Health and Safety Legislation - Assignment Example

Introduction The aim of regulation of public and private workplace health and safety is to provide the public with asafe and protected environment at work. This limits the chances of people sustaining injuries while going about their daily duties. Another implication of this regulation is to reduce the financial burden that is placed on the different stakeholders in the provision of healthcare cover and any related cost. To the employer, the provision of a safe working environment that limits injuries to employees serves the purpose of building a great reputation to the public and improves that overall output of the employee. The bottom-line of the regulation actions is that safety is important, and the reduction of accidents is needed to make working conditions favorable. This paper defines and examines the strategic drivers of regulation of safety and health in workplaces in Britain. Discussion Strategic drivers in health and safety regulation in Britain can be viewed from two perspectives. That is from the business perspective and the regulators perspective. It has to be noted beforehand that the regulating authority in charge of managing health and safety regulation in the Great Britain is the health and safety executive. The role of this organization is to engage all stakeholders in promoting safe and healthy work place environments in Britain. Therefore in discussing the strategic drivers from the regulators perspective, much attention will be focused on the methods and actions taken by health and safety executive and its functions. From the perspective of the businesses, the main strategic drivers to regulation of health and safety are social responsibility, reputation, impact on revenue and the ability of such businesses to comply with the regulation. Each of these drivers is of significant influence to the ability and level of compliance to the regulations that concern health and safety at work. Considering social responsibility as a driver, the argument, in this case, is that the business owes a level of responsibility to the people and community within which it is established. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the business to provide a safe environment both within and without the firm. The community, in this case, does not mean just the surrounding but even the members of the organization. This perspective is similar to the concept of corporate social responsibility. In corporate social responsibility, the businesses moral obligation is to give back to the society that it owes its existence to. The point of divergence of the two cases is that beneficiary of the good gesture from the business. Social responsibility can also be linked to the sustainability of the operations of the business. In this aspect, the business has the task of performing its operations in a sustainable manner with respect to the human capital available. When the operations of the business have a high risk to health and accidents and fatal injuries are common, the human cost of that investment is likely to be unsustainable (Walker & Fincham 2011). It is, therefore, the social responsibility of the business to reduce the level of injuries and fatal accidents that occur within its premise. Accidents and fatal injuries have the capability to cause death or permanent change f life due to disability. The social responsibility put on each business is to ensure that such conditions do not happen to their workforce. A business is also responsible of ensuring that it does not interfere with the social lifestyle of the community around it and as such should observe a high degree of safety within its operation parameters. In maintaining a good reputation, a business can look to its health and safety standards as a potential area of improving its image. Image is of great importance to the business as it will determine the general public opinion about the enterprise. The benefits of a good reputation are numerous, and most of them point towards the success of the investment. As a business strategy, the safety of employees can improve the productivity of the business. In many researches notably (James 2006; Stake 2010), the health of employees has been linked directly to the productivity of the firm. To attract and a good and competent group of workers, the strategy of providing a healthy and safe work environment is of great importance. When the general public opinion is skewed towards the lack of safety and comfort in the working environment, the company is likely to experience a high turnover of employees. Attracting potential high-quality employees will also be a difficulty since no one would like to work in a dangerous environment. This points out to the fact that reputation is a strategic driver to the regulation of health and safety at a workplace. From the perspective of the regulator, reputation is also a key driver. This is mainly based on the fact that the British taxpayer would like to see results in the actions taken by the organization in implementing the safety standards set by the law. As such, the organization that is charged with the task of delivering a safe work environment must show results in their score card. Failure to deliver on the implementation of the regulation will lead to a dwindling public trust in the organizations ability to perform its designated task. Therefore, the only way to protect the image of the organization is an efficient performance of the roles assigned to the institution by the public through the law. Organizations ability to implement the regulations requirements is also a strategic driver in the regulation of health and safety. This ability is directly dependent on the cost of ensuring safety for each employee at work. For large corporations in Britain, the costs are not an inhibiting factor in the provision of safety or maintenance of healthy environments at work. For smaller businesses, the costs of implementation become a concern. Providing basic safety requirements like fire protection and first aid equipments at work or even protective equipments used in a work all have a cost that will cut into the margins of a business. Economies of scale protect the large corporations from the impact of such costs but for corporations with limited total revenue, the costs of complying with the regulations imply a reduction on profits. From the perspective of the regulator, the strategic drivers to health and safety regulation can be identified as the stakeholders, availability of information, enforcement, and internal capacity. Each of these aspects of the management of the workplace environment plays a distinguished role (Lofsted 2011). The stakeholders involved in the regulation of workplace environments safety are in charge of ensuring that the employers provide clean healthy and safe working conditions to their workers. The stakeholders can be members of labor organizations, the government through its various labor organizations and non-governmental organizations. Each of these parties is crucial in shaping the nature of working environments. The labor organizations can stipulate the minimum required standards that are fit for the health of workers in different industries. They can also ensure that the complaints are duly followed, and restitution measures are taken to compensate the members. Through these labor unions and trade groups, members have a better platform of airing their views and the collective bargaining power ensures that their requirements are taken into consideration. For non-governmental organizations or organizations that do not belong to trade unions, the observatory role is the most crucial participation that they can give to the regulation of health and safety at workplaces. This role is important since it gives the stakeholders a balanced and fair analysis of the actual position of the state of affairs in the sector. Through this balanced opinion, the various stakeholders can decide to take appropriate actions to pursue change in the sector (Bauer & HäMmig 2014). Availability of information is also driver factor in the adoption of regulations that aim at providing a safe and healthy work environment. In this perspective, the challenge on the lack of information or ignorance of the public is the main concern that is being avoided. Most employers are keen to exploit most of their employees who are not aware of the government regulations that provide for their safety and health at work. These employees take this as a means to circumvent the implementation of the set regulations and provide poor working environments. The government can limit this trend by educating the public on the roles of the employer and the employee on safety and health at a workplace. There are several modalities of implementing this strategy. The implementation methods include campaigns initiated by the government and other organizations like trade unions and non-governmental organizations. The health and safety executive can also initiate these campaigns with the aim of enlightening the general public on the need for a safe and healthy working environment. Enforcement of the rules set by the government on work environment safety and health is another driving force in the regulation of work environment safety. Enforcement is usually applied through inspections and spot checks of business enterprises within the country and investigation of claims by workers. The inspections are carried out by the body charged by responsibility of ensuring safety and healthy working environments with the aim of developing a view of the situation prevailing. The inspection involves a review of how the organization reacts to safety in the advent of an accident. It also looks into the physical measures put in place to cover the employees of the organization at the time of disaster or accident. Investigations, on the other hand, try to find out the violations that an organization has committed in the provision of safety and healthy working conditions. It reviews the current working conditions against the background of the preset minimal conditions. The review focuses on determining if there is any violation that has been done by the organization in question. If the organization is found to have complied with all the minimum conditions, it is given a clean bill of health. However, if a violation is discovered, prosecution or punitive measures are administered. This level of enforcement if clearly followed and implemented leads to a high degree of strategically leading the drive in implementation of the health and safety regulation. Conclusion Health and safety at work are very important aspects of employment that should be followed with an utmost keenness. The main reason behind this theoretical argument is that health and safety at work is of equal importance to all the stakeholders involved in any business. To the investor, the provision of a healthy environment will lead to a high level of productivity. The proportionality of the productivity is similar to the level of benefits in terms of profit that the employer receives. The importance attached on the safety and health at working environments means that both stakeholders have to provide a strategic driving impetus to the regulations in order for them to be effective. From the perspective of the employer, the key contributing factors that drive the regulation of the safety and health are based on the reputation of the firm, the costs involved and the social responsibility of the firm. All these aspects have a contribution on the profitability of the firm and are mostly undertaken with the aim of profitability in mind. As such these factors remain of great importance in driving the need to implement the regulations in British business enterprises. From the perspective of the regulator, the core driving factors identified are the stakeholders participation, the availability of relevant information and the legal enforcement implications. These factors have a number of consequences on premises that do not wish to implement the provisions of the regulation. The amount to damage caused by the consequences of not complying with these regulations is the most dominant force from the perspective of the regulators. In general, the regulation of business working environment provides a great solution to the problems associated with ergonomics at work. When employers provide assistance to the regulations of a good working environment, it is highly unlikely that employees will be fatigued. The productivity of employees is also increased with a substantive amount of benefits. Bibliography BAUER, G. F., & HÄMMIG, O. (2014). Bridging occupational, organizational and public health: a transdisciplinary approach. JAMES, P. (2006). Health and safety at work and its relevance to employment relations research. Bradford, England, Emerald Group Publishing. LOFSTED R. E (2011). Reclaiming health and safety for all: An independent review of health and safety legislation. London. Department for Work and Pensions STAKE, R. E. (2010). Qualitative research: studying how things work. New York, Guilford Press. WALKER, C., & FINCHAM, B. (2011). Work and the mental health crisis in Britain. Chichester, West Sussex, Wiley-Blackwell. Read More