UNIT E7 ENSURE AN EFFECTIVE ORGANISATIONAL APPROACH TO HEALTH AND SAFETY

UNIT SUMMARY

What is this unit about?

This unit is concerned with leading the overall approach to health and safety in your organisation. There are numerous benefits arising from a effective organisational approach to health and safety, including

• contributing to the well-being and productivity of all the people who work for the organisation
• decreasing the risk of injury and ill-health to people who work for the organisation and others
• improving the reputation of the organisation in the eyes of customers, suppliers and other stakeholders
• ensuring your organisation meets legislative requirements thus minimising the likelihood of prosecution and consequent penalties.

For the purposes of this unit, an ‘organisation’ can mean a self-contained entity such as a private sector company, a charity or a local authority or a significant operating unit, with a relative degree of autonomy, within a larger organisation.

Who is this unit for?

The unit is recommended for senior managers.

Links with other units

This unit is linked to units B7. Provide leadership for your organisation, E5. Ensure your own actions reduce risks to health and safety, E6. Ensure health and safety requirements are met in your area of responsibility in the overall suite of National Occupational Standards for management and leadership.

Skills

Listed below are the main generic ‘skills’ which need to be applied in ensuring an effective organisational approach to health and safety. These skills are explicit/implicit in the detailed content of the unit and are listed here as additional information.


• Information management
• Decision-making
• Leadership
• Thinking systematically
• Presenting information
• Involving others
• Questioning
• Consulting
• Reviewing
• Monitoring
• Communicating
• Reporting
• Prioritising
• Planning

Outcomes of effective performance

You must be able to do the following:

1 1 Identify your personal responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation.
2 Identify the organisation’s responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation.
3 Ensure that the organisation has a written health and safety policy statement that minimises health and safety risks to people who work for the organisation and other relevant parties.
4 Ensure that the health and safety policy statement is clearly communicated to all people who work for the organisation and other relevant parties.
5 Ensure that the health and safety policy is put into practice across the organisation and is subject to review and revision as situations change and at regular intervals.
6 Ensure ongoing consultation with people who work for the organisation or their representatives on health and safety issues.
7 Seek and make use of specialist expertise in relation to health and safety issues.
8 Ensure that systems are in place for effective monitoring, measuring and reporting of your organisation’s health and safety performance.
9 Show continuous improvement of the organisation in relation to health and safety performance.
10 Develop an organisational culture in which people put ‘health and safety’ first and make health and safety a priority area in terms of informing the organisation’s overall strategy, planning and decision-making.
11 Demonstrate that your own actions reinforce the messages in the organisation’s health and safety policy statement.
12 Ensure that sufficient resources are allocated across the organisation to deal with health and safety issues.

Behaviours which underpin effective performance

a You respond quickly to crises and problems with a proposed course of action.

b You identify people’s information needs.

c You comply with, and ensure others comply with, legal requirements, industry regulations, organisational policies and professional codes.

d You are vigilant for possible risks and hazards.

e You take personal responsibility for making things happen.

f You identify the implications or consequences of a situation.

g You constantly seek to improve performance.

h You treat individuals with respect and act to uphold their rights.

i You use a range of leadership styles appropriate to different people and situations.

j You create a sense of common purpose.

k You use commination styles that are appropriate to different people and situations.

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand the following:

1 How and where to identify your personal responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation.

2 How and where to identify organisational responsibilities and liabilities under health and safety legislation.

3 How to keep up to with legislative and other developments relating to health and safety.

4 How to develop an effective written health and safety policy statement and what it should cover.

5 How to communicate the written health and safety policy statement to people who work for the organisation and other relevant parties.

6 How and when to review and revise the written health and safety policy statement including taking account of views from across the organisation and other relevant parties.

7 How and when to consult with people who work for the organisation or their representatives on health and safety issues.

8 Sources of specialist expertise in relation to health and safety.

9 Ways of developing an organisational culture in which people put ‘health and safety’ first.

10 Why and how health and safety should inform an organisation’s overall strategy, planning and decision-making.

11 How to establish systems for monitoring, measuring and reporting on an organisation’s overall health and safety performance.

12 The type of resources required to support an effective organisational approach to health and safety and how these resources should be allocated.

13 The importance of setting a good example to others in relation to health and safety.

14 Sector-specific legislation, regulations, guidelines and codes of practice relating to health and safety.

15 Health and safety risks, issues and developments that are particular to the industry or sector.

16 Other relevant parties with an interest in health and safety in your organisation.

17 The organisation’s written health and safety policy statement and how it is communicated to people who work for the organisation and to other relevant parties.

18 Mechanisms for consulting with people who work for the organisation or their representatives on health and safety issues.

19 Sources of specialist expertise in health and safety used by the organisation.

20 Systems in place for effective monitoring, measuring and reporting of organisational health and safety performance.

21 The resources allocated across the organisation for health and safety.

22 The organisation’s strategy, planning and decision-making processes.

23 The organisation’s culture in relation to health and safety.

24 Allocated responsibilities for health and safety across the organisation.