Premium Essay

Getting Workers to Think About Safety in the Workplace

In:

Submitted By Nats07
Words 1186
Pages 5
Getting Workers to think about Safety in the Workplace
As a Quality, Safety and Environmental Manager, I’m passionate about safety in the workplace. Safety in construction has always been and continues to be the major focal point of construction and infrastructure companies. Aside from the cost associated with injuries and damage to plant or equipment, higher insurance premiums and impact on reputation, there are human elements that are affected. The estimated cost of injuries and incidents in the industry is huge and not just based on monetary impact, but also to the cost of claims, the reputation of various organisations, counselling and other services utilised to help people deal with trauma as a result of incidents and fatalities. Three major factors that make it even more important to create a first class safety culture on our project include; 1. a workforce that is just getting to know each other; 2. Two major motorways where driver behaviour isn’t always easy to control and is running at full capacity; and 3. A lot of high risk activities that could result in injury or worse. Without creating a culture where safety values, mateship and leadership within is a given, there is more likelihood that a major incident or worse, could occur and have a devastating effect on everyone. The research undertook and the advice and learning’s I obtained as a result were without doubt, extremely beneficial.

Sources
Web Query/Group
Getting workers to think about safety in the workplace

Source http://www.talkingsafety.org/young-workers/tips-to-stay-safe-atwork.html http://ohsonline.com/articles/2012/12/01/tips-for-getting-your-messageacross.aspx?sc_lang=en http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/10420/ma naging_safety_in_your_workplace.pdf http://www.deir.qld.gov.au/workplace/resources/pdfs/everhard-casestudy.pdf

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Employee Safety and Health

...performance and courteous job performance. While the findings of one study were not definitive using the ERI in the selection process did seem to be associated with reductions in work related accidents. * Asking about a candidate’s workers compensation history (but it is unlawful to inquire (prior to hiring) about an applicant’s workers compensation injuries and claims under the Americans with disability Act). For example, you can usually ask whether an applicant has the ability to perform a job. * Safety training: instruct your employees (especially for new employees) in safe practices and procedures, warn them of potential hazards and work on developing a safety conscious attitude. For example, in Cai Mep International Terminal, employees are trained to observe acts and identify unsafe conditions. They know how to intervene when colleagues have unsafe acts. Employees can also repair or report when they detect anything that could harm the equipment, people and the environment. * Safety posters: increase safe behavior. For example, hanging Safety posters in the workplace. * Incentive programs. For example, at the Golden Eagle refinery in California, Employees earn WINGS points of engaging in one or more of 28 safety activities, such as conducting safety meetings, and taking emergency response training. Employees can earn up to $20 per month per...

Words: 1844 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Health and Safety

...under health, safety and welfare in a workplace. An employee is a person who is hired to provide services to a company. In exchange for the work they do they receive compensation. Employees have duties that they must follow. Good safety management is essential for the employer and employee to work together. An employee should talk to their employer if they have any questions that are related to safety, health and welfare. Every employee should ask their employer for the company's safety statement if they have not already received a copy of it. This is a plan on how to keep employees safe at work. An employee should always be alert and aware of their surroundings in case an accident was to occur. They should also look out for unusual behaviour from their work colleagues. If anything unusual does happen they should bring it to the attention of their employer. If an employee feels they are unsafe in the workplace and are unable to handle the problem, they should inform their employer. Accidents that occur in a workplace may happen due to people rushing their job, taking chances and cutting corners. An employee must think about what could happen if they are not careful and they must try to do everything they can to stop it from happening. Employees must remember that the worker safety, health and welfare is not en employers full responsibility. • Employees must follow the laws that are put in place. They should protect their own safety and health along with the safety and health...

Words: 466 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Health and Safety Isues

...EFFECTS OF OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ON JOB PERFORMANCE ABSTRACT Ocuupational health and safety have great importance in the employees work environment because now a days human resource is the most valuable asset that an organization does have and the existance of bad occupational health and safety environment greatly affect the job performance of employees. In this study the policies regarding occupational health and safety, health hazards associated with the job environment, employer’s responsibility for having good occupational health and safety measures are discussed. Purpose of the study is to know the effects of occupational health and safety on job performance, the lack of health and safety measures at workplace and how health hazards reduce job performance of the employees. Data was collected from different sources, sampling techniques were applied to the data collected and analysis was done through different quantitative tools thus recommendations and conclusions were drawn from that. Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to revise the effects of occupational health and safety on job performance of the employees’ i.e. how health hazards at occupational environment affect the employee job performance. Employees at work environment are out in the open to many of the health and safety hazards. The human resource is the most valuable asset at workplace because its effective and efficient use can result in higher level of performance in other areas of the...

Words: 4119 - Pages: 17

Free Essay

Warehouse Worker

...Temporary Labor: Issues of Health and Safety Experienced by Warehouse Workers in the Inland Empire By: Emily Phipps Ontario 106: Applied Methods in Qualitative Research December 2012 Phipps 2 Table Of Contents Introduction: Page 3 An Overview of Globalization and its Local Impacts on Warehouse Workers in the Inland Empire: Page 6 Literature Review: Page 8 Research Methods: Page 12 Setting: Page 12 Positionality: Page 14 Methods: Page 16 Ethics: Page 17 Discussion: Page 17 Health and Safety Issues in the Warehouse: Page 17 Corporate Responses to Health and Safety Issues: Page 20 Effects of Warehouse Workers United: Page 25 Conclusions: Page 29 Works Cited: Page 31 Appendix: Page 33 Phipps 3 Introduction: The NFI, a national trucking and supply chain company, warehouse in Mira Loma is a short bus ride from the Warehouse Workers United (WWU) headquarters, located at 601 S. Milliken Ave, Suite A Ontario, California. The bus is full of workers and community supporters filled with excitement and anticipation. We leave the WWU parking lot, heading south on Milliken ave, past the multitude of temporary staffing agencies and warehouses and over the train tracks. We take another left at the stop light onto E Mission ave and on the right, I can see all of the ‘Wal-Mart’ and ‘Swift’ containers through the thin line of trees. We turn onto Wineville ave, and we arrive at the warehouse. The bus doors open and the suffocating smell of animal decay from the nearby farms and slaughterhouses...

Words: 8175 - Pages: 33

Premium Essay

Reducing Workers Compensation Claims

...Reducing Workers Compensation Claims According to an essay published online by CCH Incorporated, the first step in reducing workers’ compensation costs involves ensuring that your company has effective safety and accident prevention programs in place to reduce the amount and severity of workplace illnesses and injuries. In addition to those programs, there are policies and procedures that should be implemented to help supervisors and Human Resources professionals in handling workers’ compensation claims in the most expedient manner possible. Having an active safety program has a number of benefits. Some are obvious. Others are not. A safety program gives employees a sense that their employer cares about them. Issuing personal protective equipment should be part of the safety program as should periodic inspection and replacement of worn or damaged safety equipment. Rotating work schedules or job duties can reduce repetitive-stress injury problems. An additional benefit is that doing so keeps workers more interested in their work and more focused on the job they are doing which also tends to reduce injuries. A mandatory safety training program also lets your employees know that any work related injury is bad for them and bad for the company. All employees should participate in safety activities including those workers in administrative positions or performing office work. Ideally, the message employers want to deliver is that everyone has a vested interest in minimizing these...

Words: 1954 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Workplace Safety

...Workplace Safety Article: Avoiding Corporate Complacency Every day in the United States on the average, 15 workers lose their lives as a result of injuries or illnesses related to their work - that's over 5700 people. These people leave behind families, friends, and co-workers. The single most common cause is complacency - an attitude that "it won't happen to me." Complacency Kills The Entire Organization Too often individuals and companies become complacent when it comes to safety. Managers are satisfied with mediocre safety performance and do not work to improve the environment by raising safety awareness and eliminating the potential for injury. Employees are content and are not attentive to their work environments. They become convinced that management is not concerned about safety. They begin to think they are not responsible for their own safety. Over time, the entire organization gives little meaningful attention to safety. The result is that employees begin to get in a hurry and take shortcuts on the job. They are more focused on production and getting the job done than getting it done safely. That attitude becomes an organizational norm. Near misses go unreported. No one wants to take the time to fill out forms and employees don't understand the connection between sharing information and eliminating injuries. Managers do not pay attention to reports, so they become unimportant. The number of injuries increases and they become more severe. Everyone becomes...

Words: 1046 - Pages: 5

Free Essay

Drug Test Research Paper

...Drug Testing In The Workplace Drug Testing in the workplace can seem impersonal and invasive towards employees but it is a process that is done when an employer has reasonable suspicion that employees are using drugs at work coming from a variety of sources such as tips, accidents or behavioral problems, actual observation of drug use, and symptoms of drug usage. Today businesses feel that they have to be well aware that their workplace is a drug free place and that their employees are stable and productive and in doing so, employers result to drug testing. Many feel that drug testing is a good tool to use to have an ideal workplace culture and that most would feel like they have nothing to hide so why object? But not everyone feels the same, others do feel that drug testing like said before, is a violation of privacy and has no sense to be done. Even though one can feel this way that doesn’t make that employee a drug user just that most actually feel that drug testing is degrading. Drug abuse in the work place can affect performance and safety on the job and how an organization see’s it is that drug testing will help eliminate those poor factors. A clear written policy that outlines the employer’s expectations concerning drug use will allow for drug testing in a drug free workplace environment program. The program does have to include training the management on the signs and symptoms that would allow them to perceive with drug testing on employees. Also programs teach...

Words: 2608 - Pages: 11

Premium Essay

Training

...training 3. Safety Training. Some of the methods that might be used to identify training needs are: 1. Surveys 2. Interviews- gender sensitivity training 3. Skill Matrix Gender sensitivity: Identifying the needs: We have used the interview format to identify this. Since the interview will be dealing with a very emotional and sensitive information, the interviewer must be chosen carefully and have good listening skills. All information must be kept confidential, and the interviewee will be assured of this. The interview will be semi-structured. Some questions are: 1. Do you think men and women with equal efficiency can do all kinds of work? 2. Are women paid less as compared to their male counterparts? 3. Do you feel your work is not taken seriously and/or your say is not considered in decisions by male colleagues? (ask a female employee) 4. Have you ever been sexually harassed at the workplace? 5. Do you think women cannot be good bosses? (ask a male employee) 6. Are women given flexibility in work hours? Training method : Class-room teaching What will be covered: * Getting to know each other-Expectations & Anxieties-To analyze perceptions and Understanding, * Causes of Misunderstandings * Understand the perception men and women have about each other. * Identify the different stereotypes associated with men and women-how these affect them. * Identify and analyze the issue of sexual harassment at workplace and its effect...

Words: 1560 - Pages: 7

Premium Essay

Decreasing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace

...Decreasing Sexual Harassment in the Workplace Introduction Sexual harassment in the workplace is a very serious issue. Not only does it creates an unsafe environment for the victim but also violates Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom. According to the International Labour Office, a survey was done on February 2007 which shows that nearly 25% of the workers interviewed experienced sexual harassment with one-third of them men (Sexual Harassment). The report explores what sexual harassment is and provides possible ways to decrease sexual harassment in the workplace. Background The Canadian Supreme Court created the first legislation regarding discrimination based on sex on 1982. As the Canadian Human Rights Reporter reports, two food service workers, Janzen and Tracy Govereau, were waitresses at Pharos Restaurant during the fall of 1982 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It was reported that the cook in the restaurant, Tommy Grammas, had been making sexual advancements to the two women. When they spoke about this to the manager, they were fired. The case was brought to the Supreme Court. The Court concluded that sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination. Platy Enterprises Ltd., the owners of the restaurant, was held liable for sexual harassment. Sexual harassment, as defined by the Court, is an unwelcome behaviour of sexual nature that detrimentally affects the work environment or leads to adverse job-related consequences for the victim of harassment (Canadian Human...

Words: 4794 - Pages: 20

Premium Essay

Non Unionized Workplace

...Trade union is an organization that consists of workers who is wanted to improve the terms and condition in the workplace. In Singapore, trade union has defined as any organization of employers or employees have main objectives. First of the objective is to establish relation in the economy. Another objective is to create a win- win situation for both employee and the employer; this objective also will be effect to Singapore economy. Lastly is to create a better standardized working environment for the employee and employer. The impact of union is to improve worker safety, increase salary for union workers, to end child labor practices, raise the standard of living, reduce working hours in a week and give other benefits. From the survey in 1994 by former Secretary of Labor John Dunlop, 59 percent of employees said that they employer will dislike them if they support an organization and 79 percent of employees agreed if employees who are trying to organize the union, they will more likely to get fired. In Singapore, under section 2 of the Trade Union Act says that any person aged 16 and above and who is hired under a contract of services can join a union. Government employees other than those in the Police force and Armed Forces can join unions. NTUC is one of federation of unions in Singapore which formed in 2001 until now. The main objectives of the NTUC are: ❖ To help Singapore stay competitive ❖ To help worker to remain employable for life ❖ To enhance...

Words: 2158 - Pages: 9

Free Essay

Climate Essay

...Climate Essay Kristina Reyes April 10, 2016 HCS/131 Active listening in the workplace is very important not only to your safety but the safety of your co-workers. In companies where I have seen a lot of young kids working I have noticed there is a lot more talking and playing around between the co-workers such as throwing things back and forth to play hitting. This kind of behavior isn’t acceptable in any type of workplace, it can lead to people getting hurt. When asked by someone in management to do something it is very important for any employee to try and finish the task that was given to them, if you are unable to finish you should let the person who asked to finish it know so they could have someone else finish it so it’s not left in the way. You will want to make sure that if there was to be an emergency situation at your place of employment you will want to know any and all procedures you will need to follow in order to keep yourself of your customers safe. In any type of business there should be a list of safety procedures that is hung up in the back or any hallway area for employees to go over. Always keeping your listening ear on is also a good way to follow directions. This is a quote I think some people should read. Most people do not listen with the intent to understand, they listen with the intent to reply (S. R. Corey, pg. 1). Supportive climates at work would be management praising their employees work and telling...

Words: 759 - Pages: 4

Free Essay

Smc 5 Year Plan

...company was 90% white, now SMC has a bilingual workforce. SMC is faced with the challenge of remaining competitive in the local labor market where unemployment rate is lower than 2.2%. Over the past two years SMC have experiences many changes such as a shrinking local labor market, rising labor cost, bilingual workforce, accident rate increase of 50%, and SMC’s CEO is terminally ill. Furthermore, demand for SMC’s product continued to increase and the company has experienced unsuccessful labor organizing activities. The plan will address all aspects of what SMC needs to do in the next five years, with the emphasis on five major areas: staffing, employee development and training, compensation and benefits, employee relations, and safety and health. Ongoing issues of technological advances and diversity and demographics are also addressed. Staffing In an ongoing effort to address many of the challenges associated with staffing, the leaders at SMC identified a plan to utilize the “Strategic HRM” competency approach. Utilizing this approach allows the organization to revisit opportunities for improvements. In conjunction with staffing, the needs to address the concerns of the employees were also prevalent in the company’s decisions. Not only was it important to understand the climate of the organization but to allow them to assist in the recruiting efforts for the company. Our long-term goal will include recruiting efforts to replace the CEO...

Words: 3693 - Pages: 15

Premium Essay

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Research Paper

... and children, who worked for Triangle, knew they were not being treated fairly. However, even though labor conditions were horrifying, immigrants needed jobs desperately and felt like they had no choice. They had the option to confront their employer about cruelty, such as taking money from their paychecks for unreasonable reasons, but they knew at the end of the day they could be easily replaced. The staff of this factory...

Words: 1111 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Triangle Fire Research Paper

...only reach the 6th floor of the 10- storey building. Workers were trapped inside because the owners had locked the fire escape exit doors to prevent theft, so workers jumped to their deaths. The government could’ve prevented the Triangle fire earlier if they listened to the workers’ plea for a safety working environment. Union organization tried to address the employees’ working conditions but wasn’t recognized. The fire was a catalyst for change in New York regarding the role of government in protecting workers because of the...

Words: 1433 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Legal Cases

...Legal Encounter 1 New Corp hired Pat as manager of real property in Vermont; this position is responsible for activities related to maintaining leased office space. Pat supervised 51 employees and lower-level supervisors, and he dealt with tenants who leased commercial space. Pat relocated from another city 300 miles away, moving his wife and children and selling and buying a home. His wife quit her job to seek employment in Vermont. After Pat had been working for three months, his boss explained that things were not working out and that Pat would be discharged with 30 days of severance pay. Pat was surprised because his employer gave no previous indication of any problem. New Corp’s personnel manual, which had been provided to Pat upon his acceptance of employment, outlined the process for dealing with unsatisfactory employees: Notice of Unsatisfactory Performance/Corrective Action Plan If the job performance of an employee is unsatisfactory, the employee will be notified of the deficiency and placed on a corrective action plan. If the employee’s performance does not improve to a satisfactory level in the specified period of time, termination will follow. Pat acknowledged that, upon employment, he signed an understanding that the company observed employment at will with respect to discharge, but believed the provision limited New Corp’s freedom to fire him at will. Pat also stated that New Corp’s senior management was noticeably unfriendly after Pat had been...

Words: 1823 - Pages: 8