The assignment evaluates importance of conducting the risk assessment in order to maintain the workplace safety

Introduction

Workplace safety is a set of policies and procedures that are used at the workplace in order to ensure the health and safety of the employees during the working hours. The safety measures include identification of the hazards and risks and taking the initiative of controlling the risks as per the standards of the government. In this assignment, the case study of Kenoss contractors has been analysed regarding their safety breaches that resulted in the death of a truck driver Michael Booth. The issues with the safety management measures and the initiative that could have avoided the tragic accident will be discussed in a detailed manner.

The workplace

Kenoss Construction Company was working on a project in a compound in Canberra under the project manager Munir al Hasani. It was observed that the management present at the site in Turner was unable to provide the safe working environment and exposed their workers to risks and injuries. Due to the failed risk management of the company, a truck driver Michael Booth died as his tip truck hit the over headed power lines that carried around 11,000 volts (abc.net.au, 2015). The site did not have any warning signs or flags in order to guide visitors or any individuals passing by regarding the low slung power lines on their worksite. It is important that the management of any business organisation should be responsible for ensuring safety measures for their employees and others. As per the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, the safety manager of the company is liable for conducting risk management at the workplace of their business organisation and must formulate appropriate strategies in order to address the risks that have been identified in the workplace (legislation.act.gov.au, 2018).

In this case, it was observed that the low-slung power lines were an obvious risk for any individual present on the compound site. The project manager should have placed warning signs near the wires so that accidents could have been avoided. However, the manager only explained their workers to keep a distance from the wire lines and not tall equipment should be used in the workplace. The employees were made aware regarding the risk, but any unknown individual such as Mr Booth who does not have any idea was exposed to the risk (abc.net.au, 2015, A). In addition, the wired were under the hedges and thus were not even visible to the passerby's, therefore, making it more dangerous and life-threatening. It was noted that Mr Booth was unaware of the risk and not receiving any information or sign was driving through the work site of the company and was electrocuted due to the slung wired containing 11,000 volts.

The company was found to breach safety regulations as per the national standards of the country. In addition, the corporate culture of Kenoss Ltd was very poor, the company appointed the son of their general manager as the safety officer despite the fact that he was not qualified for that position. This indicated that the company was not effectively taking responsibility. Due to lack of qualification and experience, the safety officer was unable to set appropriate policy and regulation for their firm, and due to lack of knowledge, the accident occurred and resulted in the death of Mr. Booth.

The hazards and how this safety breach could have been avoided
Hazards are serious safety risks and life-threatening issues that are caused due to the lack of risk management. In order to avoid workplace hazard, it is important that the company should conduct workplace risk management and address the risks that have been identified (Shroder, 2014). The construction company was held guilty of safety breaches that resulted in the tragic death of Mr. Booth in June. The company did not post any sign of warning in order to inform the visitors regarding the slung wires in their compounds. In addition, Kenoss did not have any noticeable documentation regarding the risk assessment of the overhead power lines. The court also received specific information that Kenoss attempted to hinder the investigation of Mr. Booth's death. An officer of the company altered MR. Booth's attendance records. These attempts of the company indicated that they have failed to maintain their policies and work as per the norms of the government. It was observed that the lung wires were hidden due to the vegetation in the area this could have caused major accidents with any visitor visiting the site.

The above mentioned hazards and safety breaches could have been easily avoided by adopting the following initiatives:

· The management of Kenoss should have taken proper initiative of conducting a risk assessment in order to analyze the risk of slung wires and other possible accidents and injury.

· As per the risk assessment, proper initiatives should be taken by the management in order to address the issues. In this case, the management should have fixed certain sign boards warning regarding the dangers of the slung wires. The wires should have need flagged so that visitors could avoid the area.

· The management should provide their employees with proper training and education while working on risky construction areas and sites. The employees should be educated to handle risks at the sites and they should know to take proper initiatives in order to create awareness

· In case of Kenoss ltd, the company should recruit well experienced and qualified risk officer who will be responsible to analyze their workplace and formulate appropriate strategies and policies for risk manager. The officer will provide the employees with the required training process.

· The company should follow all the safety polices and regulations of the government and should work as per the safety standards of the nation in which they are presently operating.

· The dumping station could have been located at some other areas away from the power line; this would have prevented the accident of the truck driver.

The above mentioned steps could have helped the construction company in maintain their safety and avoiding the breaches from their end. This would have avoided the tragic incident that resulted in the death of Mr. Booth and the reputation o the company was further damaged due to irresponsible behavior of the senior management team.

What actually happened and how did SAFEWORK resolve this issue?
In the year 2012, Kenoss contractors were conducting work at a site in the Turner in the Australian Capital Territory. It was observed that a 48-year-old truck driver named Michael Booth was electrocuted when the driver tipped his truck in order to offload the gravel at the nearby dumping station and it was noticed that the trail of the truck touched the slugging power line. WorkSafe Act investigated the case, identified that the power lines were alleged, low, and state that a proper risk assessment could have avoided the tragic incident. The dumping station could have been placed at a different location such as across the other side of the road and out of the reach of the slugging power lines. The investigation also revealed that the power lines were not quite visible due to the vegetation, therefore; use of warning signs could have helped in spreading awareness regarding the danger present in the area.

Safe Work is a popular Australian governmental statuary body that was established in the year 2008 in order to formulate national policies relating to the Work Health and Safety of the worker's compensations (safeworkaustralia.gov.au, 2016). The organisation works as per the policies and regulations of the country for the safety of the workers, investigates any work-related safety issues, and tries to bring justice to the injured employees. As per the policies of this organization the penalty for safety breaches by any corporation such as the case study is up to $1.5 million. The ACT Worksafe Commissioner Mark McCabe investigated the issue in a detailed manner and sent a strong warning to the companies and the director of the company that they can be criminally liable as per the regulations of the new law (abc.net.au, 2015, B). The officer informed that the risk could have been avoidable with a little responsibility and care. The workplace should not have been under the power lines, however, due to the safety breaches that have been recognized in this case the ACT Worksafe Commissioner has decided to fine the company with an amount of $1.1 million over the death of Mr. Booth under the new national work safety laws. The ACT Worksafe is also conducting in-depth research on the project managers responsibilities, and if found guilty MR AL Hasani will have to pay a fine of around $300,000.

What could have been done differently and how would you address this if you worked in this workplace
Risk assessment is an important aspect that is used by most of the organizations in order to maintain their workplace safety and security (Reason, 2016). The risk assessment allows the risk management officer in order to gain details regarding the security issues or hazards that are present at the workplace and as per the analysis, the officer develops a plan in order to resolve the issue and maintain the safety of their employees. In the present case study, the main problem that has been identified is that the company failed to address the security issues of their employees. Due to lack of qualification and experience of the risk management officer the workplace did not have any risk management conducted. The project manager only took the initiative of guiding the employees regarding the risk and requested them that tall equipments should not be used at the site. However, the project manager failed to consider the risk assessment for the visitor and due to the irresponsibility, a tragic accident took place in which the truck driver was killed. The serious tragic incident that occurred in Turner in Australia could have been easily avoided if the management of Kenoss contractors would have taken their safety management concerns on a serious level. If I would have worked in this work place, the steps that would have been taken by me in order to avoid the serious issue have been discussed below:

Ø Proper risk assessment of the workplace in order to ensure that the security of the owners and the visitors are maintained.

Ø Ensuring that the dumping station or the workplace is not situated below a wire line as it can be a potential threat for the workers

Ø Ensuring that the guidelines of the polices of work safety of the Australia government is being followed in a detailed manner

Ø If any workplace risk such a slung wire have been identified and it is not possible to address the issue at the moment, then the workers should take the responsibility of posting certain warning signs or flags so that visitors gain information regarding the threats in the area.

If the management of the contractor company would have followed few simple risk management steps, the incident could have been easily avoided and the reputation of the company would have been saved. However, as they failed to conduct risk assessment the organization is facing a number of charges and has been heavily fined for breaching the security laws of the country

Conclusion
This report evaluates regarding the importance of conducting the risk assessment in order to maintain the workplace safety. The case of the Turner incident helps in understanding regarding the consequences that are faced by an origination if they failed to fulfil their responsibilities and are breaching the security of their workplace. The irresponsible behaviour of the senior managers resulted in the death of Mr Booth, and the company is being charged for a number of issues that have hampered its reputation. The project manager is also being charged and is being held responsible as he failed to maintain the workplace safety and create awareness regarding the potential threat the area.

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