Improving Occupational Safety, Health, and Risk Management

Fundamentals of Human Resource Management：

 中国经济管理大学MBA课堂笔记

Improving Occupational Safety, Health, and Risk Management

中国经济管理大学/中國經濟管理大學

I.          Employee Safety and Health: An Introduction

A.   Why Safety is Important ¾ There are a staggering number of work accidents. Also, accidents are expensive.

B.   Management’s Role in Safety ¾ Reducing accidents often boils down to reducing accident-causing conditions and accident-causing acts. DuPont’s good safety record is partly due to an organizational commitment to safety.

C.   The Supervisor’s Role in Accident Prevention ¾ The local supervisor is responsible for the day-to-day inspections to ensure worker safety.

D.   A Manager’s Briefing on Occupational Law ¾ The Occupational Safety and Health Act was passed in 1970 to preserve the nation’s human resources by assuring as much as possible that every worker has safe and healthy working conditions. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (within the Department of Labor, which enforces the standards) administers the act, sets and enforces the safety and health standards, and has inspectors working out of branch offices throughout the country to ensure compliance.

1.     OSHA Standards and Record Keeping ¾ Employers with 11 or more employees must maintain a record of, and report, occupational injuries and occupational illnesses.

E.  OSHA Inspections and Citations ¾ How OSHA enforces its standards.

1.     Inspection Priorities ¾ Imminent dangers, catastrophes and fatal accidents, employee complaints, high-hazard industries, and follow-up inspections.

2.     The Inspection ¾ Inspectors look for violations of all types. The citations inform the employer and employees of the regulations and standards that have been violated and the time set for rectifying the problem.

3.     Penalties ¾ OSHA can impose penalties ranging from $5,000 up to $70,000 for willful or repeated serious violations, although in practice the penalties can be far higher.

F.  OSHA Responsibilities and Rights of Employers and Employees — Employers are responsible for providing a hazard-free workplace, being familiar with mandatory OSHA standards, and examining workplace conditions to make sure they conform to applicable standards. Employees are responsible for complying with all applicable OSHA standards, for following all employer safety and health rules and regulations, and for reporting hazardous conditions to the supervisor. Employees have a right to demand safety and health on the job without fear of punishment. The act forbids employers from punishing or discriminating against workers who complain to OSHA about job safety and health hazards.

II.         What Causes Accidents?

A.    Unsafe Working Conditions — Unsafe conditions are one main cause of accidents. Three other work-related accident factors: the job itself, the work schedule, and the psychological climate of the workplace.

1.     Safety Climate — A set of mostly psychological factors that set the stage for employees to act unsafely.

2.     Other Working Condition Factors — Work schedules and fatigue also affect accident rates.

3.     Unsafe Acts — People usually cause accidents through unsafe acts.

4.     What Traits Characterize “Accident-Prone” People? — People who are impulsive, extremely extroverted, and less conscientious have more accidents.

III.        How to Prevent Accidents

A.    Reduce Unsafe Conditions — Reducing unsafe conditions is always an employer’s first line of defense. Safety engineers should design jobs to remove hazards; additionally, supervisors and managers should help identify and remove potential hazards.

 1.  Job Hazard Analysis — A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating hazards before they occur.

2.   Operational Safety Reviews — Reviews conducted by agencies to ascertain whether units under their jurisdiction are complying with all the applicable safety laws, regulations, orders, and rules.

B.   Provide Personal Protective Equipment ¾ After addressing unsafe conditions, management can make available personal protective equipment (PPE). For example, Prevent Blindness America estimates that each year, more than 700,000 Americans injure their eyes at work, and that employers could avoid 90% of these injuries with safety eyewear.

C.   Reduce Unsafe Acts ¾ First, identify and try to eliminate potential risks, such as unguarded equipment. Next, reduce potential distractions, such as noise, heat, and stress. Then, carefully screen and train employees.

D.  Screen to Reduce Unsafe Acts — Screening is another way to reduce unsafe acts. The basic aim is to isolate the trait that might predict accidents on the job in question, and then screen candidates for this trait.

E.   Provide Safety Training — Is especially appropriate for new employees. OSHA has published two booklets: Training Requirements under OSHA and Teaching Safety and Health in the Workplace.

F.  Use Posters, Incentives, and Positive Reinforcement — Should be combined with other tools to create a safety program.

G. Foster a Culture of Safety ¾ A facility with a safety-oriented culture exhibits: teamwork, communication and collaboration, a shared vision, assignment of critical safety functions to specific individuals and teams, and a continuous effort toward workplace safety.

H.   Establish a Safety Policy ¾ The company’s written safety policy should emphasize that accident prevention is of the utmost importance at the firm.

I.    Set Specific Loss Control Goals — For example, set safety goals in terms of frequency of lost-time injuries per number of full-time employees.

J.   Conduct Regular Safety and Health Inspections — On all premises for possible safety and health problems, using checklists as aids. All accidents and near misses should be investigated. A system should be in place for employees to notify management about hazardous conditions.

K.   Organize a Safety Committee ¾ Employee safety committees can improve workplace safety.

IV.        Employee Engagement Guide for Managers

A.    Miliken & Company-World-Class Safety Through Employee Engagement  — Miliken & Company designs, manufactures, and markets chemicals, floor coverings, protective fabrics, and textiles. They have highly engaged employees and extraordinarily low workplace illness and injury rates.

B.    The Miliken Safety Program — Run in each plant by each facility’s Safety Steering Committee, the program includes subcommittees for Rules & Procedures, Environmental, Fire & Emergency, Process Hazards, Ergonomics, PPE, Material Handling, and On/Off the Job Safety Awareness. Their engagement-based safety process is so effective that hundreds of other companies have visited to learn about it.

V.         Workplace Health: Problems and Remedies

A.   Chemicals, Air Quality, and Industrial Hygiene ¾ OSHA standards list exposure limits for about 600 chemicals, such as benzene. Managing such exposure hazards comes under the area of industrial hygiene, and involves recognition, evaluation, and control. First, the facility’s health and safety officers must recognize possible exposure hazards. Having identified a possible hazard, the evaluation phase involves determining how severe the hazard is. Finally, the hazard control phase involves eliminating or reducing the hazard. One of the downsides of opting for environmentally “green” office buildings is that sealed buildings can produce illnesses such as itchy eyes and trouble breathing, a phenomenon some call “sick building syndrome.”

B.   Alcoholism and Substance Abuse — Are serious and widespread problems at work because they usually lead to declines in the quality and quantity of work.

1.     Dealing with Substance Abuse — Various techniques can be used to deal with these problems, which start with testing, and include: disciplining, discharge, in-house counseling, and referral to an outside agency.

2.     Tools — Several tools are available to screen for alcohol or drug use.

C.   Job Stress and Burnout — A variety of external environmental factors can lead to job stress. Personal factors also influence stress—no two people react to the same job in the very same way. Human consequences of stress include anxiety, depression, anger, and various physical consequences. Organizational consequences include reductions in the quantity and quality of job performance, increased absenteeism and turnover, increased grievances, and increased health care costs. Stress is not necessarily dysfunctional; it can lead some people to be more productive or creative.

1.     Reducing Your Own Job Stress — Can range from getting more sleep and eating better to negotiating with your boss for realistic deadlines on important projects to reducing the amount of trivia to which you give your attention. The three-step stress-reduction technique involves: developing awareness; adjusting attitudes; and taking action. The HR department can take a positive role in reducing stress.

2.     What the Employer Can Do — One’s relationship with his or her immediate supervisor is an important factor in one’s peace of mind at work.

3.     Burnout — Burnout is the total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal. Some suggestions for alleviating burnout include: breaking your patterns; getting away from it all periodically; reassessing your goals in terms of their intrinsic worth; and thinking about your work.

4.     Depression ¾ Depressed workers cost their employers $44 billion per year in absenteeism or in reduced performance at work.

D.  Computer Monitor and Ergonomic Health Problems and How to Avoid Them —Short-term eye problems (such as burning, itching, tearing, eyestrain, and eye soreness), backaches, and neck aches are common complaints among video display operators. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has several recommendations for reducing these problems.

E.   Infectious Diseases ¾ Employers can take steps to prevent the entry or spread of infectious diseases. Steps include monitoring, daily medical screenings, denying access to other employees for 10 days, telling employees to stay home, cleaning work areas and surfaces regularly, and staggering breaks.

F.  Workplace Smoking ¾ In general, you can probably deny a job to a smoker as long as you don’t use smoking as a surrogate for prohibited discrimination. A “no-smokers-hired” policy does not seem to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act.

VI.        Occupational Security and Risk Management

A.  Enterprise Risk Management ¾ Potential risks include, for instance, natural disaster risks, financial risks, and risks to the firm’s computer systems.   However, human capital risks would also rank high. These include safety risks like those we discussed in this chapter. Identifying security and other corporate risks falls within the domain of enterprise risk management, which means identifying risks, and planning to and actually mitigating these risks.

B.  Preventing and Dealing with Violence at Work — Violence against employees has become an enormous problem at work, including homicide and robbery.

1.   Improve Employee Screening — Screen potentially explosive employees and applicants by instituting a rigorous pre-employment investigation as a line of defense.

2.   Use Workplace Violence Training — Should supplement enhanced security and screening.

C.  Setting up a Basic Security Program ¾ Instituting a basic facility security program requires four steps: analyzing the current level of risk, and then installing mechanical, natural, and organizational security systems.

D. Emergency Plans and Business Continuity ¾ The possibility of emergencies prompted by fires, attacks, and similar issues means that employers need facility continuity and emergency plans. Such plans should cover early detection of a problem, methods for communicating the emergency externally, and communications plans for initiating an evacuation.

E. Terrorism — There are several steps an organization can take to protect its employees and physical assets from a terror attack.  Employers should also advise their employees who are traveling for business.

Occupational Safety and         The law passed by Congress in 1970 “to assure so far as possible every

Health Act of 1970                    working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working conditions and to preserve our human resources.”

Occupational Safety and         The agency created within the Department of Labor to set safety and

Health Administration              health standards for almost all workers in the United States.

(OSHA)                                    

Citations                                  Summons informing employers and employees of the regulations and standards that have been violated in the workplace.

Job hazard analysis                 A systematic approach to identifying and eliminating hazards before they occur, and focuses on the relationship between the worker, the task, the tools, and the work environment and ends by reducing the potential risks to acceptable levels.

Operational safety reviews      Reviews conducted by agencies to ascertain whether units under their jurisdiction are complying with all the applicable safety laws, regulations, orders, and rules.

Safety awareness program      Program that enables trained supervisors to orient new workers arriving at a job site regarding common safety hazards and simple prevention methods.

Workaholic                               People who feel driven to always be on time and meet deadlines and so normally place themselves under greater stress than do others.

Burnout                                    The total depletion of physical and mental resources caused by excessive striving to reach an unrealistic work-related goal.

14-1.    Discuss OSHA and how it operates. This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.

14-2.     Explain in detail three basic causes of accidents.  Unsafe conditions are one main cause of accidents. Three other work-related accident factors are: the job itself, the work schedule, and the psychological climate of the workplace.

14-3.     Discuss major health problems at work and how to remedy them.  This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.

14-4.     Discuss the basic facts about OSHA—its purpose, standards, inspection, and rights and responsibilities. This item can be assigned as a Discussion Question in MyManagementLab. Student responses will vary.

14-5.     Explain the supervisor’s role in safety. Beyond trying to make the workplace safe, the basic aim of the supervisor is to instill in workers the desire to work safely. Then, when needed, enforce safety rules.

14-6.     Explain what causes unsafe acts. Three basic causes are chance occurrences, unsafe conditions, and unsafe acts. People are the main cause of unsafe acts. Some researchers say that certain personal characteristics are the basis for behavior tendencies that result in unsafe acts. To most psychologists, accident proneness is a personality type.

14-7.     Explain how an employee could reduce stress at work. Both environmental and personal factors can lead to job stress. If individuals are feeling dysfunctional levels of stress due to the work schedule, pace of work, job security, and number or nature of clients, modifications in these factors should be made. Because personal factors influence stress, health and exercise programs can be initiated. Sometimes counseling should be sought, especially through an EAP, or a job more suitable to the individual should be found. You may seek out other organizational remedies that may be available, such as job transfers or counseling.

14-8.     Working individually or in groups, answer the question, “Is there such a thing as an accident-prone person?” Develop your answer using examples of actual people you know who seemed to be accident prone on some endeavor. Yes and no. Although most psychologists agree that accident proneness is not universal, most do agree that it is situational. For example, personality traits may distinguish accident-prone workers on jobs involving risk, and lack of motor skills may distinguish accident-prone workers on jobs involving coordination. Many human traits have been found to be related to accident repetition in specific situations.

14-9.     Working individually or in groups, compile a list of the factors at work in school that create dysfunctional stress for you. What methods do you use for dealing with the stress? The students should refer to the section of the chapter on reducing job stress to compile their lists of stress factors and methods for dealing with the stress.

14-10.   An issue of the journal Occupational Hazards presented some information about what happens when OSHA refers criminal complaints about willful violations of OSHA standards to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Between 1982 and 2002, OSHA referred 119 fatal cases allegedly involving willful violations of OSHA to DOJ for criminal prosecution. The DOJ declined to pursue 57 percent of them, and some were dropped for other reasons. Of the remaining 51 cases, the DOJ settled 63 percent with pretrial settlements involving no prison time. So, counting acquittals, of the 119 cases OSHA referred to the DOJ, only nine resulted in prison time for at least one of the defendants. “The Department of Justice is a disgrace,” charged the founder of an organization for family members of workers killed on the job. One possible explanation for this low conviction rate is that the crime in cases such as these is generally a misdemeanor, not a felony, and the DOJ generally tries to focus its attention on felony cases. Given this information, what implications do you think this has for how employers and their managers should manage their safety programs, and why do you take that position? Hopefully students will understand that it really should not have any implication as to how they should manage their safety programs. Just as was discussed in the chapter on Ethics, Justice, and Fair Treatment, the legal implications should be the least of the motivations for doing what is right. Just because the penalties may not be severe is not a reason to allow unsafe conditions to exist.

14-11.   Recently, a 315-foot-tall, 2-million-pound erection crane collapsed on a construction site in East Toledo, Ohio, killing four ironworkers. Do you think catastrophic failures like this are avoidable? If so, what steps would you suggest the general contractor take to avoid a disaster like this? Without knowing the specifics, the likelihood is that the failure was avoidable. Most such failures are the result of someone working outside of known safety parameters, or not following (or having established) safety procedures that assure that things are done correctly.

14-12.   In groups of three or four students, spend 15 minutes walking around the building in which your class is held or where you are now, listing possible natural, mechanical, and organizational security measures you’d suggest to the building’s owner. Students should take seriously the assignment and provide a list of measures that show a full understanding of the chapter.

14-13.   The PHR and SPHR Knowledge Base Appendix (pages 483-491) lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI certification exam needs to have in each area of human resource management (such as in Strategic Manage-ment, Workforce Planning, and Human Resource Development). In groups of four to five students, do four things: (1) Review that appendix now. (2) Identify the material in this chapter that relates to the required knowledge the appendix lists. (3) Write four multiple-choice exam questions on this material that you believe would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam. And (4) if time permits, have someone from your team post your team’s questions in front of the class, so the students in other teams can take each others’ exam questions. The material in this chapter that relates to Appendix A are listed in Section 05, Responsibilities Parts 01 – 11, “Employee and Labor Relations”. A sample question, answer, and explanation is available from http://www.certgear.com/products/preview/sphr_certification/index.html.

Students can find the following assisted-graded writing questions at mymanagementlab.com:

14-14. Explain how to prevent accidents at work.

14-15. How would you go about providing a safer work environment for your employees?

HR in Action Case Incident 1: The Office Safety and Health Program

14-16.   Based upon your knowledge of health and safety matters and your actual observations of operations that are similar to ours, make a list of the potential hazardous conditions employees and others face at LearnInMotion.com. What should they do to reduce the potential severity of the top five hazards? Tripping, ergonomic, and electrical hazards top the list (with several specific items in each). There are many techniques and products available to help reduce all these hazards. Safety procedures are also needed (not working on any electrical item such as computers while they are plugged in).

14-17.   Would it be advisable for us to set up a procedure for screening out stress-prone or accident-prone individuals? Why or why not? If so, how should they screen them? There are a number of issues here. One likely question from students is whether accident-prone behavior can change with training or incentives. In most cases, training and incentives can resolve the problem. Some students may argue that screening out employees who are accident-prone raises ethical issues.

14-18.   Write a short position paper on the subject, what should we do to get all our employees to behave more safely at work? The paper should include insights gained from this chapter or work experiences they have. Look for reasonableness and the likelihood of adoption in real life.

14-19.   Based on what you know and on what other dot-coms are doing, write a short position paper on the subject, “What can we do to reduce the potential problems of stress and burnout in our company?” The long hours and high pressure need to be reduced, or at least offset in some ways. Look for creative ways to accomplish this using various stress-related techniques. You may start at a place such as: http://www.forbes.com/sites/victorlipman/2012/06/05/one-easy-way-to-reduce-workplace-stress-and-enhance-producitivity/.

HR in Action Case Incident 2: Carter Cleaning Company: Motivating Safe Behavior

14-20.   How should the firm go about identifying hazardous conditions that should be rectified? Use data and checklists such as in Figure 14.4 and the Management Skills feature on pages 426 – 429, to list at least 10 possible dry cleaning store hazardous conditions. Using the information provided in the case, Internet research, and their personal knowledge, the students should be able to list at least 10 potential hazards in a dry cleaning store, if not more. These hazards should not be limited to chemical hazards, but should include physical, mechanical, and electrical hazards as well.

14-21.   Would it be advisable for the firm to set up a procedure for screening out accident-prone individuals? How should it do so? There are a number of issues here. One likely question from students is whether accident-prone behavior can change with training or incentives. In most cases, training and incentives can resolve the problem. Some students may argue that screening out employees who are accident-prone raises ethical issues.

14-22.   In general, how would you suggest the Carters get all employees to behave more safely at work? The students should suggest that Carter’s management contact OSHA for assistance in developing safety policies and procedures on the job, along with including suggestions discussed in the chapter.

14-23.   Describe in detail how you would use motivation to get those who should be wearing goggles to do so. They should make it clear that those who violate the policies will be disciplined, and then follow up by doing it. If employees see that management is serious about it and that they will be disciplined, or even lose their jobs, they will begin to use them.

Experiential Exercise: How Safe Is My University?

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice in identifying unsafe conditions.

Required Understanding: You should be familiar with material covered in this chapter, particularly that on unsafe conditions and that in Figure 14.4.

How to Set Up the Exercise/Instructions: Divide the class into groups of four. Assume that each group is a safety committee retained by your college or university’s safety engineer to identify and report on any possible unsafe conditions in and around the school building.

Each group will spend about 45 minutes in and around the building you are now in for the purpose of identifying and listing possible unsafe conditions. (Make use of Figure 14.4, and the Management Skills feature on pp. 426–429.)

Return to the class in about 45 minutes. A spokesperson for each group should list on the board the unsafe conditions you think you have identified. How many were there? Do you think these also violate OSHA standards? How would you go about checking?

Students may identify a variety of safety concerns around the building.  They should check entrances and exits to the building and the grounds surrounding the building.  This creates an opportunity to discuss the fact that safety is a concern in any setting.  Some might think that safety is only a concern at a factory or a construction site.  Students should then explore OSHA’s website at www.osha.gov to better understand OSHA standards.

1.     According to information at http://www.shrm.org/research/benchmarks/pages/default.aspx, what sorts of benchmarking information can an employer request from SHRM? SHRM benchmarking reports include more than 140 metrics including: HR department budgets and headcount, cost-per-hire, time-to-fill, turnover, health care coverage, stop-loss coverage amounts, as well as pharmaceutical co-pay amounts, deductibles, 401(k) contributions, short- and long-term disability insurance, and percentage of organizations providing profit-sharing to name just a few.

2.     Assume you are an HR manager and want to compile a list of what to check in your HR audit. Use sites such as www.hraudit.com to compile your list. The HR Audit website indicates a number of audit items including, but not limited to, the assessment process which includes interviews with senior managers, focus groups, attitudinal surveys, review of policies and procedures, internal records, employment data, resources, staffing, and processes.

1.     Why is it important to establish a culture of safety?  What characterizes a safety-oriented culture?   A culture of safety guides employees to make safety a priority.   As a result, an organization will create a more safe work environment with fewer accidents and injuries.  A safety-oriented culture is characterized by teamwork, highly visible communication on safety, a belief that all accidents are avoidable, accountability of critical safety functions, and a continuous effort toward identifying and correcting safety problems. 

2.     What steps can an organization take to prevent workplace violence?   There are several steps organizational leaders and HR can take to prevent violence in the workplace.  First, the recruiting process can screen for potentially violent employees to avoid hiring them.  Next, the organization can train supervisors to identify clues that typify potentially violent employees.   Finally, the organization should set up a basic security program.  The program should assess the current level of risk at the organization and then improve security.

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