Workplace safety entails the standards and laws put in place to ensure a better working environment for workers (Nadia, 2017). While undertaking my normal day to day activities in a construction company which I used to work with, one of the employees injured himself with a machete while clearing construction site with his colleagues.one of the factors that triggered this accident was the fact that the company had not established proper use of safety guard lines such as how to use various tools to accomplish tasks, and the importance of wearing protective gear. It is the responsibility of managers to ensure that all employees are safe during their work. Improving occupational safety and health of workers leads to efficient work.
According to jhjhhj, hazards comes from different incidences and reasons, like for instance, in this company, they originated from ignorance from the management because it made employees be exposed to workplace hazards could be prevented. From the case of this company I worked for, most of hazards involved employee injuries and mostly came from machines, equipment and process (Kevin, 2011). Hazards were also be caused by situations that release unrestrained energy like an object that falls from height for example bricks.
Other that physical injury like the one which involved one of the employees injuring himself with a machete, hazards can come from psychosocial risks. These are risks which result from how employees interact with each other (Halili, 2015). For instance, while undertaking our duties in the company, the people who led us, such as supervisors did not communicate clearly to employees about their duties and this caused blame games at work hence causing psychosocial hazards like stress, bullying, and violence.
Ergonomic is another type of hazard which affected the employees. These are mostly caused by the improper arrangement of the workplace or tedious movements (Dino, 2015). These include strains from standing, pushing, pulling, slip or even a fall. For example, this employees cut himself while he was straining to cut a tree. In this company, there was few utilization of mahines and this type of hazards were the most common because employees strained a lot in clearing construction sites and also lifting bricks which caused injuries and muscle disorders to many.
These hazards brought many negative effects to the company. One of these was poor work relation among the employees which lowered the performance of the business. The poor relation was as a result of bullying among employees because there was no clear definition of duties. These hazards also lowered the morale most employees due to overworking. This is because once an employee was injured, the others were forced to do his or her work. These risks also made the company incur extra costs in attending to employees who were injured at work (Srivastava, 2013).
Though employees faced these challenges, after identifying the root cause of the problems, the management came up with some measures to control the risks (Doret & Freek, 2015). For the ergonomic hazards which brought about muscle dislocation and injuries due to a lot of strain, they brought machines which were right for the job. For example, they introduced bulldozers which were used in clearing construction sites. This reduced incidences of employees cutting themselves at work. They also introduced forklifts which assisted in moving heavy objects. Employers also provided proper training to the employees on how to handle the machines to prevent injuries. Where there were objects from a height which could fall they put a warning sign for employees to avoid such places.
For the hazards which were brought about by psychosocial results such as violence and bullying, managers controlled them by giving each employee proper guidelines on what they are supposed to do. This reduced blame games hence increasing the quality of work. They also told employees where they should be reporting their problems or differences for better solutions. For example, if one is not capable of using a particular machine they were encouraged to report to the relevant people. Managers also organized meetings with the employees every morning where they gave them chance to express their ideas on what they think should be done better to ensure their safety at work. According to Mihaela (2014), putting controls at the workplace to safeguard safety prevents employees from experiencing the same in the future
It’s the right of every employee to work in a conducive environment and get full compensation in case of any danger (Viktoriya, 2016). Having a workplace where employees are exposed to different risks such as in this construction company violates the rights of employees. In this company, employees were involved in activities like clearing construction sites and also lifting bricks which made them strain a lot. Employees also did not have a right of expression. Managers did not fully engage employees in coming up with measures of ensuring safety. Also, when an employee gets an injury or becomes sick during the course of work, he or she did not receive proper compensation. Some received half while others were totally ignored. Like this employee who cut himself was only given off days but did not receive proper medication.
For this construction company and others which put employees at the risks of injuries, it is advisable for managers and supervisors to work hand in hand to manage to come up with safety measures. There should be proper arrangements at work and also employees should be given proper training on how they should handle some of tools such as the machetes to minimize the risks of injuring themselves while performing tasks.
Managers should also introduce machines like bulldozers to clear construction sites to make work easy and also to prevent employees from injuries due to utilization of a lot of energy while undertaking manual labor. There should also be a clear definition of duties among the workers to avoid misunderstandings at the workplace, and also to avoid subjecting employees in tasks which they have little knowledge concerning how the tasks are performed as this an expose them to injuries. It is also essential to come up with safety guidelines, like for instance, how to avoid injuries, what they should do when they occur, and so forth
After the introduction of these measures, the chances of injuries went low. The company received minimal cases because the machines introduced reduced manual work. There was also good quality work because employees did not spend most of their time outside workstation to receive treatment. Positive relationship among the employee was also evident because of the clear guidelines on how they should do the work. The company was also able to increase in its market share because with occupational health safety employees are able to give their best to the customers. Customer satisfaction leads to business success. The productivity increased and also the employee’s morale improved.
Conclusion.
Having occupational health safety at the workplace improves employee’s morale, leads to business success and also enables company to minimize costs. Though there are dangers which can cause injury or illness to the employees, managers can come up with measures to ensure efficient workflow. Some of these would include giving proper guidelines to the employees on what they do their work and also introducing machines to assist in work which could bring about health issues to employees.
References.
Dino, D. (2015). The Quest for Meaningful and Accurate Occupational Health and Safety Statistics. Monthly Labor Review, 56-60
Doret, B & Freek, C. (2015). Occupational Health and Safety Considerations for Women Employed in Core Mining Positions. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(1), 45-50
Halili, K. H. (2015). Corporate Liability under Malaysian Occupational Safety and Health Legislation. International Journal of Business and Society, 16(2), 90-98
Kevin, E. K. (2011). Occupational Health Psychology. Canadian Psychology, 52(2), 45-60
Mihaela, T. (2014). Occupational Risk Assessment for the Implementation of a Management System of Health and Safety at Work. Economics, Management and Financial Markets, 9(4), 34-40
Nadia, D. (2017). A New Paradigm for Occupational Health and Safety: Is It Time to Abandon Experience-Rating Once and for All? New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations (Online), 42(1), 23-34
Srivastava, A. K. (2013). Perceived Occupational Health and Employees Job Behavior in Industrial Organizations. Journal of Psychosocial Research, 8(1), 23-25
Viktoriya, N. P. (2016). Occupational Health and Safety: Why and How Should Worker Participation Be Enhanced in New Zealand? New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations (Online), 41(2), 44-50
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