Strategies to Keep You in Business in 2018
Statistics have shown that the Nigerian manufacturing sector loses about $2.8 trillion annually to occupational accidents and diseases, according to the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Aside from the monetary loss, data also indicates that the sector records 6000 deaths daily as a result of insensitivity to safety precautions.
A South African financial analyst, Joel Chimhanda, reckoned that businesses could only be secure in Nigeria and indeed Africa through operational risk management.
He said, “In Nigeria, for instance, we have heard of explosions in power plants; uncontained market fires that bring investments and livelihoods to zero because of inadequate response frameworks; massive building collapse resulting in huge capital losses; road structures with no inbuilt utility service; excessive risk transfer to insurance, thus zero bcp.”
He added that businesses collapse because managers continued to reinvest in disaster which is dwindling resources.
To avert the menace of dying investments and also considering the alarming statistics of businesses that packed up in Nigeria in 2017, Safety Consultant and Solutions Provider Limited, SCSP, an Operational Risk Management expert offered some sustainability and survival tips for investment in 2018. Ensuring Regulatory Compliance: It is paramount that employers identify the requirements that apply to their workplaces and also stay abreast of regulatory changes. Being compliant now doesn’t mean a company will always be compliant. Regulations and policies change, and new ones are issued.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, has increased rule-making activity by issuing several proposed and final rules over the last four years. The most recent final rule of significance was the ‘Walking-Working Surfaces ‘rule, which includes major fall protection, training, and inspection changes affecting every employer.
Hazard Assessment: Conducting routine hazard assessments is an excellent way to find hazards in the workplace before OSHA does. Focus on the “Big Four” — falls, electrocutions, caught-in or between, and struck by. OSHA is placing increased focus on these hazards, which are the leading causes of fatalities. In the past, OSHA focused on these hazards only in the construction industry, but now the agency is targeting these four hazards in general industry, as well. Safety and Health Programme: The benefits of developing and implementing a safety and health programme are varied and many, but perhaps the greatest benefit is reducing injuries and illnesses.
OSHA says that businesses spend $170 billion yearly on costs associated with occupational injuries and illnesses, which comes straight out of company profits. Workplaces that establish a safety and health programme can reduce their injury and illness costs by 20% to 40%, and better yet, reduce their likelihood of being inspected by OSHA.
If not done already, establish a written injury and illness prevention programme that outlines the hazards in the facility and how they are controlled. This is another way to “find and fix” hazards before OSHA finds them. It is also an eligibility requirement for receiving the “good faith” penalty reduction if cited by OSHA.
Training: Ensure employees are trained for the tasks that they perform. OSHA compliance officers are now verifying not only that required training has been conducted, but that the training was provided in a format that workers could understand in terms of both the language and vocabulary that is used. OSHA says that employers were expected to realise that if they customarily need to communicate work instructions or other workplace information to employees at a certain vocabulary level or in a language other than English, they will also need to provide safety and health training to employees in the same manner.
For example, if employees are not literate, telling them to read training materials would not satisfy an employer’s training obligation. There cannot be any barriers or impediments to understanding. If this means that an employer must provide training in other languages, then that is what has to be done.
Self-Inspection: while an alert and competent workforce is the constant “real-time” protection against accidents and injuries, hazards can be and are missed. That is why inspections are an important last line of defence, and are even required by OSHA in many instances. They provide a clear and concentrated focus on potential problems.
Inspections are typically done by walking around a facility and focusing on a particular safety issue, such as machine guarding, fire extinguishers, chemical storage, forklifts, etc.