Running head: ESH MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATION-eBay
ESH Management Recommendation-eBay
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ESH MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATION-eBay
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ESH Management Recommendation-eBay
Introduction
A majority of characteristics of an effective EHS management resemble those of practices
of management that proponents of business excellence and quality assurance advocate. The
guidelines given in this work are no basis of fundamental good management principles, but with
a target of ESH management integration to such systems. Risks in the work place are reduced to
a considerable manner through the implementation of EHS principles. A fact exits that eBay is
already with an established management system established to ensure proper administration of
EHS system, which means that adoption of such a strategy as the one this paper will propose will
be easy. In this work, therefore, I will recommend a system of management to eBay following its
gap analysis so that the business orients itself with the rules regarding it. The work will add to
the efficiency of implementation of the regulation of EHS to the business practices.
Involvement of the Management
The top management of the company requires defining procedures, documenting as well
as endorsing formal ESH policies. Such a policy needs to give an outline of what the
organization expects of its faculty, personnel concerned with EHS as well as individual workers.
In this case, the policy will target to:
Attain and uphold legal compliance
Provide a platform that will ensure continuity in performance of EHS
Establish considerations of EHS into the entire phases of eBay operations
Mitigate or prevent economic and human losses that may arise from adverse procedures
of operation, accidents and environmental events.
There is a need that the management reviews revalidate and revise where possible the
EHS policy and its statement (American Institute of Chemical Engineers, 1996). Another
issue of consideration is that such policies should be available to all the employees as well as
other interested parties in the way that is appropriate for the company. The commitment of
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EHS performance by the management is the most fundamental aspect of success of the
program as well as the development of an efficient safety culture at the organization. In this
case, documentation will define the commitment of the management and their intention to
define how other employees require supporting performance goals as listed above. For
instance, such goals may be supported through such methods as compliance with the law that
requires their implementation and improve EHS performance. Others may include
establishment of energy-efficient methods, reduction of wastes as well as prevent accidents
(Sigh, Hinze and Coble, 2009).
Planning
Planning is one of the integral components of all systems of management. In this case,
the management at eBay requires designing and developing of suitable procedures as well as
organizational structure that will manage aspects of EHS as well as the associated systems of
risk control. The design should also coincide with the hazards, needs and organizational
risks. Planning is also important in dealing with risks that only become apparent following
lengthy periods of latency. Such a process also helps the company management in the
definition of criteria used for judging failure or success of the installed system (National
Research Commission, 2011).
There are varieties of sources of data that the management may use in the identification
of ESH applicable aspects as well as assessing the involved risks. Such examples may
include among others, risk assessment, permits, exposure assessment, inspections, event
investigation, internal and external audits, emerging issues, corporate goals, management of
emergencies and building and fire codes. Following the identification of such aspects, there is
then the need that the management performs a risk-based assessment as a way of identifying
likely impacts as well as adequacy of control measures in existence. For additional measures,
the company should proceed to integrate them to the business structure (National Research
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Commission, 2011). Categorization of each item is such a manner permits prioritization of
gaps identified and incorporated in accordance to their importance and availability of
resources.
Implementation
The management’s design arrangements need to reflect the needs of the organization and
their risk nature. However, a need exists for appropriate activity for each element of the
model. Such steps that make the model may include planning, the implementation, and
measurement of performance, audits and management review. The organization is required to
make arrangements that will cover different areas (National Research Commission, 2011).
For instance, some of the areas include overall objectives and plans including resources and
employees for implementation of the policy, operational layouts for implementation of
arrangements that will control risks identified. Others may involve contingency plans
involving foreseeable emergencies as well as mitigation of their effects, plans that may cover
change management, plans that may involve interactions with outside parties, performance
measures and corrective action planning.
As much as it is the duty of an individual employee at the business premise to ensure that
they work in the most prudent manner, a cooperative endeavor exists between the
management, the workers and the EHS personnel to ensure an efficient implementation of the
plan. Policies, regulations and plans may never do enough to deal with each contingency,
which makes it important for all concerned parties to communicate so that they may efficient
handling of new situations. For instance, one of the best ways of ensuring such a situation is
the setting up of safety committees that will have a representation from each of the
mentioned groups (National Research Commission, 2011).
Measurement of Performance and Management of Change
The fundamental function of EHS performance measurement is weigh the effectiveness
and implementation of risk-controlling processes established. Such a process gives data
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concerning the progress as well as the status concerning the adopted strategies to deal with risks.
Data for measurement entails information to weigh the system of management by collection of
information on the system’s mode of operation, identification of areas that require correction and
provision of a basis used for continuous improvement. There is a need that all components
related to EHS management be inspected, maintained, evaluated and monitored as a way of
ensuring effective and sustained operation (National Research Commission, 2011). In addition,
there should be regular reviews of risk assessment and control with changes in technological
aspects and modifications. The results obtained from evaluation provide useful data for planning
as well as management review.
There is also a need for scheduling periodic audits, which will allow a deeper and critical
appraisal involving all aspects of EHS systems of management and to reflect the organization’s
nature of risks and hazards. Independent and competent persons that are unrelated to the area
should be utilized in this process as a way of improving the reliability of their findings (National
Research Commission, 2011). At times, the use of external auditors is the best move. In addition,
the firm requires having immediate follow-ups so that there shall be immediate problem
mitigation. Additionally, it is part of the EHS management procedures requiring companies to
deal with change. Change management comes from the very nature of changes in the structure of
the organization, which may create newer challenges to the stakeholders of the company.
Therefore, evaluation of changes in the nature of business activities is a routine practice, which
eBay requires to institute.
ESH Management Reviews
There is a need that eBay’s top management reviews the performance of EHS systems of
management at consistent levels as a way of guaranteeing adequacy, sustainability as well as
effectiveness. Such reviews should involve assessment of chances for improvement as well as
requisitions for transformations in management system that may include the EHS policy in
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addition to its objectives. According to the Workshop on Environmental Management Systems
and ISO 14001 (2009), the management should also document results of such reviews. The
management review may involve a variety of information. Such information may include ESH
management audit results, external audit results, communications from other parties, level of
accomplishment of objectives and status of preventive and corrective measures. Outputs from
such reviews should also contain any actions and decisions that have a relationship with EHS
policy changes, objectives as well as other management system elements while showing
commitment to continued improvement.
Conclusion
EBay has a number of systems that comply with the EHS rules. For instance, the
company’s management is committed in the QEHS policy implementation. The policies have
been maintained and implemented by company widely by ensuring their personnel are constantly
trained on the QEHS policies. The management has continually reviewed the policies to ensure
there is continuous relevance and effectiveness of such policies. EBay has also had documents
that contain their policies such as documents the QEHS manual, hazard assessment procedure,
strategy deployment procedure, ISO (International organization for standardization) and the
environmental aspects identification procedures. The documents present procedures to be used
by its employees in the addressing of process failures, defects, accident and any accidents that
result from nature. However, what remains is ensuring that the policies implemented are adjusted
to suit both the legal and the corporate environments of the firm. In this work, I have
recommended what the company needs to adopt in way of ensuring that the system works to the
best interest of the involved partners and endures over time.
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References
American Institute of Chemical Engineers. (1996). Guidelines for integrating process safety
management, environment, safety, health, and quality. New York: Center for Chemical
Process Safety of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.
National Research Commission (US). (2011). Environmental Health and Safety Management
System. National Academies Press (US). Retrieved from
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55873/
Singh, A., Hinze, J., & Coble, R. J. (Eds.). (2009). Implementation of safety and health on
construction sites. CRC Press.
Workshop on Environmental Management Systems and ISO 14001. (2009).Environmental
management systems and ISO 14001: Summary report. Washington, D.C: National
Academy Press.
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