There is no more important aspect of the hospitality and tourism industry than the protection of the health, safety and welfare of guests, staff and assets. These elements can be effectively managed through the creation of a company safety policy. This policy must incorporate all operational components into a structure that ensures that everyone is made conversant with the hazards attached to all work performed.
Everyone should also understand the precautionary measures required with respect to the possible hazards and the suitable procedures should an unforeseen situation occur. All staff should be provided with the necessary information, education, training and supervision to maintain a healthy and safe working environment, which in turn ensures the safety of all guests and or customers of the organisation.
Tour operations are now under greater pressure from their clients to ensure their itineraries include offerings with sound health and safety systems in place. For this reason, implementing these systems in any tourism offering is becoming critical to the organisation’s business continuity and sustainability.
The best approach for implementing a safety policy within an organisation is by creating a safety management system that effectively implements a range of safety management procedures, most of which are preventative in nature as well as those that are critical for unforeseen scenarios. This process should be implemented as follows:
- Safety Management System (SMS)
Establishing a sound health and safety management system that is understood by all staff in the workplace (Hotel, Lodge, B&B, Backpackers, Transfer Operators etc.) will minimise the risk of injury and illness in the operation (staff and guests). This system effectively combines and organises various procedures and documentation into a meaningful system that is easily implemented. Although some operations fall below the legislative requirements for establishing a full health and safety committee, every organisation within the tourism industry - no matter the size - should have a safety representative within the organisation to oversee and execute the safety requirements of the organisation through a safety management system.
Effective safety management systems must have:
- A clear commitment through a written company policy
- An Identification and analysis process of health and safety hazards within the operation
- Implementable mitigation measures to reduce risk within the operation
- Competent staff with regular training
- Inspection programs
- Emergency response planning and procedures
- Incident reporting and investigation
- Sound administration of the system
- Health and safety policy of the company
In order for an effective safety management system to be implemented, there needs to be a commitment from the owner, directors and senior management. This commitment is vital and must be contained in a short policy statement outlining the organisation’s objectives in relation to safety and health and should also include protection of the environment. This should be contained in a forward to the safety management system documentation.
- Emergency management procedures
There are numerous procedures that when effectively implemented combine to make up a sound safety management system. All areas of any operation should be captured into a procedure document highlighting possible hazards, with maintenance protocols and schedules as well as specific mitigation and emergency procedures for various scenarios. This procedure document must not be so cumbersome that it eventually becomes a “door stop” in an operation, but should rather include simple straight forward procedures, which are ultimately better understood by staff and therefore better implemented when required.
Once the basic structure of the safety policy is established, the implementation should be very simple, with its main purpose being to assist general managers and operations teams implementing health and safety controls within their organisation. The documentation provides the backbone to manage the entire process and a single safety representative who dedicates a very small portion of their time to health and safety and has the ability to administer any safety management system. The most effective manner to sustain a safety system on site is through regular internal drills and basic training (external training is recommended periodically; however, external training resources do not always understand site specific conditions). This process creates a general awareness among all staff ensuring a rapid and effective response if required in emergency situations.
