How to implement a job safety analysis process
- October 14th, 2009
Success at implementing a job safety analysis process depends partly on the frequency of its use. If your team had produced a valuable business management tool, make it a living document for incident prevention. Give the team and their process the recognition it deserves, by ensuring that it is used daily.
The entire team should participate in the running of aspects of the Sheq programme, for their own benefit. 
Each member should also commit to contribute to the team’s benefit. The input of each employee is vital to making the programme effective.
When handing over the job safety analysis procedure to employees, management meets part of their legally required ‘duty to inform’. Information requires more than facts and theory. ‘Information’ means that the employees acquire understanding and skills to apply Sheq procedures.
Every employee has the right to training and support to enable them to make informed decisions when faced with situations that may arise during work.
The following five activities would help to sustain team awareness, and demonstrate management’s commitment to reducing potential loss incidents.
Orientation
Management should lead by example and be seen as part of the team. Once health and safety procedures are documented, supervisors should coach each employee in the required awareness of the objectives and benefits of following procedures, and the risks attached to ‘short cuts’. Supervisors should ‘walk’ employees through the process, irrespective of how long they have been performing their assigned tasks. Deficiencies, deviations and misunderstandings should be identified during orientation.
Health and safety skills training
Knowledge or performance gaps are identified, and assessed on a needs basis. The required additional training could be formal or informal. The ‘trainer’ could be a supervisor, peer, or subject specialist.
Knowledge is for sharing, and compliance is often best achieved by assigning a mentor so that questions could be solved at the point of action in ‘real time’. Use the documents as a guideline for induction, pre-placement, on-the-job training, and performance measurement.
Job observation
Job observations are often neglected in a safety analysis implementation. As management representatives, supervisors must ensure that the legally required ‘general duties of employers’ are continuously met.
Planned and general job observation should be ongoing. Interventions should follow directly to improve quality levels, Sheq compliance, productivity, and overall performance. Implementing planned job observations deserves special attention, and is covered in a separate course.
Evaluation
When average is taken for ‘excellence’, then the supposed ‘excellence’ is mere average. Performance should be measured so that gaps are identified and procedures are modified, and regularly updated, to drive continuous improvement. If procedures are documented but not made a routine part of every operational activity, the procedures would become a mere paper exercise and serve no practical purpose.
Ask employees to evaluate their own procedures. If they have been informed of the objectives and values, and are given the opportunity to add to or modify their own procedures, they would know that they have ownership. Ownership generates enthusiasm.
Evaluation activities could include:
- Informal review of the effects of implementation
- Supervisor or peer reviews with feedback, a week after implementation
- Comparing frequency and severity rates of common incidents
- Discuss implementation benefits at safety talks
- Discuss progress and improvements at committee meetings
- Integrate performance measurement with other evaluations
- Adopt Sheq into all operations
- Invite suggestions for improving Sheq factors like health, environment, quality
- Recognise efforts, suggestions, and innovations.
Revision
Demonstrate management interest and commitment by keeping responses and procedures up to date. Schedule regular reviews. Employees could perform their own initial review, taking ownership and demonstrating their responsibility for their own safety.
Discuss recommendations with relevant parties and circulate revise documents. It should be standard practice to review new operating procedures whenever there is a change in any part of a process, or when a new activity is introduced.
9 Responses to “How to implement a job safety analysis process”
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November 24th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Hello again,
Is there somewhere I can download templates of construction regulation appointments?
regards
Zhivaan
November 25th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Hi
Not as far as I know, but I will send you a list.
Regards Christel
January 15th, 2010 at 5:31 pm
I will like to have an avenue where we can exchange ideas and interact on SHEQ challenges we face in our work environment
January 18th, 2010 at 10:15 am
Hi Ejimadu
This would be welcoming. What do you suggets? How would you like to go about it?
Regards Christel.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Hi Christel and Ejimado,
I have templates of all required construction regulation legal appointments. If Ejimado can supply an e-mail address to me I will gladly send them on.
Regards,
Colin
March 24th, 2010 at 10:31 am
Hi Colin
Thank you for the suggestion. Is it possible to send the appointments to me? Regards Christel.
May 26th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
Hi Collin,
my e-mail is neduejims@yahoo.com.
regards
May 26th, 2010 at 7:18 pm
Hi christel,
The approach I think is simple. It goes like this.
State the Challange and have people educate you on it. For instance guideline on development of an adequate MOPO ( mannual of permitted operation) for a facility or location.
July 14th, 2010 at 10:18 am
I have done everything you have advise of during the SHEQMAN course 2006, by developing my self up to a stage that I have diploma in safety management with Vaal Universtity of Technology.
Thank you very much Chritel, keep up the good work