PGB92A Occupational Health And Safety And Environmental Management

Question: In addition to performing the basic organizational activities of outlining deliverance of high quality goods and services, an organization must also ensure the protection of their workers through the implementation of appropriate workplace health and safety standards. The following report discusses and evaluated the health and safety measures undertaken by a pharmaceutical company located in Chiswick, London, where workers are primarily exposed to the detrimental hazard of cytotoxic drug development and research. The safety standards of the company include risk assessment strategies and PPE usage which are in accordance to the legalized COSHH regulations, hence, indicating high quality workplace safety. However, along with organizational benefits, the company must also consider the presence of constraints while implementing further amendments to their existing safety standards. Answer: Introduction In addition to its primary activities of production and service provision, an organization must arrange for health and safety standards, along with a risk management and hazard mitigation policies for the purpose of ensuring the adequate functioning of workers (Nielson et al. 2016). The following report aims to discuss about the health and safety policy standards of a c a pharmaceutical company in Chiswick, London. The report discusses the departmental activities, the prevalent hazards and an evaluation of safety measures. Discussion Main Organizational Activities Pharmaceuticals are entrusted with the licensed activities of researching, developing, marketing and distribution of medications and drugs. The department for research and development in the chosen pharmaceutical company in London, deals with conducting research on drug composition and discovery, gene therapy, precision medicine, biosimilars and medicinal sciences. The production department deals with manufacturing and packaging of drugs associated with oncology, inflammation, biosimilars, immunology and internal medicine, after successful clinical trials and research (Yi and Kim 2016). Departmental Hazards And Health/Safety Measures The most prevalent hazard is associated with the exposure of cytotoxic drugs, which comprise of chemical compounds which induce cell damage and disruption in cell division, and are commonly used in healthcare industries for the treatment of cancer. Workers in the chosen industry conducting research and development as well as production of such drugs are exposed to this hazard during activities such as drug administration during research and drug manufacturing during production, which can lead to harmful effects such as altered erythrocyte count, cell mutations, hair loss, abdominal pain, nausea and possible fetal damage for pregnant female workers (Kim, Shin and Byeon 2015). The chosen pharmaceutical company performs assessment measures in accordance to the legislative guidelines of Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations (COSHH 2002), which involves identification of workers handling cytotoxic drugs and their potential health implications, identification of workers who are at immediate risk such as pregnant females or research and development workers, evaluation of risk and efficiency of measures for control, recording of the assessment results and lastly its evaluation for possible future amendments, along with implementation of a wellness and health culture among workers for the purpose of a successful “Incident and Injury Free Culture”. Additional safety measures which are undertaken in accordance to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidelines is the usage of personal protective improvement in the form of gloves, protective eye wear, safety clothing and footwear (Farhad et al. 2014). Reasons For Organizational Health And Safety Management System The usage of personal protective equipment by the chosen pharmaceutical company, improves their health by preventing exposure to cytotoxic drugs during production, research and development through inhalation, skin contact and skin absorption of harmful toxins. The conductance of risk assessment strategies in accordance to the COSHH guidelines improves the workers health through evaluation of steps and workers experiencing highest rates of cytotoxic drug exposure during production, research and development, resulting in adequate response strategies aimed at reducing cytotoxic exposure, risk associated with cytotoxic drugs and improvement of existing occupational safety policies undertaken by the chosen pharmaceutical company (Noyce 2016). Legislation Comparison The workers involved in the research and development as well as the production department of the chosen pharmaceutical guideline ensure staff safety, through compulsory usage of personal protective equipment (PPE), which is in accordance to Regulation 6 of the Approved Codes of Practice (ACOP: Number 50) of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, outlining risk assessment strategies aimed at reducing exposure to cytotoxic drugs (Hse.gov.uk, 2018). The quality analysis and control department of the chosen pharmaceutical company also contains risk assessment strategies in the production as well as research and development departments to assess the possible presence of cytotoxic drug exposures and workers at risk, which include five steps of hazard identification, identification of populations at risk, risk evaluation, result recording and assessment reviewing. This is in accordance to the Regulation 6 (2)(a)-(I) guideline under the 56th ACOP and 6th COSHH Regulation outlining risk assessment of cytotoxic drug exposure. Hence, upon comparison, it can be stated that both departments of the chosen pharmaceutical company comply to the standard legislative procedures of the HSE (HSE 2017). Evaluation Of Measures Upon evaluation it can be observed that the organizational safety standards adhere to the 6th Regulation of the COSHH 2002, which necessitates performance of risk assessment strategies and usage of PPE to ensure worker safety (Hse.gov.uk, 2018). Such regulations have been legalized by the Health and Safety Executive – the governmental body authorized to inspect and ensure workplace standard and safety. Hence, it can be stated that the production and research and development department of the chosen pharmaceutical company, followed high quality standards of workplace health and safety (Vaughan and Rajan-Sithamparanadarajah 2017). Benefits And Constraints The presence and execution of such high quality, legalized workplace health and safety standards, result in major benefits such prevention of injuries and illness among the workers leading to positive health outcomes, improved occupational functioning, enhance fulfillment of organizational objectives and improved customer feedback. However, the implementation of such high quality safety standards including appropriate assessment and PPE usage may be time consuming and costly, and hence may result in time and financial constraints as major limitations to the chosen company (Gao et al. 2014). Conclusion In this report, a pharmaceutical company located at Chiswick, London was evaluated for the usage of its health and safety standards. Considering the workers exposure to cytotoxic drugs, the company engages in extensive risk assessments and PPE usage which are in accordance to the COSHH 2002 Regulations. Hence, it can be concluded that the chosen company executes high quality work health and safety standards, but must consider time and financial constraints for future improvements and amendments. References Farshad, A., Oliaei, H.K., Mirkazemi, R. and Bakand, S., 2014. Risk assessment of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (btex) in paint plants of two automotive industries in iran by using the coshh guideline. European Scientific Journal, ESJ, 9(10), pp.270-277. Gado, A., Ebeid, B., Abdelmohsen, A. and Axon, A., 2014. Improving safety of personnel exposed to disinfectants by introducing an Endoscopy Quality Assurance Program. Alexandria Journal of Medicine, 50(1), pp.7-12. HSE, U., 2017. Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH). Retrieved from Health and Safety Executive: https://www. hse. gov. uk/coshh/industry/offshore. htm. Hse.gov.uk. (2018). HSE: Information about health and safety at work. [online] Available at: https://www.hse.gov.uk/ [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018]. Kim, M.U., Shin, S. and Byeon, S.H., 2015. Comparison of chemical risk assessment methods in South Korea and the United Kingdom. Journal of occupational health, 57(4), pp.339-345. Nielsen, M.B., Skogstad, A., Matthiesen, S.B. and Einarsen, S., 2016. The importance of a multidimensional and temporal design in research on leadership and workplace safety. The Leadership Quarterly, 27(1), pp.142-155. Noyce, S., 2016. Undertaking COSHH assessments–a five-point plan. In Practice, 38(2), pp.91-93. Vaughan, N.P. and Rajan-Sithamparanadarajah, R., 2017. An Assessment of the Robustness of the COSHH-Essentials (CE) Target Airborne Concentration Ranges 15 Years on, and Their Usefulness for Determining Control Measures. Annals of work exposures and health, 61(3), pp.270-283. Yi, J.C. and Kim, S., 2016. Early Adoption of Innovative Analytical Approach and Its Impact on Organizational Analytics Maturity and Sustainability: A Longitudinal Study from a US Pharmaceutical Company. Sustainability, 8(8), p.808.

PGB92A Occupational Health And Safety And Environmental Management

Calculate the price
of
your order:

Basic features

On-demand options

Paper format

Guaranteed originality

Affordable prices

Best experts

Calculate the price of your order

Expert paper writers are just a few clicks away

PGB92A Occupational Health And Safety And Environmental Management

Calculate the price of your order:

Basic features

On-demand options

Paper format

Guaranteed originality

Affordable prices

Best experts

Calculate the price of your order

Expert paper writers are just a few clicks away

Calculate the price
of
your order: