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Assessment Task 3
Submit by
How answers drafted during unit workshop, then completed the following week
completed file uploaded into the VUC
to be completed individually
All questions must be completed satisfactorily
References VUC learning material
Company / site policies and procedures
Internet research
Documents to submit Report, using Assessment 3 template.docx from VUC
Assessment Task:
During the workshop you will review the key elements of this unit and then undertake group discussion sessions, where you will consider the questions shown below. At this time you are to take notes so that, by the end of the day, you will have an excellent draft answer for most questions.
By the end of the following week you are to finalise, then submit your answers. Your submission is to follow these requirements:
· Submit your response in the Assessment 3 template.docx (from VUC), adding your name to the filename you upload.
· The length of each answer is to be sufficient to fully explain your understanding of each question.
1. You are walking through the warehouse when you notice that a liquid substance has puddled near the despatch area. Describe the procedure/process your workplace requires for dealing with this situation. Would your workplace consider it a hazard, a near miss or an incident?
The first step to take is to identify the spilled substance that is on the ground. This is noticed through the labels of the leaking containers. Secondly, re[ort the spill then protect the workplace where the spill has been found. Besides, use life safety tools in handling the spilled liquid. This is to avoid injuries by the liquid in case it is poisonous or dangerous. Consequentially, contain the liquid so that it does not continue spilling, and the spilled one does not continue moving to other places. After that, clean up the contaminated area that the spilled liquid went. Lastly, decontaminate the place that the liquid spilled.
2. Upon further investigation you find a drum had fallen from a truck as it departedand landed on a 5 litre container of methylated spirits. The puddle you found was the remains of a poor attempt to clean and cover up the incident. Address the following questions in your response:
· What is your immediate action?
· Name the applicable legislation and regulations
· What policies and procedures should have been followed?
· The reporting required
· Staff and stakeholder communication
· The costs involved and any potential further costs
· Actions to ensure it does not reoccur
· In the second scenario,
I would, first of all, look for the guilty parties that were responsible for the spill to have taken place. After finding the parties involved, then i would foster for an explanation of how it happened and demand for compensation of the liquid that they spill. The policies followed include a human-centered approach to get the roots of the problem and know what happens. Other than that, I would use interrogation questions to get to know what took place and why they never reported the issue. After gathering enough information, then I would report the issue so that the workers involved compensate the warehouse for whatever they did. I would inform the staff of the happening so that they also act as evidence that the compensation was legally placed on the two workers. After the workers compensate the company then, I would advise the use of more metallic objects in storing the liquids. This will prevent more spillage from occurring.
3. What is 'load shift', what could cause it and where would you locate expert information on how to restrain a load?
Load shifting refers to a dangerous phenomenon that may happen on roads, air, and water during transportation. It involves the movement of many small items towards the ground when the vehicle, airplane, or ship has consistently tipped past 10 or 15 degrees, (Crawford, 2018). The cause of the load shift is the overloading of the vehicle such that it becomes unbalanced. The load shift condition can be prevented through an active load management team that supervises the loading of vehicles. Secondly, avoiding high sea conditions and only using the sheep when the sea is calm is another solution. Lastly, the places where goods are being placed should always be properly maintained. While loading goods, it is crucial to consider the center of gravity.
4. What are two advantages and disadvantages of road and rail modes of transport?
The two advantages of rail transport are: first they are cheaper and very safe for people who travel long distances. This does not only apply to people but also goods as they can easily transport bulky and fragile goods. Secondly, trains are less prone to accidents. It is tough to have a train to get accidents or head-on collisions as the rail is normally one way. The disadvantage of the railway is that in case an accident occurs, this accident is normally fatal, and the chances of surviving are normally minimal. Secondly, they are slower compared to road transportation. The advantages of road transport include they are flexible and can move in any areas, including the rural areas. Other than that, they can offer door to door services on the delivery of goods safely without the goods getting lost. The disadvantages of road transportation include they are prone to accidents, and their accidents are normally fatal. Secondly, they have frequent breakdowns. This is due to the poor roads. This makes them unreliable.
5. What modes of transport does your workplace utilise? Could a more efficient mode in terms of cost and time be utilised in your business? Justify your response.
The mode of transport used in my business is road transport. This is because the location of my business is in a rural area, and only vehicles and motorcycles can easily access the place. The reason I use this mode of transport is that it is cheaper as I only have to pay for the delivery services. Other than that, it can carry many bulky goods; hence, I only pay once in a month for my goods to be transported. Other than that, in case the weather is good, the vehicle normally delivers the goods in good time. In the case of a natural calamity like rains and floods, this is when the goods normally take time to reach the shop. Therefore the road means of transportation using vehicles is very reliable in rural areas and very efficient in goods transportation.
6. Give four examples of transport metrics.
Transportation metrics refer to the tools that are used to evaluate existing transportation processes of inventory to help in improving the transport sector or to determine the limitations of the transport means.(Dembrowski, 2017). They include the empty mile. This is used in measuring the number of miles that a vehicle has covered. Secondly, there is the vehicle time utilization that refers to the time vehicles are used as a percentage of the total time that was allowed. Thirdly, quantity power shipment. This is the percentage of goods that are transported and the number of times they are transported. Net tone kilometre is used to measure the tones that are carried by a vehicle per kilometre. Lastly, there is fuel usage per the Tone kilometre. This is the measurement of fuel that is used per trip or one day after work.
7. Why would a transport company implement a TMS? What is it and what are the benefits?
A transport management system refers to software that is specialized for planning and the execution of the transport for goods. A company needs to have such a transport system. This is because: firstly it keeps a company whole supply chain runs smoothly and easily. With efficient management, the goods in the supply chain will be transported fast and safely from the supplier to the markets. (Howard, 2017) Secondly, it reduces the costs that are incurred in another means of transportation as the best methods of transportation are chosen. Lastly, with the as good management system, the customers are fully satisfied with the services of the transportation sector.
8. How are consignments/freight tracked in your workplace?
To track the goods that are being transported at my workplace, then first, you go to the website of the business, then log in using your account. The account details contain different things like the status of the transport being carried, the vehicle that is carrying the goods, and the time that it is supposed to arrive. The details of the driver ferrying the goods are normally placed in the accounts; thus, in case one feels that the goods are not safe or are taking too to reach, they can reach the driver through phone and enquire about their goods.
9. Describe two typical logistics problems that occur in your workplace that can be prevented or minimised with contingency planning. Include the activity, its problems/risks, the contingency solutions you propose, and whether they are used already in your workplace.
The two problems that are experienced at my workplace are technological implementation and business improvement processes. The contingency plan that can be used for these problems includes the use of a technological expert in designing and maintaining the technological system of the company. For example, all the sales need to be recorded successfully in computers for future references. These sales, at times, disappear hence causing unclear records. When a technological expert is brought to handle the issue, then it will be solved. Secondly, customers and their workers should contribute to different ideas that can be used to improve the business. For example, how to improve the supply of goods in areas affected by floods. Currently, the company is already using these problems solving techniques.
10. The cost of absenteeism due to sickness is around $2,800 per worker.*
(Source: Direct Health Solutions 2010 Absence Management Survey)
Employers and employees must take all reasonable steps to manage fatigue. List at least three symptoms of Fatigue, and what does 'reasonable steps' mean?
Fatigue refers to a state of being tired after work or during working hours caused by a lack of sleep or overworking in a workstation. There are different symptoms of fatigue. They are sore or aching muscles where one has pains in the muscles all through the day. Secondly, moodiness and irritability. The person performing a certain task is not happy while performing the task and looks like it is being forced on perfornmi9ng the task. Lastly, the person experiences severe headaches and dizziness while working. The reasonable steps refer to the ways of managing fatigue.(Grist, 2016). They are: managing of stress, reducing the use of caffeine in the body and lastly changing one's way of doing things
11. You have been asked to coach a staff member to better manage a very angry customer due to their deliveries recently being short delivered. Discuss how you will approach the coaching, and what you will advise the staff member to do prior, during and after the call?
In coaching the staff member on dealing with angry customers, I would advise using the following steps while dealing with the customers. First, the staff member should always remain calm and always settled when the customer yells or hails abuses at him. Secondly, the staff member should not take the situation too personal and should also make sure that the use of the best listening skills is applied. Thirdly actively sympathize with the customer. At the same time, a graceful apology should always follow. This might make the customers calm down. After calming down the, the two should find a solution to the problem, as they give their different opinions. After the phone call, the staff member should implement the solutions to avoid the incident again.
12. What does Chain of Responsibility mean?
Chain of responsibility is a behavioural design pattern that allows different people that are using it to pass requests. The chain has a group of people that handle the requests. (Bennet, 2016). In case the requests cannot be handled, then it passed on to the next person who can handle it. The main aim of the chain of responsibility is to make sure that roles are distributed equally.
13. Who is covered by the Chain of Responsibility?
The chain of responsibilities covers many people. A person may be a party to the responsibility chain in more than one way. The responsibility chain covers all the roles of the workers and their duties. It also covers those that are the heads of the various departments. All the employees of an organization are covered in this chin.
14. What are the key obligations of parties covered by the Chain of Responsibility?
In the chain responsibility, the key obligations of the employees are to handle different tasks that come up. They include managing finances, transportation of goods, selling of goods, and offering customers services. The employers are normally given responsibilities, and they have to take them. If one is busy, then he transfers then the responsibility to the next person.
15. Key Performance Indicators. We need to develop transport standards of performance so that we can understand where we are in comparison with our competitors and against our own performance targets. We often call these measures our key performance indicators, or KPIs. In the case of customer service, our basic measure is DIFOT or 'delivery in full, on time'.
a. Describe how your company manages and measures DIFOT. What other KPIs are or should be in place to assist in monitoring DIFOT and measuring performance/non-performance in all modes of Transport?
For goods to be delivered in time, firstly, they have to be packed in time, and the supervisor must assess their goods before they leave. It is important to note that all goods must be recorded as they are being packed to avoid confusion by the customers. The business should concentrate on the role allocation properly such that everybody performs this role successfully. Another key factor that can work is the proper allocation of capital in various departments to increase their efficiency.
16. Outsourcing, and Fatigue Management. You are the warehouse Dispatch Supervisor. You have outsourced your transportation, and a driver from your transport provider company has come to pick up his cargo. You seem a little concerned about his state of mind. He is not making eye contact with you and seems distracted. He is regularly yawning.
a. What is your responsibility? What should you do? Name the company fatigue management procedure and policy. Describe where these documents are located
Firstly I should enquire about what the person is undergoing and why he looks tired. I would engage the person in a series of questions before packing the products. The procedure for fatigue management is: first, the worker's supervisor will talk to the employee at length to know what the [problem is. Secondly, after finding the problem, the supervisors will act where possible, for example, shifting jobs or changing roles, reducing the workload, or making the worker go home and relax to report the next day to allow for rest.(Hanel, 2017). In case it is a health issue, then the worker is immediately taken to the hospital. Fatigue management is located under the occupational safety and health act of a company. (OHS)
References
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