The practitioner of the future is an article written by John Lynch (Chartered Health Safety Environmental & Media Consultant) that was submitted at a recent IOSH Conference. The article focuses on how to develop a balanced approach to health safety and the environment and their methodologies.
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Introduction
Risk management is recognised as an essential feature of good management practice, In order to understand it’s importance it must become part of the organisations philosophy, process and business practice. Ridley ( 1996 ), describes managing risk as the identification of hazards, evaluation or assessing the level of risk and controlling the level of risk using a multidisciplinary of controlling measures. Studies have shown by Brauer ( 1994 ) that assessing the level of risk to which a person(s) may be exposed from a hazard(s) may require a variant degree / types of risk assessments carried out by professionals whose background relate to health and safety, can / could help to improve this. For Example quantified engineering techniques / assessments were first used in the nuclear and aerospace industries by ( Pugsley 1942 and further developed by Freudenthal 1947 ), and recently qualitative methods have been used in the decision making process of small businesses ( Walker & Cox 1995 ), and more recently in the health care service ( Breen & Hrymak 2000 ). The more informal a management system is, the easier it will be to implement ( Tait et al 1998 ). Technological changes have seen a shift in organisational workplace activities which in the past required a more prescriptive style approach in setting standards to a more human resource style approach or a goal setting approach ( Ridley & Channing, 1999 ). The adoption of then Safety, Health & Welfare at Work ’89 Act / 74 Act and more recently the Safety, Health & Welfare Bill 2005, has focused a more emphasis on self regulation whereby organisations are encouraged further to actively manage health and safety.
Brauer ( 1994 ) states that safety and health is very much an interdisciplinary field requiring the contribution / input of more than one professional, and that because of advancements in safety and health, professionals can either specialise in a particular area for example engineering, social / science, or as a generalists described as “who by virtue of his / her specialized knowledge and skill and / or educational accomplishments, have achieved professional status in the safety field (Brauer 1994 ). These occupations can be categorised as follows. The social scientist, scientist, engineering and the safety practitioner. To further categorise these professions and their methodologies, ( Social Scientist Perspective ) A psychologist in the field of health and safety management has defined assessing the level of risk as the “ the process of estimating and evaluating a risk in order to determine whether current risk strategies are appropriate and adequate and involves three steps- identification of hazards, assessment of risks and implementation of control measures ( Waring & Glendon 1998 ).Additional techniques are normally used to further extrapolating data in the evaluation process these are, workplace inspection / checklists, evaluating accident statistics, the analysis of psychometric questionnaires ie., likert scale/ Statistical Package Social Science, abbreviated SPSS.
( Garavan, 1997-2002 Oppenheim 1996 ). Hazard and Operability Studies ( HAZOP’s ), Fault Tree Analysis, Event Tree Analysis, Management Oversight Risk Tree ( MORT ), ( Ridley & Channing 1999 ). The development of safety climate packages to measure the culture of organisations have greatly improved attitudes towards safety and health ( HSC 1993 ). Work Related Health ( Occupational Health ) is the branch of science which is bests describes the scientists. Professionals included here / but not limited to, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and environmentalists. In a study of data Since 1968 the Health & Safety Executive in the United Kingdom has kept a register of deaths in England, Wales and Scotland for which mesothelioma is mentioned on the death certificate. Annual deaths from this disease increased from 154 in 1968 to 1009 in 1991. Peto et al ( 1995 ), states that deaths will continue to increase for a further 15, and probably 25 years and that for the worst affected group, men born in the 1940’s, this will account for 1% ( 1 in 100 deaths ). Furthermore, Peto projects that there will be between 2700 and 3300 male mesothelioma deaths in about the year 2020. Scientists use data available to them ( ie experimental mainly from animals ) and interpret its known value (s) to its organisation / employer / employees. Epidemiological known results are a known value from specific site(s), organisation etc.
The engineers methodology: have been at the forefront in the design, planning and implementation pre and post 1900’s nationally and internationally for eg., in the United States and Africa, particularly in the areas of civil engineering ( Ridley 1996 ). They work mainly on the preventative side of safety ( mitigate ), identifying hazards at the design stage to either eliminate or reduce them. Advances in technology have seen the emerge of the civil eng. ( to pursue the structural integrity of buildings ), industrial eng. ( applying principles of ergonomics ), mechanical eng. ( mechanical equipment and facilities ), electrical eng. ( construction design of electrical safety ), chemical eng. ( process design ) and the safety eng. ( scientific and engineering principles for eg to test the safe working loads SWL ‘forklifts and cranes’( Bauer 1995 ). The factors that will affect each of their selection will involve the physical, chemical properties of the materials that need to be used.
The safety practitioner methodologies: A current topic of debate is the influence if any the safety practitioner has in the application of professional competency. In the UK studies by Rakel et al ( 1998 ) have shown that their contribution is vague, and if any that has been made they have provided over complex methodologies to finding solutions. More recently in the United Kingdom with the introduction of the then Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1992 and amendments the focus shifted with the perception that consultants could best be used in more alternative ways ie mainly to help and advise small firms ( Tait et al, 2000 ). Although many small firms had adequate arrangements for health and safety, the difficulty still arose with policy statements and the application of risk assessments, and evidently would welcome additional guidance ( O’Hara et al 2000 ). In response to this the Health and Safety Executive HSE, ( 1994 ) published guidance for businesses in the commercial, service and light industrial services and self – employed ‘Five Steps To Risk Assessment’. The primary aim of the guidance publication was to highlight awareness of the hazards that may be ‘reasonably’ be expected to cause harm. A similar approach was adopted in Ireland in 1996 ‘European Health & Safety & Work’ by the company Bausch & Lamb a contact lens company based in Waterford, its primary aim was to adopt a UK approach for businesses to participate in the ‘Good Neighbour Scheme’( Walters 2000 ).
Conclusion
In conclusion, with the description similarities and differences of all the methodologies, it is very clear from the literature review that social scientist application is very much a watered down version of the scientist application, in so far as to say that scientist can only respond / comment on their findings for example the toxicologist will know the outcome( s ) usually from animal studies and over time the studies should form a dose response curve. The social scientist application is a further estimation of the risk taking into consideration control measures already in place. You could say using a more human style management approach. The engineers application have been and still are at the forefront of health and safety management, their method of application is very much based on specific criteria. Finally, the safety practitioner application of methodologies the evidence to suggest that more research is needed in so far as to why complex methodologies are used to find answers to solutions. Furthermore ( Tait et al, 2000 ) have also made reference to the cost that consultants charge as they are perceived as to be expensive. The evidence from the literature as well as my own professional experience of working with small businesses under the HELA strategy ‘Health & Safety Executive, Local Authority Initiative, in most cases local authorities contract work out to employment agencies who in turn recruit consultants to inspect premises for that particular local authority to advise small businesses about how best to manage the health and safety of their businesses using the HSE guidances. The perception from the studies into small businesses was generally viewed that the fear or threat of a visit form an official from a local authority inspector, and also to state that the an additional reason for the contracting of consultants was firstly to deal with inspections whereby local authorities are benchmarked on the number of inspections carried out by environmental health officers, and secondly their limitations in giving advise related to health and safety was a matter of further debate.
The practitioner of the future will involve a combination of safety specialists in applying the principles of health and safety, formal and informal methodologies.
References
Brauer, RL. 1994, ‘Safety & Health For Engineers, Safety & Health Professions’ Wiley & Sons New York. Pp 11-15
Breen, LF & Hrymak, V 2000 ‘An Integrated Risk Assessment Tool To Evaluate A Risk Management System Within A Health Care Facility, Health & Safety Review ( HSR ) Vol 5, ( 9 ), November 2000
Garavan, TN. 1997-2002 ‘The Irish Health & Safety Handbook’, Oak Tree Press Dublin.
Health & Safety Commission HSC, 1993, ‘ACNSI 3rd Report Human Factors Study Group Organising For Safety’ London HMSO:
O’Hara R, Dickety N, & Weyman A, 2000 ‘Good Practice By SME’s In Assessing Workplace Risk’ HSE Publication Health & Safety Executive.
Oppenheim A, 1996, ‘Questionnaire Design And Attitude Management’, Pinter, London.
Peto J, Hodgson JT, Matthews FE, Jones JR, 1995, ‘Continuing Increase In Mesothelioma Mortality In Britain, The Lancet’ Vol 345, 1995, pp 535-539
Rakel H, Gerrard S, Piggott G, Crick G, 1998, ‘Evaluating Contact Techniques, Assessing The Impact Of A Regulators Intervention On The Health & Safety Performance Of Small & Medium Sized Businesses’ Journal Of Safety Research Vol 29 ( 4 ) pp235-247
Ridley J & Channing J 1999, ‘Risk Management Of The Safety At Work Series’ Vol 2 Butterworth Heineman, Oxford.
Ridley J, 1996, ‘Safety At Work’ 4th ED. Butterworth Heineman, Oxford.
Tait R & Walker D, 1998, ‘Risk Assessment In Small Enterprises, A Study Of Attitudes & Resource Implications,’ Journal Of The Institute Of Occupational Safety & Health, Vol 2 ( 1 ) IOSH Publishing pp 37-44
Tait R & Walker D, 2000, ‘Marketing Health And Safety Management Expertise To Small Enterprise’ Safety Science 36 2000 pp 95-110
Walker D & Cox S, 1995, ‘Is Risk Assessment A Necessary Decision Tool For All Organisations?’ In Robertson SA ( ED ) 1995, Contemporary Ergonomics, Taylor Francis, London.
Walters D, 2000, ‘Health & Safety In Small Enterprises, European Strategies For Managing Improvement,’ ED. Oxford. European Academic Publishers.
Waring A & Glendon AI, 1998, ‘Managing Risk Critical Issues For Survival & Success In The 21st Century,’ International Thomson Business Press, London.
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