MGT2HRM Group Report: Health and Safety Practices at Evans Smallgoods

This report, prepared for Evans Smallgoods, addresses the critical need for improved health and safety practices within the organization. It begins by defining a safety culture and its importance in mitigating workplace hazards and promoting employee well-being. The report highlights the significance of collective responsibility, legislative compliance, and the role of training and protective equipment in preventing injuries. It emphasizes the need for Evans Smallgoods to implement a robust safety culture, including employee training, the use of protective clothing, and safe storage practices. The report recommends reinstating supervisors to ensure accountability, implementing hazard detection systems, and improving overall production processes. The report concludes by underscoring the vital role of adopting appropriate safety culture in minimizing injuries, enhancing production efficiency, and ensuring a safer work environment for all employees at Evans Smallgoods. The report also references several sources to support its findings and recommendations.

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HEALTH AND SAFETY PRACTICES
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Introduction
A safety culture comprises of practices and beliefs of people in an organisation towards potential
hazards (Antonsen 2017, pp. 12). Creating a safety culture at work is a different process for
safety management (Kim Park & Park 2016, pp.90). It is a combined effort of the top, middle
level, and junior management in ensuring proficiency in the health and safety practice in the
whole organisation. Safety culture in management ensures the well-being of employees in the
day to day activities. Collective responsibility of values and what others believe regarding safety
at work should be collaborated to ensure employee safety is prioritised.
The health and safety legislation ensures that the wellbeing of workers in an organisation is
critical and not taken for granted (Lèfstedt 2011, pp.23). Individuals are advised to wear
protective clothing. A safety culture promotion reduces the stress related to the workplace. It is
because of the breaks in between working hours that help relieve work pressures, conflicts
among employees and time for relaxation. It also assists employees to be more aware of their
surroundings. The knowledge is vital in that, should a hazard occur, the individuals around the
place can know how to deal with it and take available precautionary measures (Hughes & Ferrett
2011, pp. 34). Also, fostering safety culture helps employees to learn the necessary precautions
while handling tools, machinery, and equipment. Using the appropriate tools while following the
instructions manual help in the prevention of potential injury while at work.
Furthermore, safety culture helps individuals to stay alert while maintaining emergency exits
accessible in case of occurrence of hazards. Safety culture improves behaviors of workers since
workers learn to use mechanical assistance such as conveyor belts and forklifts when lifting

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heavy equipment. These tools are very appropriate and minimise the chances of an individual
harming themselves in the line of duty.
It crucial for the Evans Small goods to adopts the safety culture. Training and developing
employees before allocating them to their work stations; when individuals are trained on how to
handle machines and equipment, injuries and accidents are kept at bay. For example, workers at
Evanson will know well not to reach into mincers while still in operation. It is also during
training that workers are made aware of instruction manuals that come with machines and how
important it is to acknowledge them during a workflow. Evanson needs to encourage workers to
wear protective clothing and equipment while handling tools. Protective clothing such as gloves,
helmets, capes gumboots and aprons will protect individuals from harm should accident occur.
Protective gear, on the other hand, is also useful when reaching out to fix a problem in the
machines than handling it on bare hands. It prevents potential cuts, bruises, lacerations, and
fractures. The company can also encourage employees to have safe drawers for storing sharp
objects such as knives after use. The practice will ensure the safety of workers as it will prevent
stumbling and falling over sharp objects that pose an extreme danger to workers. Equipment if
not put away correctly, could be used as potentials weapons against each other in case of
conflicts and misunderstanding at work. Reinstating supervisors at different work locations will
ensure workers are held responsible and accountable for their actions. Supervisors will make sure
that no worker neglects the safety practices put in place by management. The supervisors will
ensure health and safety are prioritised rather than completion of a task. In this way, workers will
cease from removing safety barriers installed in the equipment to speed up production. The
supervisors also will motivate employers to improve their performance while maintaining safety
and hence productivity in the whole organisation.

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The management needs to develop a system of detecting hazards and ensuring timely correction.
It will be a very significant way of handling the big loses that occurs during production.
Blockage of machinery, breakdowns, reduced efficiency and effectiveness will be well catered
for since the systems are intelligent enough to fix the problems. Workers at Evanson will not
have to reach into machines to unblock obstructions within mincers (Ghadimi & Heavey 2014,
pp. 167). Also, the speed of the device will not be compromised as well as the quality of the
output.
It is apparent that adoption of appropriate safety culture is vital as it minimises the number of
injury at a workstation and also ensures the production process is improved without delays.

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References
Antonsen, S., 2017. Safety culture: theory, method and improvement. CRC Press, pp. 12-19.
Available from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317059868, [Accessed on May 1,
2019].
Ghadimi, P. and Heavey, C., 2014. Sustainable supplier selection in medical device industry:
Toward sustainable manufacturing. Procedia Cirp, 15, pp.165-170. Available from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827114005198, [Accessed on May 1,
2019].
Hughes, P. and Ferrett, E., 2011. Introduction to health and safety at work. Routledge, pp. 33-39.
Available from: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/97811362700, [Accessed on May 1,
2019].
Kim, Y., Park, J. and Park, M., 2016. Creating a culture of prevention in occupational safety and
health practice. Safety and health at work, 7(2), pp.89-96. Available from:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2093791116000093, [Accessed on May 1,
2019].
Lèfstedt, R., 2011. Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and
safety legislation (Vol. 8219). The Stationery Office, pp. 21-28. Available from:
https://books.google.com/books?
hl=en&lr=&id=kkNzPHkNgscC&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=health+and+safety+legislation&ots=m
NLbHhwuD_&sig=KNyOqpaBCGwvU34JTXrOIYeN8Mg, [Accessed on May 1, 2019].

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