To reduce accidents and workers' compensation costs, an employer must have a well-managed health and safety program. In addition to compliance with workers' compensation, the ADA, and child labor laws, most employers must comply with the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.
OSHA Inspections
Upon inspection, the compliance officer may issue citations for any violations of the standards and provisions of the act. CITATIONS AND VIOLATIONS While OSHA inspectors can issue citations for violations of the act's provisions, whether a citation is issued depends on the severity and extent of the problems and the employer's knowledge of them. The nature and extent of penalties depend on the type and severity of violations determined by OSHA officials.
Serious: When a condition is likely to cause death or serious physical injury and the employer should know about the condition, a statement of serious violation is issued.
Record-Keeping Requirements
If the situation is serious enough and the employer is not cooperating, an OSHA representative can go to a federal judge and obtain an injunction to shut down the business until the situation is corrected. Other than serious: Other than serious violations, they could affect the health or safety of employees but are unlikely to cause death or serious harm. Having loose ropes in the work area could be classified as a serious offence.
Willful and Repeated: Citations for willful and repeated violations are issued to employers who have previously been cited for violations.
BNA: 3405.40
Lost or disabling injuries: These include work-related injuries or disabling events that cause an employee to miss his or her regularly scheduled work on the day after the accident. Medical care injuries: These injuries require treatment by a physician but do not cause an employee to miss a regularly scheduled work shift. Minor injuries: These injuries require first aid treatment and do not cause an employee to miss the next regularly scheduled work shift.
The registration requirements for these injuries and illnesses are summarized in Figure 16-7 on the next page.
Evaluating Effects of OSHA
For example, if several drivers are trained in first aid, some minor injuries can be treated at the workplace. Some suggest that many employers pay little attention to OSHA enforcement efforts for this reason. For example, it is common to find that many of the workplaces where workers have suffered serious injuries or deaths have not been inspected in the previous five years.
None of these FIGURE 16—7 Guide to recording cases under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Safety Management
An Effective Safety Management Program
A safety committee generally has regularly scheduled meetings, has specific responsibilities for conducting safety reviews and makes recommendations for changes needed to avoid future accidents.15 Usually at least one member of the committee is from the HR unit. When accidents occur, they must be investigated by the employer's safety committee or safety coordinator. One way to obtain an accurate picture of the accident scene is with photographs or videotapes.
Just as organizational accounting records are audited, a firm's security efforts should also be audited periodically.
Engineering Issues in Safety and Health
In the third stage, based on observations of the scene and interviews, investigators complete an accident investigation report. This report form provides the data required by OSHA. ERGONOMICS AND SAFETY Ergonomics is the appropriate design of the work environment to address the physical demands experienced by people. Appropriate design of the work environment to address the physical demands experienced by people.
Carpal tunnel syndrome, one of the most common cumulative trauma disorders, has been around for years.
Individual Approach to Safety
At one time it was thought that workers who were dissatisfied with their jobs had higher accident rates. Another area of concern is the relationship between accident rates and different shifts, particularly late night shifts. Both of these factors lead to higher accident rates; see the HR perspective for an example.
Union Pacific will monitor the results of the test programs developed with Alertness Solutions before deciding whether to use them throughout the company.
Health
Jewelry, clocks, watches and even vacation trips are given as rewards for good safety results. For example, safe driving awards for drivers at trucking companies have been quite successful in generating safety awareness.
AIDS and Other Life-Threatening Illnesses
But estimates are that only 25% of major employers in the United States have a terminal illness policy. Many companies seem to find it unnecessary to adopt specific policies that deal exclusively with AIDS and other life-threatening diseases because they do not want to draw attention to them and unduly upset employees. Regardless of what information professionals might offer to allay the fears of other employees, a co-worker with AIDS, whether on the shop floor or in management offices, creates feelings of anxiety and uneasiness among other employees, suppliers, and employees. - tomers.
In another way, other employers have initiated education and training programs to educate employees about AIDS and other life-threatening diseases.
Smoking at Work
In order to solve this problem while meeting the needs of affected employees, some companies choose to continue to pay employees full wages, health and severance pay on the condition that they do not return to work.
Substance Abuse
SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND THE ADA The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) governs how management can handle substance abuse cases. SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND MANAGEMENT RESPONSIBILITY Employers are concerned about substance abuse because it changes work behaviour. Substance abuse can also cause altered behavior at work, resulting in more withdrawal (physical and psychological) and antagonistic behavior.
To encourage employees to seek help for their substance abuse problems, the option of choosing a company that has been legally certified is usually recommended.
Stress
Managing Health Issues at Work
Wellness Programs
Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
Security
On the other side of the issue are those who argue that EAPs are causing health care costs to rise, not down, because of difficulties in measuring effectiveness. Over the past few years, workplace homicides have been the leading cause of job deaths in several states. Workers such as police officers, taxi drivers and grocery store clerks are more likely to be murdered on the job than employees in many other occupations.
But what has shocked many employers in a variety of industries has been the number of disgruntled employees or former employees who have resorted to workplace murder to deal with their anger and grievances.
Workplace Violence
Research on individuals who have committed the most violent acts shows the relatively common profile depicted in Figures 16–15. Some experts recommend that supervisors talk to employees who make threats to allow employees to vent some of their hostility and anger. Members of this team may discuss and/or deal with potentially violent employees and customers.35.
However, employers must be careful because they may face legal action for discrimination if they fire employees for behavior that often precedes violent acts.
Domestic Causes of Workplace Violence
A person with some of these problems can struggle for years until the trauma pushes them over the edge. Often, an HR staff member can arrange for an upset employee to speak with trained professionals available through employee assistance programs.34 Another approach is to establish a violence response team composed of employees trained to deal with violent individuals. For example, in several cases, employees who have been fired or suspended for threatening or even engaging in physical acts against co-workers have sued their employees, claiming they were mentally disabled under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
Security Audit
Controlled Access
BNA: 3455.50—
Employee Screening and Selection
Security Personnel
Summary
Workplace safety is becoming increasingly important, especially in light of the increasing incidence of workplace violence. Employers can increase security by conducting a security audit, controlling access to workplaces and computer systems, screening employees appropriately, and providing security personnel.
Review and Discussion Questions
Terms to Know
Using the Internet
Company management knew that work-related injuries and illnesses affect productivity and insurance costs. However, because Oneida management is concerned about its employees, it has also acknowledged that absenteeism has disrupted workgroup activities and results, and caused problems for employees and their families. Oneida proactively began reviewing the ergonomics of the company's workplaces, particularly those with the highest incidence of occupational illness and injury.
As a result of all these efforts, the number of lost time incidents decreased to less than 50 over a four-year period, and the number of accidents per 100 full-time workers dropped from 7.3 to 1.0.
Questions
In the early 1990s, Oneida was experiencing 137 absenteeism incidents per year; these were cases in which a work-related injury or illness caused an Oneida employee to miss at least one scheduled day of work. Part of this process included identifying how and understanding why the accident occurred and what changes were needed to prevent future accidents. Because back injuries were common at Oneida (and throughout the cutlery industry), special attention was paid to reducing the number and severity of back injuries.
The focus of this training is to teach employees how to lift objects and move them correctly to prevent back injuries.
Notes
Oneida Silversmiths is a silverware and flatware manufacturer located in Oneida, New York. While both of these statistics were below national averages, they were still very high for Oneida. Reactive efforts included actions taken after injuries and illnesses had occurred to (1) prevent them from occurring again and (2) reduce associated costs.
Regular team meetings are held, and the coordinator reviews the team's activities with the top managers every six months.
