Characterize the Integrated Management System Safety and Health, Quality and Environment of the UEB of Assurance and Comprehensive Services
Introduction
The world is currently experiencing dizzying changes in technology and development. Large companies constantly seek to improve themselves and obtain greater profits, often applying the concept of reengineering, renewing what has already been done. Our country is not exempt from these processes, so it is immersed in the Business Improvement process, which aims to ensure the implementation of a Management and Direction System in state-owned companies and senior management organizations that achieve significant organizational change within them and comprehensively manage the systems that compose it. The key to success lies in being competitive, understanding by success that society can obtain the material and / or emotional satisfactions that allow it to live with quality.Competitive organizations will be the foundation for a country's economy to be strong and solid. Everything can be achieved if a country has a competent population, quality people who can develop and operate quality organizations, which in turn will generate quality products and services.
Sometimes individuals in their eagerness to achieve a result do not take into account the damage that they can cause to the environment, in reality it is a problem of attitude and knowledge, problems that are mostly identifiable and traceable. The knowledge and experience necessary to address them are currently available and excellent conceptual tools have been developed, such as equity and the notion of sustainability.
At present, the increasing complexity and magnitude of modern business activities, has evidenced the need to establish Human Resources management tools as they are a basic variable to achieve the quality of all business functions, within them, the management of the Occupational Health and Safety (OSH) occupies an important place, because it constitutes a fundamental pillar to achieve excellence in production and services.
Therefore, it is necessary to have, at the company level, Comprehensive and Integrated Safety management programs that guarantee the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases, as well as the systematic improvement of working conditions.
At present, many Cuban companies focus their prevention work on fundamental technical aspects, on the means of individual protection (MPI), neglecting the other aspects, mainly the strategic and organizational elements, making it impossible to plan in the long or medium term, with a increasingly proactive character.
This work was developed in the Basic Business Unit (UEB) of Assurance and Integral Services, belonging to the Integral Las Tunas Forest Company (EFI).
Chapter I Theoretical Foundation
Security and health at work
Safety and health at work: It is the set of legislative, sanitary, technical, organizational and socio-economic measures aimed at preserving and guaranteeing the health and well-being of workers.
Safety and health at work generally includes all risks, both those related to industrial safety and health of workers, such as fires, a favorable environment in their jobs, among others.
Occupational health and safety management system: Part of the total management system, which facilitates the management of OH&S risks associated with the organization's business. It includes the structure, organization, planning activities, responsibilities, practices, procedures, processes, and resources, to develop, implement, comply with, review and maintain the OH&S policy and objectives.
Occupational health and safety management system according to standard NC: 18001 2005.
Part of the general management system that comprises the interrelated elements including policy, planning, organization, evaluation and action plan, to control and organize security.
Safety issues must be integrated into production activities in such a way that they cannot be separated from them and addressed in a prioritized way, as well as production, quality, costs, etc.
Safety management: It is a management process through which an organization defines a policy and objectives in the long, medium and short term, work procedures and regulations in its search for values such as health, productivity, quality and well-being of workers.
Integrated security. The safety objectives or the roles and responsibilities of each member of the organization taking into account their sphere of competence.
Comprehensive security can take care of: man, facilities, equipment, quality and costs, production, to improve the company's competitive image.
To carry out these principles, it is also necessary to prevent occupational, property and environmental risks that intervene in the analysis and design of security management systems through propaganda or disclosure, the security manager has the means of communication internal and an external documentation center that provides information.
Fire safety
Fire safety will also be incorporated into all management areas of the entity, in order to prevent its origin, given the social and economic repercussions of the same.
Accident: Unwanted event that results in death, illness, injury, breakdown, or other loss.
Hazard: Potential source of harm in terms of injury or illness to persons, damage to property, damage to the workplace environment, or a combination of these (8).
Hazard identification: Process that consists of recognizing that a danger exists and defining its characteristics.
Risk: Combination of the probability and consequence (s) of a specified hazardous event occurring.
Risk assessment: General process that consists of estimating the magnitude of the risk and deciding whether the risk is tolerable or not.
Tolerable risk: Risk that has been reduced to a level that the organization can bear with respect to its legal obligations and its own OH&S policy.
Unsafe technical conditions (CTI): It is understood as any technical element that is missing or does not guarantee the safety of the worker.
OHSAS 18000 Family of Standards: 1999
The current competitiveness of the market forces companies to differentiate one from another based on the qualification of their human capital and on the degree of satisfaction of the needs of their customers.
Spanish legislation obliges companies to train and inform workers about
Prevention and taking steps to protect your safety and health. That is why every day more professionals trained in this field of risks are required.
The OHSAS (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) certification is considered the highest level of international demand in Occupational Risk Prevention. It certifies an adequacy in the matter above the minimum required by current legislation and allows companies to achieve greater efficiency in the prevention and reduction or elimination of occupational risks (6).
The OHSAS 18000 Standards allow the implementation, maintenance and improvement of the elimination or reduction of risks and are designed to be integrated into other management systems. Due to its simplicity, it is one of the most widespread occupational safety practices in Europe. In many countries it has been established as a national standard. The basic aspect of this standard is the planning of control and risk assessment. All activities must be thoroughly examined and evaluated for their dangers, both high and moderate. Once the risks have been ranked, they are subject to their possibilities of control and corrective actions. All interlocutors are involved in prevention tasks, establishing a flow of information between them that, duly documented, minimizes bureaucracy. Control audits,with strategic reviews in all interested processes and analysis of interventions and actions, they supervise the management and determine the application of corrective measures.
OHSAS 18001 contemplates what is communication within the company with the aspects defined in the preventive policy and the review by management, undoubtedly the participation of workers is taken into account (4).
NC 18000: 2005 Family of Standards
The NC 18000 family of standards have been prepared by NC / CTN 6 "Safety and health at work", made up of a group of institutions specialized in the subject, these technically correspond to the version of the OHSAS 18000 family of standards. (18000, 18001, 18002) with some adjustments to what is established in the NC ISO 9000: 2001 standard; and for terms 3.10 and 3.11 with respect to the legislation where the word “occupational” is translated, as “at work”, to adapt it to said legislation. NC 18011 regarding the audit process was prepared.
These standards seek above all that Cuban companies have a health and safety system at the same level as the most respected companies worldwide and can satisfy the needs of the most demanding clients, in addition to being on the sidelines of constant technological changes that the companies of our days are subjected to.
The rules are four and are structured as follows:
NC 18000: 2005 Safety and Health at Work - Safety Management System and
Health at Work. Vocabulary.
NC 18001: 2005 Safety and Health at Work Safety Management System and
Health at Work. Requirements.
NC 18002: 2005 Occupational Safety and Health - Safety and Health Management System
Health at Work. Guidelines for the Implementation of the NC 18001 standard.
NC 18011: 2005 Safety and Health at Work - General Guidelines for the
Evaluation of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. Audit Process.
Premises for the effectiveness of an OSH management system:
- Involvement of top management in OSH policy Participation of all workers (from the top manager to the minimum worker) Insisting on integrating the SGSST into the organization's management systems produces a positive effect for OSH Initial evaluation, that detects the needs of the organization, and based on the diagnosis, plans for risk assessment, emergency responses and implementation of measures are developed. Effective management of processes and activities, application of quality criteria, practices of any type of preventive activity; risk assessment, training, health surveillance, documentation, control, etc. The SGSST should be based on continuous improvement based on information from the system itself Coordination between organizations for risk prevention in trainees,contracts and subcontracts. Indicators for the evaluation of occupational risks: Having indicators is a need for the SGSST, both in the implementation stages and during the monitoring and continuous improvement of structures and processes. Efficacy is not measured in developed processes, but in the corresponding system performance indicators (2).
Quality
NC-ISO 9001: 2000: Quality management systems. Requirements
This International Standard specifies the requirements for a quality management system, when an organization needs to demonstrate its ability to consistently provide products that meet customer and applicable regulatory requirements, and aims to increase customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continuous improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity with customer requirements and applicable regulations. The requirements of this standard are applicable to all organizations, regardless of their type, size and supplied product, although justified exclusions from the requirements of the chapter are allowed.
Quality: Degree to which a set of characteristics inherent to a product or service meets the pre-established requirements. Therefore it must be objective and measurable.
The quality requirements are established in:
- Norms: Cuban (binding to all companies and the highest category in the country), branch lines (mandatory for companies in a sector), Company (in justified cases, single product) and international (in cases justified by the destination market Technical regulations (mandatory) Quality specifications Contracts
Quality Management: A set of coordinated activities to direct and control a company in terms of quality, it is integrated into the overall management of the company and influences all the activities that take place in it, based on the participation of all stakeholders. members of the company, being its most important aspects to consider:
- Make specific references to the principles of quality management Achieve a greater emphasis on management leadership Measure customer satisfaction Continuously improve management Treat quality with a process approach Plan quality and evaluate its results Consider the benefits and needs of all stakeholders in the company.
Principles of Quality Management:
Customer focus:
Companies depend on their customers, therefore they must take into account in their strategy the current and future needs of society and its customers, it must satisfy their expectations and requirements.
This implies constant focus on the consumer / customer, directing relationships with them and measuring customer and stakeholder satisfaction and acting on the results.
- Leadership Staff participation Process approach:
Need to conceive the company as an integration of multiple processes.
For companies to function effectively and efficiently they have to identify, design and manage many interrelated processes.
An advantage of the process approach is the permanent control and mandatory communication in the relationship between suppliers and clients of the multiple interrelated processes, emphasizing the importance of understanding and meeting the requirements; consider the process in terms of added value; better results in performance and effectiveness and continuous improvement based on measurements.
System approach to management:
Companies are an integral system, where each of the component systems must ensure the fulfillment of the mission of the company with the greatest integrity. None of the component systems of the company is more important than another, all equally must work with integration, quality, effectiveness and efficiency to achieve that the company has the highest social recognition.
Continual improvement:
The improvement of the overall performance of a company must be a permanent objective of the same, therefore it needs to be planned and managed, not empirical, imported or improvised.
- Fact-based approach to decision-making. Mutually beneficial relationships with the supplier.
Components of Quality Management:
Quality management is present in all stages of the production process of goods and services (pre-production, production and post-production), it includes, within the framework of the quality system, the following activities:
- Quality policy and objectives Quality planning Quality control Quality assurance Quality improvement Quality control
Application of a Quality Management System:
- Determine the needs and expectations of the Client Guarantee the training of managers and all the personnel involved Establish the Policy and Quality Objectives of the Organization Determine the processes and responsibilities to achieve the Quality Objectives Determine and deliver the resources to achieve the Quality Objectives. (technical, material, human and financial) Plan internal audits and other measurements Establish methods to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of each process Determine the means to prevent non-conformities and eliminate their causes.
Environment
Environment: environment in which an organization operates, including air, water, soil, natural resources, flora, fauna, human beings and their interrelations.
Environmental impact: any change in the environment, whether adverse or beneficial, as a total or partial result of the environmental aspects of an organization
Environmental Management System (EMS): part of the management system of an organization used to develop and implement its environmental policy and manage its environmental aspects.
Environmental Policy General intentions and direction of an organization related to its environmental performance as formally expressed by senior management.
Environmental management system requirements
The organization shall establish, document, implement, maintain and continually improve an environmental management system in accordance with the requirements of this International Standard, and determine how it will meet these requirements.
The organization shall define and document the scope of its environmental management system.
Environmental policy
Top management must define the organization's environmental policy and ensure that, within the defined scope of its environmental management system, it:
a) is appropriate to the nature, magnitude and environmental impacts of its activities, products and services;
b) includes a commitment to continuous improvement and pollution prevention; among other.
Environmental aspects
The organization must establish, implement and maintain one or more procedures to:
a) Identify the environmental aspects of its activities, products and services that it can control and those that it can influence within the defined scope of the environmental management system, taking into account new or planned developments, or new activities, products and services or modified; and
b) determine those aspects that have or may have significant impacts on the environment (ie significant environmental aspects).
Objectives, goals and programs
The organization shall establish, implement and maintain documented environmental objectives and goals, at the relevant levels and functions within the organization.
The objectives and goals must be measurable when feasible and must be consistent with environmental policy, including pollution prevention commitments, compliance with applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes, and with continuous improvement.
System: It is a set of interconnected components to achieve a specific objective, including: the organizational structure, resources and processes. In this way, people, teams and culture are part of the System, as well as documented policies and practices. Integrating, for its part, means combining, putting all internal management practices into the same system, but not as separate components, but interlocking, without there being insurmountable partitions between processes and activities. Thus, a SIG is that management system that integrates all the components of the organization in a coherent system, which allows the fulfillment of its purpose and mission, which must be focused on satisfying the needs and expectations of all interested parties.,both external and internal to the organization. For this, everything that has an effect on the results to be achieved by the institution must be part of the SIG. The organization's Management System must coherently integrate all commonly formalized systems that separately focus on quality, health and safety at work, the environment, people, finances, security and physical protection, among other elements.among other elements.among other elements.
Chapter II
Starting in the 1980s, many companies in the Western world recognized the strategic role that the quality of their products plays in an increasingly competitive market and that one way to achieve this objective, without increasing costs, is to implement management of effective and efficient quality aimed at the continuous improvement of the institution's products and processes. The Japanese had come to these conclusions much earlier, which allowed their dominance in the market during the 1970s and 1980s. Also in the last decades, concern for the environment and safety has begun to become widespread. There is a noticeable increase in public interest in problems related to the environment and security; and this concern is reflected in the emergence of a growing number of strict laws and regulations,in the creation of non-governmental organizations and in the search for products, materials and processes compatible with the preservation of natural resources, renewable or not and increasingly safe.
Already today, offering competitive products that meet consumer requirements, and obtained in such a way that they do not affect the environment and the health of workers, has become a necessity. All this has led to the development and application of international standards for the management of both quality and environmental performance and occupational health and safety.While there are many standards related to products, there are only three groups of internationally recognized generic standards, applicable to Management Systems, these are ISO 9000, ISO 14000 and OHSAS 18000.
The three management systems have had a different origin, quality has developed strongly driven by competition, by the need to improve business competitiveness. Safety has been driven by the establishment of government regulations and by pressure from union organizations, while the environment has been driven by legislation and society. Still, these functions have a common management philosophy. In addition, the three series of quality, environmental and occupational health and safety management standards have a similar structure, are compatible in terms of requirements, recommendations and evaluation systems, which simplifies the construction of integrated management systems..
Characterization of the company
The Base Business Unit (UEB) of Assurance and Integral Services, belonging to the Integral Las Tunas Forest Company (EFI) which is located in Calle Emilio González No. 2 between Ciro Redondo and René Ramos Latourt, Rpto: Santo Domingo, municipality Las Tunas, Las Tunas province belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture (MINAGRI), occupy an area equivalent to 6,369.30 m2 with 162, of which 82 belong to Comprehensive Services and 80 to the UEB of Assurance.
The UEB of Assurance was designed to make the purchases and sales of all the inputs that guarantee production; the maintenance of machinery, transportation and the industry of the Las Tunas Integral Forestry Company (EFI), as well as the supply of resources (materials, raw materials, inputs) that guarantee the fulfillment of their production plans to the Forestry Units and supply of food for the workers' dining rooms belonging to the Comprehensive Forest Company located in the municipality of Las Tunas province.
Safety and health at work
Noise and vibrations
In the present study, most of the noise emitting sources detected come from the maintenance carried out during transportation in areas of the Automotive Workshop, although the sound signal emitted by the operation of the aforementioned machinery was below 85 dB when the inspection was carried out. sampling, it should not be ruled out the possibility that at a certain moment when they find several equipment performing maintenance and the noise generated in the turnery area is also added, fundamentally, the decibels can increase and cause damage to the human ear, so that workers who work there must use the means of individual protection (ear muffs).
For the storage of lubricants and greases there is no room, the lubricants are stored in metal tanks in an outdoor area that does not meet the requirements for this activity, highlighting the existence of spills of these substances on the ground which can cause work accidents.
In the machine shop there is currently a total absence of the roof, the activity corresponding to this area is carried out in the automotive shop; the fundamental mission is to manufacture and recover spare parts for machinery, irrigation and industry, as well as to elaborate and recover defective parts for automotive transport. All this means that the worker does not have a suitable job to carry out their tasks.
In general, it should be noted that: There is no central protocol of safety rules drawn up and put into effect and approved by the Management, the OSH specialist and the representative of the union section.
The existence of the inventory and control of all jobs that require safety rules was verified, finding it outdated in relation to the new job qualifiers put into effect.
In the entity there is no action plan in case of accidents or emergencies, an emergency plan against fires has been drawn up. There is also a disaster plan which does not correspond to current requirements.
It is concluded that the organization only has action plans in relation to fires and against catastrophes that are not endorsed by the institutions specialized in this activity, it does not have sufficient emergency teams for this type of situation and does not perform training practices as a way to test the most critical parts of emergency plans.
In the organization, the Resolutions and Standards established for this purpose are used for the investigation of occupational accidents and diseases. They are investigated by a commission made up of the head of the accident area, an OSH technician, a representative of the union organization and experienced workers who help clarify the causes.
There is no dissemination plan drawn up with a view to keeping workers informed of what is happening in the area of OSH, They do not find established procedures to ensure communication on OSH to other interested parties such as contractors, visitors and others.
There is documentary management of occupational risks in the entity but there are no procedures for determining whether a given process of hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control is adequate and sufficient as well as allowing the organization to identify, evaluate and control your OSH risks permanently.
The entity has not established the review of the Risk Management processes. Not only must compliance with the occupational risk solution measures be reviewed, but a complete review of the hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control processes established in the OH&S policy or predetermined by management must be carried out.
Personnel recruitment, selection and admission process. Workers' health surveillance.
In the process of recruitment, selection and admission to employment, the GRRHH Specialist indicates the completion of the PRE-employment medical check-up to all personnel who choose a position in the entity.
Medical care for workers includes:
- PRE-employment exams Periodic exams Other special exams of interest:
The investigation revealed that:
- The use of information from consultations on OSH to workers, review and improvement activities is not exploited The entity does not have an OSH management system implemented according to ISO 18000 and NC 18002 standards Training is not projected as a strategy focused on each stratum of the organization and depending on the risks that characterize each area, because the days established for training constitute the first of each month and sometimes it is a holiday or Sunday. the organization master their responsibilities to OSH.
Environmental performance of the entity
Water management: The water used for human consumption comes from the municipal aqueduct, taking into account the number of workers (35) and applying the consumption standard No. 58/95 of the Institute of Hydraulic Resources, of 0.05 m3 / day, the consumption of daily water is 1.75 m3, which is equivalent to approximately 42 m3 in one month and 504 m3 in one year.
Main environmental problems that affect the environment where the entity's facilities are located.
- Air pollution by noise, gases and dust in suspension generated by the circulation of automotive transport through the access road to the different facilities, which are in fair technical condition and in the case of the Tejar by the embankment in poor condition and without asphalt Accumulation of rainwater in the courtyard of the Automotive Workshop due to insufficient drainage and soil characteristics, which favors the proliferation of vectors Accumulation of scrap metal, disused equipment in areas of the automotive workshop, causing inconvenience to the inhabitants of the houses closer, and at the same time causing soil contamination, as well as the proliferation of vectors.Lubricant Spill:
Perception of the surrounding community and the local government authorities on the entity's environmental performance.
The environmental perception, aims to know the way of thinking and proceeding of workers and managers with respect to the environmental performance of UEB, and includes conducting interviews and applying surveys, where the criteria were collected, both from the community surrounding area and the competent authorities.
According to the criteria of the Delegate of the Popular Council 15, Circumscription No. 132, the UEBs do not cause damage to the environment, do not spill any toxic substance, or cause any discomfort to the surrounding environment, although in conversations held with people living in the closest areas (40 m of the Automotive Workshop), express an unfavorable state of opinion in this regard due to the accumulation of scrap metal in the yard that together with a disused tank causes the proliferation of vectors, as well as the accumulation of sediments impregnated with lubricants and fuels from direct discharges to the environment that are washed away during the rainy season, a situation that threatens the health of the inhabitants of the area.
Environmental policy statement
The UEB of Assurance and Integral Services, aware of its responsibility in the protection of nature and projecting itself to lead the entity within the concept of sustainable development, will work hard to minimize the environmental impacts generated by its products and services to avoid harmful effects on the environment. environment; will also consider Environmental Management as one of its priorities.
In this sense, management will focus its efforts in order to fulfill the following commitments:
- Recognize Environmental Management as one of the priorities of the UEB Guarantee the continuous improvement of the business situation Raise the environmental culture in workers, technicians and managers Keep workers, clients, and environmental and government authorities informed competent on the environmental performance of the unit.
Quality
The raw material with which the products are made is sometimes not the ideal one since it works with green wood, in addition the equipment and machinery with which the processes are carried out are obsolete which influences the final result of the product.
The professional development is inadequate since they only have 4 workers of the superior level and of the rest only one worker is in improvement.
The Integrated Management System (SIG) can cover all aspects of institutional management, from product quality and customer service, maintenance of operations within a situation of environmental performance and acceptable occupational health and safety and efficient economic and accounting management. In other words, an integrated management system would have to achieve:
- The quality process that allows the improvement of products and services and customer satisfaction Environmental protection, including the prevention of pollution Safety and health in the workplace, as well as could also include the safety of products and services The integration of these elements in the general management system of the organization.
The organization's Management System must coherently integrate all commonly formalized systems that separately focus on quality, health and safety at work, the environment, people, finances, security and physical protection, among other elements.
Advantages of integration:
- The needs and expectations of all interested parties are met Improving the effectiveness and efficiency of processes, increasing consistency, traceability, avoiding redundancies and inconsistencies and reducing costs, reducing risks, facilitating response to complaints and claims and profitability is increased. Management processes for planning objectives and reviewing the System are integrated. The objectives of the institution are globally analyzed, solving conflicts of responsibilities, optimizing and simplifying the decision-making process based on comprehensive data. Greater coherence, ease of use and reduction of documentation maintenance costs are achieved. Performance is increased,the competencies and training of the members of the organization, as individuals and as a team. The best institutional practices are harmonized and optimized. Staff morale and motivation are improved, because they feel they are participants and doers of the continuous improvement of their organization. Improves communication and transparency. Significant resource savings are achieved in the development and implementation of the Integrated Management System and less investment than is necessary for the certification processes independently.Significant resource savings are achieved in the development and implementation of the Integrated Management System and a lower investment than is necessary for the certification processes independently.Significant resource savings are achieved in the development and implementation of the Integrated Management System and a lower investment than is necessary for the certification processes independently.
Conclusions
- The bibliography consulted allowed obtaining the theoretical foundations for the development of this work. The main deficiencies that exist in the different subsystems were determined.
