Page 256 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Unit 14: Workplace Safety and Health

Notes
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Case Study It's the Matter of Safety

r. Anuj, safety engineer for a manufacturing company was walking through the
plant when he spotted a situation that immediately caught his attention. Some
Memployees had backed out of a room where several chemicals were used in a
critical manufacturing process. Anuj inspected the room but could not determine that
anything was wrong or even different from any other day. He was puzzled as to why the
workers were reluctant to resume their tasks. As it turned out, the employees were not
only hesitant to return to work, they were adamant in maintaining that conditions in the
room were unhealthy. The room was full of hazardous substances, placed all over in an
untidy manner. The stores in charge went on a long leave to complete the marriage of his
only daughter. The person in charge currently is not able to cope up with the challenge
and is not able to meet the frequent demands of various departments, especially during
rush hours, and position the dangerous stuff in an appropriate manner. Apart from causing
irritation and breathlessness in the nearby areas, the positioning of dangerous materials
all around has become a topic of debate and discussion among working class during their
informal gatherings. Sensing an opportunity to attack management, one of the
representatives from a minority union has been raking up this issue again and again-
during the last two or three days-putting an accusing finger on the problem causing
trouble to workers in the chemicals department. Anuj and the group's supervisor, Mr.
Sharma, discussed the situation and wondered whether they should order the people to
resume work since the department was already behind schedule.
Questions
1. Analyze the Situation.
2. What do you infer?
3. How should Anuj and the group supervisory respond to this situation?

14.5 Summary

 Health is a general state of physical mental and emotional well-being. Safety involves
protecting the physical well being of people. The legal provisions governing health cover
areas such as cleanliness, waste disposal, proper ventilation and temperature control,
preventing accumulation of dust, avoiding overcrowding, providing wholesome drinking
water, proper lighting, having a requisite number of latrines and urinals, etc. Health
promotion covers areas such as healthy living, physical fitness, smoking cessation, stress
management etc. Employee assistance programmes offer counselling, medical help and
rehabilitation opportunities to all troubled employees.

 The main purpose of effective safety programmes in an organisation is to prevent work-
related injuries and accidents. Safety members in factories cover slipping and falling
hazards, collision and obstruction hazards, equipments hazards, fire hazards, hazards
from falling objects, etc. Supervisors play a great role in reducing unsafe conditions and
unsafe acts. Effective safety management includes establishing a safety policy, ensuring
top management support, creating safety committees, promoting safety discipline, and
instituting safety engineering procedures, offering safety training, investigating reasons
for accidents thoroughly, and evaluating safety efforts from time to time.

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