Thursday, December 5, 2019

Safety And Security In The Workplace free essay sample

In any business organization, human resources are one of the most important assets (Ahmad, 2015). In order for any organization to be successful, human resource needs to be managed properly (Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014). The safe and security of employees at workplace need to be ensured in order to have a good work environment which in turn helps in retaining the best employees as well as results in strategic measurable benefits (Loeppke et al., 2015). A companys large proportion of cost goes into managing its human resource as they are the ones actually running the firm. According to the Geldart et-al, the risks that related to health and safety of employees in an organization including the public, as well as others who may get affected because of such risks, are referred to as Workplace Health and Safety (Geldart et al., 2010).This essay aims to highlight the importance of workplace safety and security in a business organization, tries to identify the problems as well as proposes some solutions to counter the problems. Later the essay article highlights the methods and ways to effectively manage the safety and security of human resource in the best interest of the business organization.This essay has started with the introduction of the workplace and human resources along with highlighting the importance of workplace safety and security measures. The next section will discuss various problems and hazards related to workplace health and safety. Later, some proposed solutions to counter the problems of workplace health and safety are being introduced. And the past will conclude this essay.ProblemsThere are a number of problems when it comes to workplace health and safety measures. Not many organisations, especially in under-developed and developing countries, focus on workplace security and safety and thus there have been numerous deaths and fatalities at the workplace in such countries (Dawn, 2018). Even in the developed nations, there have been many disasters of workplace violence as well as employees and workers getting killed due to unforeseen hazards and problems within the factories and organisations.It is imperative to mention health and safety hazards while discussing workplace safety. Hazard is anything or situation which has the ability to cause harm or injury and thus compromise someones health and safety (Brooks, 2003). Moving machinery parts, toxic or materials which are flammable, heavy lifting to things physically without using proper cranes are all part of workplace hazards. Other than these, working on slippery floors without wearing non-slippery boots or shoes, electricity workers without having proper insulation clothes, working at heights and places having noise pollution all contribute towards hazards that are threats to workplace health and safety of employees and human resource.Along with these, there are multiple kinds of health hazards which include workers working in mines and in labs or in situations with chemical substances such as acids (Douglas and Peterside, 2016; Okafoagu et al., 2017), as well as strong physical energy sources such as radiations, noise, vibrations, extreme heat or extreme cold temperatures, volcanic and natural disaster prone areas of workplace, biological agents such as viruses, bacteria etc as well as workplace harassment and violence (Lippel et al., 2016; Nielsen et al., 2017), working in mountainous areas and places with land sliding (Fell et al., 2008; Guzzetti et al., 1999), depression due to being working in isol ation etc (Leka et al. , 2015). There is a strong need to cater to all such threats and hazards in order for any organisation to ensure workplace health and safety for its employees and workers.SolutionsIn order to ensure the safety of employees and human resource, the organizations and its management may introduce and take following measures such as:Ensuring worldwide safety standards.Having a fire extinguisher in each department/section within the organisation.Safety and emergency evacuation plan in case of fire, earthquake other unforeseen natural or unnatural disasters.Safety inspections being carried out from within the firm and from outside the company by government agencies as well as from labour and health department to ensure compliance with the international and local health and safety laws implementation status.Safety trackingDevise appropriate policies and procedures for all kind of emergencies and implement them. In countries where there is a risk of terrorists attack or robbery, the organisation needs to have armed guards and security personnel within the organisations premises.By training of employees on safety measures and first aid.Identification of potential hazards in advance and takes appropriate measures to prevent them from happening.By ensuring the use of proper equipment and safety clothing while working and risky and extreme conditionsConclusionThis essay has discussed various health and safety issues in the workplace for employees. Although human resources are the most important strategic asset of any organisation, still not many are interested or take appropriate measures and actions to ensure their safety and security especially in underdeveloped countries such as Nigeria and Pakistan. A number of problems and health and safety hazard are being identified and discussed the problems section of this essay article using the available online literature from peer-reviewed articles a nd news sources. Later some solutions based on personal opinion have been proposed in the solutions sections of this essay. And the last part has provided the summary of this whole article along with concluding this essay.ReferencesAhmad, S., 2015. Green human resource management: Policies and practices. Cogent Business ; Management 2, 1030817.Brooks, N., 2003. Vulnerability, risk, and adaptation: A conceptual framework. Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research Working Paper 38, 1–16.Dawn (2018). Six Kalat coal miners die of suffocation Newspaper DAWN.COM [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://www. dawn.com/news/1399669/six-kalat-coal-miners-die-of-suffocation [Accessed 19th April 2018].Douglas, K.E., Peterside, S.S., 2016. Assessment of workplace hazards in mortuaries in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Port Harcourt Medical Journal 10, 102.Fell, R., Corominas, J., Bonnard, C., Cascini, L., Leroi, E. , Savage, W.Z., 2008. Guidelines for landslide susceptibility, hazard and risk zoning for land use planning. Engineering Geology 102, 85–98.Fulmer, I.S. , Ployhart, R.E., 2014. Our most important asset A multidisciplinary/multilevel review of human capital valuation for research and practice. Journal of Management 40, 161–192.Geldart, S., Smith, C. A., Shannon, H.S., Lohfeld, L., 2010. Organizational practices and workplace health and safety: A cross-sectional study in manufacturing companies. Safety Science 48, 562–569. Guzzetti, F., Carrara, A., Cardinali, M., Reichenbach, P., 1999. Landslide hazard evaluation: a review of current techniques and their application in a multi-scale study, Central Italy. Geomorphology 31, 181–216. Leka, S., Jain, A., Iavicoli, S., Di Tecco, C., 2015. An evaluation of the policy context on psychosocial risks and mental health in the workplace in the European Union: achievements, challenges, and the future. BioMed research international 2015. Lippel, K., Và ©zina, M., Bourbonnais, R., Funes, A., 2016. Workplace psychological harassment: gendered exposures and implications for policy. International journal of law and psychiatry 46, 74–87. Loeppke, R.R., Hohn, T., Baase, C., Bunn, W.B., Burton, W. N., Eisenberg, B.S., Ennis, T., Fabius, R., Hawkins, R.J. , Hudson, T.W., 2015. Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely aligning health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefits. Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 57, 585–597.Nielsen, M.B. , Glasà ¸, L., Einarsen, S. ale, 2017. Exposure to workplace harassment and the Five Factor Model of personality: A meta-analysis. Personality and individual differences 104, 195–206.Okafoagu, N.C. , Oche, M., Awosan, K.J., Abdulmulmuni, H.B., Gana, G.J. , Ango, J.T., Raji, I., 2017. Determinants of knowledge and safety practices of occupational hazards of textile dye workers in Sokoto, Nigeria: a descriptive analytic study. Journal of public health in Africa 8.

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