Active monitoring: An elements of evaluation of H&S Performance

Active monitoring refers to monitoring carried out prior to adverse events occurring, for example, housekeeping checks, health and safety inspections, and audits.

The main objective of Active monitoring to prevent the accidents.

Active monitoring

Active monitoring intention/objectives is to identify ( Importance of Active Monitoring) :

• conformance with H&S standards, so that good H&S performance is recognised and maintained. (Compliance Follow up )- HASWA ACt1974
• non- conformance with H&S standards can be identified, and corrective action is taken.
• Identify the Unsafe Act ,
• Identify Unsafe Condition ,
• Identify potentially hazardous conditions,
• Identify mistakes,
• Identify H&S violations ,
• Identify H&S deficiencies,
• Identify H&S breaches etc.

Learning- What are the objectives of Active monitoring in any organization?

Active monitoring –as per ILO-OSH 2001-3.11.6

What does active monitoring contain?

3.11.6. Active monitoring should contain the elements necessary to have a proactive system and should include:

(a) monitoring of the achievement of specific plans, established performance criteria and objectives;

(b) the systematic inspection of work systems, premises, plant and equipment;

(c) surveillance of the working environment, including work organization;

(d) surveillance of workers’ health, where appropriate, through suitable medical

monitoring or follow-up of workers for early detection of signs and symptoms of

harm to health in order to determine the effectiveness of prevention and control

measures; and

(e) compliance with applicable national laws and regulations, collective agreements, and other commitments on OSH to which the organization subscribes.

Active Monitoring Techniques

Active methods monitor the design, development, installation and operation of management arrangements. These tend to be preventive in nature.

Methods of active monitoring ( ways of active monitoring) (Example of Active monitoring)

1. Safety sampling
2. Safety Audit
3. safety tours
4. safety inspection - Example 1: routine inspections of premises, plants, and equipment by staff Example 2: -planned function check regimes for key pieces of plant
5. safety surveys.
6. Health Surveillance ( Regular medical surveillance of Workers to prevent harm to health)
7. Benchmarking
8. Climate Survey
9. Behavioural Observations
10. Safety Conversations

An example of active monitoring applicable to one organisation.

Any organisation may use various active monitoring tools like safety inspections, audits, surveys, tours, benchmarking, etc. to prevent accidents or incidents at their workplace.

Limitation of Active Monitoring:

• It requires resources like staff, time, and cost (Costly) to do active monitoring.
• Focus only immediate risk, hazard, or unsafe act; not able to identify the Root Cause (Latent failures or management failures)
• Overemphasis on Legal and Customer compliances and regulations only
• Subjectivity issues due to incompetency of the inspector, auditor, or manager

Group Discussion:

1. What are the features of active monitoring?
2. What are the key components of active monitoring in the context of safety and health?
3. How does active monitoring contribute to improving safety performance in the workplace? ( HINT: prevent accidents or incidents, Help in continuous improvement, help to fulfill the legal compliances, helps to improve the safety culture, Help to reduce the risk, Cost savings )
4. What are the benefits of regularly conducting active monitoring activities in a safety management system?
5. How does active monitoring differ from reactive monitoring when assessing safety performance?
6. What role do key performance indicators (KPIs) play in active monitoring for safety and health? (HINT: KPIs helps for measurement, monitoring and checking of Safety implementation at workplace.)
7. How can organizations ensure the effectiveness of their active monitoring processes in preventing accidents and incidents?
8. What strategies can be implemented to integrate active monitoring seamlessly into existing safety management systems? (HINT: Set Safety Objectives / targets and follow the PDCA cycle of Active monitoring.)
9. What challenges might organizations face when implementing active monitoring initiatives for safety and health? ( HINT: Time-consumption, Safety-Budget, Resources, and requires competent manpower)
10. How does active monitoring align with regulatory requirements and industry best practices in safety and health management?

How does active monitoring differ from reactive monitoring when assessing safety performance?

1. Active monitoring occurs before incidents happen, focusing on prevention. Reactive monitoring takes place after incidents occur, focusing on response and analysis.
2. Focus:Active monitoring emphasizes identifying potential hazards and risks proactively.Reactive monitoring focuses on reviewing incidents, accidents, or near-misses that have already happened.
3. Preventive vs. Corrective:Active monitoring aims to prevent incidents by implementing measures to control risks.Reactive monitoring aims to correct issues and prevent recurrence by analyzing past incidents.
4. Proactivity:Active monitoring involves proactive checks and measures to minimize risk and harm.Reactive monitoring involves analyzing incidents that have occurred to learn from them and improve safety processes.
5. Continuous Improvement:Active monitoring supports continuous improvement by identifying areas for enhancement in safety performance.Reactive monitoring contributes to learning from past incidents and implementing changes to prevent future occurrences.