Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) management is a top priority for South African companies of all sizes and in all sectors, even more so with the COVID-19 pandemic that the world is currently facing. In light of the theme of World Day for Safety and Health at work 2021, which is to anticipate, prepare and respond to crises, the importance of an OHS management system will be highlighted in this article.

Reporting serious incidents is a legal obligation, and reducing workers’ risks is an ethical, moral and legal prerogative for all organisations. This is why more companies are actively looking at ways to improve their own occupational health and safety management system, or to implement a system if they have no current provisions in place.

OHS management systems vary widely between companies, making comparisons a challenge. Some businesses take an entirely paper-based approach with clipboards and files, while other firms invest in occupational health and safety management software to ensure that they have the best provisions possible. OHS management is a process of continual improvement and refinement. Even businesses with strong reputations for good OHS management practices are constantly improving what they do.

In this article, we will explore the 8 key components of occupational health and safety management systems as follows:

1. Planning
2. Incident reporting
3. User-friendly interface
4. Training
5. Risk assessments
6. Certification
7. Convenience
8. Performance

1. Planning

The first component of any OHS management system is planning. Whether  a paper-based ‘Safety Statement’ is used or dedicated OHS management software, planning should be the central focus of everything.

Planning is essential to ensure that the organisation stays abreast of all current South African occupational health and safety rules and regulations.

This includes aspects such as:

• Planning how to prevent accidents and illnesses.
• Planning for practices, resources, and procedures for the OHS policy.
• Planning when to review the OHS policy.

Planning should be a component of every OHS management system because it offers a clear overview of associated OHS costs and helps manage risks with confidence.

2. Incident reporting

The second component of occupational health and safety management systems is incident reporting. An OHS system should be accessible to all members of an organisation, from senior management down to junior employees, so that incidents can be reported in a timely manner.

Most commonly, organisations use paper-based reporting forms such as incident forms. However, many firms are increasingly turning to cloud-based software, where all documents and files are stored remotely on servers. With cloud-based software, employees can use any internet-enabled device (desktop, mobile, iOS, or Android) to create, save and access their organisation’s OHS documents. Incident reporting also helps senior management and key stakeholders.

Incident reporting means that employees can:

• Report accidents and injuries.
• Report hazards and risks.
• Receive reminders to complete certain tasks.
• Review completed risks, hazards and incident forms (with permission).

At the highest levels, incident reporting helps in the following ways:

• Notify stakeholders about reported accidents, incidents and injuries.
• Generate reports from the filed incident and risk reports.
• Communicate directly with staff to delegate duties and responsibilities.
• Review training received by staff.
• Ensure compliance and improve consistency across multiple premises.
• Streamline and standardise OHS practices.
• Determine cost-effective solutions.

3. User-friendly interface

The third component of occupational health and safety management systems is that they have a clear, user-friendly interface. An ‘Interface’ is any way that an end-user (such as an employee) interacts with a system or software. It could be through a computer screen or just the layout of a form to be completed, such as an incident reporting form. Even if the approach to occupational health and safety management is entirely paper-based, organisations still need to consider how user-friendly the form is.

You might ask questions such as:

• Can employees easily understand what is required?
• Are the instructions clear and unambiguous?
• Have the employees been trained to use the form?

Having a user-friendly interface is important for every type of occupational health and safety management system, but it is especially important when using or planning to invest in an OHS management system software. With a software-based occupational health and safety management system, the interface needs to be clear, simple and intuitive so that staff members have no problems interacting with it. Whether accessed via a web browser or through an app, the interface should be sufficient.

Key tasks include:

• Creating incident reports.
• Conducting a risk assessment (safety walkthrough).
• Viewing stored documents.
• Viewing employee OHS training records (likely for managers).

User-friendliness should be a component of every OHS management system.

4. Training

The fourth key component of any OHS management system is training. Without training, your organisation’s OHS system will not run smoothly, no matter how much is invested in OHS software. Poorly trained staff can put an organisation at risk; by missing dangers, failing to report incidents and even acting in ways that endanger themselves, colleagues or the general public.

Well-trained employees, on the other hand, know exactly how to use their organisation’s OHS system and become part of their OHS processes. Well-trained employees become an asset and can help make the workplace safer and more secure. At a basic level, all staff members should be trained to use whichever system their organisation has in place.

All staff members should know how to:

• Create incident report forms.
• Save or file the completed forms.
• Implement actionable tasks (assigned by managers).
• Configure the software to suit personal preferences (if using OHS management software).

Training helps to ensure that all staff members know exactly how to perform basic duties such as creating and submitting incident reports if they witness an accident. Depending on the processes in place, this may mean hand-writing a form and submitting it to a supervisor, or it may mean accessing software through a desktop or mobile device and then creating a submitting a form through the software.

Good staff training will help increase staff engagement levels and this will greatly support an organisations’ ability to meet its OHS goals.

However, training is also important for managers and key stakeholders. Senior staff should know how to do the following:

• Create reports.
• Analyse data.
• Conduct trend analysis.

Reports help organisations use data to understand the cause of incidents, their frequency, and their associated costs. This gives key stakeholders the data necessary to reduce the chance of repeated incidents. This helps create a safe workspace for staff and manages risks with a greater degree of confidence.

5. Risk assessments

The fifth component of OHS management systems is risk assessments. This means that the system should help the organisation’s senior management to conduct risk assessments and decide on an appropriate course of action.

Risk assessments entail far more manual work for staff using a paper-based OHS system. For companies that use OHS management system software, much of this work is automated.

Management can view all hazards, risk, incidents and injury reports as they are filed in real-time. The software then processes this data and creates reports that can be used to create a risk assessment or develop a further course of action. This dramatically reduces the time that staff members need to spend on admin and can increase the accuracy of the reports.

For example, with root cause analysis, the software may identify that a number of accidents are occurring in a certain section of an organisation’s premises. The software will then alert management to conduct risk assessments of this area and prompt them to carry out regular safety checks. The software helps managers to classify and manage incidents across their entire business and apply cost-efficient strategies that help manage and minimise workplace risk.

6. Certification

The sixth component of any occupational health and safety management system is certification. The system should be certified by a trusted third party to ensure that it is fit for purpose. Having a strong OHS management system helps an organisation build confidence among its staff and customers.

To validate what they are doing, some organisations apply for certifications such as the ISO 45001 OHS Management System, ISO 14001:2015 Environmental management system and/or ISO 9001:2015 Quality Management System certifications. Certifications demonstrate to staff and the public that an organisation is committed to workplace safety. It helps to prove that the organisation is setting up or improving procedures for managing occupational health and safety risks

Having a formal certification can offer a whole host of knock-on benefits such as improved staff retention, consumer confidence, and greater productivity. Ultimately, this helps boost an organisation’s bottom line.

7. Communication

The seventh component of OHS management systems is communication. The system must help staff communicate with each other and help to foster communication.

Why is communication critical?

• Employees must be kept up to date with their tasks.
• They must be able to communicate and share information with their colleagues and managers.
• Key stakeholders must be able to communicate with managers and staff to help them follow their vision for the company.

With good communication, staff can be made aware of any changes made to any document or file.

8. Data accessibility

The eighth component of OHS management systems is data accessibility. Every OHS system generates significant amounts of data and the goal of the management system should be to share and make use of that.

For companies using a paper based OHS management system, data accessibility could be as simple as knowing which filing cabinet incident reports are stored so that staff can find them when required. For medium-sized and large firms, especially those with multiple premises, data accessibility can become more challenging. This is why many make the shift to cloud-based OHS management software.

Digitising OHS documents helps companies to create what is known as a ‘connected processes’ model. This makes data accessibility a breeze as any member of an organisation can access documents from the cloud instead of having to search for paper documents. The connected processes model means that the software can address an organisation’s OHS management needs by having different pieces of data talk to each other. If an employee creates and files an incident report. In a company using a paper-based approach, the onus would be on the staff to notify senior management. With a cloud-based software approach, all relevant managers and stakeholders would be immediately notified.

Conclusion

Now that the components of occupational health and management systems have been outlined, companies will be well placed to consider which solution best meets the needs of their organisation. There are no generic solutions for use across all businesses, as each business has its own unique OHS needs and requirements. Companies looking to implement an OHS management system, or intending to shift from a paper-based system to an electronic system should follow the 8 key components discussed in this article.

Sources:

Safety Handbook- for the South African industry and other workplaces

Safety, Health, Environment and Quality-Guide to managing risk

Modern Risk Management

Various website information

Neil Enslin | Occupational Health and Safety Manager