Economic Evaluation of Investments for Workplace Safety - Research Paper Example

Benefits of workplace safety to the employees Table of Contents Introduction 1. BackgroundThe modern work environment has changed drastically over the last two decades. Production in the organizations has increased with employees being forced to work for long hours. Statistics shows that the number of Americans working for more than 30 hours a week increased from 10 to 40 percent between 1999 and 2006 (Levine, Michael and Matthew 23). The percentage was also expected to increase as many of the companies in the country were going global. The management is also overworked since they have to meet many duties within a limited time. Many of the organizations have grown by expanding their operations (Hartnett et al. 33). The outcome has been increased injuries in the workplace. Health problems among the employees have also increased. When it comes to workplace safety, the subjects in the topic are the employees. They have the duty of preventing any work-related injuries. The employees also need to check after one another in their line of duty. According to the law, there are certain rights concerning workplace health and safety that all the employees in organizations across the United States are expected to enjoy (Bianchini et al. 25). For instance, we have the right to know, right to refuse, and right to participate. A lot of research shows that employees are not much considerate of these rights. This is because they are not well informed on the benefits that a safe workplace will bring to themselves, their bosses, their organizations, and the society as a whole when they are working in a safe environment (Levine, Michael and Matthew 34; Stark 33). Some scholars have been concerned with a cost-benefit analysis of investing in workplace safety (Campbell et al. 45; Bradley et al. 42; Hogan & Jeff 37). Although many of the studies that have been carried out have showed that the benefits are more than the cost of investment, only a few studies have been carried out to find out the specific benefits of a safe workplace (Bianchini et al. 56). The employers are also not aware of the benefits because some of them tend to believe that when they invest much in the employees they will reduce their profitability. Therefore, the issue has being handled with many misunderstandings. In modern organizations, employees are being recognized as the most crucial resource in the organization. The concept of human resource management has gained much significance in organizations across America (Levine, Michael and Matthew 47). However, some of the human resource managers have been concerned with the role employees can play in increasing production, competitiveness, and overall profitability of the organization. All the organizations want to be competitive and thus, they are pressuring their employees to be more productive and innovative (Stark 36; Bradley et al. 36). The human resource managers have, however, failed to understand that the needs of the employees need to be a priority if the other things are to be achieved. 1.2. Management concern The management in any organization has a duty of ensuring that employees are safe when in the workplace. They are responsible for implementing different laws, both national and international, that need to see employees work in a safe environment. When cases of accidents in the organization are witnessed, the management in the organization carries the blame (Levine, Michael and Matthew 43). The managers need to ensure that all the employees have the right information, are trained and supervised so that they do not fall victims of workplace injuries. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Act by the Department of labor, employers are expected to carry out investigations, report accidents, undertake inspections, and implement hazard prevention programs (Bradley et al. 58). All this should be done so that any risks that may result to injuries are addressed in advance. They are also expected to engage with external parties such as government officials to ensure that they fit with the recommended standards for work safety in the workplace. 1.3. Ethical concerns Regarding the need of workplace safety, OSHA has come up with different laws that protect all the employees in the United States (Bianchini et al. 52). There are codes and standards that all employees are expected to uphold. They are directly responsible for the safety of the employees in the organization. Employees in organizations are the main human resources. The play a crucial role in running operations such as production and management (Kottler 24). Therefore, they are used by organizations to meet their needs. For instance, a supermarket has employees to help in selling different products. The employees bring forth profits and engage with customers to create a positive image about the organization (Levine, Michael and Matthew 53). Therefore, in return the employer is expected to provide the employees with a favorable working environment. It becomes unethical when the employers are not able to provide a good working conditions yet they are expecting the employees to perform. 1.4. Hypothesis This study will use the case of Wal-Mart in the United States since the organization has been criticized for long for not enhancing workplace safety (Levine, Michael and Matthew 50). There are also different incidents that have happened across the organization’s stores in the U.S (Bradley et al. 52). Therefore, the study is meant to get first-hand data from the employees who are affected by the unfavorable work conditions. 2. Literature review Workplace safety means a situation where the workplace environment is free from any injury and hazards (Hartnett et al. 38). It also refers to the policies and procedures put in place to enhance the health and safety of the workers in an organization. In order to successfully create this environment, there must be hazard identification and control according to national and international standards. Stark (46) believes that this has to come alongside continuous safety training and education of the employees. In order to be ascertain that the workplace is safe, the employees have to show less concern about their safety because they are sure that there are right mechanisms in place that are taking care of safety. In enhancing workplace safety, the employees also have a role to play since they cannot be forced to prevent themselves from injuries (Bianchini et al. 63; Levine, Michael and Matthew 72). The employees have to undertake an active role for their safety. The national and international laws put the employees in a position where they can demand for health and safety in their workplace. Workplace safety is an old concept since the government over the years has been concerned with the safety of the employees. Scholars have also been interested in the topic with majority showing that investing in workplace safety has positive returns (Bradley et al. 55; Hartnett et al. 58). In order to ensure that the systems in place are effective, there is a need to have total involvement. This means having all the people in the organization come together to enrich their safety. For instance, the employees will personally be needed to report any hazards to the management (Lothrop, Patrik and Ulrika 36; Bradley et al. 36; Bianchini et al. 67). A written policy is a plus on employ’s safety. The management is expected to distribute documents that explain the policies and procedures that need to be observed so that the workplace can be safe (Levine, Michael and Matthew 69). The written policy is important to reduce hazards and injuries associated with non-compliance with the set policies and procedures. Campbell et al. (55) also adds that there must be safety equipment. The employees also need to be educated on how to use the available safety equipment such as gloves and face shields. Awareness is also crucial so that people visiting the workplace can be informed about any threats (Bradley et al. 78; Kottler 37). Lastly, there is a need of safety meetings so that problems can be discussed as well as solutions to the hazards. A number of studies have been carried out to find the best strategies of enhancing workplace. In a study carried out by Campbell et al. (23, 35) it was found that workplace safety can be enhanced by having additional staff to meet all the work requirements. In many organizations, employees are being overworked with some being forced to work for more than twelve hours (Campbell et al. 45). Therefore, having more employees will reduce the workload at individual level. The researchers also recommend training of employees on security measures and emergency responses. The idea has been supported by many scholars as they believe that the safety has to begin from the employees. The employees also need to be actively involved in the safety enhancement process (Lothrop, Patrik and Ulrika 36; Hogan & Jeff 46). Another recommendation that was made by the researchers is the need to have trained security and crowd management personnel on site to help the employees get quick help. The idea was coupled with the need to have all the health and safety resources in place. Stark (25) was interested in finding out what happens in organizations that do not uphold health and safety ethics. In the study, it was found that productivity of the employees goes down because their little or no motivation at all when working in such an environment. The customers are likely to be affected by this because they will get low-quality services from the employees (Kottler 43). Some of the customers may decide to opt for other organizations where they will be served better. In a society, the organization gets a negative image (Lothrop, Patrik and Ulrika 35). The case of Wal-Mart is a good example of how organizations can suffer by failing to embrace health and safety of their employees. The organization has to struggle making profits because of the negative image in the society. In summary, the varied studies that have been carried out in the past have supported the need for workplace safety. They have identified that health and safety in the workplace has benefits to the employees, the employers, the organizations, and the society at large. The government has been at the forefront in ensuring that employees are safe in the areas of work regardless of whether it is in the private or public sector (Lothrop, Patrik and Ulrika 53). Employers on their side have been concerned with a cost and benefits analysis of investing in health and safety of their employees. There has been a challenge in decision making because majority do not understand the specific benefits of having health and safety in the workplace (Campbell 36). This has also been the same case with the employees. 3. Data In the study, there are two types of data that will be collected including primary data and secondary data. Secondary data will be collected from scholarly journals and reports related to the topic of workplace safety. The collection of the data will provide a theoretical framework from which a gap for the current study will be identified (Lothrop, Patrik and Ulrika 64). The secondary data will also help in drawing conclusions about the benefits of workplace safety when compared with the primary data that will be got. The study design that will be adopted in this study is descriptive survey design. According to Campbell et al. (55), this study design has advantages over interviews because it is done within a short duration besides being less costly. There will be questionnaires with ten questions. The questions will be arranged in a way that they will begin with the general ones about gender to the complex ones about the views of the participants about workplace safety. In the study, there will be 30 participants. All these will be selected from a Wal-Mart store in New York. There are many Wal-Mart stores in the country, but the ones in New York have been known for issues related to workplace safety. The employees will be randomly selected. Since there are different departments in the store, stratified random sampling will be used. This will mean putting the employees into different categories depending on the department they work under and randomly selecting six participants from each department. Data collection will be done in one of the offices in the stores. Arrangements will be done so that all the participants will be informed in advance. They will be given a duration of one week so that they can adequately prepare. The duration will also be important for them to overcome their fears. The participants will have twenty minutes to answer the questions. They will all fill the forms at the same time so that they can save time. When collecting the data reliability and credibility will be enhanced by hiding the identity of the participants. They will not be expected to write their real names in the forms. When answering the questions, the participants will also be given their privacy. Data analysis will be done as per the questions that will be raised. The ten questions will all be given consideration in the discussion because some of the factors like gender may explain why the participants have different views about workplace safety. The study data will be presented in graphical form by use of tables and graphs. 4. Results The first question aimed at knowing the gender of participants. The results showed that 20 of the participants were male while 10 were females. Gender Number Males 20 Females 10 The second question was about the length of stay in the organization, and the results were as showed; Duration Number For more than five years 14 Between two to five years 10 Less than two years 6 The results of the study support the different benefits of enhancing health and safety in the workplace. One of the benefits is reduced accidents among the employees. Questions were posed to participants on their support for different benefits of workplace safety, and the results were as shown below; Benefit Strongly supporting Fairly supporting Supporting Not supporting Reduced disruptions 12 2 6 10 Reduced wastage of time 15 5 7 3 Higher productivity of the employees 20 9 0 1 Improved quality of products 24 6 0 0 Increased level of innovation 18 6 4 2 Improved corporate image 22 4 4 0 Increased customer satisfaction 20 6 2 2 Improved hazard awareness 13 7 6 4 Majority of the benefits that had been indemnified received strong support. This meant that the participants understood what a safe workplace would mean to them. They also knew what they expected the organization to offer them so that they could continue to offer sustainable services. Many of the participants showed a good understanding of what is meant by workplace safety. They explained that they were oriented about the policies and procedures for workplace safety in Wal-Mart when they were being recruited. 5. Conclusion The modern workplace has become dynamic as companies are trying to increase their competitiveness at global level. Globalization and technology have steered up the changes in the workplace. Despite this, the safety of the employees cannot be compromised at any point. The study has showed clearly that health and safety in the workplace has many benefits including reduced accidents, reduced disruptions, higher productivity, and improved quality of products. There were also other benefits that safety in the workplace was found to have including increased level of innovation, improved customer satisfaction, improved hazard awareness, and improved corporate image. In order to ensure that workplace safety is enhanced, there is a need to have a union between the employers and the employees. Managers need to prioritize the need for a safe workplace because when this is provided the employees will do their duties appropriately. Decision makers need also to come up with strict policies that will ensure that employees are protected. They also need to make follow-ups in the organizations to ensure that the workplace environment is safe, and employees are continuously trained. Works cited Bianchini, Augusto, et al. "Economic Evaluation of Investments for Workplace Safety." CHEMICAL ENGINEERING 36 (2014): 49-54. Bradley, Bret H., et al. "Reaping the benefits of task conflict in teams: the critical role of team psychological safety climate." Journal of Applied Psychology 97.1 (2012): 151. Campbell, Kitty, et al. "Workplace Safety: What Small Business Owners Need to Know." Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (2014). Hartnett, Helen P., et al. "Employers perceptions of the benefits of workplace accommodations: Reasons to hire, retain and promote people with disabilities." Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation 34.1 (2011): 17-23. Hogan, Joyce, and Jeff Foster. "Multifaceted Personality Predictors of Workplace Safety Performance: More than Conscientiousness." Human Performance 26.1 (2013): 20-43. Kotler, Philip. "Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative." Journal of Marketing 75.4 (2011): 132-135. Levine, David I., Michael W. Toffel, and Matthew S. Johnson. "Randomized government safety inspections reduce worker injuries with no detectable job loss." Science 336.6083 (2012): 907-911. Lothrop, Lene, Patrik Grahn, and Ulrika K. Stigsdotter. "Workplace greenery and perceived level of stress: Benefits of access to a green outdoor environment at the workplace." Landscape and Urban Planning 110 (2013): 5-11. Robertson, Michelle, et al. "The Intervention Design and Analysis Scorecard: A planning tool for participatory design of integrated health and safety interventions in the workplace." Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine 55 (2013): S86-S88. Stark, Christian. Workplace Safety: The Ultimate Guide to Health & Safety. Bookpubber, 2014. Read More