Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents - Assignment Example

Executive Summary Risk management is the process of Risk assessment and risk reduction (or control) as argued by Tom Cox et al (2005). Employee stress and health and safety related issues pose a great threat to the sustainability of any organization. In order to effectively control this, it is treated as a risk within the organization and an analysis on the finance and human resource departments of the organization was conducted. The risk assessment was conducted using both the primary research and secondary research data in order to identify the consistency in the information. The research/assessment revealed that the risks associated with the employee stress and the employee health & Safety are high. Since the need to manage the risk is essential for the successful management of the risk as well as provide furthermore, the research also revealed that the effectiveness of the staff members is affected since the policies and practices in paper for the organization are not deployed properly in the organization thus making it clear that the effectiveness of the employees in the organization is a critical element in the success of business for the organization. The risk assessment has revealed that the organization lacks in providing adequate training and development opportunities for its operational staff. Alongside, it was also established that there is a communication gap between the managers and the operational staff members making it clear that the risk of stress among the staff is high due to lack of support from the line managers. The risk assessment also revealed that the lack of support from the line managers and the increased use of computers without appropriate training are the causes not only for stress but also musculoskeletal pain and increased absenteeism. A risk reduction methodology using the appropriate measurement techniques is then presented where the organization is encouraged to measure the control of risk through quantifying the results of the risk reduction plan. The risk reduction plan also revealed that the effective control of the risks could be accomplished only through the effective deployment of the control and measurement methods on a periodical basis thus identifying any issues associated with the risks that can be eliminated to achieve effective control over the risks. The risk reduction plan also justified that a planned approach to risk management and reduction is an appropriate tool for controlling the risks due to occupational health hazard and stress related issues. The risk control methods also stressed that the effective and continuous communication between the line managers and the employees is a critical element for the success of the organization and its ability to control the risks identified. Finally the risk assessment and risk reduction justifies that the risk management should be accomplished using these steps to prevent the organization from facing legal proceedings for lack of training and support to the employees and lack of health & safety hygiene in the organization. 1.0: Introduction Occupational health issues and absenteeism associated are increasingly becoming a risk to organizations in the UK that are both operating within the geography and on a global basis. The increase in the awareness of Health and Safety of employees and above all the consequences of occupational health hazards has naturally increased the need for a definitive approach to controlling this risk across the organization throughout all its departments of operation including the office and field staff members. The increase in the absenteeism of employees in office-based environment due to musculoskeletal issues has increased since the dawn of the twenty-first century when the developed countries started deploying the use of computers in every sphere of its business. In this report a critical risk assessment and risk reduction procedure is presented to the director of health and safety of "petroleum" that has recently globalized its business operations. The report comprises of the risk assessment and a risk reduction approach to the company. 2.0: Research Methodology The research is conducted on the staff members of the company's finance and Human Resource department focusing upon its office based in the UK. The research is conducted using both quantitative and qualitative methods in order to identify the intensity of the risk faced by the organization and the potential threat in the event of failure to control the risk. The quantitative research is conducted in the form of questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. The qualitative research on the other hand, is conducted using the secondary research information, legal documentations of the employee law and occupational health laws of UK comparing it against the policies of the organization under debate. 3.0: Risk Management and Occupational health Occupational health and employee absenteeism due to increased stress among the employees and musculoskeletal diseases have increased drastically causing a potential risk to an organization's operational competitiveness. The employment law and the occupational health and safety law of the UK stress that the employee health and safety should be given priority and controlled through continuous assessment and effective management of the risk. Furthermore, the increase in employee absenteeism due to the lack of support and information to perform the job role effectively as argued by Michael Armstrong (2003) is increasingly a potential risk for the sustainability of the organization itself. The need to treat this as a potential risk to the organization is predominantly because of the fact that the staff turnover has a direct effect on the company's performance and affects up to the corporate identity of the organization. This makes it clear that the risk management in an organization is a critical factor for the sustainability of the organization itself. The risk management framework shown in fig 1 below justifies the argument on the need for effective risk management in an organization. Fig 1: Risk Management Framework For the identified risk - employee HSE and occupational health issues in the organization, the aforementioned framework clearly explains that the current situation of the organization should be evaluated through assessment within the organization followed by the efficient methods of controlling and reducing the risk. Furthermore, the legal obligation on the employee incentives and compensation due to the lack of adequate facilities and support to the company makes it clear that the organization should effectively control the occupational health risk in order to avoid legal obligations and also to avoid facing legal action over the organization. The Employee law of UK states that organizations operating in the UK both national and international must abide by the regulations on occupational health and safety of the employees on all its operating offices in the UK geography whilst the policies in the locations outside UK should conform to the regulations of the local laws on human resources. This makes it clear that even though the company is globalized it is essential to meet the employment and occupational health policies pertaining to employee health and safety in locations within UK. 4.0: Risk Assessment From the aforementioned arguments it is clear that the risk assessment is an essential element in the risk management within an organization. This is naturally because of the fact that the identification and the intensity of the risk in an organization is the major element that contributes to the control and reduction of the risk to accomplish effective risk management in the organization. The risk assessment within the organization comprises of the following - The design and management of work: This measures the effectiveness of the organizational structure in managing the staff members especially operational staff members who are involved in the day-to-day business process of the organization. Since the daily operations of the business is not only monotonous in nature but also tiresome due to the repetition of the steps involved in the process makes it clear that the stress and stress related risks can be effectively measured through assessing the staff members at the operational level of the identified departments. - Individual and organisational well-being: Under this case the involvement of the organization in the development of the individual employee and vice versa is assessed. This is predominantly to identify the mutual involvement of the employee and the employer in order to establish the effectiveness in the communication at all levels of the organization. - Audit of management systems and employee support (AMSES): This provides an efficient method to analyse the quantity and quality of the work processed by the members of the staff. This makes it that the risk assessment for identifying the stress and occupational health hazard is through the effectiveness of the staff members in their day-to-day work and the level of support they have from their line managers or team leaders as applicable. The audit will also enable the assessment of the overall performance of the departments and their contribution to the growth of the organization. This will provide us with the insight on the effects of the risk of occupational health and stress at work. - Confidentiality: group level data collection and analysis: The collected information is retained confidential in order to encourage the participants to give honest and reliable replies, which can be used for the effective measurement of the risks in the organization. The measurement of the risks reflecting the aforementioned areas is conducted through a questionnaire and a face-to-face interview with the members of staff from the concerned departments. 5.0: Risk Assessment - Results The risk assessment of the employees in the organization from the Human Resource and the finance departments is conducted from the information gathered through the questionnaires and interviews. The information is held confidential in order to protect the interests of the employees and only the statistics is presented for analysis in this report. The questionnaire was conducted among a total of 75 people whilst the face-to-face interview was conducted amongst a total 40 volunteered staff members. Alongside, the organization's policies that reflect upon the occupational health and their relevance to the current situation is analysed in the qualitative analysis so as to present the 'big picture' to the director of the occupational health and safety in the organization. The five stage risk assessment methodology (fig 2) is used in this report to assess the risk due to occupational health and health and safety of the employees in the organization. Fig 2: Five stage risk assessment methodology As shown in the figure, the assessment triangulates the evidence gathered from the assessment under different categories. This is then compared with the existing policies of the organization to effectively make recommendations on reducing the risks so identified. Since Risk Management is the combination of the Risk Assessment and Risk Reduction as identified by Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003), this report conducts the risk assessment and then presents the risk reduction in order to effectively control the risks associated with the occupational health and health and safety of the employees in the office environment of the organization under analysis. Furthermore, the fact that a risk in the organization cannot be eliminated completely and only controlled through the effective risk management methods as identified by James Reason (1997) who says that the management of risk is predominantly the process of controlling the risk rather than eliminating the risk from the organizational structure. This also makes it clear that the effectiveness of an organization in the risk management in an organization is its ability to effectively control the risks. Alongside, it is also clear that in the real-world scenario, not all risk can be identified and eliminated but can only be controlled through continuous quest for risks in the organization's working environment and performing the necessary steps to control the risks. The summary results of the risk assessment conducted in the organization is presented in Appendix 1 of this report. The assessment results were consolidated from the questionnaires and the face-to-face interviews conducted among the employees of the human resource and finance department of the organization. The departments identified namely, human resource and the finance in the organization are the departments entirely based in the offices across UK to perform the department's day-to-day business activities. Hence an assessment on these departments will provide reliable information on the psychological issues due to stress and musculoskeletal disorders resulting in increased absenteeism. Furthermore, the fact that the human resource department and the finance department of the organization are the pillars for its corporate identity and any issues within this department especially pertaining to occupational health and stress will have a direct impact on the overall organizational effectiveness and the corporate identity of the organization. This justifies the choice of the departments for the assessment in this report. From the assessment it is clear that the number of staff members in both the departments suffering from musculoskeletal pain is more than 50% of the total respondents making it clear that the health and safety of the organization in the occupational health perspective is lagging in the organization. Furthermore, the lack of the support from the organization in terms of training and development to the staff members as well as the lack of appropriate information is another critical element that causes stress and stress related disorders among the employees. The assessment of the likely risk factors further make it clear that the employee stress and stress related disorders is predominantly due to the lack of support from the team-leaders (9or line managers and higher authorities in responsible positions. Furthermore, the lack of training and relevant information is the primary cause for the stress in both the finance and the human resource departments of the company. The arguments of Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003) that the organization support for the development and training of the employees is essential for both the newly recruited employees as well as existing staff members of the organization. The fact that the motivation and support to the existing staff in the form of training and development is the key for retaining potential employees in the organization makes training and development of the staff imperative in the organization. Alongside, the response of the staff members that the lack of communication between the managers and the staff members is a critical element that results in a GAP between the management and the workforce of the organization. Since the communication effectiveness among the members of the staff and the management is the key for implementing effective changes organization wide makes it clear that the communication is an essential element the lack of which is a potential risk for occupational health hazards. Furthermore, the lack of consultation by the managers with the operational staff before enforcing a change in the department (either minor or major) further justifies that the lack of communication in the departments identified is one of the major sources for the risk of occupational health hazards in the organization. The high level of response that the training for use of computer software in the organization is low further makes it clear that the organization is facing the risk of occupational hazard due to the lack of training as one of the major factors instigating the risk. Apart from the aforementioned, the high level of response from major segment of the employees on suffering from musculoskeletal pains justifies the extensive use of computer and related resources in the organization. Furthermore, the lack of training on the use of latest computer software installed across the organization further justifies the increased use of the computers and other IT related products causing the increase in number of staffs suckering from musculoskeletal pains in the office environment. The high number of staff members going on leave either under medical grounds or self-certified further makes it clear that the risk of occupational health and safety in the organization high and needs to be controlled in order to sustain the organization's growth in the petroleum industry. The management's policy on work related stress control and remedy are cited below - Help simplify risk assessment for stress - Encourage employers, employees and their representatives to work in partnership to address work-related stress throughout the organisation; - Provide the yardstick by which organisations can gauge their performance in tackling the key causes of stress. The aforementioned although efficient when applied is not effective since they are not in force within the organization. The response of the staff members on the lack of communication and the increased level of stress due to improper workload and lack of training justifies this. Furthermore, the company's policy to encourage the employers, employees and representatives to work together is not present in the existing set up of the organization mainly because of the fact that the company not only suffers from the lack of communication but also due to lack of training to the employees. Although the communication barrier can be overcome through the efficient management in the company, the lack of training should be addressed in order to eliminate the stress due to imbalance in the work due to lack of training. The response from the staff members that they do not have adequate training to perform their day-to-day job requirements justifies this argument. The risk assessment further revealed that not only the company policies are breached in practise but also the legal requirements on the occupational health and employment law with respect to training and development of the staff and the stress related issues are breached by the current functioning of the line managers and other tactical management staff members in the company. Furthermore, the assessment has also revealed that the existing company policies on the management of stress and stress related issues among its staff members should be reviewed and above all deployed across the organization to reduce the risk of occupational health hazard and stress related issues among the staff members in the organization. 6.0: Risk Reduction The risk reduction is defined as the process of effectively controlling the risks associated with the identified risks in the organization through the deployment of best practices and enforcing organizational policies in the company. In this section the importance of controlling the risk is presented in order to emphasize the need for risk management on the occupational health hazard and stress related issues. The standard element that comprise a risk reduction or a risk management model as argued by Tom Cox et al (2005) presented below are essential for controlling the risks in an organization. i. A declared focus on a defined work population, workplace, set of operations or particular type of equipment: This makes it clear that the risks associated with stress and occupational health hazards vary from one department to another depending upon the nature of the work and pattern of working in the organization itself. Hence in an office-based scenario the risk reduction approach is entirely different to that of the field workers case as argued by Tom Cox et al (2005). Furthermore, the fact that the not only the nature of work, but also the intensity of the involvement mentally and physically by an employee differ from one department to another making it clear that the management of the risk associated with the stress and stress related problems is unique to the working culture of the department under debate. Since both the human resource and the finance department have similar working pattern, a common risk management methodology can be deployed across both the departments. ii. An assessment of risks: The risk assessment in section 4 and 5 reveal that the reduction of the risk due to stress and occupational health and safety should be addressed by the organization and effectively reduced. The argument that this is essential for the sustainability of the organization as well as the effectiveness of the overall organization and its corporate identity further justifies the need for the risk reduction method to be deployed in the company. The identified risks are not only potentially affecting the company but also breaching the legal requirements of the UK employment law and the European Union law on human resource management. iii. The design and implementation of actions designed to remove or reduce those risks: Under this section, the identified risks of the organization are envisaged to be removed through deploying the following actions in the concerned departments. Establish effective communication between the operational staff members and the line managers. This will not only decrease the communication GAP but also actually provide opportunity for the employee to raise any issues related to the work or personnel that can be resolved effectively by the organization. The fact that the organizational culture on effective communication reflects on this task. Organize training and development sessions: The decrease in the staff turnover and the increase in the lack of training that de-motivates the existing staff members can be effectively overcome through appropriate training and development of the staffing the departments. The fact that the training and development of the staff members is the critical element for their effectiveness in their day-to-day role makes it clear that this is an essential element in the risk reduction process. Employee support and management involvement: The increase in the effectiveness of employee support by the management will serve as the catalyst in the process of reducing the risks associated with the employee health and safety. iv. Evaluation of Actions: The evaluation of the aforementioned actions periodically will provide the management or the risk owner on the status of the control on the risk, which serves as the yardstick for the management to deploy its resources on the management of the identified risks. v. Organizational Training: Apart from the training and development policies to be deployed on the training of tactical staff members of the organization, the training and development process will also increase the effectiveness of the organization itself. This is naturally because of the fact that the organization undergoes the learning process of managing the risks as well as the methods to reduce the risk thus making the organization a safer place to work. From the aforementioned arguments it is clear that the risk reduction in the organization will not only eliminate the legal and social issues associated but also provide an opportunity to effectively retain its existing staff member without loosing potential workforce from the organization. 7.0: Recommendation From the above arguments it is clear that the risk assessment and the reduction are the critical elements in the risk management of the employee health and safety issues and stress related problems faced by the employees in the organization. Furthermore, the organization can increase its sustainability through the effective training of the staff members in not only the process related to their team but also cross train them to a certain extent to accomplish effective risk management in the event of internal transfer of the staff members. References Derek Torrington and Laura Hall (2003), Personnel management: HRM in Action, UK; Prentice Hall James Reason (1997), Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents, UK: Ashgate Michael Armstrong (2003), A Handbook of Human Resource Management Practise, London Kogan Page Tom Cox et al (2005), Work-related Stress: The risk management paradigm, Institute of Work, Health & Organisations, University of Nottingham, UK Read More