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MATRIC No. 1514081
SURNAME Ali
FIRST NAME(S) Muhammad Mohsin
COURSE

Drilling and Well Engineering

MODULE NUMBER & TITLE

ENM203 Business Essentials

ASSIGNMENT TITLE

Coursework

LECTURER ISSUING COURSEWORK

John Bisset/Paula Rorie

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made use of any unauthorised assistance.
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Muhammad Mohsin Ali..........................A text signature is acceptable

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Contents
1 Introduction..............................................................................1
2 Discussion................................................................................2
2.1 PDCA..................................................................................2
2.2 Salient Features of PDCA Adoption for Health and Safety
Management...............................................................................3
2.3 Legal Requirement and PDCA Adoption for Health and Safety
Management...............................................................................6
2.4 Field Work and PDCA Adoption for Health and Safety
Management...............................................................................7
2.5 Impact of PDCA Adoption for Health and Safety Management on
Employee and Company................................................................8
3 Conclusion..............................................................................10
4 Reference and Bibliography.......................................................11

1 Introduction:
A tree cutting company, consisting of a small number of staff (1 owner, 8
employees) has decided to use Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA) method
to manage the Health and Safety aspect of their business. A critical
review of this process as applied to this company from the point of view
of an independent 3rd party will be presented in this report.
While performing critical review a brief introduction to PDCA will be given
followed by salient features of adopting this method to manage health
and safety system for the company, how this method fulfils legislative
and regulatory requirement for the company, usefulness and application
of this method in context to field work and the impact on both company
and employees.
The critical review will be entirely subjective as the impact of adopting
this method to manage Health and Safety cannot be expressed in
numerical, tabular or graphical form. Also since there is no actual
research apart from extensive reading and this report is written in the
light

of

this

reading

therefore

literature

review,

methods

and

results/data/findings sections will not be present in this report.

2 Discussion:
2.1 PDCA:
The Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle also known as the Shewhart cycle,
the Deming cycle or Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle is a four step
iterative model or method (see Figure 1) which is used for making
continual process or product improvement and eliminating problems.

Figure 1. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle (Source: Johnson 2002 p. 120

fig. 1)
The four steps of PDCA can be described as follows:
Plan: Any improvement or problem is identified and analysed.
Do: A potential solution is developed and implemented.
Check: Results produced by the implementation of solution are assessed.
Act: On the basis of results obtained from check step it is determined
whether the desired objective was achieved or not? If the answer to the
question is positive than this solution becomes benchmark for future
references thus contributing towards continual improvement (See Figure
2) otherwise the cycle is repeated until the desired solution is obtained

(See

Figure

3).

Figure 2: Continuous quality improvement with PDCA (Source: Wikimedia

Foundation Inc. 2016 fig. 2)

Figure 3: Multiple iterations of the PDCA cycle are repeated until the
problem is solved (Source: Wikimedia Foundation Inc. 2016 fig. 3)

2.2 Salient Features of PDCA Adoption for Health and

Safety Management:
The choice of PDCA to manage Health and Safety system for the tree
cutting company is a better option as compared to a formal Health and
Safety management systems or frame works like BS OHSAS 18001 or
ISO 45001 (which are essentially the derivative of PDCA) because PDCA
is a fairly simple method, easy to understand and implement, mirrors the
natural cycle of human learning (Rother 2013), implementation and
improvement can be done on ones own pace and there is no significant
financial cost in terms of training and implementation i.e. existing
resources can be used as compared to the formal management system
or frame works which require significant cost to be incurred for training,
implementation and subsequently to get certified.
Furthermore PDCA was in fact originally intended for incremental
improvement (van Loon J 2012) which is best suited for small scale
changes and relatively simple and less complex organisations as
compared to large scale changes and complex organisations.
However on management level significant time, effort and commitment
has to be invested to implement and continuously use this method. It is
possible that with the passage of time, the enthusiasm and will to
continuously put this method in practice is gradually diminished.
Also the company may encounter the pitfall of continuous improvement
associated with PDCA. Since the organisation will be continuously
evolving in Health and Safety area therefore employees will have to
continuously adjust with these changes and consequently work in an
uncertain environment. This can create a state of constant confusion

among employees regarding the usage of most updated Health and

Safety procedure and a sense of indifference i.e. change fatigue towards
this method may develop as a result of which organisational dysfunction
may occur. Thus in other words the core philosophy of PDCA merely focus
on process, procedure and product and neglects people / employee
(Nayab and Richter 2013). But since the organization is small and the
management of company will be more involved and closer to the change
therefore the issues of change fatigue and hazard of falling to the pitfall
of continuous improvement can be successfully offset.
Furthermore to make and improve Health and Safety policies and Job
procedures in accordance with Health & Safety, PDCA alone will not be
enough and in some cases it would be required that existing formal
methods of doing job, guidance relating to various aspects of Health and
Safety specific and relating to tree cutting business like regulations,
standards,

recommendations

and

guidance

for

operating

different

equipment must be consulted.

In should be noted that as PDCA is not much diversified and does not
contain elements such as leadership, coordination, communication,
benchmarking and establishment of the modified process (van Loon J
2012) it may seem a little bit oversimplified in relation to few aspects of
Health and Safety.
Also since the organization is small and the related health and safety
aspect are quite limited and few in nature, it might be possible that after
some time the improvement factor for Health and Safety aspect reach a
plateau phase i.e. all the possible improvement could have been done
and further input of resources yield very little or no improvement at all,

creating a scenario in which PDCA may seem ineffective for making any
improvement and questions regarding the usefulness of this method may
arise in the minds of employees.
In addition to that since PDCA approach is slower and more measured
(Mind Tools Editorial Team 2016) therefore the impact of adopting this
method would be seen readily rather than immediately as this method
relies on continual improvement in small steps.
Finally to fully realize the potential of PDCA for Health and Safety
management, company must specify objectives, activities and desired
results

along

with

consistent

and

systematic

measurement

and

management of their improvement.

2.3 Legal Requirement and PDCA Adoption for Health

and Safety Management:
Since the work in this business involves, the usage of different type of
equipment

e.g.

chainsaw,

cherry

picker

etc.,

Personal

Protective

Equipment (PPE), manual handling, lifting equipment and operations and

also there are injuries involved in this type of work therefore sole reliance
on PDCA to manage Health and Safety aspect of the business will not be
enough to fulfil regulatory and statutory requirements. In order to fulfil
legal requirement apart from a written health and safety policy following
act, regulations and standard need to be incorporated in the Health and
Safety system of the business:

Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulation 1999.

Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998.

Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

Manual Handling Operations Regulations 1992.

Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations 1992.

The Work at Height Regulations 2005.

The Reporting of Injuries Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences

Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995.

BS 3998:2010 Tree work - Recommendations.

Once policies and procedures including hazard identification and risk

assessment / management and audits in accordance with Health and
Safety act and regulations are put into the place and workers are
essentially trained to operate different kind of machinery used in tree
cutting process and made aware of the hazard relevant to this job
through appropriate training only then PDCA will be useful and can be
adopted to manage and improve Health and Safety aspect of the
company.

2.4 Field Work and PDCA Adoption for Health and

Safety Management:
Significant benefit of adopting PDCA to manage Health & Safety will be
realised in field work where the way in which the job is performed and
the issues of Health and Safety relevant to the job are interlinked. Since
tree cutting procedures and related Health and Safety issues are not very
complex to understand and implement and are pretty much straight
forward with only few variables therefore this method can be effectively
used as it was originally intended to be used for tight loop production
process i.e. the set of activities in one production workstation (van Loon
J 2012). Also all the tree cutting jobs are fairly similar in nature with only
few differences therefore the usage of this method to manage health and
7

safety for each job performed will result in increase in overall quality and
efficiency and decrease in work related injuries for each successive job.
However it should be noted that since PDCA is fairly simple approach,
inherently reactive in nature and relies on planning and performing the
activity first and then responding to any weakness i.e. it tries to correct
rather than anticipate any shortcoming beforehand therefore complete
reliance on this method to perform job and manage Health and Safety
issues may kill or suppress proactive, innovative, creative thinking and
action (Nayab and Richter 2013). Therefore this method would not be
fully effective to manage Health and Safety aspect unless coupled with
industry relevant Health and Safety statistical database, recommendation
/ guidance for conducting job, lesson learnt register and more advanced
methods for Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment / Management
like HAZOP, HAZID, FMEA, Fault Tree Analysis, Fish bone diagram etc.
These resources will act as an input for the planning phase of PDCA cycle
while performing field work.

2.5 Impact of PDCA Adoption for Health and Safety

Management on Employee and Company:
Proper and correct implementation of PDCA will result in a better Health
and Safety system which in turn will cause the employees to become
more confident and satisfied of their company and employer. This
confidence and satisfaction causes the morale of employees to be
boosted as a result of which the quality of life of workers and their family
is enhanced (Young and Guess 2002). Also according to Willis, Brown and
Prussia (2012) employees of the organizations in which safety is given
priority believe that they are allowed to do the thing rights. This in turn

effects several areas of work behaviour, some of which influence the

quality of work. Thus further contributing toward the philosophy of
continual improvement.
Also since the company is basically a contractor and project based
company, therefore the incorporation of PDCA to manage Health and
Safety will increase the goodwill of company and will present a more
proactive, progressive and sophisticated image of company to potential
clients. According to Willis, Brown and Prussia (2012) presence of
positive employee behaviour and proven record of safe operation causes
customer satisfaction to increase.
Furthermore there are some financial advantages associated with
adopting this method to manage health and safety of the company. With
effective implementation of PDCA method to manage Health and Safety
relatively safer operation will result over the passage of time due to
which less employee injuries will occur which in turn will result in less
sick leaves and penalties from regulatory authorities, consequently
easing financial burden on the company in relation to health and safety
incidents and accidents. Increased employee satisfaction will result in
increased productivity. Also a satisfied customer act as a positive
advertiser for the company. Adoption of this method will also enable to
avoid

wastage

of

resources

that

are

associated

with

full

scale

implementation of ordinary solutions (Mind Tools Editorial Team 2016).

All these factors combined will create a positive impact on financial
aspect of the business and as a result of which business will flourish.

3 Conclusion:
PDCA will effectively enable the company to manage and improve the
overall health and safety aspect of their company on management and
field work level and it will bring positive impact on the business of
company however there are few issues related to legal requirement and
particular to the company as discussed which need to be addressed to
fully materialise the potential of this method in favour of the company.

Approximate Word Count: 1993 words.

10

4 Reference and Bibliography:

ELEJALDE-RUIZ, A., 2015. Top bosses blind to employees' change
fatigue, report says. [online] Chicago, ILL: Chicago Tribune. Available
from: http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-change-fatigue-0914biz-20150914-story.html [Accessed 28 March 2016]
GREAT BRITIAN. HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE, 2013. Plan, do,
check, act. An introduction to managing for health and safety. [online]
Norwich:

Health

and

Safety

Executive.

Available

from:

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg275.pdf [Accessed 28 March 2016]

GREAT BRITIAN. HEALTH AND SAFETY EXECUTIVE, 2016. Safety topics.
[online]

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Health

and

Safety

Executive.

Available

http://www.hse.gov.uk/treework/safety-topics/index.htm

from:

[Accessed

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March 2016]
HAVE, S., HAVE, W., STEVENS, F., ELST, M.V.D. and POL-COYNE, F., 2003.
Key management models. [online] Pearson Education UK. Available from:
http://www.myilibrary.com.ezproxy.rgu.ac.uk?ID=60054

[Accessed

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March 2016]
JOHNSON, C.N., 2002. The benefits of PDCA. Quality Progress, 35(5), pp.
120

11

LIND, S. and RICKETTS, M., 2009. Tree trimming safety for the
horticultural services and landscaping industry. [online] Kansas, KS: KState

Research

and

Extension.

Available

from:

https://www.osha.gov/dte/grant_materials/fy09/sh-1950309/tree_trimming_manual.pdf [Accessed 28 March 2016]

MIND

TOOLS

EDITORIAL

TEAM,

2016.

Plan-do-check-act

(PDCA)

implementing new ideas in a controlled way. [online] London: Mind Tools

Ltd.

Available

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NAYAB, N. and RICHTER, L., 2013. Exploring the disadvantages of PDCA
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12

ROBERT

GORDON

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13

THOMPSON, S., 2016. The disadvantages of the PDSA cycle in health

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14

YOUNG, T.M. and GUESS, F.M., 2002. A statistical analysis of treeharvesting

worker

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15