Safety Management System Re-design and Strategic Plan: Assessment Task: Re-design elements of the safety management system in order to rectify the three areas of deficiency identified in the self-audit.
1. Objectives and targets - general discussion & potential solutions - specification of re-designed components
2. Responsibility and accountability - general discussion & potential solutions - specification of re-designed components (philosophy & draft revision)
3. Hazard identification - general discussion & potential solutions - specification of re-designed components (philosophy & draft revision)
Safety Management System Re-Design & Strategic Plan
One of the world's leading pharmaceutical manufacturers, Helpful Corporation, has recently experienced aspate of events in which explosions occurred at their plants, leading to a number of deaths, and some serious injuries to the general public. Helpful Corporation has a well-developed safety management system, which was certified to AS/NZS 4801 and Safety MAP Advanced Level two years ago. However, a recent internal audit, prior to the company seeking re-certification, has revealed three areas of deficiency in the operation of the safety management system. The relevant findings of the internal audit were: AS 4801:2001 4.3.3 Objectives and Targets The Safety Management System does not articulate up-to-date objectives and targets that are relevant to the reduction of the size of the workforce and the new reliance on automated tasks and batch-processing machinery. AS 4801:2001 4.4.1.2 Responsibility and Accountability The contractors utilised for plant maintenance are not made aware of the potential hazards associated with chemical substances and active ingredients. A lack of clear responsibility and accountability with respect to the management of contractors is evident as the major cause of this problem. AS 4801:2001 4.4.6.2 Hazard Identification. The incident reporting system is chronically under-utilised by staff. The current system was criticised by staff on a number of dimensions. These included: • Reporting is just a management imposition with no value; • Reports are rarely followed-up by management; • Reports have led to punishment of individuals in the past; • Report forms are difficult to access from the Intranet; and • The data from the system is never used in trend analysis. Your task is to re-design elements of the safety management system in order to rectify the three areas of deficiency identified in the self-audit. For each of the three problem areas identified you must produce: 1. A general discussion of the problem, and potential solutions. Expect to write 250 words on each problem. Make sure you draw on the academic/scientific literature in your exploration of the problem and in the identification of possible solutions. 2. A specification of re-designed components of the safety management system (250 Words). Specify for each problem the following: a): A paragraph capturing the overall philosophy to be adopted by the company in this area; b): A draft of the revised section of the safety management system documentation be concise and focus on addressing the deficiencies you have identified. Please note: This assignment should be 1500 words +/- 10%, i.e. 1350-1650 words. Marks will be deducted for assignments that fall short of the minimum words or exceed the maximum number of words. Extreme deviation from the word range may result in a fail. Please submit your assignment only as a doc. or docx file and PLEASE INCLUDE A WORD COUNT AT THE END OF THE TEXT. Many students choose to insert sections of the assignment question into the text to structure the work. This is a good idea and you are encouraged to structure your assignment with sub-headings to enhance readability. Since there is a word limit, if you do insert text from the question, you must count only the words in your responses.