essay

Case Study

16 year-old employee flash fries her arm in 360°F oil following slip

This accident shows that failure to maintain plant, prevent contamination and to provide effective training and supervision can contribute to slipping accidents. Research has shown that slips are of caused by a combination of factors. A 16-year-old girl was employed at a fast food outlet to cook fries at a frying range. She slipped on water leaking from an ice-making machine and instinctively put out her hand to break her fall. Unfortunately her hand went into the deep fat fryer containing oil at a temperature of 360°F and she sustained severe burns to her left hand and forearm. The outlet was short staffed on the day of accident and the Team Leader was working on the tills instead of monitoring workplace safety. Although the company policy was to mop up spillages it was common practice to leave spillages at busy times and cover them with a sheet of cardboard, which itself can create a tripping hazard. At busy times it was usual to give greater priority to serving customers than to cleaning spillages.

various attempts had been made by different contractors to cure the leak. No one had sole responsibility to co-ordinate the repair of faulty equipment and a lack of communication between different shift managers left the equipment leaking over a long period of time. Following the accident, the company did a complete review of its management of wet or contaminated floors.

• Slip control was given priority over serving customers

• Systems were put in place to ensure maintenance of faulty equipment

• Managers were identified as having responsibility to ensure slips procedures were implemented and followed

• Employees empowered to deal with slips as a priority and were given backing by company

• Extra training on slips procedures was given to all staff The local authority prosecuted the company and on successful conviction the magistrates imposed a total fine of £15000. The investigating Environmental Health Officer believed that the accident was completely avoidable, as the company had failed to maintain a safe system of work or to carry out a suitable and sufficient assessment of the risks associated with slipping within the kitchen.

https://www.hse.gov.uk/slips/downloads/gettingtogrips.pdf

Each question should be elaborated in an essay form with an introduction and conclusion for each question. (1500 words for whole essay)

You are to provide a discussion and demonstrate understanding of various concepts and not just list and describe.

- Remember to cite your sources in the text and to prepare a table of references at the end.

- Referring to course material alone is not enough. Referring to external resources alone is not enough. You need to use the course material as the base to explore and explain the information in the course material and mentioned external resources.

Referencing : Use Harvard referencing style for in-text citation and make a table of references at the end.

Research: Use a minimum of two additional sources of information.

Question 1

Safety experts often use the analogy of an iceberg to illustrate the many costs that can arise as a result of a workplace accident. Explain the ice-berg effect justify your answer by referring to the case at hand.

Question 2

Assess the effects of auditing on safety performance. Explain why employee training and awareness through safety auditing can have a positive impact on injury and illness reduction in the workplace.

Question 3

Occupational safety and health regulatory compliance is a necessity that must be addressed and integrated into routine business practice if it is to be a part of the culture. Noncompliance can expose the organization and individuals to unnecessary risk and liability.

A. Explain how the company failed to create a safe culture for its employees

B. What are the ways to improve safety culture in organization? Are there any suggested improvement frameworks developed for organizations? Justify your answer