Occupational health and safety at workplace - legislation - Risk Assessments At Work: A Guide

Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970 is the law of United States governs safety and health of the employees working in factories or companies. This law prescribe safety and health measures to be followed and implemented to ensure safety and healthy working environment where employees are working especially in manufacturing places. United States gives emphasis on mass production which is only possible only through use of high-level of machines where ensuring safety of employee become must according to this law.

Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994 is the principle Act in Malaysia is "To make provision for ensuring the safety, health and welfare of employees at working environment, for protecting employees or workers against risks maintaining safety or health environment in connection with the activities relating to manufacturing process and to establish the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health.

TAIPEI: Foxconn Technology Group, the top maker of Apple Inc's iPhones and iPads whose factories are under scrutiny over labour practices. Working practices at Foxconn's huge plants in China came under intense scrutiny in 2010 after a series of suicides among young workers. Last June three workers died in an explosion at a Foxconn plant in Chengdu, western China. In Jan 2012 New York Times published an investigation into working practices at Apple supplier's plants in China that documented poor health and safety conditions and long working hours. In response Apple said the Washington D.C.-based Fair Labor Association would monitor conditions at supplier plants.

The unintended costs associated with irregular schedules, night shifts and extended hours are eroding the profits of American businesses, according to a study by Circadian Technologies, Inc. The profit-eroding factors for businesses with shift operations include lower productivity, higher absenteeism, greater employee turnover, increased health care costs, and more job-related accidents.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the government's principal fact-finding agency for labor economics and statistics. The BLS is an independent national statistical agency that collects, processes, analyzes, and disseminates essential statistical data to the American public, Congress, other federal agencies, state and local governments, business, and labor.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the most dangerous jobs in America are: timber cutters, fishers, pilots and navigators, structural metal workers, drivers-sales workers, roofers, electrical power installers, farm occupations, construction laborers, and truck drivers.

On an average U.S. workday, 152 workers will lose their lives as a result of workplace injuries and illnesses, and nearly 12,000 more will be injured. The workplace fatality rate has been cut by nearly 78% since the passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) in 1970.

Health: Refers to the employees’ freedom from physical or emotional illness.

Facts [+]

U.S. companies pay significantly higher employee health care costs in comparison to all other industrialized nations. U.S. companies take two approaches to address the higher costs associated with health care. They look for ways to reduce or eliminate health care costs through changes in coverage levels. They also try to reduce the number of individuals covered by eliminating jobs.

According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA), asthma costs nearly $14 billion in medical expenses and results in 14.5 million missed days of work for adults each year. Based on factors such as the prevalence of asthma, outdoor air quality, and smoking laws, AAFA identified the top three U.S. metro areas for the prevalence of asthma as Knoxville, Little Rock, and St. Louis.

Safety programs may be designed to accomplish their purposes in two primary ways. The first approach is to create a psychological environment and attitudes that promote safety. A strong company policy emphasizing safety and health is crucial. The second approach to safety program design is to develop and maintain a safe physical working environment.

Physical Conditions: Conditions resulting from the workplace environment that include occupational diseases and accidents, such as:

• • Repetitive motion injuries

  • Back pain

  • Cancer Etc.

Psychological Conditions: Conditions resulting from the workplace environment that result from organizational stress and low quality of working life. These include:

• • Dissatisfaction, withdrawal

  • Mistrust in others, irritability

Employee Safety Programs

Today, it has become clear that optimal health can generally be achieved through environmental safety, organizational changes, and different lifestyles.

a) Developing Safety Programs—

Organizational safety programs require planning for prevention of workplace accidents. Plans may be relatively simple or more complex and highly sophisticated in order to fit the organization’s size. Top management’s support is essential if safety programs are to be effective. Tremendous economic losses can result from accidents.

• 1. Job hazard analysis: The main goal of safety and health professionals is to prevent job-related injuries and illnesses.

  2. Employee involvement: One way to strengthen a safety program is to include employee input, which provides workers with a sense of accomplishment.

Facts [+]

Software employees, More hours spent in front of computer screens is increasing incidents of eye stress and strain. Suggestions for reducing eye strain include: reduce glare by positioning computer monitors away from windows, position screens five to nine inches below line of sight, use drops for dry eyes or contact lenses, take a 20-second break every 20 computer work minutes.

b) Accident Investigation—

Accidents can happen even in the most safety-conscious firms. Each accident, whether or not it results in an injury, should be carefully evaluated to determine its cause and to ensure that it doesn’t recur. The safety engineer and the line manager jointly investigate accidents—why, how, and where they occur and who is involved. Main causes that can create accidents at workplace are:

• • Chance occurrences

  • Unsafe working conditions

  • Unsafe acts by employees

  • Unsafe conditions

    • Physical conditions

      • Defective Equipment

      • Inadequate Machine Guards

      • Lack of Protective Equipment

    • Environmental conditions

      • Noise

      • Dust, Fumes

      • Stress

      • Unsafe behaviors

c) Evaluation of Safety Programs—

Perhaps the best indicator that a safety program is succeeding is a reduction in the frequency and severity of injuries and illnesses.

Ways to Manage Safe and Healthy Environment in Organization

To cope with physical hazards and other hazards such as stress, unsafe behaviour, and poor health habits, employers often design comprehensive safety and health programs. Among these are safety programs, employee assistance programs, and wellness programs.

a. Safety Programs

A safe working environment does not just happen; it has to be created. The organizations with the best reputations for safety have developed well-planned and thorough safety programs.

b. Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)

EAPs are programs designed to help employees whose job performance is suffering because of physical, mental, or emotional problems.

c. Wellness Programs

As health care costs have skyrocketed over the last two decades, organizations have become more interested in preventative programs. A complete wellness program has three components:

• • It helps employees identify potential health risks through screening and testing.

  • It educates employees about health risks such as high blood pressure, smoking, poor diet, and stress.

  • It encourages employees to change their lifestyles through exercise, good nutrition, and health monitoring.

Facts [+]

Many organizations are using "wellness management" as a proactive approach to employee health benefits. The emphasis is to identify preventable, long-term health problems that represent significant medical expenses, with the goal of prevention versus treatment. Employees with potential health problems work with health educators and coaches to plan and track their health progress.

d. Smoking in The work place

Numerous studies have concluded that workplace smoking not only is hazardous to employees’ health, but also is detrimental to the firm’s financial health. Increased costs of insurance premiums, higher absenteeism, and lost productivity cost huge amount a year. These factors, along with rising opposition from nonsmokers and widespread local and state laws, have spurred many firms into action, and the trend continues.

Effective safety programs share the following features:

• • They include the formation of safety committee and participation by all departments within the company. Employees participate in safety decision and management carefully considers employee suggestions for improving safety.

  • They communicate safety with a multimedia approach that includes safety lectures, films, poster, pamphlets, and computer presentations.

  • They use incentives, rewards, and positive reinforcement to encourage safe behavior.

  • They communicate safety rules and enforce them.

  • They use safety directors and/or the safety committee to engage in regular self-inspection and accident research to identify potentially dangerous situations, and to understand why accidents occur and how to correct them.

Policies to prevent workplace violence

Every organization should have a two-pronged policy in place to (a) prevent workplace violence and (b) to deal with violent incidents when they occur. An HR manager's major responsibility is to be certain that s election policies include careful screening and reference checking. Furthermore, the HR manager should take the lead to enforce policies pertaining to the fair treatment of employees. This may require training managers to recognize performance problems, refer troubled employees for counselling, and apply disciplinary procedures consistently.

Benefits of a Safe and Healthy Workforce

• • More productivity

  • Increased efficiency and quality

  • Reduced medical and insurance costs

  • Lower workers’ compensation rates and payments

  • Greater workforce flexibility

Risk Assessments At Work: A Guide

-Imogen Clarke 23.12.2020

Risk assessments are a necessary part of keeping your business running and creating a safe working environment for your employees. With new guidelines and regulations appearing constantly, it can be difficult to understand exactly what it takes to pass a risk assessment and how to go about doing it. You cannot simply put on a ‘show’ for the risk assessment without actually working towards making your workplace safer; this will be apparent, and you will not pass. Instead, you will need to invest time – and probably money – into a safer and better workplace for yourself and your staff. This guide will help you to better understand risk assessments and help you to prepare your workplace for success!

Make sure you assess your workplace regularly

One big mistake that many businesses make is that they do not conduct risk assessments regularly enough to keep on top of new staff arrivals, changing equipment and varying weather conditions. Over time, the structure of workplaces will change and what was considered safe in your first assessment may no longer be suited for office use. It is important that you assess the safety of your workplace at least every year, so that new additions can be accounted for.

Use accident records

When conducting an assessment, it can be easy to miss risks that may not be obvious at first glance. A good way to make sure that all of the main risks in your building are covered in the assessment is to check over accident records to understand what is causing injuries in the office. Accident reports will also give you an insight into who is most at risk and what areas of the workplace may need attention.

Keep everyone updated on health and safety

A good way to ensure minimum risk in your workplace is to check that all employees have been trained on health and safety and are fully aware of any health and safety procedures that must be conducted throughout the working day. One way to do this is to enrol all staff members onto a Health and Safety course. Many companies offer a wide range of courses and the training can easily be done online. This means that the training can be done quickly and effortlessly, so it will not interrupt any workflow.

Report every possible risk!

It may be tempting to save time by only reporting major risks on your risk assessment, but this will leave large gaps in your safety plan which will not be approved by government health and safety officers who may ask to see your risk assessments when carrying out their checks. Every possible risk must be reported in your risk assessment, along with how you plan on minimising that risk.

Keep clear records of risk assessments

Recorded risk assessments are incredibly important to have in your workplace in case any last-minute health and safety checks are carried out. Recording your risk assessments will show the health and safety officers that you are aware of potential danger and you are in control over these risks. It is impossible to run a workplace with absolutely no risks whatsoever, so showing that you are aware of them will prove that you are responsible and prepared. Keeping a record of your risk assessments will also help to speed up the process of health and safety checks, as the records will give officers most of the information they need.

Different types of risk assessments

There are four main types of risk assessments that you will be expected to do: fire risk assessments, manual handling risk assessments, display screen equipment risk assessments and COSHH risk assessments. Each assessment covers different kinds of risks that may occur in your workplace. The type of risk assessment that you carry out should fall in line with the type of work that happens in your building. For example, restaurants may take a COSHH risk assessment (because they may store chemicals) whereas not all workplaces will need this. Find the assessment that covers your day to day risks so that your assessment is relevant and a strong reflection of the risks in your business environment.

• • References ‘Health and Safety E-Learning’, ACT Associates, https://www.actassociates.co.uk/courses/e-learning-2/

  • ‘Risk assessment: A brief guide to controlling risks in the workplace’, Health and Safety Executive, https://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg163.pdf

  • ‘Risk Assessments: what they are, why they're important and how to complete them’, British Safety Council, https://www.britsafe.org/training-and-learning/find-the-right-course-for-you/informational-resources/risk-assessment/