Health and Safety in the Organisation - Essay Example

Health and safety in the organization The health and safety in an organization are aimed at protecting the health and safety of the workers and other assets in the workplace of an organization. The main goal of ensuring health and safety in the organization is to promote a safe and healthy environment in the workplace for the welfare of both the people as well as the organization. The health and safety measures taken by an organization not only protect the employees but also serve for the welfare of their co-workers, clients and other stakeholders at the workplace and for the welfare of their families at home. The health and safety in the organization is an important area of consideration, majorly due to the legal and financial obligations of the management apart from the corporate social responsibility of the entities (Hofmann and Tetrick 60). The employers have a moral duty in providing a workplace for the employees that is completely safe and secure and that has no ill effects on their health. A safe and healthy work environment that is conducive to productivity would bring out the highest level of performance of the employees. The employees would be able to concentrate on their work with a relaxed mind free from concern of their health and safety (Burke, Clarke, and Cooper 58). Also, the employees would believe that the organization is concerned about their welfare which would have the probability to develop a loyal workforce. The organizations are also bound by the rules and regulations to protect the health and safety of their workers. The maintenance of health and safety includes preventive measures against the emission of hazardous substances in the production units, recycling of wastes to reduce the adverse effects of environmental pollution, resolution and sustenance of peaceful work environment with no conflict between the workers, etc. Inability of the organizations to maintain a safe and healthy work environment may lead to damage of the health of their employees, organizational assets and other stakeholders, clients who are present at the workplace. The families of the employees may also be affected due to such unwanted incidents in the workplace. Such situations may lead to imposition of hefty fines on the organizations by the legal and regulatory bodies. Thus, organizational concern for health and safety has legal implications (Stellman 80). The occurrence of unsafe working environment and damage of health of workers may lead to increase in costs of the organization that include medical insurance, hospitalization expenses due to sickness or injury, etc. The disorder of health and safety would lead to increase in medical leaves, sick leaves, etc. As a result, the organization would face losses of productivity and business. Thus, health and safety in the organizations have financial implications as the financial losses would tend to increase in case of accidents occurring due to unsafe work environment. The health and safety in the organizations encompasses a range of other fields including workplace engineering, safety control mechanisms, workplace medicine, workplace hygiene, etc. The organizations allocate proportionate expenditures in these fields with an ultimate aim of ensuring health and safety of the organization. Any drawback in implementation of the health and safety policies of the organization may lead to hazards, which may be biological hazards, chemical hazards, health hazards, psychological issues, etc. The health and safety hazards vary from industry to another. The biological hazards may be due to infectious diseases that spread from one employee to another. The virus and infected bacteria may transmit from one individual to another leading to an epidemic situation. The chemical hazards may occur due to the non-maintenance of the operation units and storage plants. Harmful chemical emission from the production units may lead to damage of health and safety of the workers of the organization. Discriminatory and unequal treatment of labors may lead to internal conflicts in the organization thereby resulting into psychological issues in the workplace that creates an unsafe work environment. The issues of gender discrimination, safekeeping of the assets of the organization and exhibition of controlled emotions in the workplace are addressed in the initiatives of health and safety of the organizations (Taylor 47). The most exaggerated issues of health and safety in the workplace fall in the categories of violence and sexual harassments in the workplace that not only pose risk to the employees but also tarnish the brand image of the organization. Thus, health and safety aspects of an organization are one of the most vital areas of consideration that enable the organization to retain a quality force and sustain the productivity level with smooth and uninterrupted operation. Role of the HR department towards health and safety The role of the human resource department of the organization is the most vital part of controlling health and safety of the organizations. The human resources departments are responsible of keeping an overview of the practices that are followed in the organization and in monitoring the organizational practices in different levels to check whether the code of conduct and work practices are in line with the organizational policies, rules and regulation on health and safety standards of the industry. In cases where the health and safety standards of the organization are compromised, the human resource department should undertake adequate measures to address the areas of protection of health and safety. Thus, the human resource department is accountable for implementation of the workplace health and safety measures. Needless to say, the employees of the organization are the frontline forces who are bestowed with the responsibility of adhering to the policies on health and safety of the organizations for proper implementation at the work place. Effective management of the human resource departments engages the workforce into responsible acts which go a long way in fulfilling the health and safety measures of the organization. In order to ensure an effective system of health and safety for the employees, the human resource department should undertake the following activities. An identification of the hazards of the organization in the past as well as anticipation of the possible hazards in future is conducted by the human resource department. The target section of the workforce that is more susceptible to be affected by the hazards is identified. Thus, a risk assessment study and the potential implications of the health and safety hazards are evaluated by the human resource team. After evaluation of the risk due to unsafe operations and possible estimation of the impacts on the organization due to health hazards, the control system and effective measures are designed for implementation (Price 38). The cost of implementation of the preventive measures is compared to the cost of health and safety hazards to determine the opportunity cost. The role of the human resource team in this entire process of health and safety control of the organization includes a systematic evaluation of the work environment. The systematic evaluation includes taking feedback from the employees, clients and other stakeholders of the organization to determine the potential areas of health and safety risk that the organization is exposed to. The human resource department must take necessary steps to endorse the preventive measures to reduce the possibilities of damage to the health and safety of employees and workplace assets. The employees should be trained in order to get acquainted with the necessary actions to be performed for safeguarding the health and safety of the workplace. The participation of the employees is most important for ensuring health and safety at the workplace. The importance of workplace hygiene, the opportunity cost of ensuring safe and healthy workplace environment should be informed to the workforce. The information on the potential damages to the families of the workers is provided by the human resource department. All these acts performed by the human resource department create awareness among the employees of the potential risk and impacts of compromising the health and safety standards of the organization. Thus, the workers are able to align themselves with the policies and strategies of the organization in promoting a safe and healthy work environment. This not only fulfills the objective of the organization and the human resource department but also serves the good interest of the employees and their families. The human resource department should also undertake workplace activities that provide example to the employees in the workplace of how to handle situations that are unsafe and unhealthy for the organization (Ivancevich 552). The various ways of restricting the damage due to such accidental scenarios are shown to the employees of the organization. These efforts of the human resource department not only save the co-workers and other assets of the organization but also help save the image of the organization. The importance of code of conduct for the employees is reinforced by the human resource team. The strict policies of the organization towards gender discrimination, sexual harassment, evil intentions and violence at workplace are emphasized by the human resource team. The human resource department informs the penalties and accountabilities of the employees who breach the policies of the organization to jeopardize the health and safety of the organizations. The role of human resource department is thus extremely crucial in controlling the health and safety of the organizations. Works Cited Burke, Ronald J.,  Sharon Clarke, and Cary Cooper. Occupational Health and Safety. UK: Gower Publishing Ltd, 2012. Print. Hofmann, David, and Lois Tetrick. Health and Safety in Organizations: A Multilevel Perspective. USA: Wiley, 2003. Print. Ivancevich, John M. Human Resource Management 10E. India: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2008. Print. Price, Alan. Human Resource Management. China: Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Stellman, Jeanne. Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. USA: International Labour Organization, 1998. Print. Taylor, Bill. Effective Environmental, Health, and Safety Management Using the Team Approach. USA: John Wiley & Sons, 2005. Print. Read More