Non-Conformance Challenges in Health and Safety Management Systems
Best practices and quality require clearly defined compliance standards and inspection criteria in order to reduce the occurrences of non-conformance. It becomes essential to maintain tight control of your supply chain quality as it is an extension of your brand.
A well-founded health and safety culture is built on strong leadership, and a firm commitment to improving health and safety performance. Leadership is responsible for sharing the vision, establishing policies, assigning roles and responsibilities, encouraging worker participation, setting goals, and providing resources to support the execution of occupational H&S management programs and systems. So, let’s understand the non-conformance challenges in health and safety.
What are Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems?
An occupational health and safety management system is a structured and formalized framework that consists of health and safety policies, systems, procedures, processes, and records. It involves incorporating the organization’s health and safety activities and programs into other business processes.
Implementing an effective OH&S management system enables the continual detection of hazards and mitigation of risks within the workplace. Occupational health and safety programs are widely implemented in all industries, especially in high-risk industries such as construction, mining and quarrying, shipbuilding, health services etc.
The primary objective of an occupational health and safety management system is to prevent occupational illnesses, injuries and diseases along with their associated consequences.
Such as death, low productivity, reputational harm, penalties, and so on. Additional objectives of occupational OH&S are setting employee health as a priority, creating a health and safety culture, promoting a safe and healthy workplace environment, and protecting the general public affected by the workplace.
Why Is ISO 45001 Important?
ISO 45001 standard specifies requirements for an occupational health and safety management system and provides guidance for its implementation, in order to enable organizations to provide safe and healthy workplaces, prevent work-related injury and illness, and proactively improve OH&S performance.
All the requirements of ISO 45001 are generic and can be used by any organization, regardless of size and field of activity. Ensure the necessary safety management system policies and procedures are implemented effectively, and request a third-party audit and certification.
What is Non-Conformance?
When a product does not meet pre-defined standards, a part deviates from design specifications or a product is made without adhering to the intended process, it is said to be an outlier or a non-conforming item. In the world of quality in manufacturing, this is called non-conformance. If not addressed, non-conformances can harm product quality and company reputation. Non-conformances can be effectively handled within a quality management solution.
The system ensures products meet quality standards through an automated workflow and corrective or preventative actions can be put into place if needed for non-conforming material. When an issue is identified, a non-conformance document is generated within the system to record the non-conforming material.
There are many terms that could be used with a non-conformance document, but the big three are defect, cause, and disposition. When a non-conformance is generated, it identifies that a defect was observed. The cause of the defect, if known, is recorded as well. At this point, the non-conformance document is simply a question.
An effective quality management solution can help companies streamline processes and automate quality tasks that can be extended to the supply chain. If a non-conformance does occur, the system will help identify the root cause and quickly resolve the issue. With non-conformances under control, companies will be on a solid path to continuous improvement.
Challenges in Health and Safety Management Systems
- Lack Of Executive Support- EHS management systems need buy-in and support from upper management to be successful. This is because upper management plays an important role in shaping the organization’s culture. Their active support is essential in allocating the necessary resources.
- Insufficient Employee Involvement- Employee involvement is crucial for the success of EHS management systems Their involvement helps them understand the importance of the program. They will follow procedures and report hazards and incidents without hesitation.
- Inadequate Resources- Health and safety management systems require adequate resources to succeed, including financial support, personnel, and equipment. Without these resources, companies may struggle to put in place the necessary safety measures. That makes it hard to follow laws and regulations.
- Limited Communication and Coordination- A disconnected or siloed system can have a significant impact on the management of OH&S systems in several ways.
How to Overcome Non-conformance Obstacles?
- Real-time Monitoring- ISO 45001 allows businesses to track their O&HS performance in real-time. This allows them to recognize and tackle potential risks before they become serious issues.
- Automated Compliance Reporting- The software provides automated compliance reporting. This ensures that businesses remain compliant with the latest laws and regulations.
- Incident Management- Software system enables businesses to manage incidents and accidents quickly. This helps in reducing the impact of any potential risks.
- Auditing- The software provides a range of audit features, allowing businesses to track their EHS performance and identify any areas that may need improvement.
- Environmental Management- The software also provides features for environmental management. This helps businesses be more sustainable and reduce their impact on the environment.
- Training Management- Health and Safety Management Systems provides tools for training management. This can help businesses make sure all personnel are well-trained and aware of the latest laws and regulations.
Why do Organizations Need to Understand Non-Conformance?
The different processes involving multiple roles like supplier, production, manufacturer, and pieces of equipment for designing or marketing a product will inevitably invite some non-conformance within the organization. A non-conformance occurs when a product service, or process deviates from the industry specifications. Therefore, it is not surprising that product delivery is crucial when satisfying customer expectations, market trends, management profits, and compliance.
With regular Non-Conformances (NC), the organization’s efficiency, product-process effectiveness, brand reputation, and company finances are questionable as customers’ health and safety can be adversely affected. So, when a non-conformance occurs, rather than seeing it as an issue, see it as an opportunity to fuel the continuous improvement of the system.
The non-conformances identified are the result of a reactive and defensive action of a process or service followed by the organization. Therefore, a proactive and preventive approach process is required to resolve. However, the methods identified by the quality heads often hamper the process resulting in a deviation. As organizations depend on a paper-based process for managing non-conformances quality integration with departments or different sections is tedious.
Conclusion
Tackling non-conformance issues is a must for organizations growth. Businesses should understand OH&S risks that relate to new or changed hazards, before taking action. Determine the causes of the incident or nonconformity. Review the effectiveness of any action taken including corrective action so that existing assessments of OH&S risks and other risks, as appropriate in nature. Organizations should evaluate the need for action to eliminate the causes of the nonconformity so that it does not recur or occur elsewher.
