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EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY

Chapter18

Human Resource Management

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Introduction

• Poor occupational health and safety performance equates with poor human resource management, and poor legal and social responsibility.

• Occupational health and safety problems account for eleven times more lost production time in Australia than industrial disputes.

• The ultimate responsibility rests with the employer.

• Health and safety performance is intimately linked to organisational performance and culture.

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The Benefits of a Safe Work Environment

Improved personal safety Reduced overheads Reduced claims Insurance premium control Reduced uninsured losses Reduced retraining and relocation Improved production Reduced spoilage and wastage Reduced machine shut-down Reduced re-work

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Government Regulation

• Because of constitutional limitations, most legislation continues to be generated by the states. As a consequence, a major obstacle to improving overall occupational health and safety performance has been the lack of consistency across Australia.

• The titular head of the Australian system is the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (now called Worksafe Australia).

• Under its auspices, all Australian states have now adopted similar health and safety legislation which emphasises a duty of care on employers and workers through education and information rather than detailed regulation.

• Worksafe Australia sets national standards.

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Employer Duties• Provide and maintain safe plant and systems of work• Arrange safe systems of work with plant and substances• Provide a safe working environment• Provide adequate welfare facilities, i.e change rooms, dining

areas and lockers• Provide adequate information on hazards, instruction, training

and supervision to enable employees to work safely.• Monitor the health of their employees• Keep information and records relating to the health and safety

of their employees• Employ or engage suitably qualified persons to provide advice

to employees the health and safety• Monitor conditions at any workplace under their control and

management • Provide information to employees in appropriate languages.

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Employee Duties

• To take care of their own health and safety, and the health and safety of any other person.

• To cooperate with their employer with respect to any action the employer has taken to meet their legal responsibilities under the Act.

• E.g., the Act requires employees to follow the safe working procedures set by the company, to wear any personal protective clothing and equipment provided and to adhere to site safety rules which might cover things such as speed limits, not smoking and so on.

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Workplace Consultative Structures

There are two types of consultative structure:

• health and safety representatives each representing the interests of a group of workers (designated work group/DWG)

• a health and safety committee covering the workplace as a whole.

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Designated Work Groups

• Under section 29 of the Act, an employee may ask the employer to establish designated work groups or the employer can initiate these negotiations.

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Election of Health and Safety Representatives

• Section 30 of the Act provides for the election of a health and safety representative (HSR) within each designated work group.

• All workers in the group are entitled to vote in the election for the health and safety representative.

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Functions of HSRs• Inspect any part of the workplace at which a member of

the representative’s designated work group works.• Accompany an inspector during an inspection of the

workplace.• With the consent of the employee, be present at an

interview between the employee and an inspector, or employer, concerning a health and safety matter.

• Issues provisional improvement notices after consultation with the person to whom the notice is to be issued.

• The employer must allow HSRs to take paid time off work as necessary to perform their duties or to take part in any approved training course.

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Occupational Health & Safety Committees

• Longer term issues relating to workers’ health and safety in a workplace may be dealt with by a joint employer–worker health and safety committee.

• Essentially, the role of a health and safety committee is to look at the broader policy matters relating to health and safety in the workplace, and to review existing policies and procedures.

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Managing Health and Safety Issues

• Organizations are required to have agreed procedures for dealing with health and safety issues, and to nominate management representatives who are responsible for dealing with specified health and safety issues.

• Section 33 of the Act provides that health and safety representatives can issue provisional Improvement Notices (PINs). These are legal directions which assert non-compliance with a provision of the Act and/or regulations, and require that the contravention be remedied.

• An employer may appeal against a PIN within seven days of its being served.

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Advantages of a Safe & Healthy Work Place

• more productivity due to fewer absenteeism• more efficiency from workers who are more involved with

their jobs• reduced medical and compensation rates and direct

payment because of fewer claims being filed• lower rates of turnover and absenteeism due in part to

increased worker satisfaction and involvement• greater flexibility and adaptability in the workplace as a

result of increased participation and feeling of ownership• greater selection ratios because of the increased

attractiveness of the organisation as a place to work

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Evaluation of Health and Safety Performance

Workplace inspections Safety tours Safety sampling Behaviour sampling Probabilistic risk assessments HAZOP/HAZAN techniques Management Oversight and Risk Tree

(MORT) Job Safety Analysis (JSA)

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Sexual Harassment• Sexual harassment includes unwelcome sexual advances,

unwanted and persistent physical contact, indecent sexual language and offensive comments, open discussion of a person’s sexual behaviour and the unnecessary display of sexual material.

• Victims often suffer low self-esteem, anger, stress, humiliation, disinterest in the job and a feeling of powerlessness.

• HR managers need, therefore, to introduce appropriate policies, training and supervision to guarantee every employee’s right to work in an environment free from sexual harassment.

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Smoking

• More companies are enacting workplace smoking policies

• Demands by employees and customers for a smoke-free environment, the risk of health care costs, increased government regulation and concerns over potential sizeable legal liabilities if sued by employees who develop illnesses from passive smoking.

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Substance Abuse• Address the problem of alcohol and drug abuse squarely.• Establish clear rules and enforce them consistently.• Conduct proper investigations of suspected violations.• Follow appropriate disciplinary guidelines.• Train supervisors and educate employees.• Develop a policy on rehabilitation or employee assistance.• Be sensitive to employees’ privacy rights.• Take reasonable steps to protect employees and others

from harm caused by substance abusers.• Know the applicable statutes and regulations.• Practise good employee relations.

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Workplace and Domestic Violence

• All types of employees can encounter anger and aggression in the workplace — police, parking officers, nurses, receptionists, teachers, domestic helpers — virtually anyone in a regulatory, social or service role.

• With the present labour market turbulence, a new type of violent behaviour is being expressed by workers who have been dismissed, retrenched or demoted.

• The challenge exists for HR managers not only to find ways of protecting employees from violence but of addressing the pervasive fear and anxiety these incidents induce.

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Workplace Bullying

• Bullying includes:– persecuting or ganging up on an individual, – making unreasonable demands or setting impossible work

targets, – restrictive and petty work rules, – constant intrusive surveillance, shouting, abusive language, – physical assault: and – open or implied threats of dismissal or demotion.

• The incidence of bullying is higher in workplaces with autocratic and arbitrary management.

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Work–Family Conflict

People do not work in isolation. Everyday events affect them such as:

– the birth of babies

– coping with infertility

– women re-entering the work force

– adolescent troubles, within the normal to crisis range

•mid-life stresses, including marriage breakdown, living alone and re-marriage.

More and more organisations are reorganising the traditional way work has been structured because it is no longer compatible with the needs of today’s working families.

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Employee Stress What Is Stress?

• Stress has been described as the rate of wear and tear on the body caused by living.

• In itself, stress is neither good nor bad.

• In fact, some degree of stress is normal and necessary for day-to-day survival.

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STRESS

External factors• Economic conditions• Government laws and regulations• Travel• Climate• Community values• Crime• Personal and family affairs

Work factors• Work load• Relationships• Organisational climate• Change• Physical environment• Role ambiguity

Personal factors• Needs• Type A behaviour

Sources of Stress

23Low High

Stress

Low

High

Performance

Optimum stimulation

Stress and performance curve

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Decision Making and Stress• One of the most common causes of stress in managers is

the inability to make decisions and take action.

• As stress inhibits decision making, a vicious cycle can quickly be established.

• The manager puts off decisions and then becomes overwhelmed with a backlog of problems. Procrastination in decision making may totally immobilise a manager.

• It is a myth that delay improves the quality of a decision.

• It is not a myth, however, that delay in decision making is a sure way to increase stress.

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Symptoms Of Stress• a general washed-out feeling• feeling ‘nervy’, tense or ‘uptight’• indigestion• high blood pressure• insomnia• restlessness and a general inability to concentrate• increase in use of drugs, including alcohol• increase in smoking• change in eating habits• inability to relax• aches and pains• sexual difficulties

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1. Allow employees to talk freely with one another.2. Reduce personal conflicts on the job.3. Give employees adequate control over how they do their work.4. Ensure that staffing budgets are adequate.5. Talk openly with employees.6. Support employees’ efforts.7. Provide competitive personal leave and vacation benefits.8. Maintain current levels of employee benefits.9. Reduce the amount of red tape for employees.10.Recognise and reward employees for their accomplishments and contributions.

How to Reduce Employee Stress

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The Management of Stress

• Relaxation

• Exercise

• Diet

• Talk

• Planning and time management

• Delegation

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Living With Stress

• All employees need to recognise that stress need not be destructive.

• Awareness of the symptoms and causes of stress permits appropriate interventions.

• Too much stress can cause employee inefficiency and physical and mental breakdown.

• However, employee burnout is avoidable.