You were recently hired as an occupational safety and health consultant for Gemstone Fabricators, a mediumsized manufacturing facility that makes stainless steel counters, containers, and carts for the food prep and
restaurant industries. Several years ago, Gemstone decided it wanted to become an Occupational Safety and
Health Adminstration (OSHA) Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) site. It also wants to send the application to
OSHA in the upcoming year. Further, there is a keen interest to align with the ANSI/AIHA Z10 standard.
In going through the application submission materials, you noticed something that threw up a red flag,
however. Although there was an accountability requirement specified in front-line workers’ performance
evaluation documentation for safety performance, there was no such requirement in the performance
evaluation documentation for supervisors, managers, or executives. Your discussions with employees also
suggest that, although the employer wants the front-line workers to be heavily involved in the safety effort, they
are not always sure exactly what they are supposed to be doing to help move the company’s safety programs
forward.
Another issue that concerns you is that the effort to implement a safety and health management systems
approach appears to be somewhat piecemeal. You are finding it difficult to identify a clear Plan-Do-Check-Act
approach to continuous improvement.
Please compose a two-page document for your client to include your evaluation of these deficiencies along
with an explanation of the significance of these problems in relation to the safety and health management
systems approach. Your goal is to help the employer understand why these issues need to be attended to prior
to submitting your application. In your response, be sure to do the following things:
include an introduction that establishes the issues and provides necessary background information,
assess the importance of establishing safety accountability measures for managers, employees, and safety
professionals.
Sample Solution
