Safety management involves a wide array of activities which are aimed at cutting down workplace hazards that can cause injury, damages or legal repercussions against either employees or organizations.
To cultivate a culture of robust safety standards, organizations need to engage safety managers in developing and spearheading implementation of safety procedures. They should also upgrade them in facilities with the highest adherence to legal provisions.
Safety management roles differ and are often based on an organization’s structure as well as its complex nature. Safety managers must hence do their best to ascertain that a facility operates in line with statutory safety and health standards. At the same time, developing a proactive contingency plan for addressing any kind of probable emergency is key towards solving safety issues.
What role does a maintenance department have to play here?
A maintenance department which is well organized goes along well with the efforts of safety managers. They help ensure all equipment and equipment are working safely and properly. Maintenance programs of unified and sensible nature can help remove any incidences of unplanned breakdowns which can amplify workplace accidents.
Maintenance operations are risky activities. They involve non-routine operations and should be undertaken within strict timelines. There are times when maintenance teams have to be in close contact with machines to get the job done.
There are times when they have to work in limited spaces, or at heights, which raise their exposure to hazardous environments. Maintenance operations often demand strict adherence to safety protocols. If not followed properly, the probability of accidents caused by human errors rises due to tasks for maintaining facilities. This then puts construction claims consulting at odds with numerous factors.
The role of safety managers
Formulating safety policies and rules
Safety managers are hence responsible for guiding maintenance teams as well as the whole company towards creation of a safety-first culture. This is possible by formulation and implementation of realistic, comprehensive and understandable policies and rules for safety.
To achieve this, the safety manager must examine the provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA). It helps them lay the foundations to carry out a thorough health and safety audit of facilities in the spotlight, by evaluating dominant hazards and the safety effects of all equipment and systems on site.
The safety audit helps scrutinize the work of the maintenance team, their practices and their complete readiness to respond to emergencies.
Facility occupants can also provide information about any malpractices in the building. This helps offer worthwhile insights into frequent safety problems, so managers can identify more safety aspects which were previously overlooked.
When previous situations are highlighted, and corrective measures are reminded of, this can help keep the situation under control.
Monitoring implementation of safety policies
Safety managers are responsible for implementation of all documented safety policies by evaluating integration of policies to maintenance operations of facilities. Any anomalies and shortcomings present during the audit should be corrected immediately. Then a proactive plan can be conducted to prevent such things from happening again in the near future.
When the policies are going to be implemented, the safety manager liaises with the senior management to provide adequate and protective equipment along with the needed work tools for all maintenance teams.
Gloves, helmets, boots and overalls with dust masks and goggles are safety equipment that help reduce exposure to hazards. Using the needed work tools reduces the overall workload in maintenance.
Training employees about consistent safety standards and assessing them
The safety manager ensures all maintenance personnel are adhering to all safety policies of the facilities, promptly informing them of any changes and the like. Managers conduct strict training using on job training methods and provide the needed learning materials for reference and learning as well.
Such a training period provides a good chance for maintenance teams to seek explanations and clarifications on ambiguous clauses in the policies. This also helps them overcome any issues in understanding certain practices.
Conclusion
Safety managers have a role which can sometimes be thankless but is indeed key to helping construction companies get the needed edge in terms of maintenance. Dispute avoidance is again key in this matter because health and safety of workers in construction matters, and in completed projects for residents to live their lives safely.
