Health and Safety at the Workplace - Research Proposal Example

HEALTH AND SAFETY RESEARCH PROPOSAL 1. Make a list of ten research topics that you would find interesting to pursue. i. The institutionalization of basic health and safety rules at the workplace and its effectiveness in promoting the safety and health of workers This topic is interesting because it addresses an important issue of enforcement of health and safety laws, which hitherto has been the cause of health and safety risks at various workplaces. ii. Reports of discrimination among employees on the implementation of health and safety measures at the workplace. This topic will solve a problem that deals with a situation whereby in most workplaces, there exists an unequal provision of health and safety measures due to factors like rank in the workplace, gender and race. iii. Computer-based safety training as an innovative model for equipping employees on their knowledge on health and safety promotion The topic integrates health and safety into a developing phenomenon whereby the use of advanced technology has been a center of organizational and institutional running today. iv. The role of First aid in minimizing devastating risks associated with common health and safety situations This topic shall revisit an old adage that prevention is better than cure and integrate it in the provision of health and safety interventions at homes and in offices. v. The role of electronic medical record system in improving health and safety care in health facilities. As from the year 2014, the use of electronic medical record (EMR) shall become compulsory in America, it topic shall review how the new era would impact health and safety provision to citizens vi. The role of supervision and enforcement in the effective running of an accident prevention program (APP) vii. Evaluating and controlling employees’ exposure to air borne contaminants viii. Financial implications and cost of injury and poor health at the workplace to organizations ix. Emergency response interventions at the workplace x. Using hand washing with soap campaign in schools as an intervention on the prevention of common hand-to-mouth infections in children 2. Take the idea that you ranked no.1 above and do the following: (a) Write a one-paragraph description of a study that incorporates that idea. It is common knowledge that most institutions and organizations have a set of safety and health rules and regulations. By this standard, it is expected that the incidences and rates of health and safety risk cases would be reduced. However, a recent study shows that cases of health and safety risks in companies, institutions and various offices keep increasing by the year (Weiler, 2004). The only possible reason for this could be that the rules and regulations on health and safety practices have only become white elephants that are not in any way enforced. This research topic is therefore incorporate some of the core issues of enforcement through an intervention known as institutionalization to curtail the rate of occurrence of health and safety risks through a compulsory mechanism. (b) List the steps you could take in reviewing the specific literature relevant to this topic. Secondary data collection and for that matter qualitative research is going to be key in writing the actual research. This means that a lot of existing literature is going to be reviewed. As part of the steps in reviewing literature, the researcher shall i. Construct a 5-point theme of areas to collection secondary data on ii. A minimum of ten sources including books, online articles, journals and newspaper items shall be assigned to each of the five themes iii. Through skimming and scanning, the number of sources for each theme shall be reduced to five. iv. A literature log shall be designed outline areas and parts of the sources where each idea shall be picked from v. A qualitative description of ideas picked shall then follow to make up for the literature review. (c) From this idea, generate three more questions derived from the original question or idea. 1. How closely has regulations and rules on health and safety measures been followed in various institutions and workplaces? 2. What interventions are needed to enforce the adherence to rules and regulations on health and safety? 3. How will organizations and institutions benefit from the institutionalization of health and safety measures? 3. Use the idea that you ranked no.2 above and do the following: (a) Locate a related reference from a journal and write out the complete citation. “If a person is being bullied at work in relation to one of the 9 discriminatory grounds it is covered by the Employment Equality Acts and can be taken to the Equality Tribunal” (Malcomson Law, 2012) (b) Locate an abstract from a study that focuses on the topic. “Expecting the elaboration of national legislation to implement Directive 2000/78/EEC prohibiting, inter alia, discrimination on the grounds of disability in employment and occupation, and the consequent arise of judicial litigation, this paper attempts to contribute to a better understanding of this legislative instrument. To achieve this purpose, it is assumed that equality is generally perceived in two competing and at the same time complementary ways. In its traditional formal sense, it has been linked to state neutrality and procedural justice. In its modern, substantive sense, equality has a remedial role to play, requiring a cautious examination of societal reality and collective anticipation of discriminatory phenomena. In this pattern, individual and social differences and the right to dignity are particularly significant. It is subsequently examined to what extent and in what way the most crucial provisions of Directive 2000/78/EEC on disability discrimination fit in each of the above-mentioned equality models. It is submitted that, in the context of disability, the Framework Directive embodies a notion of equality that tends to go beyond the traditional structure of the anti-discrimination principle. Indications of this tendency are located in the title, the preamble and the first article of this Directive. Whilst formalism clearly prevailed where major political decisions on the scope of application of the Framework Directive had to be made, some of the rights to which this instrument gives rise lose the nature of comparative negative rights and become positive ones. Moreover, the way the concept of discrimination is defined indicates that dignity and difference are recognised as autonomous values deserving respect and protection. Areas such as positive action around which there has been a lot of controversy in the past, seem to now reconcile both the claims of traditional and modern equality patterns. In addition, the procedural provisions of the Framework Directive, although mainly based on the mechanisms of individual justice, do provide for organisational involvement in legal proceedings. “Disability” itself, the central notion in this analysis, as if it was meant to play a symbolic role, seems to embrace both approaches to the equality principle. Rather than adding to the complexity of delicate questions that have to be answered while implementing and interpreting disability equality law in the European Union, this analysis is made with a view to detect some of the dilemmas that national legislators and, more crucially, judges will soon have to face. In this process, the room for discretion left to national administrative authorities will have to be defined, in order to become clear which provisions of the Framework Directive allow for such room, what are the boundaries of the discretion left and which provisions do not allow for any discretion at all. This discussion on the equality models that the Directive embodies is not, therefore, a fruitless theoretical approach to equality issues. Some practical value may emerge firstly for national administrators while formulating national implementing legislation and secondly for practitioners while arguing disability discrimination cases before national courts and the European Court of Justice” (Weiler, 2004). 4. Find ten other sources of information about any of the topics you ranked in exercise 1 above and write out the complete citation for each. Try to complete a set of other sources that is as diverse as possible. The following Ten (10) sources relate to the second question on discrimination on the application of health and safety measures. 1. M. BELL, L. WADDINGTON, Reflecting on inequalities in European equality law, (2003) 28 ELR, p. 349, at 365-367. 2. Council Directive 2000/78/EC of November 27, 2000, establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation, O.J. L303/16. Herein after, the Framework Directive. 3. C. McCRUDDEN, “The new concept of equality”, paper presented at the Conference “Fight against Discrimination: The Race and Framework Employment Directives”, June 2003, Academy of European Law, p. 12 – 13. 4. H. FENWICK, T. K. HERVEY, “Sex equality in the Single Market: New directions for the European Court of Justice”, (1995) 32 CMLR, p. 443 – 444. 5. G. MORE, “The principle of Equal Treatment: From Market Unifier to Fundamental Right?”, in P. CRAIG, G. De BURCA, The evolution of EU law, Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 522. 6. ARISTOTLE, Ethnica Nichomachea, V.3 1131a – 1131b (E. Ross trans. 1925) 7. E. ELLIS, EC Sex Equality Law, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998, p. 322. 8. S. FREDMAN, “Equality: A new generation?”, (2001) 30 ILJ, p. 145, at 151-152. 9. L.WADDINGTON, A. HENDRIKS, “The expanding concept of employment discrimination in Europe: From Direct and indirect discrimination to reasonable accommodation discrimination”, (2002) 18/3 IJCLLIR, p. 403 at 406. 10. D. SCHIEK, “A new framework on equal treatment of persons on EC Law?” (2002) 8/2 ELJ, p. 290 at 304. 5. Go to your library and find five journals in your field of study. After you have located the journals, examine them to determine: (a) What type of articles are published (reviews of literature, empirical studies, etc.) Most articles that are published are empirical studies that base on the need to proof as valid, all ideas and conclusions that are put up from a scientific viewpoint. (b) Whether the journal is published by a professional organization (such as the American Psychological Association) or by a private group (such as Sage Press) Most of the articles are published by professional organizations such as the American Psychological Association (APA). This gives the articles more authenticity and reliability. (c) The number of articles in each journal and if there is any similarity in the topic areas covered within each issue of the journal There were an average of four (4) articles in each journal and based on research questions set, it would be said that most of the articles are very similar in the topic area covered. (d) How often the journal is published and other information about its editorial policies (e.g., guidelines, features) The articles are published on a weekly basis and they come in the form of features REFERENCE LIST Malcomson Law (2012). Discrimination in the Work Place. Accessed August 6, 2012 from http://www.mlaw.ie/discrimination-in-the-work-place Weiler, 2004 Equal Treatment of People with Disabilities in the EC: What does “Equal” mean? Jean Monnet Working Paper 09/04. Zoe Apostolopoulou. Unpublished Masters Thesis Read More