Background
This guideline could assist those member companies who have not established clear Health & Safety guidelines or leadership actions for their companies.

Members are encouraged to spend some time on this subject in their own businesses.

Some quotes by leaders in the industy
“Attitudes to health and safety are determined by the bosses, not the organisation’s size”.

“Health and safety is integral to success.  Bosses who do not show leadership in this area are failing in their duty and their moral duty, and are damaging their organisation”.

“An organisation will never be able to achieve the highest standards of health and safety management without the active involvement of owners.  External stakeholders viewing the organisation will observe he lack of direction”.

“Health and safety is a fundamental part of business.  Boards need someone with passion and energy to ensure it stays at the core of the organisation”.

Protecting the health and safety of employees or members of the public who may be affected by a quarries activities is an essential part of risk management and must be led by the top management.

Failure to include health and safety as a key business risk in management decisions can have catastrophic results.  Many high-profile safety cases over the years have been rooted in failures of leadership.

Health and Safety law places duties on organisations and employers and directors can be personally liable when these duties are breached:  Members of the board have both collective and individual responsibility for health and safety.

Some principals to take into consideration

• Strong and active leadership from the top:
  • Visible, active commitment from the board or top management
  • Establishing effective “downward” communication systems and management structures.
  • Integration of good health and safety management with business decisions.
    
    
• Worker Involvement
  • Engaging the workforce in the promotion and achievement of safe and healthy conditions.
  • Effective “upward” communication.
  • Providing high quality training.
    
    
• Assessment and review
  • Identifying and managing health and safety risk.
  • Accessing (and following) competent advise.
  • Monitoring, reporting and reviewing performance.
  • Partake actively in the Aspasa ISHE 18001 Audits run by Aspasa.

Benefits of good health and safety
Addressing health and safety should not be seen as a regulatory burden:
It offers significant opportunities.

Benefits can include:

• Reduced costs and reduced risks - employee absence and turnover rates are lower, accidents are fewer, the threat of legal action is lessened.
• Improved standing among suppliers and partners.
• A better reputation for corporate responsibility among investors, customers and communities.
• Increased productivity – employees are healthier, happier and better motivated.

How do the Directors or Owners of a Quarry Operation plan for the health and safety direction for their company?
The Directors or Owners of a company need to establish a health & safety policy that is much more than a document.

What is needed is a culture to be developed as an integral part of the organisations culture, its values and performance of the company.

Directors and Owners must take the lead in ensuring the communication of health and safety duties and benefits throughout the company.  Directors and Owners must develop policies to avoid health and safety problems and must respond quickly where difficulties arise or new risks are introduced.

How do Directors/Owners deliver on Health & Safety?
The actual delivery is what counts and having policies and documents are not enough to ensure effective delivery.

Companies should aim to protect people by introducing management systems and practices that ensure risks are dealt with sensibly, responsibly and proportionately.

Actions
To take responsibility and “ownership” of health and safety, Directors and Owners must ensure that:

• Health and Safety arrangements are adequately resourced.
• They obtain competent health and safety advice.
• Risk assessments are carried out.
• Employees or their representatives are involved in decision that affect their health and safety.

The top Management should consider the health and safety implications of introducing new processes, new working practices or new personnel, dedicating adequate resources to the task and seeking advice where necessary.

Good Practice

• Leadership is more effective, if visible – Directors/Owners can reinforce health and safety policy by being seen on the “shop floor”, following all safety measures themselves and addressing any breaches immediately.
• Consider health and safety when deciding senior management appointments.
• Having procurement standards for goods, equipment and services can help prevent the introduction of expensive health and safety hazards.
• The health and safety arrangements of partners, key suppliers and contractors should be assessed:  their performance could adversely affect yours.
• Setting up a separate risk management or health and safety committee as a subset of the top Management chaired by a senior executive, can make sure the key issues are addressed and guard against time and effort being wasted on trivial risks and unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Providing health and safety training to some or all of the top Management can promote understanding and knowledge of the key issues in your company.
• Supporting worker involvement in health and safety, above your legal duty to consult worker representatives, can improve participation and help prove your commitment.

How do Top Management Monitor Health and Safety?
Aspasa has its ISHE 18001 audit system that is used to “audit” quarries and operations thereby assisting Top Management to monitor the safety and health in the company or specific operation.  It is vital that health and safety is monitored.

Much day-to-day health and safety information need to be reported only at the time of a formal audit.  But only a strong system of monitoring can ensure that the formal audit review can proceed as planned – and that relevant events in the interim are brought to Top Managements attention.

Actions
The top Management should ensure that:

• Appropriate weight is given to reporting both preventive information (such as progress of training and maintenance programmes) and incident data (such as accident and sickness absence rates).
• Periodic audits of the effectiveness of management structures and risk controls for health and safety are carried out.
• The impact of changes such as the introduction of new procedures, work processes or products, or any major health and safety failure, is reported as soon as possible to the board.
• There are procedures to implement new and changed legal requirements and to consider other external developments and events.

Good Practice

• Effective monitoring of sickness absence and workplace health can alert top Management to underlying problems that could seriously damage performance or result in accidents and long-term illness.
• The collection of workplace health and safety data can allow the top Management to benchmark the organisation’s performance against others in its sector.
• Appraisals of senior managers can include an assessment of their contribution to health and safety performance.
• Top Management receive regular reports on the health and safety performance and actions of contractors.
• Some organisations have found they win great support for health and safety by involving works in monitoring.

Top Management must review the companies Health and Safety performance
To assist Top Management review the performance of the company/quarry or operation, Top Management must be involved and show interest in the Aspasa ISHE 18001 which takes place annually.

The formal review by Top Management is essential.  It allows the Top Management to establish whether the essential health and safety principles – strong and active leadership, worker involvement, and assessment and review – have been embedded in the company.  It tells you whether your system is effective is managing risk and protecting people.

Actions
Top Management should review health and safety performance at least once a year.  The review process should:

• Examine whether the health and safety policy reflects the company’s current priorities, plans and targets.
• Examine whether risk management and other health and safety systems have been effectively reporting to Top Management.
• Report health and safety shortcomings, and the effect of all relevant Top Management and management decisions.
• Decide actions to address any weaknesses and a system to monitor their implementation.
• Consider immediate reviews in the light of major shortcomings or events.

Good Practice

• Performance on health and safety and wellbeing is increasingly being recorded in companies annual reports to investors and stakeholders.
• Top Management can make extra “shop floor” visits to gather information for the formal review.
• Good health and safety performance can be celebrated at central and local level.
  
  

A Checklist to help companies determine their status
This list is designed to check the status as a leader on health and safety.  Insert a √

• How do you demonstrate the Top Managements commitment to health & safety?
  
  
• What do you do to ensure appropriate Top level review of health and safety?
  
  
• What have you done to ensure your Company, at all levels including the Top Management receives competent health and safety advice.
  
  
• How are you ensuring all staff – including the Top Management are sufficiently trained and competent in their health and safety responsibilities?
  
  
• How confident are you that your workforce, particularly safety representatives are consulted properly on health and safety matters and that their concerns are reaching the appropriate level including as necessary, the Top Management?
  
  
• What systems are in place to ensure your companies risks are assessed, and that sensible control measures are established and maintained.
  
  
• How well you do know what is happening on the ground, and what audits or assessments are undertaken to inform you about what your companies and contractors actually do?
  
  
• What information does the Top Management receive regularly about health and safety, eg performance data and reports on injuries and work-related ill health?
  
  
• What targets have you set to improve health and safety and do you benchmark your performance against others in the quarry sector?
  
  
• Where changes in working arrangements have significant implications for health and safety, how are these brought to the attention of the Top Management?

In Conclusion
Aspasa is there to help Member companies to handle Health & Safety better.

Contact Aspasa on 011 498 7346 for assistance. (Download PDF )