Safe Commissioner, Mark McCabe wanted to convey a
serious message to all the organization in Australia that if safety measures are not fooled and it
leads to severe incidents like this they would be subjected to such punishment which included
hefty compensation . However, it has been reported that the construction company, Kenoss
Contractors has gone into liquidation and they will not be able to pay the heavy fine imposed on
them. The court found that there were several breaches in safety measures by the construction
company, Kenoss Contractors. It was reported that there were no safety signs or flags present in
the construction site where the road construction project was taking place by the company,
Kenoss Pty Ltd , to warn the pedestrians or other people of the live power lines . It was also
reported that the worksite of Kenoss Contractors was not properly maintained instead it was
poorly managed. It had no locks and it seemed that it was used for dumping materials and debris.
During the work, the power lines were not turned off and there was no use of spotter. The
construction company, Kenoss Contractors had a very poor work culture and they had appointed
a safety officer, who did not have the required qualifications to be offered with the role of safety
officer (Goetsch & Davis , 2014). He was the son of the General Manager of the company, which
was influential aspect for him to get the job and he lacked the essential documentation. He also
lacked the systematic approach to safety .This decision of Kenoss Pty Ltd confirms the evidence
of mismanagement on the part of the company and hiring an ineligible safety officer invites the
risk of safety risks and hazards associated with the construction company . The risk associated
with the workplace of Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd was known to the company well before hand
and use of affordable measure could have avoided the issue but they chose to neglect the safety
issue (Thorogood & Crichton, 2014). Because of the mismanagement from the company and
breach of safety measures from their part, serious injury and death was foreseeable (Walker,

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2013). There were also report that suggested that the construction company ,Kenoss Contractors
were also indulged in obfuscations of the investigations of the investigating authority by
modifying the attendance records of Michael Booth , who had visited the worksite of Kenoss
Contractors for as many as 13 times .
Safety Measures in Context of the Incident
The construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd neglected the several issues of
mismanagement and poor issue related to poor culture persisting in their company. They were
well aware of the issues and simple and proper methods taken by them would have avoided the
severe incident that took the life of Michael Booth but they just turn their blind eye to the issues.
The driver, Michael Booth died due to electrocution from the low-slung live power wires present
in the worksite, if proper boards, signs or flags would have been used to alert the pedestrian or
other people it would have drawn the attention of the driver who was coming with the load
materials in a dump truck (Das et al., 2013). This simple measure would have prevented the
severe accident, which took the life of the driver. The power lines were not turned off during the
work and no spotter was used. If the construction company, Kenoss Pty Ltd, took these
preventive measures, the severe incident could have been prevented or avoided. There were also
several other safety breaches that were involved in the incident. The access to the worksite of the
Kenoss Contractors was poorly managed. The contractor involved for the project work did not
have efficient management capabilities. The gates of the compound were not provided with locks
and it seemed that the compound was used for dumping materials. Another instance of
mismanagement, which lead to the breach of safety, and risk that resulted in the horrifying
incident was that, they hired an incapable and ineligible personnel for the role of safety officer
(Douglas, 2013). The safety officer lacked the documentation and systematic approaches, which

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are demanded for effective safety measures implementation. Had they hired an Occupational
Safety and Health (OSH) Practitioner, the death incident could have been avoided (Endroyo,
Yuwono & Mardapi, 2015). There were several evidences that proves the fact there several
simple methods available in order to manage and also eliminate the risk but which were not
utilized by the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. The experts involved in the investigation
for the death incident, identified that there were a distinct lack of safety systems in the
construction company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. Thus it can be said that a proper and
organized contractor or visitor management system and safety culture that includes clearly
defined system from the part of Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd ., would have prevented the incident
from occurring .
Recommended Approaches towards the Incident
Provided, I was the responsible for the safety systems in the workplace of Kenoss
Conatractors, I would have followed the following measures or approach to maintain the safety
culture of the company, Kenoss Contractors Pty. Ltd.
 Provide Proper Training – Safety is one of the skills that should be learned by every
employee and worker before they start working in the construction site. I would have
ensured that all the employees and workers are well aware of the safety and risks
measures and conduct that would be beneficial to them in order to prevent any
occupational hazards or accidents by using training videos ,worksheets and others
(Laberge, MacEachen & Calvet, 2014).
 Communication – Accidents takes place when the workers are not sure about the
proceedings. I would ensure that the goals and activities of the day should be clearly
communicated to them, which would curtail the chances of any physical harm.

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 Provide Proper Equipment – The construction workers if they are provided with
improper equipments, it would lead to fatal errors .I would ensure that not only the
equipments required from the construction are appropriate but also they are well
maintained (Ulang et al., 2014)
 Appropriate Supervision – I would make sure that proper and regular supervision is
done to ensure that that the worksite is properly managed and accessed ,proper
precautions are taken for preventing electrical hazards by using signs or flags .
Conclusion
From the report on safety and risk management associated with the construction
company, Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd., it can be concluded that they lacked the documentation
and systematic approach to safety. They had poor corporate and management culture and several
safety and preventive measure were not followed which lead to the death of a driver, in the
construction site of Kenoss Contractors Pty Ltd. If they had followed proper and simple
preventive and safety approaches, they would have able to prevent and avoid this severe
accident.

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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 [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Australia, S. W. (2014). Australian workers’ compensation statistics, 2012–13. Canberra,
Australia: Safe Work Australia.
Australia, S. W. (2015). Work Health & Safety Perceptions: Construction Industry. Safe Work
Australia: Canberra, Australia.
Das, S., Patra, A. P., Shaha, K. K., Sistla, S. C., & Jena, M. K. (2013). High-voltage suicidal
electrocution with multiple exit wounds. The American journal of forensic medicine and
pathology, 34(1), 34-37.
Douglas, M. (2013). Risk and blame. Routledge.
Endroyo, B., Yuwono, B. E., & Mardapi, D. (2015). Model of learning/training of Occupational
Safety & Health (OSH) based on industry in the construction industry. Procedia
Engineering, 125, 83-88.
Enhance Solutions. (2015). Poor safety culture and lack of systems lead to fatality. Available
from: http://www.enhancesolutions.com.au/blog/poorsafety-culture-and-lack-of-systems-
lead-to-fatality [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Glendon, A. I., & Clarke, S. (2015). Human safety and risk management: A psychological
perspective. Crc Press.

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Goetsch, D. L., & Davis, S. B. (2014). Quality management for organizational excellence. Upper
Saddle River, NJ: pearson.
Khan, F., Rathnayaka, S., & Ahmed, S. (2015). Methods and models in process safety and risk
management: Past, present and future. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 98,
116-147.
Laberge, M., MacEachen, E., & Calvet, B. (2014). Why are occupational health and safety
training approaches not effective? Understanding young worker learning processes using
an ergonomic lens. Safety Science, 68, 250-257.
Peace, C., Mabin, V., & Cordery, C. (2017). Due diligence: a panacea for health and safety risk
governance?. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety, 15(1), 19-37.
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 [Accessed on: 4-10-2018]
Thorogood, J., & Crichton, M. T. (2014). Threat-and-Error Management: The Connection
Between Process Safety and Practical Action at the Worksite. SPE Drilling &
Completion, 29(04), 465-472.
Ulang, N. M., Salim, N. S., Baharum, F., & Salim, N. A. (2014). Construction site workers’
awareness on using safety equipment: Case study. In MATEC Web of Conferences (Vol.
15, p. 01023). EDP Sciences.
Walker, A. (2013). Outcomes associated with breach and fulfillment of the psychological
contract of safety. Journal of safety research, 47, 31-37.

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