Work Place Safety - Research Paper Example

Work Place Safety Introduction Workplace safety is a branch of management that is responsible for the welfare of workers at their workplace. The definition of workplace safety is usually narrowed down to include workers in the industrial or manufacturing sector. This definition fails to incorporate majority of workers working in other sectors of the economy. Workplace safety defines the level of management at a certain organization. On the other hand, the level of work place safety can be used to determine the levels of leadership in a certain organization. Effective leadership enhances workplace safety. This paper examines the role of leadership in reducing workplace injuries. To prove the hypothesis, the researcher was required to establish the role of leadership style and leadership strategies in reducing workplace injuries. The researcher was also concerned with the level of effectiveness in reducing work related injuries among organizational leaders. Organizational leadership focused on leaders and therefore good leaders were essential to an organization’s success and safety of its workforce (Bass, 2008). Numerous definitions attempt to explain the meaning of an organizational leader. Most organizations still maintain the stereotype military minded leadership whereby a leader takes the position of a commander while organization workers take subjective positions. Such definitions are concerned with strategies and achieving the organization’s objectives. This description prevents people from considering the absolute definition of organizational leaders in relation to workplace safety. In a health a safety setting, the duties of organizational leadership is broadened to incorporate legal and statutory compliance (Hoffman, 2006). In addition, the definition is broadened to incorporate inspirational and motivational duties. Thus, an appropriate leader should possess the supervisory knowledge and skills required to enhance work place safety. In addition, an effective leader should be able to influence workers within an organization into safety thinking and action in order to reduce workplace injuries. Thus, effective leaders strive towards continuous improvements of the welfare of their subordinates. Style of Leadership According to Bass (2008), most organizations still operates in the reward vs. punishment format where workers are promised rewards for outstanding performances and penalty for non-performance. The researcher established that such leadership strategy were responsible for most work place injuries or misfortune suffered by workers in a certain organization. His research concluded that outdated leadership strategies are responsible for 76% of injuries occurring in the workplace. The research also concluded that more than 50% of all workplace injuries results from the need to make up for a mistake or to please the supervisor. Thus, workers are faced with safety dilemma involving the need to achieve personal satisfaction and those of their employers. In addition, workers and managers are more concerned with the missions and objectives of the organization than they are concerned with the safety of the workers. Studies conducted by Hoffman to establish the role of organizational leaders in preventing workplace injuries concluded that transformational leaders were more effective in preventing workplace injuries than objective leaders. Transformational leaders are leaders who consider their organization as deficient of certain values. Their core mission is making the organization achieve its missing values. Unlike objective leaders, transformational leaders consider worker s as the basis of their strategies. This makes them rely on the welfare of their subordinates, which incorporate their safety concerns. This findings correlates with an empirical study conducted on a large engineering firm to establish the role of organizational leaders in enhancing workplace safety. During the survey, 200 employees from the company were expected to provide information that could be used to rank the performance of their supervisors. The survey established that more than 50% of the organizational leaders exerted excessive pressure on the employees in order to get the work done. The multifactor leadership questionnaire also confirmed that majority of their leaders were inclined towards production and the overall performance of the organization. From the study, an overwhelming 78% of workers confirmed that they went out of their way to please the organizational leaders or to make the leaders achieve their objectives. It is evident that majority of work related accidents occurs during such intensive ventures where workers overlook their welfare to achieve the organization’s objectives. The reward and penalty system applied in most organization also made workers to compromise their safety in order to achieve a reward or avoid punishments. Scholars and proponents of behavior-based safety (BBS) recommend that workplace safety should be a component of an organization’s culture. Organization’s culture compromises of values that define members of an organization. Organization culture is a component of strategic management since it contributes to the success of the company. Therefore, organization safety is a component of organization’s strategies and objectives. In addition, the top management should demonstrate workers safety as a responsibility. According to Hale and Hovden (2006), the role of work place safety in the organization’s culture determines employee’s performance in relation to work place safety. Hoffman analyzed organization cultures of prominent firms in relation to their level of workplace safety. His studies concluded that organizations, which included workers safety in their organization’s culture, had reduced case of injuries as compared to those that did not incorporate workplace safety in their organization’s culture. These results categorize organizations into two clusters. The first cluster is composed of organizations that have workplace safety as rules and procedures. The second cluster is composed of organizations that have workplace safety as part of their organization’s culture. The two types of organization have different performances and level of employee’s safety. It has been established that organizations with workplace safety as a list of rules and objectives are the most common. This indicates that most organizations still compromise the safety of their workers in pursuit of production and performance. According to Bass (2008), most work related accident result from the need to implement new strategies or methods of production. The study links exploration and experimentation as the main cause of workplace accidents. Research conducted at Offshore Company concluded that the management was keen to experiment new methods of production and operation strategies to an extent of compromising its workers safety. The need to implement new strategies is the main cause of workplace accidents. It has been established that most employees suffer work related injuries because of new strategies. Workplace safety should be part of organization’s strategies and objectives. This is because most organizations find it difficult to implement independent workplace safety strategies. It has been established that organizations with effective strategic management strategies consider workplace safety as part of their management strategies. A survey conducted at the continental shelf corporation revealed that workers were more likely to observe safety procedures if the organization considered workplace safety as part of its strategic management. The study also concluded that organization leaders were ready and willing to pursue workplace safety if their organizations contained workplace safety procedures as part of their management. This indicates that organization should invest in the safety of their workers by incorporating workplace safety in their management strategy. The continental shelf corporation survey also concluded that workers were ready and willing to observe workplace safety procedures only if their organization considered workplace safety as part of their strategic management. The survey focused on the relationship between leadership styles and workplace safety. The research applied questionnaires with questions enquiring about leadership style, accident causation, and safety leadership. Researchers concluded that safety leadership was not related with work experience. These result implied that positive attitude was fundamental in enhancing workplace safety among employees. Attitude is the driving force that pushes organization leaders into observing workplace safety. Although attitude is a basic organization culture, most firms lacks this essential element. This makes them prone to strategies that are less concerned with safety of their workers. According to Hale and Hovden (2006), such organizations are concerned with production, efficiency, and utilization of resources. Thus making workplace safety a component of organization’s management strategies, fulfill its role of strategic management since effective strategies are sustainable. Workers execute or implement organizations strategies and thus considering their welfare enhances sustainability of the organization. Attitude and Workplace Safety According to Hale and Hovden (2006), leaders are expected to influence workers to adopt safety practices and develop positive attitude towards their own safety and that of their employees. The influence that organizational leaders have on their subordinate determines their style of leadership. In the continental shelf corporation study, the researcher established that some site managers were aware of their responsibilities in enhancing safety among their subordinates. Although most of the site managers were aware of their roles and responsibilities in terms of workplace safety, most of them were not ready and willing to implement safety procedures on their subordinates. It was also observed that most managers did not make on-spot correction whenever their subordinates committed a mistake. The result indicated a strong correlation between the workplace safety and positive relationship between superiors and their subordinates. Open communication channels were also established to be instrumental in enhancing workplace safety. Open communication channels promote two-way communication frameworks where the subordinates are allowed to give their views towards the organization’s management. In this form of communication, workers can advocate for corrections and improvements in the organization’s system. However, the research established that most of the site managers preferred autocratic style of leadership. This transformed most workplace into a forum of rules and procedures whereby the leaders issued orders to their subordinates. The study attempted to predict the cause of workplace injuries using organization culture and leadership style as the main parameters. Workplace Safety as a Managerial Behavior Classification of workplace safety as a managerial behavior or as part of the organization’s culture is the main approach applied by scholars. Hale and Hovden 2006, created an array that linked managerial behaviors and safety procedures within an organization. Their studies aimed at establishing the possibilities of interchanging commitment with participative management. In commitment-based leadership, leaders act as demonstrators who are committed to employee’s safety while participative management, managers involve themselves with actual work and performance to establish the cause of workplace injuries. The main objective of such studies is the enhancement of human resource through effective recruitment, training, selection and promotion of employees. This indicates that leaders, who can contribute to workplace safety by inspiring and educating their subordinates towards effective safety practices, will also play an active role in mentoring their subordinates. However, the studies do not reveal the level of correlation between effective human resource management and workplace safety. This implies that the field requires conclusive studies in order to validate the hypothesis. Currently, occupational health researchers are evaluating the role regular leaves in promoting workplace safety. Ongoing studies have revealed a close relationship between human behaviors and workplace injuries. According to Greiner (2007), boredom is a major cause of workplace injuries. Studies conducted on the subject revealed that boredom result from been used to work practices and procedures. This approach focuses on the role of human resource management in enhancing workplace safety. It has been established that regular leaves reduces workplace injuries among employees. This validates the role of leadership style in enhancing workplace safety. Leaders play a significant role in promoting safety among workers and therefore any safety strategy should be promoted through organizational leaders. Conclusion Workplace safety is concerned with the safety of employees on their duties. Research on the subject consider workplace safety as a management behavior and hence a component of organization’s culture. Poor leadership strategies are the main cause of workplace injuries. This indicates that organizational leadership has a significant role in enhancing workplace safety. Researches on the subject have concluded that leadership styles determine the levels of safety in an organization. Studies have also revealed that most workplace related injuries results from ineffective leadership strategies. Most organizations in the modern business environment are concerned with production and efficiency. This promotes authoritative form of leadership within such organizations. Organizations that are governed under such systems are reduced into workers and a list of rules and objectives. Studies have also concluded that leadership determines the form of communication between managers and their subordinates. In addition, leadership styles determine the commitment of employees in meeting the company’s objective and their own safety. References Bass, B. M. (2008). From transactional to transformational leadership: learning to share the vision. Organizational Dynamics 23: 19-31. Greiner, L. (2007). Evolution and revolution as organizations grow. Harvard Business Review. July-August, 37-47. Hale, K and Hovden, M (2006). Re-examining the components of transformational and transactional leadership using the MLQ. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology 72: 19-31. Hoffman, K. (2009). Who do we blame when it all go wrong? Quality and Safety Health Care. 18: 3-4. Read More