Week 6 Employee Health and Safety
Self-Regulation
- Applies when employers are held responsible for providing a safe and healthy work environment
Current Health and Safety Issues
- Fly-in, Fly-Out work - Terrorism - Sexual harassment -Smoking - Substance abuse - Obesity - Workplace violence - Domestic violence - Workplace bullying - Work-family violence
Benefits of a safe workplace
- Improved personal safety - Reduced overheads, insurance claims, insurance premiums, uninsured losses, retraining relocation - Improved productivity - Reduced spoilage, wastage, machine shut-down - Reduced re-work - Compliance with OHS Act requirements - Increased trust, morale, job satisfaction - Lower labour turnover, absenteeism - Reputation as employer of choice
Elements of OHS success
- Link OHS objectives/strategies to the company's - Develop a corporate culture that embraces OHS - Ensure senior management are committed to OHS - HR systems that motivate OHS performance. - Include OHS considerations in the design, purchase, operation, etc. of new machinery - Ongoing communication, training and development - create well-designed jobs - Prompt elimination of health and safety hazards
Management's OHS responsibilities
- Motivating employees to be health and safety conscious - Ensuring compliance with health and safety laws and regulations - Monitoring OHS performance - Training employees to perform their duties and responsibilities in a healthy and safe way - Educating employees about health and safety issues - Providing a safe and healthy work environment
4 Different types of Strategies that can be applied to OHS
- Obstructionist - Defensive - Accomodative - Proactive
Remedies for Stress
- Relaxation - Exercise - Diet - Talk - Planning and time management - Delegation
Sources of Job Stress
- Work Factors - Family Factors - Personal Factors - External factors
Tripartite approach
An approach to OHS involving the active participation of employers, unions and government.
What is best practice
Best practice refers to those practices that lead to superior performance in company or enterprise relative to industry international leaders. Best practice is a process of continuous improvement achieved by 'bench marking' practices and performance.
Occupational Health and Safety
Concerned with the provision of a safe and healthy work environment
Government regulation of occupational health and safety
Employers are under growing pressure from governments, professional and community groups and unions to accept increased responsibility for employee health and safety. These pressures have motivated federal and state governments to introduce tougher OHS legislation. Because of constitutional limitations, most legislation is generated by the states which produces proximity.
Importance of TQM
In TQM programs, occupational health and safety must be an inherent component of job design and employee training and development. Add-on-safety programs are ineffective in reducing occupational injuries. Safety and health must be considered when: -jobs are designed -employees are selected - employees are trained and developed. By applying TQM principles to occupational health and safety, one Victorian company reduced work injuries by 55% and the cost of work cover claims by 65% within 3 years.
Responsibility for employee well being
Is shared by line managers, HR managers, unions and the employees themselves. Ultimate responsibility, however, rests with the employer. This is because it is the employer who has the greatest control over the employee's working environment. Common law and government legislation reinforce this locus of responsibility. It is therefore essential that top management take the lead in establishing the corporate philosophy and objectives for health and safety.
Is there a cost to work-related injuries and illnesses
It is a waste of the organisations human resources. Losses through accidents at work come straight off an organisations bottom line. Minimising these losses means increased profit. For the financial success of the organisation, health and safety must be regarded as an integral part of human resource management.
Importance of OHS programs
OHS programs should be linked with the organisations strategic business objectives to seek competitive advantage by promoting employee commitment. Poor OHS performance equates with poor HRM, and poor ethical, legal and social responsibility
Total Quality Management (TQM)
TQM is the continuous process of reducing or eliminating errors in manufacturing, streamlining supply chain management, improving the customer experience, and ensuring that employees are up-to-speed with their training. TQM aims to hold all parties involved in the production process accountable for the overall quality of the final product or service.
Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC)
The national consultative body on OHS and workers compensation.
