SCENARIO

You have recently moved to a new job. You are now responsible for health and safety at a large,
busy retail store that is located on the outskirts of a large town served by good roads. The store sells
do-it-yourself (DIY) and hardware goods, such as tools, equipment, and hazardous chemicals, to the
local businesses and the general public. The organisation that owns the store has 100 stores
nationally and 10 in your area.

The main part of the store is open to customers to view and buy goods. At the back of the store,
through an automatic-opening door, is a large warehouse, where stocks of goods are arranged on
racks of shelving. Only store workers are allowed in the warehouse. Warehouse workers use forklift
trucks (FLTs) to move goods from delivery trucks into the warehouse. When the store is closed to
customers the goods are moved into the main part of the store to restock shelves.

You report to the overall Store and Warehouse Manager. The warehouse workforce consists of:
- 20 workers (including 2 shift supervisors) split equally between two 12-hour shifts (08:00 – 20:00
and 20:00 – 08:00) on a rota basis of 4 days on, 4 days off.

Since you started your new job, you have seen a lot of examples of rule-breaking in the warehouse.
For example, you have seen goods stacked in aisles and blocking designated walkways. Workers
have to avoid many obstacles as they walk through the warehouse, causing them to step into vehicle
routes. Workers have told you that there are frequent near misses between FLTs and workers, and
collisions with products causing damage and spillages. There are no written records of any of these.
There have been many injuries recorded over the years. Most recently, a repeat of a more serious
collision occurred involving a young FLT driver. The brakes were applied too late, as the driver was
distracted by their mobile phone, the FLT skidded on an oil spillage and knocked goods over onto a
passing worker.

On this occasion the worker’s leg was broken, which required urgent hospital treatment. The hospital
is 5 miles (approximately 8km) away from the store. The worker is expected to be off work for six
weeks to recover from the injury. The injured worker is seeking legal advice in order to make a claim
for compensation.

Worker absence and turnover is high in the warehouse. There are no health and safety worker
representatives. Warehouse workers have told you that they have complained to management about
working conditions many times. They rarely see management in the warehouse. You cannot find any
written records of complaints.

You have tried to convince the overall Store and Warehouse Manager that something needs to be
done to improve health and safety in the warehouse. You are told that there is no money for ‘that kind
of thing’, and even if it were available, it would cause too much disruption to business.
As a result of the recent FLT collision, you were visited by a labour Inspector who has made a formal
order that requires workplace changes to improve the health and safety of the workers. The Inspector
thinks it is only a matter of time before workers are more seriously injured or even killed in the
warehouse. The Inspector also observed that the written risk assessments are too general and do
not reflect the actual risks in the warehouse. The Inspector wants to see a more effective health and
safety management system at their next visit.

You have discussed with the Inspector possible improvements to health and safety in the warehouse.
The proposed solution involves segregating FLTs and workers with barriers, pedestrian walkways,
designated crossing places and separate entrances for workers and FLTs. In addition, you tell the
Inspector that you will review health and safety performance, internally and externally, in order to
make comparisons.
Task 1: Justifying health and safety improvements
What financial arguments could you use to justify your proposed recommendations to segregate
FLTs and the workers? (10)
Note: You should support your answer, where applicable, using relevant information from the
scenario.

[The FLTs and workers moving areas should be segregated, because if any accident occurs, it will
cost the organization both directly and indirectly. The organization would have to spend more money
than they might spend on the health & Safety improvements in their workplace.

As the workers have told that there are frequent near misses between FLTs and workers; if any such
accident occurs, some of the direct cost of the accident may include:

1. Hospitalization cost of the worker, who could get injured by the collision with the FLT.
2. If the worker got any kind of major injury i.e. disability, or fatality; the organization have to pay
fines, penalties and may face legal cases as well.
3. Repair cost of the FLT, if any damage caused by the accident.
4. Compensations and sick pays that have to pay to the injured worker
5. Shortage of manpower, that will cost overtime of the other workers to recover the productivity

The indirect cost of the accident may include:

1. Loss of productive time of the staffs, by helping the accident victim, investigation of the accident,
preparing accident reports etc.
2. Loss of morale and motivation of the other workers.
3. Compliance with the legal cases.
4. Recruitment and training cost of the new worker in temporary basis or in replacement
5. Loss of reputation of the organization that may damage to public image.
6. Loss of business reputations with other companies
7. If the injured worker return to his work after his recovery, he might not be able to work same as like
previous.

So, hence it is proved that the above costs are beyond high rather than in comparison with the cost
of workplace health & safety improvements. Accident prevention is less costlier rather than facing the
loss from an accident.]