Workplace
Refit Considerations Report
The refit
is going to impact heavily upon staff facilities,
thus this issue needs to be carefully dealt with.
There are
two main issues:
-
Keep
production rates steady
-
Keep the
factory a safe place to work in for all.
Overview
Currently,
staff are serviced by a canteen to eat in, a
recreation area to relax and exercise in and toilet
and change room facilities.
The canteen
will be unavailable for the entire refit and the
other areas will be unoperational for a period of
six weeks. To date, no other arrangements have been
implemented for these facilities during the refit.
Suggested Solutions
From the
builder specifications, it is apparent that the
staff facilities can be closed and reopened during
the early stages of the overall project. Thus, it is
possible to reduce the time without facilities to
three weeks of production time by starting the
project in those areas over January shut down.
For the
remaining three weeks, there must be toilet
facilities available at all times. It has been
suggested that we share facilities with our
neighbouring businesses, but this is impractical and
unacceptable by OH&S standards. The hiring of
portable toilets is the only viable option.
The
following points need to be considered in arranging
this hired equipment:
-
With
staff on a rotating roster, there will be fewer
staff on site at any given time compared to normal
so not all toilets need to be replaced.
-
Work
staff will need facilities available during the
January close down, even if we don’t.
-
Delays in
building works are common, so it may be best to
hire the toilets for longer than we anticipate
needing them.
Given that
staff will have nowhere else to eat, obtain drinking
water, relax and so forth, it may be worth hiring a
marquee for the front lawn. This will provide a
sheltered area for staff to eat in and could contain
divisions to allow change areas as well. The
portable toilets should be located beside or within
the marquee so that staff can access all facilities
without having to face bad weather.
The exercise
equipment and floor can be declared unavailable for
the three weeks as they are not as critical to staff
safety and well being.
It would
also mean that no time allowances would be required
for staff to travel off site for lunch facilities.
Once the toilet and recreation areas are operational
again, the recreation area could become the
temporary canteen or the marquee could be retained
as a canteen and storage area.
Once the
temporary staff areas are established, safety
considerations such as fire and first aid equipment
must also be incorporated into the arrangements.
Recommendation
We
need to provide services for our staff despite the
works being carried out on the building.
Although we
could provide toilets as a minimum, the marquee will
serve to maintain current standards and keep staff
motivated to work during the changes. I recommend
having a marquee erected and toilets hired at the
end of January, ready for reopening of production.
Modern
Communications Tools
There are a
number of different technological tools available to
business people. Each has its own advantages and
disadvantages and is best suited to particular
tasks.
Overall,
these technological communication means allow for
much speedier communications between people,
especially people some distance apart. For instance,
previously it would have taken at least two weeks
for a letter to reach London and a reply to arrive
in Melbourne; now, the reply could be received in as
little as five minutes by fax or email.
Modern
communication also allows for mass communication.
With very little extra effort, a document can now be
faxed or emailed to any number of receivers at the
same time rather than having to copy the document
and place in to separate envelopes for postage.
Likewise, replies to the mass communication can also
be distributed to the group at once, especially by
email where one button (“reply all”) will do so
automatically.
The actual
sending of messages via fax or email is also cheaper
than sending out letters, especially a bulk of large
letters. As computers and Internet connections are
also required for other purposes, the establishment
of such systems isn’t a cost factor against modern
communication methods.
For people
separated by great distances, modern phone systems
allow for conferencing (with or without visuals)
without travel expenses and time. Even the singular
use of the phone makes for quicker communications.
Dependence
on modern communications, though, can cause its own
issues. For instance, it can dehumanise
communications if people email in preference to
speaking on the phone or face-to-face where
possible.
It also
seems to confuse people to lose these communication
methods when the technology fails, and sometimes no
communication at all occurs. Older skills and
communication methods are now almost foreign to many
people.
