Work Safety Issues - Essay Example

Yasser Aljenaidi Prof. Ingrid ENG1001 May/4/15 Cartoonist impression of say what you mean: Going against what is preached at workplace Source: jantoo.com In the current work environment, organizations are continuously coming up with policies and rules that are tough to keep up with considering their work practices. Safety at work is one of the key areas that employees are paying attention to, but the experiences at some of these organizations happen to be contrary to what is being ‘preached’. It is a common sight for employers to put up notices and posters around their companies, which insist on work safety. In as much as their talks suggest, hypocrisy has become the order of the day, because, despite employers trying not to go against work ethics, their actions usually speak differently. The cartoon above by Rick Enright has been used to criticize the words and actions of the employers who say what they do not mean. At the same time, it also shows how these employers try to sympathize with the employees who have no alternative than to keep working for their exploitative employers. Similar scenario relates to the case of Tashi and the company presented in Weiner’s book who did not have an alternative route to the capital of Bhutan. Enright has been creating cartoons that especially criticize on industries, motivation, work effort, enthusiasm, delegation and responsibility, weights and heavy lifting which are mostly published on the website: jantoo.com (Enright 1). Jantoo website uses similar keywords which are often searched by organizational employees and employers to ensure he drives the message to the right audience. In his cartoon above, there are two people with uniforms and helmet, representing workers. However, between the two workers, one is adding more load onto the other person’s already heavy load. At the same time, the one adding the load is giving out a caution that the one being loaded should not to “over-do it.” The writing, “SAFETY FIRST” is put here to show how people usually say what they do not actually mean. For example, if the people in the picture were practicing safety first, then there was not supposed to be any instance whereby someone is overloaded to the point that some boxes are falling over. The cartoon has been used to criticize what we often see at our work places, and it is an appropriate illustration to its readers as they can directly relate to it following what they often see at the workplace. If we take the loader to be the leader or supervisor, we can say that the cartoon depicts a situation whereby those who create rules pertaining to safety are usually the first ones to go against such rules. One might wonder whether our organizational leaders really mean what they say. The main problem arises when team leaders and supervisors would like to accomplish given targets. Unfortunately meeting these targets is sometimes hurdled by various rules and policies implemented at the organization. Therefore, breaking the rules to achieve targets becomes a common occurrence. To cover their mistakes, such supervisors and leaders will often offer their overworked employees or those exposed to unnecessary danger some form of reward or bonuses to silence them. The writing below the picture clearly shows an example of such a scenario at the workplace. Luckily, a clever employee will often realize that the bonuses are not worth their safety hence out rightly point it out to their supervisor, same with what happens in the cartoon. This cartoon as created, may offend some audience who fall in the same category as those employers or supervisors who are regarded as hypocritical when it comes to workplace safety. From the onset of its concept, the cartoon shows it very clearly that it was created mainly for the labor industry for both the junior staff and the employers. The cartoon finds its bias on the employers who set targets and would like to achieve them through providing a large chunk of work to their juniors to be completed within a shorter period regardless of safety rules. Such employers usually want to take advantage of the vulnerable status of their juniors so as to make them deliver huge targets within shorter periods, hence saving on the cost of performing such tasks. Such employers are usually known for paying little wages to their employees to accomplish huge chunks of tasks. They know very well that the junior do not have any alternative other than to keep their jobs. This is just like in Weiner’s book where Tashi and the company were headed to the capital of Bhutan but could not proceed because the road was blocked. They had no alternative route to use, which is clearly expressed by Tashi’s sentiments “Alternative route! Good one sir, ha ha, alternative route, ha ha” (Weiner 55). The workers do not also have any alternative routes (options). At the same time, they normally hire few employees and make them perform a workload that is meant for more employees within the same period. Such employers take advantage of the fact that there’s a high rate of unemployment, so people would just do anything, as long as they stay on the payroll. Such employers and supervisors would not find this kind of a cartoon pleasant for them as it portrays them as going against work ethics. To avoid attention, such supervisors and employers would often look busy or look for ways that would not put them in the hot seat. For example, in Weiner’s book, the subject of attention is brought in through a reflection of ordinary lives whereby we pay the least attention than we should and often use expressions such as, “We’re too busy…” (Weiner 54). There is little doubt that those leaders who practice less of what they preach would pay attention to the above cartoon. They would not be willing to give it their time as it clearly exposes their hypocrisy. At the same time, there is this group of audience who would find a lot of relevance in this kind of a cartoon. This is the lot of junior staff of any organization who are usually mistreated through being given a lot of work overload to perform within a short period and without proper compensation and motivation. If asked if they are comfortable by their bosses, they would reluctantly say yes, but actually they are not. This is similar to when Linda, in Weiner’s book, asked the narrator if he was happy and she answered “yes, but without any conviction” (Weiner 93). There are times when an employer reminds you so much of work safety when at work. At the same time, they also stress on no overload just to show that they comply with the required work ethic. On the contrary, it is the same employers or work delegators who delegate a lot of work that will mean an overload for a worker to accomplish within the provided short-deadline. At the same time, they do not reward the workers appropriately, considering they accomplished more work than required. The junior staff, therefore, feel used and aggrieved, but they cannot do anything about it since they are in desperate situation, trying to keep their jobs. Such a cartoon is meant to carry the plea of these workers and send it to the public in the form of activism. It sends a clear and strong message to the employer about the job condition and unpleasant treatments that the employees go through while working for them. It also portrays the employers as dishonest people who are capable of saying things they don’t even mean. Given the workers are always more than the employers, this cartoon will attract a huge number of audience as all the junior staff will want to associate with it. They must have been overloaded at their work place in one way or another, without proper compensation. The cartoonist, therefore, becomes effective in relaying his message by using clear images that are obvious and speak for themselves. To provide extra explanation, the cartoonist also includes the use of writing to send the message clearly. The stacks of boxes are meant to represent work overload. The fact that the stack is very high and some boxes have fallen over shows that it is a work overload which is risky for the safety of an employee. The cartoon, therefore, is very effective in conveying its main message of creating awareness about employers who like using word of mouth to justify work ethics, while in the real sense they their actions do not go together with their word. In nutshell, this cartoon relates to Weiner’s book in most instances including the instance where the employers have to say things they do not mean. For example, the narrator is not impressed with Tashi as a guide. However, when asked by Tashi’s employers if she should replace Tashi with another tour guide, the narrator lies by indicating that he is fully satisfied with Tashi’s services. “Nooo, I am perfectly happy with him” the narrator states when in real sense he means the opposite (Weiner 59). There are also instances where characters fail to have no alternative in this book, take for example the case of Karma, he considers himself happy because he cannot really make choices in life but rather be comfortable with the what he has which from his explanation is not much (Weiner 63). Similarly, in this cartoon, the junior staff also are always oppressed by their employer’s or supervisors tasks which go beyond their work expectations, but since they do not have much of a choice in most situations they end up obeying those demands. Thirdly, the junior staff in this essay is portrayed to pretend that they’re happy with their job conditions when asked by the employers. The same thing happens when Linda has to ask the narrator whether he was happy and he had to just say he was, while in the real sense he was not. Work Cited Enright, Rick. Jantoo Cartoons: Heavy Lifting Cartoons. 13 June 2013. web. 5 May 2015. . Weiner, Eric. The Geography of Bliss: One Grumps Search for the Happiest Places in the World. London: Transworld Digital, 2014. Print. Read More