LEARNING OUTCOMES
On successful completion of this assignment, a student will be able to:
1
Recognise and analyse health and safety hazards, and their associated risks and dangers, occurring in built environment.
2
Identify and analyse the associated risks to work activities, and recognise the main causes of accidents and carry out risk assessment and management for the work activities.
3
Apply health and safety legislation to relevant working environments and evaluate their impact upon decision making strategies in the safety and health management.
4
Evaluate and apply occupational health and safety management systems and international standards as used by organisations in the built environment.
BN3720__2016/17_Assignment 2
ASSIGNMENT DETAILS
Case Scenario:
Last year, PQ Company Ltd., a medium size E&M Contractor, had implemented the monitoring system to supervise the safety performance of different sub-contractors proposed by the Safety Manager. The following actions were taken in the last 12 months:
(a) conducting risk assessment and implement the safety precautions before assigning workers to work at the designated job locations;
(b) briefing the workers by the supervisor of the sub-contractor before work was started daily;
(c) conducting daily inspections to calculate the OSH compliance rate by the inspection team of the project manager and the safety personnel as performance indicator; and
(d) providing tool box OSH training to the workers regularly.
The system seemed to be running smoothly for the first 6 months, but summonses against poor safety performance in various job sites were received from the Labour Department in the next three months. Nearly all were concerning failure to take adequate safety measures to prevent fall of persons under CSSR r.38B despite the sub-contractors had been urged to provide suitable working platforms according to the in-house rules and contractual requirement with the sub-contractors by PQ Company Ltd.
After investigation, the managing director found that there were mis-reporting and over-reporting on the Compliance rate. He blame on the Safety Manager. Subsequently, the Safety Manager was fired after a quarrel on whether punishment terms shall be implemented on site for tightening the control on the sub-contractors. However, it turned out more problems occurred after the Safety Manager quit. There was also an increased number of prosecutions from Labour Department. On the other hand, the recruitment of a new Safety Manager was difficult due to shortage of capable safety personnel in the market. A safety consultant was thus employed as temporary placement for 6 months so that there will be ample time to recruit a new safety manager.
Presume that you were the safety consultant. Write a report to the managing director of PQ Company Limited that covers the following areas:
BN3720__2016/17_Assignment 2
• An analysis on the strength and weaknesses of the actions (a) to (d) implemented in the safety management system of PQ Company Ltd. according to the assumptions from accident theories.
• Whether the current actions should be modified and/or new strategies and international standards should be taken for improvement of OSH performance.
• The areas that the new safety manager should focus after report duty to the company.
The report shall be typed in 12-font, single spacing, and have 2,500 words in the main body, which is properly referenced using Harvard Style Referencing. Your paragraphs should be in clear blocks with a Report Cover Page, an Executive Summary, an index page with paragraphing under appropriate headings and sub-headings. A word count on the main body (not including the Report Cover Page, index page, reference list and Appendix) MUST be included.
MARKING Criteria
(i) 25% of marks will be awarded for ability to identify the strength and weaknesses of the actions taken to prevent occurrence of accidents and violation to OSH law.
(ii) 20% of marks will be awarded for the explanation by appropriate accident causation theory applicable to the safety in working at height.
(iii) 20% of marks will be awarded for discussion and proposal on whether the current actions should be continued or modified, or with new strategies and international standards to push for positive OSH performance outcomes.
(iv) 15% of marks will be awarded for an appropriate conclusion and recommendations.
(v) 20% of marks will be awarded for presentation of the report, including its essential topics, the logical flow of ideas, clearly stated pros and cons, use of English, list of references and enclosures in the Appendix.
[Please note that the marking criteria on sections (i) to (v) include the assessment on the ability of a student to organize, synthesize and analyse of the information from references and adoption of proper referencing in the writing.]
BN3720__2016/17_Assignment 2
Note
In writing this assignment, students may find the following readings useful:
1. Teaching Notes Units 1 – 8
2. Suggested Publications or references from Websites in Hong Kong:
– http://www.legislation.gov.hk
o DoJ, (2016), “Bilingual Law Information System”, Department of Justice, HKSAR Government
– http://www.labour.gov.hk/
o OSHB, (2002), “Code of Practice on Safety Management”, Labour Department, HKSAR Government
o OSHB, (2004), “Guidance Notes on Safety at Work for Maintenance of Low Voltage Electrical Switchgears”, Labour Department, HKSAR Government
o OSHB, (2010), “Guidance Notes for Safe Isolation of Electricity Source at Work”, Labour Department, HKSAR Government
o OSHB, (2015), “Guidance Notes on Safety at Work Safety and Health of Air-Conditioning Works”, Labour Department, HKSAR Government
– http://www.oshc.org.hk/
o OSHC, (_____), “Safe working cycle”, Occupational Safety and Health Council, HKSAR
3. HSE, (2004), “Investigating accidents and incidents : A workbook for employers, unions, safety representatives and safety professionals”, Health and Safety Executive, UK
4. HSE, (2013a), “Plan, Do, Check, Act : An introduction to managing for health and safety”, Health and Safety Executive, UK
5. HSE, (2013b), “Leading health and safety at work : Actions for directors, board members, business owners and organisations of all sizes”, Health and Safety Executive, UK
6. HSE, (2013c), “Managing for health and safety (HSG65)”, (3rd ed.), Health and Safety Executive, UK
7. HSE, (_____), “Comparison of HSG 65 with other key management ‘standards’”, Health and Safety Executive, UK http://www.hse.gov.uk/foi/internalops/fod/inspect/mast/comparison.htm
8. HSE, (_____), “HSE Human Factors Briefing Note No. 3 Humans and Risk”, Health and Safety Executive, UK
9. HSE, (_____), “Core Topic 2: HF in accident investigations”, Health and Safety Executive, UK
