The safety and healthiness of a workplace is ultimately up to everyone in the company hierarchy, from owners boiling down to employees. Management at any level in a company should be sent for training in the health and safety field to maximise safety levels at work and to help them effectively implement their duties.
Employers are referred to as the 8.1s. I refer to employers as the 8.1 in reference to the Occupational Health and Safety Act, section 8, which states that employers must provide a safe and healthy working environment for employees under their control. CEO's who according to section 16.1 in terms of Health and Safety have the ultimate responsibility are also 8.1s. However, different companies have different structures and policies. Hence; generally speaking, 8.1 simple refers to anybody who has sole responsibility of employees working under his or her control. The 'employer' is seen as any person that exercises control over another person or persons for work to be completed and for that controlled employee to receive remuneration. This means that Managers and Supervisors are designated as an employer (8.1) as soon as they have people under their control.
These 'employers' have a wide scope of duties to perform. These include enforcing policies, providing safe systems of work, assessing hazards and risks in the workplace. Also, they provide instructions and trainings to mention but a few. The ultimate aim of the above duties is to reach the point of having a safe working environment.
Therefore, the above mentioned responsibilities can be achieved only if training is provided thoroughly. It is important that this group of people attends the OHS for Management course so that they are vastly educated of their legislated duties. Knowing legislation will be a step towards making the correct decisions confidently which are compliant. Also, during this course managers will be alerted about the consequences of non-compliance.
Moreover, the trainees would then walk away with a more defined perspective of the OHS legislation as well as the knowledge about the responsibilities and duties of all the parties involved including employees, contractors, CEO’s and 16.2’s, visitors, Health and Safety Representatives as well as Health and Safety Committee Members.
If this is achieved, managers and employees will be highly alert about safety issues as they are responsible and act according to knowledge acquired at training and not sheer personal interpretation of situations. As I have advocated before that employees should be sent for training, sending the 8.1 will ensure that companies have a complete group of staff that is safety alert. This in turn will benefit the company in many ways. Cases of incidents or accidents will decrease; the costs for medical bills will be a thing of the past. Criminal and civil liability, productivity loss and other negative impacts due to non-compliance will be eliminated or reduced completely.
Training with MAKROSAFE for the OHS for Management is the best decision any company can make. The institute is an accredited training provider which has various effective ways of offering training. The lecturers are excessively informed with the latest trends and developments which can be of much use to managers in their duty of responsibility. Also, the training material balances both practical and theory which will give managers a touch of both. While legal education is offered, first- hand experience with what is being taught about is offered, which will help them identify hazards according to theory and also see a hazard according to experience. Hence; managers would emerge to be better after attending this particular course as they will be groomed on all levels.
Managers may have different levels of understanding of the law, as it might not be a requirement for their job. Training them to know the law will avoid a lot of disasters in the workplace both for employees and from the law. At MAKROSAFE, we have flexible facilitators who can adjust to any level of understanding of a learner. They accommodate all in their institute.
Training part of the staff in a company can still prove fruitless in the concept of health and safety. A completely trained workforce is guaranteed to achieve compliance, safety and increased productivity. Also they alerted on the health and safety responsibilities and the consequences of their action in working environment.
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