Guideline

Leadership Commitment and Involvement

OSHJ-GL-19

Version 1 Rev 0 Sep 2021 www.spsa.shj.ae

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Table of Contents

1 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 2
2 Purpose and Scope ......................................................................................................................... 2
3 Definitions and Abbreviations .......................................................................................................... 2
4 Roles and Responsibilities ............................................................................................................... 2
4.1 Entity Responsibilities ............................................................................................................. 2
4.2 Employee Responsibilities ...................................................................................................... 3
5 Guidelines ........................................................................................................................................ 3
5.1 Leadership Commitment and Involvement in Preventing Incidents ........................................ 3
5.1.1 Commitment ........................................................................................................................ 3
5.1.2 Involvement ......................................................................................................................... 4
5.2 Effective Management ............................................................................................................ 4
5.3 Setting Leadership Commitment ............................................................................................. 5
5.4 Demonstrating Leadership ...................................................................................................... 5
6 Training ............................................................................................................................................ 6
7 References ....................................................................................................................................... 7
8 Document Amendment Record ....................................................................................................... 8

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1 Introduction
Strong, effective and visible leadership is vital to good workplace occupational safety and
health systems. And, in turn, good occupational safety and health systems are essential to
the success of a business. Protecting the safety and health of employees is not just a legal
duty, it is also a sign that an entity is likely to grow and thrive.

Leadership provides direction, encouragement and inspiration to motivate a team to achieve

organisational success. Management is primarily an organisational role, coordinating the
efforts of the people and the allocation of resources to maximise efficiency in achieving
identified goals. Leadership and management are closely linked functions.

2 Purpose and Scope

This Guideline document has been developed to provide information to entities to assist them
in complying with the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health System in Sharjah.

To achieve compliance in the Emirate of Sharjah, all entities are required to demonstrate a
standard of compliance which is equal to or higher than the minimum acceptable requirements
outlined in this Guideline document.

3 Definitions and Abbreviations

Entities: Government Entities: Government departments, authorities
or establishments and the like in the Emirate.

Private Entities: Establishments, companies, enterprises

and economic activities operating in the Emirate in general.

Risk: Is the combination of likelihood of the hazard causing the

loss and the severity of that loss (consequences)

Risk Management: The forecasting and evaluation of risks together with the
identification of procedures to avoid or minimise their
impact.

Hazard: Anything that has the potential to cause harm or loss (injury,
disease, ill-health, property damage etc).

Top Management: The highest-ranking people within an entity e.g. (business

owner, directors, senior management, members of the
board) who are individually and collectively responsible for
occupational safety and health.

Leadership Commitment: A pledge or undertaking by top management in an entity to

maintain the highest level of occupational safety and health.

Leadership Involvement: The active participation of top management in OSH matters

to ensure the commitment to OSH is implemented and
delivered allowing top managers to demonstrate to
employees the importance of safety and health issues within
the entity.

4 Roles and Responsibilities

4.1 Entity Responsibilities

 Providing strong and active occupational safety and health (OSH) leadership;

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 Demonstrating visible and active commitment towards OSH;

 Establishing management structures to ensure effective OSH communication is

relayed to managers, supervisors and received from employees;

 Integrating safety and health into all business decisions;

 Identifying and managing occupational safety and health risks;

 Obtaining competent OSH advice;

 Ensuring there is a process for monitoring, reporting and reviewing OSH

performance;

 Providing adequate resources to manage safety and health.

4.2 Employee Responsibilities

 Support the entity safety and health policies and procedures.

5 Guidelines
Leadership commitment produces high levels of motivation and concern for occupational
safety and health throughout an entity. The commitment is measured by the amount of
resources and support allocated to safety and health management and by the status given to
safety and health versus production and costs.

Leadership involvement is very important and the day to day activity of managers needs to
demonstrate their involvement and commitment to safety and health. Involvement requires
management to be seen in actions and in words as being sincerely committed to the safety
and health of employees.

If leadership and commitment are not present in the workplace, employees will assume that
they are expected to put production or commercial interests first and any safety initiatives will
be viewed and undermined as irrelevant.

5.1 Leadership Commitment and Involvement in Preventing Incidents

Top Management are in a position to prevent incidents and ill health in the workplace by
demonstrating their commitment and involvement to prevent incidents.

5.1.1 Commitment

Leadership commitment is a pledge or undertaking by top management in an entity to

maintain the highest level of occupational safety and health, including but not limited to:

 Committing to and communicating an effective OSH management strategy;

 Developing robust safety and health management systems;

 Committing to the development of employees;

 Making sure that safety and health issues are always on the agenda at board
meetings or other top management meetings;

 Providing safety and health training to all leaders, promoting a greater awareness of
OSH issues;

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 Providing adequate OSH resources to implement hazard reduction measures.

5.1.2 Involvement

Leadership involvement is the active participation of top management in OSH matters to

ensure the commitment to OSH is implemented and delivered allowing top managers to
demonstrate to employees the importance accorded to all safety and health issues within the
entity, including but not limited to:

 Being involved in risk management processes such as the identification of main

hazards;

 Monitoring the performance of those systems;

 Setting a good example by following all safety procedures at all times;

 Motivating employees to participate in ensuring good safety and health as part of

employee consultation and involvement;

 Ensure leaders make regular visits to talk to employees about OSH problems and
solutions.

5.2 Effective Management

OSH management is an integral part of good management generally, rather than as a stand-
alone system. All managers within an entity are responsible for the management of safety and
health issues within their area of responsibility. Top management on the other hand are
responsible for the overall management of OSH issues within an entity. A good way to
structure effective OSH management is to use the PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act) also
known as the Deming Wheel, or Deming Cycle.

Plan – Leaders should be involved in setting

OSH objectives relevant to their processes and
their plans of where they currently are, and
where they want to be. Leaders should also
commit to delivering these objectives and plans.

Do – Implement the plan and capture the results.

Leaders should be involved in identifying the
main risks and communicating these risks to
employees. Providing resources for the
implementation of the plan

Check – Measure the progress of the plan.

Leaders must make sure that the plan they have
put in place is being implemented and that it is
effective in controlling the risks identified.

Monitoring and reporting (study and results) are vital parts of the safety and health plan, top
management needs to ensure that it is working effectively. This is done through measuring
OSH performance and will help to: identify problems, why the problems occur and what
changes are required to resolve these problems.

Act - Review against objectives and take appropriate action. If the plan was not effective,
change it. A review of OSH performance should be conducted periodically and the review
process should consider the following, including but not limited to:

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 Status of actions from previous reviews;

 The extent to which the OSH policy meets the entities aims and objectives;

 Measure the extent of legal compliance and other requirements;

 The effectiveness of risk management and controls;

 Assessment of OSH performance information;

 Assessment of the level of resources required to maintain OSH;

 Opportunities for continual improvement.

Plan, Do, Check and Act is not just a theory but a practical guide on how to manage OSH
effectively and leaders should be involved at each step of the cycle.

5.3 Setting Leadership Commitment

Plan involves setting out how top management will establish effective safety and health
management in the form of a plan and policy. The plan should identify where the entity is now
and identify where they want to be. To decide on the contents of the policy statement and the
plan, top management will need to understand the significant risks generated by work
activities.

The policy should define top management’s role in the management of safety and health, and
how they will implement, establish and maintain the policy, including but not limited to:

 A commitment to provide safe and healthy places of work;

 Processes to prevent injury and ill-health appropriate to the nature of work and risks
present;

 A commitment to eliminate hazards and reduce OSH risk;

 A commitment to fulfil legal requirements and other requirements;

 A framework for setting OSH objectives;

 A commitment to continual improvement of the OSH management system;

 A commitment to employee consultation and involvement;

 Plan for changes that may affect the entity such as: the introduction of new legal
requirements, new work practices or processes, recruitment of additional employees,
procurement of new products and services;

 The arrangements and resources necessary to implement the policy.

The plan will set out what to do to mitigate injury and ill-health in the workplace, top
management are also responsible for the arrangements if something does go wrong. Part of
the plan will include how the entity will respond to incidents by planning what to do in an
emergency.

5.4 Demonstrating Leadership

Commitment and involvement involves top management demonstrating leadership, including
but not limited to:

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 Hosting regular safety meetings:

 Attending safety walks regularly;

 Following up on any actions that arise from meetings and safety walks;

 Have relevant safety moments in meetings;

 Make their involvement useful and visible;

 Be involved in setting OSH objectives;

 Be involved in identifying the main risks and communicating these risks to employees;

 Measuring progress of OSH plans;

 Where incidents occur, participating in investigations and take leading roles.

6 Training
The entity should train top management and managers on effective OSH management and
at a minimum, include but not limited to:

 The importance of OSH management;

 The benefits of effective OSH management;

 The tools to assist managers in managing OSH;

 The principles of risk management;

 Effective OSH communication;

 Setting objectives and targets;

 Monitoring OSH Performance.

Periodic refresher training should be conducted to ensure employees competency is

maintained. The entity must record and maintain accurate training records of OSH training for
employees.

Further information on training, refresher training and record keeping requirements can be
found in OSHJ-GL-26: Training and Competence.

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7 References
OSHJ-GL-26: Training and Competence

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8 Document Amendment Record

TITLE Leadership Commitment and Involvement

DOCUMENT AMENDMENT RECORD

Version Revision Date Amendment Details Pages Affected

1 15 SEP 2021 New Document N/A

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