IRIA

The increasing importance of health and safety at the workplace is prompting organisations to devise means of accident prevention at work.

There is need to identify the role of a safety culture in preventing accidents at workplaces. Organizations that have already embarked on safety programmes can learn some more from this and those that haven’t might want to take notes.

The Government of Rwanda’s environmental health policy, published in 2008, states that there is a law governing occupational health and safety in work places. However, this law should be translated into codes of practice to guide its implementation and enforcement. All employers should be guided to establish relevant internal Health and Safety Policies at the work place. Environmental Health (EH) personnel are required to work with MIFOTRA (Ministry of Public Service and Labour) personnel to ensure that EH inspection tools are revised to include aspects of OHS.

Good safety culture in a workplace exists when safety and health are understood to be, and are accepted as a top priority. Safety and health does not exist if isolated from other aspects of organisations, such as people and financial management.

A policy that is not built on a sound safety background promoting occupational health and safety, as well as the well-being of the organisation’s employees and stakeholders, is bound to be fruitless. There should be a shared sense of desirable values and attitudes to which the organization subscribes. An organisation must, therefore, prepare a written policy concerning the protection of the health and safety it’s employees at work, including a description of the organisation and the arrangements for carrying out and reviewing that policy. The policy should be signed by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

Promotion of a safety culture with the view to preventing accidents in the workplace needs to be set out in seven values. These values are described by the word culture as communication and consultation, understanding workplace hazards, leadership that is visible, taking responsibility, understanding potential emergencies, risk assessment and employee involvement or participation.

In regards to communication and consultation, there are several ways in which organisations can provide health and safety messages at the workplace. At the onset, during the induction process for new employees, critical elements of an organization’s health and safety programmes should be discussed to make employees aware of existing company safety policies.

For companies that practice this already, employees are told about potential hazards and risks that affect their work environment from the get go. They should also be informed on the correct operational procedures that help prevent accidents while carrying out their duties. Availability of funds, in-house publications, calendars, posters, stickers and bulletin boards indicating, for example, time lost due to injuries in the workplace, can be used to promote occupational health and safety.

These are vital forms of communication, as they highlight an organisation’s goals in its accident prevention efforts. Toolbox talks or meetings can be held. These are meant to be brief lasting usually 10 to 15 minutes. The topic of the day is normally facilitated by a shift supervisor and the aim is to introduce or remind workers of the potential occupational health and safety risks of their jobs.

Through the promotion and implementation of the organisation’s occupational health and safety policy, in regards to understanding and recognising hazards, management should make employees aware of both potential and actual hazards in the workplace.

This will also promote the acquisition and use of the necessary guards for machines, in order to safeguard the machine operator, for instance. On-the-job training may not entirely fulfill the required training needs.

As we have seen in the commitments set out in the health and safety policy, the culture of an organization is set by its leaders so visible leadership is vital. The management and their representatives have an obligation to the safety of their employees. At planned or unannounced intervals, they must check that the workplace is free of any unsafe situation. Moreover, they need to keep an eye on employees’ unsafe behaviour so that timely action can be taken to eliminate any hazards.

Expression of safety leadership may take the form of allocation of resources, planning for potential emergency situations, as well as provision of training for employees and supervisors.

Both employees and employers have a role to play in taking responsibility for the prevention of accidents at the workplace. For example, the South African Occupational Health and Safety Act No. 85 of 1993, Section 8, requires that every employer shall provide and maintain, as far as is reasonably practicable, a working environment that is safe and without risk to the health of his employees. Furthermore, Section 14 deals with the general duties of employees at work, requiring that every employee shall take reasonable care for the health and safety of himself and of other persons who may be affected by his acts or omissions.

Although it is hard to predict when accidents will happen, employees and employers need to ensure that they understand potential emergencies – such as explosions and spillages of hazardous substances, to mention but a few in order to reduce risks.

An emergency preparedness and response procedure should be developed and this will address the resources needed to deal with emergencies once they occur and the type of training needed by emergency response personnel.

The location of hazardous materials must be known to all personnel, including external emergency response personnel – for example, the fire brigade and ambulance services. The availability of equipment for emergency response must be known, and equipment must be regularly tested. Evacuation plans or exit maps must be clearly marked and must remain unobstructed. The emergency procedure should also ensure that the alarm systems are periodically tested for the proper functions’ sake. It must also be verified that the personnel is aware of what each signal means.

There is a notion that “every workplace accident is preventable”. For this to be realised, the organisation’s occupational health and safety management systems need to be proactive.

They should not wait for accidents to happen.

A procedure for risk assessment must be implemented to prompt a periodical assessment of potential risks. Employees whose activities might have an impact on the health and safety of others need to be trained in the process of assessments. For example, the workstation layout as well as the duties being performed should be checked for any ergonomic-related risk factors. Attention can also be paid to awkward positions that may cause painful ergonomic injuries, especially if they are frequent, in order to assess whether any potential occupational overuse syndromes arise.

Training should be able to empower personnel by providing them the skills they need to identify hazards within the workplace and those that originate outside the workplace. They should be able to assess the risks associated with the identified hazards, and to take appropriate control measures into consideration.

The involvement and participation of employees in matters pertaining to health and safety can improve morale and promote a culture of confidence that solicits initiatives contributing to methods on preventing workplace accidents. Involvement and participation of employees in health and safety matters also encourages a sense of ownership.

In conclusion, for organisations to prevent accidents at workplaces effectively, there is a need to ensure an appropriate safety culture that is based on sound values of communication and consultation and an understanding of workplace hazards. It is necessary to ensure that the leadership is visible and committed to safety programmes and that there is a mandate of joint responsibility for workplace safety from employees and employers alike. This should be guided by clear policies. Potential emergency situations should be understood, risk assessments should be conducted, and every employee should be involved and actively participate in order to promote high morale at work.

Therefore, the approach towards accident prevention should been seen as the pursuit of continuous safety improvement.

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• Plan for the task and ensuring the right equipment is being used for the load.
• Correctly maintain forklifts and operate them in accordance with the designer’s and manufacturer’s instructions.
• Ensure forklift operators are correctly licensed and have completed training for the particular forklift.

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Look after your best asset, your staff, with these safe workplace practices.

Every work environment is subject to safe workplace practices whether you work in a small or large corporation, in an office, outdoors or home office setup and there are certain guidelines you should follow. Promoting a safe working environment and complying with the law not only reduces the risk of injury for employees, it also improves morale and boosts productivity when staff feel like they are cared for and looked after.

Know your laws
Each state, country or region will have their own laws governing safe workplace practices. You will need to appoint a safety manager or an employee in the company such as the HR manager to keep abreast of legislation impacting occupational health and safety procedures. If you are the owner of a small company, it is your responsibility to keep abreast of any changes in regulations and communicate them to your staff.

Play it SAFE – hazard management
The best way to avoid workplace injuries is to educate employees to notify management if they find any occupational health and safety hazards. This may include faulty wiring, wet floors, problems with safety equipment or employees not following safety procedures in place, bullying and violence and other risks to employee’s safety. Staff members can do this using the SAFE method, following four simple steps:

• Spot the hazard
• Assess the risk
• Fix the problem
• Evaluate results

It is the responsibility of every employee to ensure safe workplace practices are being upheld and to inform management if they believe they are being compromised.

Ask for feedback from staff
Your front line staff may also have firm ideas on the measures should be in place to protect employee’s safety. This could be anything from an anonymous ‘suggestion box’ type feedback to asking staff members to be on a working party for a workplace safety group. It is always valuable to have representatives from different departments who can offer valuable insider input and suggestions about safe work procedures.

Put it in writing
As part of your safe workplace practices, it is best to document these practices in writing, send them to staff, update them periodically, arrange training if necessary and/or inform staff of updates and put them in a place where they are easily accessible. It should be a living document that is adjusted as conditions warrant and in turn, promote better processes, more controls and improved work practices for all staff members.

Document incidents
You should also be documenting any incidents that occur in your work environment no matter how minor they appear at the time. Once an accident or incident takes place, be prepared to follow up with your team to review how the problem was handled, to audit the problem and document the steps taken. You should also make changes to your safety procedures as needed and offer training on new steps incorporated.

It is part of a company’s duty of care to ensure that their employees are safe in the workplace and there is a reduction in the incidence, severity, and costs (both direct and indirect) of workplace injury and disease. By constantly updating and monitoring your safe workplace practices, this will help to promote a safe, responsible and happy work environment for all employees.

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Keys to Supplier Relationship Management Success Part 2

SCM pt 2

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The term supplier relationship management has been around for more than a decade, sometimes related to a class of software (though the term is not used nearly as much today for such software as it was in the early 2000s), sometimes for an approach to how a company might work with its supply base.

Keys to Supplier Relationship Management Success Part 1

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Tompkins International Spotlights Key Trends, Challenges in Seven Industries
Raleigh, NC (PRWEB) – China, demand-driven supply chains, and expansion of global
operations will impact all industries in the coming year, according to Tompkins
International’s Strategies to Transform Your Supply Chains in 2012.

“China and global operations have been hot issues for the past few years, and the
growth in these areas continues,” says Jim Tompkins, President and CEO of Tompkins
International. “Now, because companies are seeking ways to carry lower inventory and
be more proactive, we are increasingly talking with organizations about building
demand-driven supply chains.”

According to the new insights released by Tompkins, demand-driven focuses on “pulling
products to sales” versus “pushing products to markets.” It is a customer-centric process
that allows all supply chain partners to operate off the same consensus sales forecast.

For companies seeking a competitive advantage, this year is also slated to see recordhigh
merger and acquisition (M&A) activity. Board directors are pushing for higher
growth, and investment capital is available.

“To create higher value with M&A activity, it is important that companies redouble their
efforts on two critical requirements: speed and due diligence,” Tompkins notes. “You
want to ensure that you get the deal before the other guy gets it, but at the same time,
you need to make certain that you have the right business combinations throughout your
supply chain.”

Read more about the Strategies to Transform Your Supply Chains in 2012 at the
Tompkins website: http://www.tompkinsinc.com/2012/. Learn the trends and challenges
for your industry – consumer products, food and beverage, footwear and apparel,
industrial and equipment, logistics service providers, pharmaceutical and medical
products, and retail.

About Tompkins International
Tompkins International transforms supply chains to help create value for all
organizations. For more than 35 years, Tompkins has provided end-to-end solutions on a
global scale, helping clients align business and supply chain strategies through  operations planning, design and implementation.

The company delivers leading-edge  business and supply chain solutions by optimizing the Mega Processes of PLAN-BUYMAKE- OVE-STORE-SELL. Tompkins supports clients in achieving profitable growth in all  areas of global supply chain and market growth strategy, organization, operations, process improvement, technology implementation, material handling integration, and benchmarking and best practices. Headquartered in Raleigh, NC, USA, Tompkins has offices throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. For more information, visit
http://www.tompkinsinc.com.
SOURCE: PRWeb
View original release here: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/1/prweb9122512.htm

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David Doherty catches up with his mate Mark Helding with whom he has
shared a long supply chain and logistics association

SCR_127_017

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More Talk than Action, by some Accounts, as Most Risk Reduction Strategies Add Cost; Pushing on Suppliers to Take Action – that’s a Different Story

2011 was an important year in the science of supply chain risk management, due to a couple of major natural disasters that had a significant impact on supply chain  performance.  First was the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan in March of last year, which apart from the human suffering caused major supply chain disruptions across many  sectors – with many companies caught by surprise.

The automotive supply chain, especially for Japanese OEMs Toyota and Honda,took the  biggest wallop, with parts supplies extremely constrained for months, and production
and sales levels way down as a result. In fact, Toyota lost its position as top global car  producer in 2011, handing the title back to GM after several years on top (some say the
winner should actually be Volkswagen, depending on how the numbers are counted).  But the bigger surprise was the number of companies that took supply chain hits from
supply disruptions relative to sources that had not been high on their radar lists. For  example, a number of industries were constrained by shortages of obscure chemicals
that represented just a small but vital component of their manufacturing processes, and  which turned out to be either only or largely sourced from Japan. As those suppliers lost
production capabilities, in some cases for months, manufacturers across the globe were  sent scurrying for other sources or to find alternative materials.

In the second half of the year, months-long flooding in Thailand also hurt global supply  capabilities in a number of high tech sectors, especially the disk drive industry, which is  hugely concentrated in the country and which came to a near total halt for many weeks.  Intel, for example, said it lost about $1 billion in Q4 sales because computer OEMs were  not buying its chips because they were unable to source the hard drives needed to make  new machines.  Other areas, such as aircraft tires, have also been affected by the Thai flooding.

As a result, many pundits said it was time for companies to once again think more  comprehensively about supply chain risk, and be more concerned with looking beyond  first tier suppliers to their suppliers’ suppliers, among other improvements.  But now almost a year past the Japanese earthquake, has much really changed in how  ompanies manage supply chain risk?  Yes and no – depending on who you ask.

A recent Wall Street Journal article says the events did cause many companies, even  those not affected by disruptions from Japan or Thailand, to relook at their potential  supply chain risks from new angles, to see if they too might have hidden risks they  weren’t well aware of previously. But in terms of actual supply chain practice, it turns out making changes that cost
money today for the sake of mitigating risks that may or may not ever emerge is not  highly popular in the executive office.  The awareness of new supply chain risks “hasn’t necessarily led to action,” the WSJ piece  says. “That’s partly because boosting inventory even slightly to provide a cushion  against supply disruptions can cost big companies millions of dollars, taking a noticeable  bite out of the bottom line.”

One problem is that it is extremely hard if not impossible to cost justify adding certain  supply chain redundancies absent an actual major disruption that can demonstrated  what the impact would have been if the steps had not been taken. That makes it hard to  get much executive enthusiasm behind such mitigation moves unless the pain of a  recent disruption is still fresh in mind.  The WSJ article quotes Sean Cumbie, vice president of global supply chain at German  genetics-testing company Qiagen, as saying “If we’re lucky, [we get] absolutely zero  return” from such risk mitigation moves. The implication: often the moves cost money in  the short term, and even the long term if certain feared risks never materialize.   The article notes that while large companies themselves may therefore be reluctant to  take certain risk mitigation steps, they are happy to give advice to key suppliers about  moves they should be making.
For example, after the Japan earthquake, contract manufacturer Jabil Circuit met with  most of its major Japanese suppliers to encourage them to develop more than a single  source for parts and raw materials and also urged them to stop clustering their factories  around their headquarters. Jabil also says it too is moving towards use of more dual sourcing for many components.

Even beyond the potential cost impact of reducing supply chain risk, another barrier is  simply the time it takes to do the analysis and develop alternative or contingency plans -
time that is in short supply for most supply chain executives today. Paul Tronsor, managing director of global operations control, noted the amount of time it took his  company to understand the lessons from the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruptions that  disrupted flight schedules for weeks, and then days spent visiting different areas of the  company to explain how such disruptions might be better handled in the future.
Gene Tyndall, an executive vice president at consulting firm Tompkins  Associates, agrees that companies have perhaps talked more about  taking additional steps to reduce supply chain risk coming out of the  disasters than have taken real action.  “Despite lots of talk about risk management, its actual applications in supply chains are fewer than expected,” he told SCDigest. “Our  benchmarking and corporate experiences indicate that while many  companies do have contingency plans, especially for weather and labor  disruptions, most do not actively change suppliers and/or sourcing  locations.  He added that “international sourcing and routings are complicated, and  changes are not easily done with efficiency. A best practice is to work  more closely with logistics service providers so that flow impacts from  supply chain disruptions are better managed.”

Dr. David Simchi-Levi, a professor at of MIT and author of the recent book Operations Rules,  sees a similar lack of real action – though notes there are exceptions.  “I agree, most companies talk about risk but do very little to change their approach,” Simchi-Levi told us. “Many exceptions exist however, including giants like Toyota and others who are investing
significantly in their supply chain to increase their resiliency and  responsiveness.”  He says a prime reason most companies do very little in response to the  major disruptions over the last few years is because they are not sure  what to do.  “Typically, the argument that you hear from senior executives is that “a volcano eruption like the one in Iceland in 2010 or a tsunami like the one  in Japan last year occur once every two hundred years, so there is very  little that you can do to prepare for it.” In my opinion, this is the wrong  view,” Simchi-Levi adds.  He says that there are so many potential disruptions, or what he calls the “Unknown Unknowns,” that even if each occurs very infrequently, because there are so many of them, something will go wrong in the next twelve months – and that surprisingly there is a lot that a company can do to plan its supply chain  so that it can mitigate these types of risks.

Add Political Risk to the Mix
While political risk has always been around, it has been brought into greater relief in recent years,  with the turmoil in the Middle East overall and the toppling of governments, such as in Egypt, that  no one would have expected just a couple of years ago.  Political events, especially the fall of a government, can be just as disruptive as a major natural disaster, and just as hard to predict. Procter & Gamble was forced to close a couple of factories in had in Egypt for weeks at the height of the protests, and spice maker McCormick told the Wall Street Journal that the events in Egypt led the company to stockpile the various herbs it bought  there and secure alternative sources in more stable parts in the Mediterranean.

Political risk, especially in Europe as various austerity measures take hold as a result of the debt  crisis there, appears likely to get worse before it gets better across the globe..
One thing everyone can agree on – globalization and Lean supply chain practices have made today’s supply chains a lot more risky than ever before.

Jan. 19, 2011

From SCDigest’s On-Target e-Magazine

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Kronos Perfect Labor_Final

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