EMP 5103
RELIABILITY, QUALITY AND SAFETY ENGINEERING
EMP 5103 TERM PROJECT ON: WORKPLACE SAFETY
SUMMARY
In this paper, workplace safety is discussed. Analysis of historical data on workplace accidents were used to establish the need and importance of workplace safety.
Relationship between Safety and Reliability Engineering was established to show how reliability engineering techniques and methods can be used to evaluate, identify risk prone activities and machines, with a view of reducing to the bear minimum the faulty equipment and/or factors that cause workplace accidents.
Safety management and safety programs like
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Alice Hamilton became the first woman physician appointed to a faculty position at Harvard University, where she worked at the School of Public Health promoting safe and healthful work practices in the United States. She has been recognized as the leader of the occupational medicine movement in the United States, which came relatively late compared with that in Europe.
Early humans took necessary precautions to guard against natural hazards around them. Also, in 2000 B.C., Hammurabi, an ancient Babylonian ruler, developed a code known as Code of Hammurabi. This code included clauses on items such as monetary damages against people who caused injury to others and allowable fees for physicians.
It is Workplace Safety has been an age old issue. Humans have always sought to be safe and secure within their workplace while also ensuring the protection and prolong use of machines and equipment.
Timeline for the Development of Safety
- Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD): during grinding tasks, workers were instructed that they must wear masks (historia naturalis)
- 1893 in the USA: Rail Safety Act
- 1938 in the USA: Food, Drugs and Cosmetic Act
- 1970: Occupational Safety and Health Act
- Nuclear regulatory commission
- Consumer product safety
- Commission
- National Transportation Safety Board
- Federal Aviation Agency (FAA)
1.2 WORKPLACE SAFETY.
Safety is the preservation of human life and the prevention of accidents and damage
Accordingly, they found 48 employer safety obligations (e.g., provide personal protective equipment, reward safe working behaviour, and investigates hazards and risks), and 36 employee safety obligation items such as use work equipment properly, report safety incident, and follow safety rules.. However, even though they did not use psychometrically validated measurement, those obligation items can be used in the measuring physical psychological safety. Thus, physical risk psychological safety items will be derived from this measurement.
Thousands of years ago a King Hammurabi wrote a set of 282 laws called Hammurabi’s Code to protect the weak. Hammurabi’s Code was just by it protecting the family. In addition, it protected the property by helping people in need. Finally, it protected personal injury by it giving aid to the injured.
The safety concerns can be resolved through companywide mandatory safety training. There were only about half of the employees whom felt safe and to increase the percentage safety has to be a top priority of the company. Safety training can be done in various ways such as regular session with supervisors, managers, and employees are often coordinated by HR
It is most important risk factor in every body’s workplace, occupational health and safety regulation requires that all foreseeable hazards are identified and the risk arising from these are hazards are controlled. The hazards are also include object in the workplace, such as machinery chemicals. Sometimes in the workplace the customers or employer are injured so they compliance breach and customer charge and reputation is
Due to the high rate of illnesses, accidents and injuries in the industry, the organization further developed a hazard recognition program. This was greatly supported by the directives and the standards the organization drafted. The organization also set a safety and health program. This mainly depended on the credibility of management’s involvement in the program. This program provided for the inclusion of the employees in the program. The program also provided for the inclusion of the employees in the different decision making processes such as the safety and health decisions. The employees were also to be included in the decisions that involved change in the work site practices and conditions. The program addressed hazards despite failure by the government standard to regulate it (Brain Mass, 2010).
Hence, it would be important for a researcher to explore how work place safety practices of policies affect either employee productivity or the general organizational productivity. The following research question can be developed along this proposal to pursue further light on the issue
According to the Bureau of Labor, statistics indicate that more than 4.1 million people were hurt or injured on-the-job in 2006 and 5,488 were killed in 2007 (Gomez-Mejia, Balkin, & Cardy, 2010, p. 511). Laws and regulatory requirements are currently in place to standardize and promote workplace safety. Organizations with extensive safety programs have reduced number of accidents, decreased workers’ compensation claims and lawsuits and lesser accident-related expenditures (Gomez-Mejia, et al, 2010, p. 511). This paper discusses the effects of legal, safety and regulatory requirements in
At forty years old, Dr. Alice Hamilton became a pioneer in industrial medicine. In 1910, the governor of Illinois appointed her to investigate rumors that workers in Chicago’s paint factories were dying from lead poisoning. The result of her investigation was the first state law that was to protect workers.
This chapter begins with perspectives on work-related risks—both the avoidable and the unavoidable. The legal backdrop includes the watershed Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970, embodying a national policy to reduce or prevent occupational harms, and laws designed to compensate those who suffer them. In the final section we explore the twenty-first-century global dimensions of workplace health and safety. Throughout, we pay particular attention those who are most vulnerable.
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
Employers, managers and supervisors should all ensure that workplace practices reflect the risk assessment and safety statement. Behavior, the way in which everyone works, must reflect the safe working practices laid down in these documents. Supervisory checks and audits should be carried out to determine how well the aims set down are being achieved. Corrective action should be taken when required. Additionally, if a workplace is provided for use by others. The safety statement must also set out the safe work practices that are relevant to them. Hence, it is
Defining acceptable risk is difficult because the degree to which defining 'acceptable' is situational. The level of occupational risk acceptable for someone who is a professional auto racer is different from an acceptable level of risk for someone who is a teacher. Calculating risk involves determining the probability and severity of likely safety incidents (Manuele 101). However, the degree of toleration of such risks will depend on the organizational culture of the institution (a fitness company might be more tolerant of the risks of taking employees on a mountain-climbing 'bonding' expedition than an accounting firm) and also its location (international firms are aware of the fact that certain areas of the world are more dangerous than others). However, regardless of the organizational culture, it is the responsibility of the safety professional to reinforce the message that safety is an important and valuable consideration that employers must take proactive steps to ensure. Managers must incorporate the principles of safety into the organization's vision, values, rules, and directives (Manuele 80-81).
Organized labor has played a major part in the development of the safety movement. Sometimes management would think of organized labor use of safety issues as an advantage for better pay for the workers. On the positive side, the organized labor helped overturn the anti-labor laws relating to safety in the workplace (Goetsch, 2011). Through all the years of the past, safety concerns was nothing more than an expense that management and owners did not want to experience.
As you may have recently heard, lately we received news from the corporate headquarters that it would be in the best interest of the entire company to pay more attention to matters of preventing accidents and any other safety-related measures that affect the workplace, including both office and field activities related to all types of jobs that we complete. Every single employee in each office at every branch needs to be mindful in this regard so that he/she is most efficient and effective in the daily performance of his/her everyday tasks that relate to their job responsibilities so that safety is
Regardless of the nature of their work, workers should be able to carry out their responsibilities in a safe and secure working environment, free from hazards