Health And Safety In The Workplace Assignment Sample

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Introduction

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Task 1

(a) (i) Two relevant Health & Safety Regulations that applied within the mechanical work environment of an automotive manufacturing industry like Jaguar include Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (HSWA) and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER).

(ii) Two key features of HSWA include maintenance of a safe working environment and allocating all the working equipment to employees according to their safety training (Jaguarlandroverretailerapprenticeships, 2018). Similarly, two key features of PUWER are the responsibility of employers to make sure that the equipment (such as robots, machines) used by employees at workplace are safe and they are provided with proper instruction about all machinery usages. The key features of both the acts are generally used for the machinery such as drilling machines, lifting equipment, circular saws, dumper trucks, pully, screws, and many more in Jaguar car manufacturing. Besides that, accident prevention at the workplace is also initiated by these acts at the workplace of automotive industry.       

(b) (i) Two significantHealth & Safety Regulations that are generally used in the electrical working environment of automotive manufacturing industry such as Jaguar include Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992 (MHOR) and Electricity at Work Regulation 1989 (EWR).

(ii) Two key features of MHOR are to assess any hazardous manual handling operations and reduce injury from manual handling at the workplace (Hse.gov.uk, 2022). EWR is used forall aspects of the uses of electricityin the workplace along with placing duties on employees, employers, and self-employed people to prevent danger from electricity.  High voltage that indicates voltage above 60 V DC is used at the time of manufacturing different categories of vehicles in the automotive industry. Health and safety risks associated with such high voltage uses include ‘electrical shock’ that can be deadly under any specific circumstances which can be prevented by using the instruction guide of the acts.

Task 2

(a) Employers:

In the work environment of the manufacturing of jaguar cars, employers under the health and safety work act 1974 have a duty of care towards the employees. It is the duty of the employer to ensure so far as reasonably practicable, the health, safety, and welfare at work of all his employees (health and safety act 1974).

The duty includes the assessment, maintenance of work equipment to ensure that it is safe for operation. The employer must ensure that the correct PPE with instructions is provided to employees while they are working. Employers should also ensure that the employees are trained and instructed and qualified to use relevant machinery. Risk assessment should be carried out and communicated to employees.

It is the duty of the employer to provide a safe working environment for the employees. Under the management of health and safety at work regulations 1999, the employer is required to carry out a risk assessment and need to record the significant findings and monitor and review the arrangement in accordance with health and safety.

(b) Employees:

Like employers, employees also have a duty of care and responsibilities for their own safety those working around them. Workers must co operate with employers and co-workers to help everyone meet their legal requirement (leaflet INDG450 on hse.go.uk is a bread guide for employees). Employees should follow the training they have received when using any work items, the employers has provided them with. Employees must report any workplace injuries to the company under RIDDOR.

In regard to Jaguar car manufacturing, employees have to ensure that they have the correct PPE, they follow instructions when using the appropriate machinery as per the training given to them by the employer, they also have a duty of care to maintain the safe environment created by the company.

(c) Subcontractors:

Any subcontractors undertaking any jobs have a duty of care under health and safety law. There should be a risk assessment where both contractor and subcontractor are aware of the findings of that risk assessment. The contractor must assess the risk of the contracted work and both must work together to evaluate, consider the risk and have a control measure in place. There should be arrangement for cooperation and coordination with all those responsible to ensure health and safety of everyone in the workplace. The nature of controls should be agreed before the work starts.

Task 3

According to Yayu (2020), car manufacturing industry is a major contributor to environmental pollution and it emits a huge amount of carbon monoxides and nitrogen oxides. Two key features associated with Pollution Prevention and Control Act 1999 (PPCA) include pollution control measurements installation in industries along with preventing ancillary matters related to control and prevention of pollution (Legislation.gov.uk, 2022). The use of this act within Jaguar to control air pollution resulted in the installation in several areas such as in UV Coating Facility, Polyester Lacquer Coating, and Veneered Component Finishing. Furthermore, it has been found that the emission of pollutant particulate VOC's Isocyanates is controlled in the company by installing a dry filtration system. Besides that, by following PPCA, Jaguar focused on limiting the emission of offensive odour contained air outside the industrial area. Moreover, the industrial emission is done by the company rarely consists of any visible particulate matter that can be harmful to the environment.           

Industrial Emission Directives (IED) of EU are associated with regulating industrial emissions that pollute the environment. There are several pillars of IED among which two important features are integrative approach and Best available techniques (BAT) (Europa.eu, 2022). Integrative approach refers to taking into consideration all the environmental impacts created by the manufacturing industry like Jaguar which may include air emission, land or water emission, and so on. On the other hand, BAT includes organisation of all available technologies that may help in reducing environmental impact and carbon emissions. It has been identified that by following these directives of IED Jaguar has focused on a recycling approach and it has claimed to reduce CO2 emission by using recycling by about 26% (Jaguarlandrover, 2020). The engineers of Jaguar are able to use recycled aluminum in its car production which contributes to the goal of the company to achieve zero industrial carbon emissions.       

Task 4

Waste management is a significant principle that needs to be implemented in the automotive industry to reduce unnecessary waste production and promote vehicle longevity (Filatov et al. 2019). A duty of care is imposed on persons associated with waste management in industries according to the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA). This duty of care impacts anyone associated with the production, safe disposal, or treatment of industrial waste (Legislation.gov.uk, 2022). Waste management in the automotive industry like Jaguar includes recycling and reuse of waste materials which involves plastic, batteries, metal, glass, solvents, and so on. Safety requirements regarding commercial waste disposal in manufacturing industry include storing waste material in a secure place, and the use of suitable containers for storing waste that can help in reducing waste escaping (Gov.uk, 2022). Furthermore, storing different waste products in car manufacturing such as iron, lead, copper, aluminum separately so they can not contaminate each other is also another responsibility of safe disposal.

It has been found that Jaguar has partnered with BASF to deal with the challenges of plastic recycling technology within the industry (Jaguarlandrover, 2019). This recycling technology works upon transforming plastic to pyrolysis oil by the use of a thermochemical process. This technique is appropriate for safe disposal of plastic waste in Jaguar. Waste material of industries may be solid or liquid and waste disposal refers to the collection, recycling, and deposition of waste materials (Filatov et al. 2019). Segregation is considered the best method of safe waste disposal which includes the differentiation of waste and waste materials that may be further used by recycling. In Jaguar safe disposal of waste can be practised by separating hazardous waste from the waste that can be used again by recycling. In this context hazardous waste such as chemicals such as refrigerants and antifreeze should be disposed of by taking safety precautions. Risk associated with incorrect disposal of the automotive waste includes the outflow of those waste chemicals underground which ultimately contaminate groundwater and risk the lives of aquatic ecosystems (Trihazsolutions, 2020).   

Task 5

Two key methods of identifying hazards in the workplace are to make sure that before using any machinery to check manufacturer’s instructions or data sheets. That applies to chemicals and equipment

And also, by having a look at accidents and ill health records one can identify potential hazards by looking at history   or regular patterns in accidents. And these help to identify the less obvious hazards

By using the manufacture’s instruction manual one can identify the potential risk it can cause, the defects and also where and how to operate any machinery. For eg at my work place following instruction through the manufacturer’s manual for using chemical for cleaning purposes where it states that it should not be used in contact with skin and that correct PPE should be used.PPE is must-have equipment at the workplace in which workers may be exposed to hazardous chemicals and other safety issues. However, there are several weaknesses of using PPE at the workplace which may include the use of single used dust masks which are not appropriate to control exposure to hazardous chemicals along with inadequate fit tests.

Secondly by looking at the Accident log book at my work, it can be identified that during wet seasons, the train surface floor is quite slippery and thus announcement is constantly made to make the public aware of the potential hazard. Besides that, through this book, I have gained knowledge about past accidental incidents which has become beneficial for me to avoid such incidents. Furthermore, the severity range of those risks has also been identified by observing and examining the previous accidental data which has helped in following adequate measures. Potential hazards from waste material can also be identified by reading about the past such incidents from the accident log book.        

Task 6

(a)The two relevant Health & Safety legislation are Health and Safety Regulations (first aid )1981 and Workplace Regulations 1992

From the Health & Safety (first aid) Regulations 1981 there was a breach of section 3 where it is the duty of the employer to provide an adequate number of qualified first aiders and also and adequate and appropriate first aid equipment and facilities which was not found on the premises.

From the Workplace Regulations 1992 there was a breach of section 12(5) Suitable and sufficient handrails and, if appropriate, guards shall be provided on all traffic routes which are staircases except in circumstances in which a handrail cannot be provided without obstructing the traffic route. which in relation to the conditions of floors and traffic routes including handrails. Which in this case was a walkway barrier that was unsecured to the ground.Besides that, section 3(2) was amended in 2013 in this act and was ended by the approval of first aid training providers at workplace also breached through these incidents as no one at the premises was trained about first aid.

(b) Breaching the guidelines of health and safety regulations is considered a criminal offence and the management of a company may bear financial and legal consequences for not following this regulation at workplace. According to Agumba and Haupt (2018), it is a common law duty of any company to ensure health and safety practices for employees in the working environment. However, as per the scenario, the managing director of a small engineering company has not followed this health and safety regulation which resulted in a serious accident for an employee. Possible consequences of this incident may include-

Financial penalties

At prior time only notice for improving workplace safety practices or prohibition of breaching legislation are included as the consequences of not following health and safety regulations. However, in current times breaching of HSE may result in a fine of up to £20,000 along with issues that endanger human lives may result in imprisonment or unlimited fines (Safetybank, 2020). Besides that, an opportunity of claim against the business was also provided to the employee who has been injured for working in an environment where best safety practices were not included. Several examples of financial penalties for not following safety guidelines can be mentioned which include a high-profile case of a £20,000 fine to Sir Robert McAlpine (Safetybank, 2020). These financial penalties were charged due to the negligence of health and safety practices in construction sector which resulted in death of an employee. 

Disqualification of the industry

Disqualification from the industry is a legal consequence that may be faced by the companies for not abiding by the requirements of health and safety regulations. As this act refers to the responsibilities of the employers to protect the lives of employees, therefore breaching this regulation and occurrence of health and safety issues to employees while working targets the top management and authorities of the company. This disqualification of companies has about a 94% success rate in UK for not following HSE guidelines (McShee, 2018).     

Task 7

As per the opinion of Awan et al. (2019), pollution prevention is a better option that should be performed by every industry in today's world rather than focusing on environmental cures. Pollution prevention is becoming a global concern and practitioners and policymakers are putting pressure on this issue. Violating environmental legislation in UK may result in legal as well as financial actions. Penalties for violating PPCA include fine or on larger scale imprisonment. For example, if the branching activity of the companies goes in magistrate court there may be a fine of up to £50,000 or imprisonment for six months. On the other hand, if the violation of environmental legislations or emitting excessive environment polluting components is at a higher scale therefore the case may go to Crown Court which further results in an unlimited fine or two years of imprisonment. Furthermore, the environment regulators working in UK may also prosecute the directors, secretaries, managers, or other professionals of the business if it is confirmed that the environmental offense has been committed with their consent.

Jaguar cars can be issued with short-term notice if such activities of violating environmental regulations, do not follow any significant emission control technique, or pollute air by emitting pollutant substances. However, if the emission is more than the safety lines of PPCA then the company can be charged with financial penalties. For an example of such financial penalties, a case of haulage company can be mentioned where three people were fined more than £262,000 for illegally dumping about 60,000 tonnes of waste and this amount was way higher than the prescribed limit of UK government which is 1000 tonnes (Tsplegal, 2021). Besides that, Jaguar itself has faced fines in UK for not maintaining its C02 emissions. It has been found that the European regulators have charged about a $118 million fine to one of the biggest car manufacturers Jaguar for its failure in maintaining CO2 emissions in the country (Autonews, 2020). Legal actions associated with the branching of environmental regulations include suspension of business, clean-up notices, and so on. European regulators have the power to suspend the license of any business if pollution safety regulations have not been followed and such breach notice is considered a criminal offense.

The aim of IED is to contribute to better human and environmental health by reducing harmful and hazardous industrial emissions (Europa.eu, 2022). Article 22(2) of IED has provided an explanation about the requirements of industrial installations that work on regulating industrial emissions (Europa.eu, 2022). However, breaching such installation activities may enhance pollutants emissions in Jaguar and will create legal as well as financial consequences. For instance, a case of violating environmental regulations can be highlighted where directors of two companies were ordered to pay a fine of about £25,450 for illegally supplying about 187 tonnes of electronic wastes in several African countries (Tsplegal, 2021). Besides that, new amendments to environmental regulations have included civil sanctions under which civil penalties are imposed on businesses at the place of prosecuting for several types of breaches including violation of environmental legislation.