Regulating Safety: Context, Corporate Governance and Culture

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Regulating Safety Context, Corporate Governance
and Culture

• Panel Session Governance Meta-Regulation
• 6-8 December 2004

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NRCOHSR

• Conducts facilitates empirical policy-focused
  research into OHS regulation
• Monitors, analyses documents Australian
  international developments in OHS regulation
  research
• Produces a web-based series of working papers
  reporting on OHS regulation research

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Overview of Session

• Three presentations
• Beyond regulation a contextual approach to
  driving enabling safe design
• OHS, regulation the mining industry
• Mandating a safety culture?

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Beyond regulation a contextual approach to
driving enabling safe design

• Presentation to Conference Governance
  Meta-Regulation, 6-8 December 2004
• Liz Bluff - National Research Centre for OHS
  Regulation

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Outline

• Rationale legislative basis for research
• Research design methodology in brief
• What are the levers for manufacturers of
  workplace plant who pulls them?
• Rethinking reshaping OHS regulatory levers

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Rationale legislative basisfor research

• Safe design - eliminating or minimising risks
  early in life cycle - a key OHS strategy
  national priority
• Plant a leading cause of work fatalities
  injuries
• Statutory duties to design construct plant to
  be safe, test examine, provide info (10-20 yrs)
• Risk management process regs codes (5-10 yrs)
• Some technical standards (mandatory or
  evidentiary)

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Research design methodology

• Qualitative research - three interlinked studies
• Review analysis of legal structure Australian
  overseas (EU), OHS product safety
• OHS regulators perspective interviews
  documentation - re enforcement policy, practice
  perceptions of response to regulation
• Manufacturers perspective interviews,
  observation, documentation - re practices,
  processes, structures, actions, motivations,
  understandings sources of influence

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Types of plant

• Conveyors, Drill rigs drill sharpening, Mowers
  slashers, Cranes hoists, Lathes, Band
  circular saws, Tip trailers, Cremators, Sweepers,
  Augers, Grape presses, Boilers pressure
  vessels, Compressors pumps, Sanders, Automotive
  assembling equipment, Concrete brick cutting
  saws, Packaging machinery, Pumping stations
  treatment plants, Timber handling machinery, Bulk
  handling equipment, Rolling mills, Vine pruners,
  Hydraulic pickers, Seeders, Graders, Concrete
  mixers, Wool presses, Hay presses, Lifts
  (mining), Lifting equipment (health), Lifters
  (bins etc), Meat processing equipment, Winches,
  Train cleaning equipment (including robotics),
  Industrial furnaces ovens, Granulators, Food
  washing, handling, mixing, processing, extruding,
  cutting, shredding, peeling, drying, pickling,
  blending, juicing, filtering, vibratory sizing,
  cooking systems, Metal roll forming, High
  precision tooling machines, Drill presses,
  Mulchers, Post hole diggers drivers, Glass
  cutting, lifting handling equipment, CNC plasma
  oxy cutting drilling equipment, Robotics
  special purpose machinery, Rock crushing

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Levers who pulls them - marketability

• OHS is addressed if compatible with function,
  productivity or OHS features marketable in own
  right (internally or externally driven)
• It is a wonderful safety feature but it's also
  part of the actual process of the
  micro-finishing. If you didnt remove that dust
  the actual product wouldnt be as effective
  just the dust all over the place. (Manufacturer
  of acrylic sanding machine)
• We sell productivity solutions, the operators
  well-being security is critical in that
  productivity equation so the operator knows
  that they are operating a machine that is going
  to produce at a certain output at a certain
  quality, they are going to be safe in operating
  that machine. (Manufacturer of high tech, high
  precision high cost machine tools)

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Levers marketability (continued)

• but
• A slasher is a prime example I suppose or even a
  posthole digger, you cannot completely guard it
  otherwise the thing becomes non it doesnt
  function weve looked at the ways of doing it
  we do supply optional guarding as far as chains
  that sort of thing to prevent things flying out
  hitting you. Ultimately if you had that as
  standard you wouldnt sell it, thats what it
  comes down to now. (Manufacturer of agricultural
  machinery)

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Levers (large) procurers, distributors
suppliers of manufacturers product

• Certain international, multinational companies
  that we deal with have their own specs usually
  they are higher than what the regulatory people
  want, so we have to take these sort of things
  into account People like Kraft Nestle or
  whoever it might be Theyre like the army, they
  have their own manuals that are this thick,
  they deal with hygiene safety, construction
  methods, radiuses on welds, you name it.
  (Manufacturer of food processing equipment
  talking about large procurers)
• A few of our dealers were concerned about post
  drivers theyre now selling where they stood if
  there was an accident. So we went took our
  post driver off the market produce one now
  with a safety cage on it but Theyre also the
  weak link of the chain. If they told a customer
  look Im not going to sell you this, this way
  because its not safe thats it, then we
  wouldnt have problems a lot of the time. But
  often the customer says I want this machine
  but I want this added to it or this taken off it
  the dealers are often just too agreeable.
  (Manufacturer of agricultural machinery talking
  about relationship with distributors)

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Levers suppliers of key components

• Probably the reason why we havent gone to those
  type of seminars ones from OHS authorities is
  most of the time they charge for them so the
  seminars we tend to go to are component
  suppliers. They do drive their product but it
  is a seminar on safety risk assessments. And a
  lot of them, because they are component suppliers
  they can relate to our business a lot better than
  something like WorkCover. They went into risk
  assessments what you should be looking for.
  Mainly from an electrical point of view because
  that was their product. Then they come up with a
  range of products ideas where you can use them.
  Different applications why they're good for
  this or that. And how they actually meet the
  standards. But I think if we went to a seminar
  which was predominantly regulations I think it
  would just be a little bit too heavy you
  wouldnt get that much out of it. (Manufacturer
  of packaging machinery)

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Not leveraging OHS regulation

• Enforcement
• lack of engagement with manufacturers
• workplace focus jurisdiction focus not
  dealing with unsafe imports interstate
• ad hoc for death serious injury - may follow
  upstream (more likely with employer)
• workplace/jurisdiction focus ad hoc no level
  playing field undercutting
• General duty risk management standards - offer
  little direction, vague ambiguous

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More levers technical standards (commercial
value, liability protection, specific advice)

• What drove him the company founder initially
  was not occupational health safety legislation,
  it was the standard. There was the need to market
  the product the standard had greater commercial
  value I suspect also if the local OHS
  regulations, or other regulations, are not going
  to add to that commercial value then they will
  never be considered as important from the point
  of view of making the business tick.
  (Manufacturer of lifting equipment)
• We seek to comply with standards because it's a
  standard, it's a benchmark which is established
  as being good practice. Now it would be lunacy
  for us to do equipment that wasnt complying with
  the Australian Standards on the guarding of
  machinery. It would be lunacy because if somebody
  got hurt it's almost one step to the next step
  negligence. (Manufacturer of special purpose
  machinery).

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More levers overseas law

• Moving into the European Union we comply with
  that too now. Once you start exporting you're in
  a whole new ball game you have to comply with
  certain things so we went through we checked
  out all the directives so forth we comply
  with 3 major directives one is the safety of
  machinery, one is the low electromagnetic voltage
  (Manufacturer of sanding machinery)

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In summary

• Each firms operating environment relationship
  to local overseas market for the type of plant
  produced determines whether, if so how, OHS is
  addressed
• Need to rethink reshape OHS regulatory levers
  (type content of provisions) ensure all who
  pull levers are pulling for OHS (enforcement
  policy practice)

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What needed to underpin production of inherently
safer plant?

• Legal standards that encourage
• comprehensive attention to risks (not just
  safety) provide direction
• attention to risks in installation, clearing
  blockages, mechanical breakdowns, servicing etc
  (not just properly functioning) -life cycle
• good quality, user friendly information
  content, format style
• testing examination for effectiveness of risk
  controls residual risks (not just function)
• putting selves in position of end user (not
  just the customer) - experience using or
  maintaining /or actively engage with end users
• Enforcement that recognises operating context
  need for level playing field - engage with
  network of plant producers, importers, suppliers,
  influential procurers other stakeholders for
  particular plant

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Some examples

• Plant surveillance communication with duty
  holders re legal obligations provide self-audit
  tools to assist learn how to comply advise of
  follow up requiring evidence of compliance
  follow up with random sample publicise through
  network
• Focused interventions work with relevant
  parties to define OHS problem precisely, explain
  why its a problem determine OHS outcomes ask
  duty holders to sign onto publicise action
  required results through network apply
  responsive enforcement to those that dont
  respond voluntarily