Brewing Workplace Tragedy

The Company’s goal is to have zero work-related illnesses or injuries. However, in order to attain this goal, it will require a team effort involving both the Company and the employees. Only through such a coordinated effort can this safety plan be established and sustained.

In the workplace employees need to put these safe ways of working into practice; for

Each day thousands of employees are subject to threats, harassment, intimidation, and verbal or physical attacks. According to OSHA, workplace homicide is the leading cause of death for women and the 2nd leading cause of death for men. This growing problem has mangers as well as employees uneasy about their safety at work. It also has employers concerned about the tremendous liability associated with incidents of workplace violence. Therefore, it would be beneficial to employers, managers and employees to have some knowledge of workplace violence. Additionally, employers have a legal and moral obligation to provide a safe working environment for their employees.

Workplace violence is the main issue in the United States expressed influencing a large number of American consistently. Working environment violence is any demonstration or danger of physical savagery, provocation, terrorizing, or other undermining problematic conduct that happens at the work site. It ranges from dangers and verbal mishandle to physical ambushes and even murder. It can influence and include workers, customers, nurses, patient, clients, and guests. Workplace violence can be discovered anywhere in every field we may accept the fact that it can happen in our workplace too, but the fewer people speak which is encouraging these criminals to prepare of making more atrocity. The occupational safety and health organization (OSHA) have created rules and suggestions to decrease laborer presentation to this deplorable scourge but still many people are being victimized their hands are tied up mouths are taped out to face the reality of what they are living through (OSHA 2015). OSHA’s paradigm incorporates the following elements: management commitment and employee involvement, hazard analysis or assessment, hazard controls, employee training, and recordkeeping and evaluation (McPhaul, London, & Lipscomb, 2013). As mentioned, these elements are basic guidelines in constructing a program, but more specific measures are needed to address specific precursors that contribute to the occurrence of violence and bullying. This would assist in forming the best strategies to remedy workplace violence and incivility.

by encouraging employers and employees in their efforts to reduce the number of occupational safety and health hazards at their places [4].

Developing a plan of action to defuse an individual immediately upon hearing about the violent behaviors. Zero Tolerance policy is key in prohibiting any kind of violence or threat and to advise termination for any acts of violence. Employees need to be notified of the policy and employers should make sure that they review the policy and sign to acknowledge it. Training should also be implemented in order to teach supervisors and employees in detection, reporting, and prevention of workplace violence. “It is important to instill a sense of responsibility in employees for preventing violence, and teach them to recognize the signs of potential or actual violence and to take appropriate action such as defusing or reporting it” (http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/labor_law/meetings/2008/ac2008/056.authcheckdam.pdf). Threat assessment team is another option in decreasing workplace violence by including an individual from human resources, security, EEO, decision-makers management, and unions. The team evaluates the risk of an individual, implement a confidential reporting center for complaints of workplace violence, and encourage employees to report incidents.

Safety is an important function of our daily lives and requires the same attention we give other functions and processes within our daily job routines. Over the years as we continue to do our jobs and the same processes we can become less safe by using short cuts to make a process easier for ourselves. Also, the equipment we use begins to age and breakdown and cause unsafe conditions. Safety professionals use many different types of safety programs to combat safety related issues or problems one may encounter on a job site. Employee involvement is the most important part of any safety program. Without employee involvement safety programs are not as successful, because employees are sometimes not aware of the process and steps in place to protect them.

Data from the Bureau of Labor statistics states that over 4.1 million people were injured on the job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). All levels of government have passed laws to regulate and maintain safety in the workplace. There are two basic levels of workplace safety laws that affect most workers. On a state level it is workers' compensation laws. On a federal level it is the Occupation Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010). When it comes to the various objectives, policies, and operations of these two levels of law, one will notice how

This responsibility motivates the HR department and managers to implement stringent policies to prevent work-related injuries to avoid paying for higher workers’ compensation insurance. Moreover, it inspires the company to promote safety by organizing a safety committee to address hazards in the workplace to prevent injuries or deaths. The committee solicits employee suggestions and participation to increase compliance to company policies. It also develops various safety programs to promote employee wellness to improve their quality of life (Gomez-Mejia, et al, 2010).

Many employees have stated that their workplace environments are harmful and unsafe. Employee fatigue, long working hours and the hiring of inexperienced labor have not only led to hundreds of injuries over the last decade but also hundreds of deaths. The Texas City, Texas plant is just one of many in which such “life or death” occurrences have impacted the safety of employees. In 2005 an explosion that killed 15 people has been said to have occurred due to employee fatigue after being forced to work long hours that ultimately contributed to employees making bad decisions.

With the critical considerations of the case, Sopranos Smallgoods has been confronted with a diverse set of negative issues relative to workplace safety. The fundamental employees and supervisors have the low level of attitudes and behaviours to support workplace safety, and the company of Sopranos does not have the effective mechanism and physical infrastructure facilities to support the workplace safety mission.

Employers must provide a safe working environment and equipment / uniform / signs to ensure the employees are as safe as they can be. Customers are also provided with a safe store to shop in and measures are put in place to ensure everyone’s safety in kept in tact

There are a number of responsibilities that both an employer and employee has for the security of themselves and others, for example employers; must create emergency plans which are visible to all individuals within the business and all employees should be aware of these emergency plans so that they can follow procedure in such events efficiently to prevent danger to themselves or their colleagues. Employers should also ensure ventilation, temperature; lighting and facilities meet the safety and welfare requirements, but in order to ensure that these meet the correct standards employees have a duty of care to report them if they do not meet the correct standard.

It is critically important to protect employees and employers from violence in the work place. Because it can cause a shock of those employees

The companies’ employees are the main people affected by this incident so the message to them should be from someone responsible in the company such as an owner, ceo, president, or vice president. The employees need to know that this incident is the priority for the company and that they are involved. The message should cover the main points that are important to the employees and the organization. This message should let the employees know that they are not alone or forgotten. Making sure the employees understand that the company is involved will also insure the employees that are not trapped that they would not be of less value if they were trapped in a situation like this one. Employees need to know that they count in any situation and that their safety is of high regards to the company.