Provide a brief report (around 300-500 words) answering the following questions.
- What did you think of the Risk Management (RM) process?
Risk Management (RM) is an ongoing process entailing recognizing, assessing and responding to risk factors of a project with the aim of controlling any future event (Culp, 2002). It is a proactive control process that looks at the possible dangers that may derail a given process or activity from taking place. As a continuous process, the process outlines possibilities, chances, and probabilities of hazards occurring during handling of animals or while within the working environment. For instance, it identifies possible dangers or risks involved in handling the animal during treatment or health diagnosis, it attempts to look into ways to allocate the risks involved, and finally, it provides a balanced basis for decision-making in case the risks occur. It forms part of the general animal and office safety management exercise in which possible threats are brought to a minimum or eliminated. Even though total elimination is not possible in some cases, the whole process of risk management helps in ensuring that threats are exposed. For instance, the elimination stage of risk management helps in doing away with obvious dangers within sight or reach. These may include removing sharp objects from the cattle dip before animals are taken through the cattle dip.
The main purpose of the risk management procedure is to help achieve the desired results of treating the animal while at the same time reducing chances of danger occurring, for instance, the veterinary officer may be exposed to dangerous rays from the X-ray machine while screening. The process in such a case is well defined, calculated, measured, and outlined to reduce and avoid chances of injury. Moreover, Risk Management Process is not a one-activity affair, but a series of procedures that aims at reducing the impact or chances of a given detected threat,
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of this RM process?
Advantages
One of the main benefits of risk management process is that it helps the management and the team as a whole reduce the occurrence and magnitude of an event occurring (Montforts et al, 2002). At the same time, it helps strategize on solutions to possible threats before they occur while helping save on time and project completion. The ability to foresee a possible danger within a given process/time reduces chances of wastage of time, money, resources, and human potential (Dyson et al, 1998). The chances of loss are minimized too during the process as a whole. Additionally, Risk management Process helps in offering guidance within the framework of work and the strategies involved. Although it entails a parallel activity besides the main activity, it guarantees safety of the main activity undertaken. On the other hand, risk management process reduces any chance of incurring expenses in any damage caused by a given threat in question. Finally, it is one of the best ways of ensuring success for a given activity such as diagnosing animals.
Disadvantages
It involves many complex calculations, which in most cases are challenging to predict and foresee. Since at times it is all about predicting a threat, it may call upon the need for automatic tools, which may be difficult to put together (Klinke & Renn, 2002). Since it takes a lot of time and processing, the whole procedure becomes challenging in implementing particularly in implementing the control mechanism. Additionally, while the process reduces the level of threats, it increases control over the same taking much time and resources. It may also involve additional allocation of resources, which may increase the financial aspect of a single activity. For instance, in attempting to safeguard the health of animals while at the cattle dip, much mechanism such as increased personnel may increase the financial part of treating the animals.
- How practical do you think this RM process is for the workplace?
The process is not only practical but also result oriented. In attempting to mitigate some of the probable threats that may be faced in handling the animals, the process allows for room for analyzing, identifying, monitoring, and establishing solutions to the threats. By observing the above processes and changes during the process, the team at the workplace helps increase chances of handling the animals successfully while at the same time reducing wastage on time, money, and potential. Moreover, it is a good way of safeguarding the welfare of both personnel and other human resources within the workplace these includes aspect such as buildings, human activity, and the general well-being of the society.
- Why is ‘Elimination’ at the top and ‘PPE’ at the bottom (of the Hierarchy of Control)?
Elimination at the top helps in physically removing a given hazard. It is the most effective control method of managing risks (Dyson et al, 1998). For example, a dangerously sharp object that may scratch animal’s body in the cattle dip can be physically removed to reduce the risk of injury to the animals. Placed at the top, it ensures that the present danger or threat is done away with before moving on to other aspects of danger that may still be present. It reduces the amount of money involved in risk management process and at the same time, reduces human resource involvement in mitigating risks. On the other hand, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) comes last at the bottom, as it is the least to be relied on in terms of eliminating risks. It involves safety helmets, protective eyewear, earplugs, sunscreens, and goggles. PPE helps in ensuring that the last and remote aspects risk management are reduced to a minimum. For instance, the veterinary officer diagnosing animals need to wear protective gloves while handling animal products and while screening an animal in the lab, the veterinary officer need to wear X-ray protective clothing. By having the above protective devices, other aspects of danger that were previously unseen or ignored are taken care of. For instance, while screening an animal in the lab, wearing x-ray protective clothing helps prevent any chances of exposure to the rays. Even though the chances of exposure to x-rays are minimal, wearing the protective devices helps just in case an unexpected accident occurs in which a physician gets exposed to the rays. It is more or less like last minute protective measures.
The report is based on Risk Management process using the 3 worksheets (the ‘Hazard Register’, ‘Risk Assessment template’ and the ‘Risk Control worksheet’)
References
Culp, C. L. (2002). The risk management process: Business strategy and tactics (Vol. 103). John Wiley & Sons.
Dyson, D. H., Maxie, M. G., & Schnurr, D. (1998). Morbidity and mortality associated with anesthetic management in small animal veterinary practice in Ontario. Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association, 34(4), 325-335.
Klinke, A., & Renn, O. (2002). A new approach to risk evaluation and management: Risk‐based, precaution‐based, and discourse‐based strategies. Risk analysis, 22(6), 1071-1094.
Montforts, M. H., Kalf, D. F., van Vlaardingen, P. L., & Linders, J. B. (1999). The exposure assessment for veterinary medicinal products. Science of the total environment, 225(1), 119-133.
Retrieved October 13, 2016, from https://www.det.nsw.edu.au/vetinschools/documents/worklearnimplementation/victoria/animal_hazards.pdfIn-line Citation: ([CSL STYLE ERROR: reference with no printed form.])
Retrieved October 13, 2016, from https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/farm-safety-handling-animals