HUman resource managemenr 2e s keiman chapter13

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace • The Occupational Safety and Health Act 1970  Designed to ensure safe working conditions for every American

Chapter 13

Meeting Employee Safety

and Health Needs

Chapter Outline

• 13-1 Gaining Competitive Advantage

• 13-2 HRM Issues and Practices

• 13-3 The Manager’s Guide

13-1a Opening Case: Gaining Competitive Advantage at Appleton

• Problem: Too many injuries.

• Solution: Instituting a wellness center that offers

physical rehabilitation, injury prevention, fitness

training, and wellness education.

• How the wellness center enhanced competitive

advantage

 $205,000 savings due to reduction in rehabilitation

treatments

 28% reduction in missed work days due to injuries

 Reduction in workers’ compensation costs

 22% decrease in overall cost associated with soft tissue injuries

13-1b Linking Employee Safety and

Health to Competitive Advantage

• Programs designed to minimize health problems can

create cost advantages by reducing absenteeism, turnover, and medical costs, and increasing

productivity.

• State and federal governments strictly regulate

organizational health and safety practices.

• Employers who violate safety and health regulations

can be held liable for criminal charges

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace

• The Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970)

 Designed to ensure safe working conditions for every American worker:

- Sets and enforces workplace safety standards.

- Promotes employer-sponsored educational programs

that foster safety and health.

- Requires employers to keep records regarding

job-related safety and health matters.

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace

(cont.)

• Three separate agencies were created by the

Occupational Safety and Health Act.

 The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA): Develops and enforces health and safety standards

 The Occupational Safety and Health Review

Commission: Hears appeals from employers who wish

to contest OSHA rulings

 The National Institute for Occupational Safety and

Health: Conducts health and safety research to suggest new standards and update previous ones

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace (cont.)

 Specify such things as permissible exposure limit, monitoring requirements, methods of compliance, personal protective equipment, hygiene facilities, training, and record keeping

based on the following priority classifications:

- Imminent danger.

- Fatality of catastrophe investigations.

- Employee complaint investigations.

- High-risk industries.

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace

(cont.)

• Hazard Communication Standard (Employee

Right-to-Know Law)

 Enacted in 1984

 Gives workers the right to know what hazardous

substances they are dealing with on the job

 A substance is considered hazardous if exposure to it can lead to acute or chronic health problems

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace

(cont.)

 Develop a system for inventorying hazardous

substances

 Label the containers of these substances

 Provide employees with needed information and

training to handle and store these substances safely

as high as:

 $1,000 per chemical for first violations

 $10,000 per chemical for second violations

fines up to $75,000 per day and imprisonment

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety

and Health Practices at the Workplace

(cont.)

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

 Temporary, non-chronic impairments that are short in duration and have little or no long-term impact are usually not considered disabilities under the act

 ADA regulations specify that if a disability prevents

someone from performing one or more of the essential job functions, employers must try to accommodate that individual

 An employer may not take adverse action against a disabled employee unless it can prove an

accommodation was impossible or would cause undue hardship

13-2a Government Regulation of Safety and Health Practices at the Workplace (cont.)

• Penalties for ADA violations may be as high as:

 $50,000 for initial violations

 Up to $100,000 for each subsequent violation

• The Civil Rights Act of 1991 allows claimants to

collect up to $300,000 in punitive damages for

‘‘willful’’ violations.

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and

Accident Prevention

• Causes of workplace accidents

 Employee error: Misjudged situations, distractions by

others, neuromuscular malfunctions, inappropriate working positions, and knowingly using defective equipment

 Equipment insufficiency: Use of inappropriate

equipment, safety devices being removed or inoperative, and the lack of such things as engineering controls,

respiratory protection, and protective clothing

 Procedure insufficiency: Failure of procedure for eliciting warning of hazard, inappropriate procedure for handling materials, failure to lock out or tag out, and a lack of

written work procedures

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and

Accident Prevention (cont.)

• Accident prevention strategies

 Employee selection based on personality

characteristics:

- Risk taking: High risk-takers actually seek out danger

rather than trying to minimize or avoid it.

- Impulsiveness: Impulsive individuals fail to think through

the consequences of their actions.

- Rebelliousness: Rebellious individuals tend to break

established rules, including safety rules.

- Hostility: Hostile individuals tend to lose their tempers

easily and thus engage in aggressive acts, such as kicking a jammed machine.

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and

Accident Prevention (cont.)

 Training should be very specific

• Safety incentive programs

 Aim to motivate safe behavior by providing workers with incentives for avoiding accidents

 Organizations formulate safety goals and reward

employees if these goals are met

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and

Accident Prevention (cont.)

• Three problems associated with safety incentive

programs:

 Workers conceal their injuries and do not report them

in order to keep their safety records intact

 Workers may continue to perform in an unsafe manner because they remain unconvinced that such behavior

is likely to result in accidents

 In some cases, accidents are not caused by the

employee’s behavior

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and

Accident Prevention (cont.)

• Safety audits: An audit of unsafe job behaviors aimed

to prevent unsafe acts on the part of workers.

• Accident investigations

 Determine accident causes so that changes can be made to prevent the future occurrence of similar accidents

 Supervisors play a key role

13-2b Employee Safety: Accidents and Accident Prevention (cont.)

• Safety committees

 Assist with inspections and accident investigations

 Conduct safety meetings

 Answer workers’ questions about safety programs

 Bring workers’ safety concerns to management’s attention

 Help develop safety incentive programs

 Develop ideas to improve workplace safety

 Prepare evacuation plans

 Prepare procedures for disasters and contingency plans following the disaster

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions

• Repetitive motion disorders

 Repetitive stress injuries that affect tendons, which become inflamed from the strains and stress of

repeated, forceful motions

 Most common disorder being carpal tunnel syndrome, which causes wrist pain due to an overextension or twisting of the wrists, especially under force

 Organizational strategies for dealing with repetitive motion disorders include ergonomics, employee training, and physical fitness training

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Organizational interventions for lower back disorders:

 Prescreen individuals who either have existing back problems or are prone to develop such afflictions

 Prevent or minimize such disorders through job

training and fitness training

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)

 Leading public health problem in the United States

 Organizational interventions – An employer must

- Hire and retain qualified HIV-infected victims unless the debilitating effects of the disease impede their job

performance.

- Educate employees about how the AIDS virus is

transmitted (and how it is not transmitted).

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

 The 1988 Drug-Free Workplace Act states that

employees should be notified of:

- The dangers of drug abuse in the workplace.

- Its policy of maintaining a drug-free workplace.

- Drug counseling, rehabilitation, and employee

assistance programs.

- Penalties for drug abuse violations in the workplace.

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Organizational interventions to combat substance

abuse

 Screen out applicants and discharge employees who have been identified as substance abusers

 Train supervisors to detect signs of substance abuse

by observing employees’ behavior

 Provide remedial counseling through employee

assistance programs (EAPs)

 Develop written substance abuse policies to act as a deterrent and establish a sound legal basis for taking punitive action

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Employee wellness

 Seeks to eliminate certain debilitating health problems that can be caused by a person’s poor lifestyle

choices

 These ailments can cause workplace problems such

as absenteeism, turnover, lost productivity, and increased medical costs

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Organizational interventions for employee wellness

 Employee wellness programs:

- Provide physical fitness facilities and on-site health screening.

- Provide programs to help employees quit smoking, manage stress, and improve nutritional habits.

- Can be quite effective, and helps reduces both absenteeism and turnover, and increases productivity.

 Some companies offer positive inducements to

motivate high-risk individuals to participate in wellness programs; other companies focus their efforts on

nonparticipants by imposing certain penalties

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Workplace stress

 Causes are excessive workload, juggling work and personal lives, people problems, and a lack of job security

 Effects of stress on an organization:

- Employees may perform poorly, quit their jobs, or suffer

from low morale.

- Conflicts among coworkers.

- Employees may miss work, or exhibit indifference

towards coworkers and customers.

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Organizational interventions for stress

 Effective selection and training procedures

 Clearly written job descriptions

 Effective performance appraisal systems

 Effective pay-for-performance programs

 Stress counseling, physical exercise, or use of EAPs and wellness programs

13-2c Employee Health Problems and

Organizational Interventions (cont.)

• Workplace violence

 Most violent acts are committed by employees against other employees, supervisors, or customers

• Organizational interventions

 Provide employees with safe work environments

 Follow OSHA guidelines to reduce the threat of

violence

 Use of pre-employment screening, strict antiviolence and anti-drug/alcohol policies, and training

13-3a Employee Safety and Health and the Manager’s Job

• Manager’s primary roles in ensuring employee safety

 Emphasize workplace safety and give constant

reminders of its importance to employees

 Ensure that workers are doing their jobs safely

 Investigate accidents

• Manager’s role in ensuring employee health

 Ensure legal compliance, primarily with regard to the ADA

 Alleviate worker stress

 Ensure the confidentiality of the information they

possess concerning employee disabilities

13-3b How the HRM Department Can Help

• Develop, select, and evaluate safety and health

programs.

• Ensure OSHA compliance, represent the firm during

OSHA inspections, keep records of accidents, and track hazardous substances.

• HR professionals must consider safety and health

issues as they formulate HRM practices.

 Job analysis documents must specify the physical and mental demands of the job

 Collective bargaining agreements must specify

employers’ rights and responsibilities in ensuring employee safety and health

13-3c HRM Skill-Building for Managers

• How to conduct a safety audit

 Step 1: Observation

- Observe worker’s activities, looking for both safe and unsafe practices

 Step 2: Employee discussion

- Should help employees recognize and correct their unsafe acts.

 Step 3: Recording and follow-up

- Findings should be recorded in writing.

- Pursue any item discussed during the audit that requires

follow-up.

13-3c HRM Skill-Building for Managers

(cont.)

• How to investigate accidents

 Ensure safety of all employees

 Identify both the immediate and underlying causes of the accident

 Make sure the accident scene is kept intact until the investigation is finished

 Inspect the location and immediately interview injured

or affected workers, eyewitnesses, and anyone else who may be familiar with the accident area

13-3c HRM Skill-Building for Managers (cont.)

• How to assign dangerous work - A situation would

qualify as being “too dangerous” if the following conditions apply:

 A reasonable person would conclude that there is a real danger of death or serious injury

 There is insufficient time to eliminate the danger through regular channels

 The employee sought from his employer, but was unable to obtain, a correction of the dangerous conditions