EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

1. Introduction
This paper discusses the issue of improved safety behavior and the many benefits for employers and employees. Starting with a brief history and taking into account how vast this subject is: included is a section on Health and Safety behavior around the world, giving it a global perspective. So much has had an effect on the behavior of employees and employers alike and with that in mind this paper takes a look at the culture, the legislation and the human interaction in the workplace, among others.

EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

2. A Brief history of health and safety

At the beginning of the twentieth century, journalist Arthur Reeve (2009) reported that thousands of wage earners, men, women, and children were caught in the machinery of record-breaking production and were turned out cripples. Other thousands were killed outright. Reformers of the period compared the toll of industrial accidents to an undeclared war.

As time moved on the question of occupational health and safety became part and parcel of a larger movement of reform which produced results in some countries. Another significant area that was inacted at this time was the child and womens labour legislation, as well as a host of specific acts regulating working conditions in tanneries, bakeries, foundries, and numerous other industries. Also, for the first time, there was a serious attempt to organize a more reliable method for collecting statistics on occupational injuries and deaths. By 1915 the act for workers compensation was passed. This is dealt with in greater detail later on.

The previous paragraph was the situation in America but as a comparison - in an interview with Tsuyoshi Kawakami, an International Labour Organisation (ILO) specialist, he states that over a billion people (more than 60 per cent of Asias workforce) are still working in the informal economy, with little or no social protection.

EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

Workers and the self-employed often work in substandard conditions, being exposed to various hazards in the workplace without having appropriate safety and health training and information. As far as national labour laws are concerned, they do not always cover the informal economy. From an Irish perspective, according to the Irish Health and safety Authority the statistics of Irish workplaces indicate that the quality of health and safety management has improved in various economic sectors. Overall, Irelands health and safety performance is very positive. However, the statistics indicate a poor profile for the agriculture sector in respect of both health and safety management and outcomes. The HSA go on to say that improved safety behaviour yields many benefits for employers and employees and the important areas are: To reduces the risk of workplace fatalities and serious injuries To reduces the monetary cost associated with accidents To increases morale in the organisation

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3. The Role of the Health and Safety Authority

The Health and Safety Authority is the national statutory body with responsibility for enforcing occupational safety and health law, promoting and encouraging accident prevention, and providing information and advice to all companies, organisations and individuals.

To ensure compliance with the legislation, the authority seeks, primarily, to reduce workplace accidents by providing guidance and support to employers and employees. The mission of the Health and Safety Authority is to influence changes in the behaviours of employers and employees.

EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

3.1 Corporate Social Responsibility

The primary objective of any company is to maximize the wealth of its stockholders. However, maximizing shareholder wealth cannot side step the importance of corporate social responsibility. There is some evidence that managers with business education or interests have different views on fairness judgments and behaviours than other managers (Bian and Keller, 1999). A company with a social conscience would be concerned with the health, safety, and well-being of its employees.

3.2 Safety Culture

The goal of an organizations safety culture is to develop a norm in which employees are aware of the safety hazards of their jobs and continually on the lookout for the hazards as well as methods to minimize safety hazards. Studies have found that the safety culture of an organization is very important in the safety performance of employees, Borstorff et al (2010). It is crucial that top management show their support for safe practices because the employee will be less safety conscious and will take more risks to get the work completed if the management does not support the safety process.

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3.3 Organisational Cultural

Attitude and organizational culture together play a very significant part in accidents. The basic premise of this safety attitude approach is that a large number of accidents are under the control of goals involved in them that is, there behaviours that lead people to have accidents are intentional they are aware of what theyre doing. This does not mean that people intend to have an accident. It suggests that people are aware of the factors involved in a safe and unsafe behaviour. Therefore it can be suggested that peoples actions are under their control. Safety climate describes employees attitudes and perceptions regarding overall safety within the workplace Brown & Holms (1986) and Zohar(2003); it is often used interchangeably with safety culture. Safety culture, however, generally describes the attitudes, values, and practices at a deeper level than safety climate Clarke(2006) and Flin (2007). One way to explain safety culture is that it represents the individual and group values, attitudes, perceptions, and behaviour patterns that reflect an organisations commitment to workplace safety. Whereas safety culture denotes the underlying beliefs and values of an organisation, safety climate is safety culture in action. Here in Ireland an attempt is being made to change behaviour of health and safety and this is set out in the safety, health and welfare at work act, 1989.

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3.4 Legislation

Some organisations view accident prevention as an activity imposed upon them by legislation. They set out only to achieve the legal minimum standard and to avoid possible fins and closure. However, there are two other compelling reasons for organisations to take accident prevention seriously. Firstly, there is the humanitarian consideration, and responsible

employers will attempt to ensure that the wellbeing of their employees is above the minimum legal requirement. Secondly, there is an economic reason for preventing access. Direct financial losses are usually incurred when accidents happen, and if safety activities are ignored indirect costs can result from a deterioration of employee morale and company image.

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4. Prevention is better than cure

4.1 Hazard reporting

An important element of hazard management involves the implementation of an effective system of hazard reporting. This can be effectively managed by putting in place a systematic system of hazard reporting. As discussed by Haemorrhage (2003)well designed accident prevention programs best demonstrate the benefits of accident prevention. An integral part of workplace hazard inspection is communication between management and employees, to obtain as much knowledge as possible about hazards. Similarly, safety analysis sessions between

employees and management from all areas of the organisation aim to identify any potential hazards before new technology or work practices are introduced.

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5. Behavioural Science and Health and Safety

Behavioural science and health and safety are the nature of human factors. The main factors that focus on human beings and their interaction with products are equipment, facilities, procedures and work environments. The emphasis is on human beings and how

characteristics of the organisation influence employee behaviour. Standards and McCormick (1993) state: that a commitment to a system orientation and a recognition that people, machines, procedures and the wok environment do not exist in isolation. The behaviour based approach suggests that approximately 96% of all accidents, dangerous occurrences or near miss events are attributable in some way to human error or behaviour. This approach looks at why people behave as they do and how they can be influenced to behave in a safer way. Getting people to behave safely, and not by trying to change their attitudes, reduces accidents. The emphasis of safety systems is often upon the use of discipline and punishment for noncompliance rather than rewarding compliance. Taking action should mean setting up a problem solving process, similar to the continuous improvement in the field of quality management.

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6. Advantages of Improved Safety Behaviour for Employees

Behavior based safety systems are typically introduced in organizations that already have an established safety management system committed to continuous improvement. Barling and Frone (2010) argues that changes in safety behaviour would be difficult without considering how people are organised, managed, motivated, rewarded and their physical work environment. One of the most important ingredients for successful implementation of any health and safety program is the direct practical and visible involvement of employees at all levels. The following points are just a few we will look at from a long list of interesting factors that influence how a Manager can change employees behaviour.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

6.1 Empowerment
Employees are involved from the start of the safety system and allowed to make decisions, and it is this which generates motivation. Giving employees responsibility is keyto being successful in eliciting safe behaviour and positive safe and attitudes and makes the employees active stakeholders in workplace-safety activities. Light and kellar (1979) demonstrate that the team approach, giving employees greater control over their own activities resulted not only in increased production but also in improved attitudes to work and safety performance.

6.2 Ergonomics

According to Munirathinam and Ramesh, ergonomics is a process that is aimed at prevention of work place illness and the development of the best possible workplace design. Ergonomics is concerned with designing jobs by integrating socio-technical factors of the job and characteristics of job holder. It is the science of balancing between employees and the work they do. It provides a safer and comfortable workplace solution for increased efficiency and enhanced productivity. This might include redesigning a workstation,

obtaining more comfortable, more effective, or more available PPE.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

6.3 Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE)

Another area that has seen great improvements in health and safety is the introduction and use of personal protective clothing. Employees in the past had to carry out their jobs with little or no physical protection but with the introduction of PPE many accidents have been prevented and in some circumstances lives have been saved. Some examples of PPE that benefit the employee can be sourced from the HSA and are as follows: Ear protection legislation protects the employees stating that noise levels should not be greater than eighty decibels. The Irish army paid out fast amounts of

compensation to soldiers for damage to their hearing caused by using loud weapons. Respirators employees working in industrial plants are protected by filtering unwanted material that would otherwise have entered their lungs. Countless Miners and welders have died from inhaling unwanted gases and carsnegic contaminants. Face shields useful for protecting the eye and face area Head protection the construction industry has saved many lives due to the introduction of mandatory wearing of head protection, even for its visitors. Overalls protects employees against dirt and Greece and some pvc garments contact against acid and chemical contact. Gloves protect against heat, chemicals, cuts and skin diseases

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

7. Advantages of Improved Safety Behaviour for Employers

No matter how small a business is, the employer needs to manage safety. According to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 every employer is legally responsible for the safety of themselves, their employees and any other person that may be affected by their work activities. They have a statutory duty to prepare, revise and bring to the notice of all his employees a written statement of the safety policy.

7.1 Safety Statement

The basis for the management of health and safety in the workplace is the written safety statement. The safety statement is a programme for protecting the safety and health of the employees and others who may be affected by the work of the company. Preparing a safety statement will not in itself prevent accidents and ill health at work but by making a commitment to promoting health and safety and specifying the arrangements and the resources that are put in place, the safety statement plays a vital part in managing health and safety in the workplace. Nobody wants to see anyone get hurt or sick, so its the right thing to do. The advantages of managing safety are as follows:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Reducing the chances of an accident in your workplace Improving staff morale and motivation Reducing absenteeism Saving money
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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

7.2 Costs of Accidents and Ill-health

Lost time Insurance premium hikes

Lost skills Legal proceeding

According to Manuele there are two types of costs related to workplace accidents, i.e. direct and indirect costs. An interesting statistic in Manueles article states that for every dollar spent on direct costs, four to ten dollars is spent on indirect costs. Some of these costs include lost productivity and lost profits.

The benefits of effective health and safety management to all businesses are very significant. There is clear evidence that effective health and safety management contributes directly to overall business success. This is true across all industry sectors and amongst businesses of all shapes and sizes. Apart from the obvious legal and moral duties an employer has, if we consider the possible consequences of a serious workplace accident in business. Trying to manage without a key employee while he/she is recuperating following an accident, this is a cost that is hard to measure, perhaps using two staff to balance the workload or hiring in a subcontractor with the necessary skills, or doing the job yourself due to security risks etc. as well as the increased insurance premiums or compensation claims.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

A positive and proactive approach to health and safety management can minimise the potential for financial damage to your business.

7.3 Reducing absenteeism

An obvious advantage of having good health and safety behaviour is the reduction in absenteeism. Kaiserman estimated workers absenteeism to cost approximately US$80 billion (at 1991 prices) by examining earnings data. The author also estimated a loss of approximately $10.5 billion from lost future income caused by premature death.

In an American Productivity AuditStewart (2003) measured lost productive time for personal and family health reasons and expressed in hours and dollars. Health-related LPT cost employers $225.8 billion/year ($1685/employee per year). The advantage to the employer for saving vast amounts of money is obvious when you look at the figures from the examples above.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

7.4 Occupational Health Programme

According to Munirathinam andRamesh (2011) a safe and healthy work environment ensures better working conditions and minimizes the risk of illness at workstations in organizations. Ergonomics is one area that is concerned with designing jobs by integrating socio-technical factors of the job and characteristics of job holder. It is the science of balancing between employees and the work they do. It provides a safer and Comfortable workplace solution for increased efficiency and enhanced productivity. The principles of ergonomics are being used to improve the man-machine system so that an employee can perform the job effectively. Good ergonomics in the workplace results in less absenteeism. A safe and healthy work environment that ensures better working conditions and minimizes the risk of illness at workstations should be created in organisations. Presently, many organisations design health promotion programmes that identify and assist in preventing or correcting specific health problems. These programmes include not only disease identification but also work style modification. The better an organisation works on employees' health, the higher the performance results in the form of increased output. Employers must ensure proper occupational health programme in order to:

Maintain and improve productivity of employees. Ensure quality of work. Improve employees' motivation and morale. Breed loyalty and foster better relationship with employees.
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Make congenial work atmosphere and reduce stress. Reduce indiscipline among the employees and solve problems at work place

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8. Health and Safety around the World

8.1 USA: Introduces workers' compensation

In a report by Chelius (1982) employees in America benefited when the government made workers' compensation laws mandatory. The liability was independent of whether the

employee or employer was at fault in causing the accident. When an employee was injured, he suffered several costs, including pain, lost income, and medical expenses. While the obviously important incentive of avoiding pain is not influenced by workers' compensation, lost income and medical costs are. According to Somers (2011), in 1907 the overall figures of workers who died from occupational related accidents were approximately 30,000. This legislation was a step forward for employees and employers and had a big influence which benefited the workplace by reducing workplace accidents.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

8.2 Canada: Basic Rights

In an academic review by Galina (2009), he reports that in 2006 the total costs for one workplace injury averaged an estimated CAD $98,000 with about 20 per cent being direct costs. A business operating at a profit margin of 6% would have to incur an increased CAD 1.5 million in additional sales to pay cover costs of a workplace accident. In short from a cost perspective alone there is a lot at stake for the individual firm to effectively manage occupational health and safety.

In the case of workplace injury, the key worker benefits are as follows:

Payment for loss of earnings Compensation for permanent disability Provision of medical, social and vocational rehabilitation

In 1978 James Ham, a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Toronto, recommended a basis for the first comprehensive legislation in occupational health and safety in Canada. Adopted from the Robens Commission in the UK, was Hams innovative core belief that labour be guaranteed basic rights including participation in the creation of a safe workplace. This notion was to form the basis of the Internal Responsibility System that guarantees workers the following rights:

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The right to participate. This is facilitated through a Joint Health and Safety Committee comprised equally of management and worker representatives.

The right to know. Workers need to know how to safely handle whatever toxic material is in the workplace. In order to address this right in a standardized fashion, the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System was created.

The right to refuse unsafe work. With slight variation, these rights are now common to legislation in a lot of countries. .

8.3 European Union: Working Time Directive

In an article on the European Community Directive on Working Time, Spurgeon et al (1997), report that the working time act which should have been implemented in member states of the European Community by November 1996. The Act contains several requirements related to working hours, including the right of employees to refuse to work more than 48 hours a week. The United Kingdom attempted to oppose the Directive, arguing that there is no convincing evidence that hours of work should be limited on health and safety grounds.

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EMPLOYEES HEALTH AND SAFETY

8.4 Scotland: Counting the cost of employee smoking in the workplace

In an article on smoking in the workplace, Parrott et al (2000) states that employers have responded to new regulations on the effects of passive smoking by introducing a range of workplace policies. Few policies include provision of smoking cessation intervention. They estimate that the cost of smoking related absence in Scotland is 40 million per annum and total productivity losses are estimated at approximately 450 million per annum. In addition, the resource cost in terms of losses from fires caused by smoking materials is estimated at approximately 4 million per annum. In addition, there are costs from smoking related deaths and smoking related damage to premises. The article goes on to say that evidence shows that workers who smoke are absent from work more often than their non-smoking colleagues, which results in a loss of output. Time is also lost as workers take smoke breaks or, if permitted smoke on the job, which brings with it more risk and then the cost of insurance premiums may be higher as a result of claims for fire damage caused by smokers. In addition, tobacco smoke may also result in damage to plant and machinery. Also the health implications for fellow employees that have no option but to become passive smokers in an unhealthy environment. Scotland are looking to Ireland as an example of the first country to introduce nonsmoking in the workplace legislation.

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8.5 Northern Ireland:Close to Top of UK Absence League Table

Addley (1999) argues that workplace health promotion is about much more than complying with policy and legislation to protect the individual at work. There are also strong economic arguments and moral justification for pursuing workplace health promotion. He says we need to consider the economic consequences for an organisation, and indeed for Northern Ireland as a whole, sickness absence and accidents at work, and the loss of productivity with ever-increasing costs of litigation not to mention the demands placed on the health service which must pick up the pieces as a result of poor health and safety practices. British industry figures during 1997 for lost working days were 187 million working days or 8.4 days per employee. The average cost per employee was estimated to be 533 representing a UK wide total of some 12 billion. Northern Ireland sits close to the top of the UK absence league table for both manual and non-manual employees in this report with an annual sickness absence bill in the region of 250 million.

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8.6 Ireland: Statistics

According to the HSA, one of the most important employers general duties that came into effect was preventing improper conduct or behaviour while the employees duties changed to include taking reasonable care for their own safety and safety of others. The following are some statistics related to Irelands situation throughout the years that had an effect on health and safety. Pre 1989 only 20% of workforce covered by legislation Post 1989 100% covered of workforce by legislation Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 2005 and General Applications Regulations, 2007 are introduced After Construction and Agriculture, Transport is the worst industry for workplace injuries and deaths Approximately 10% of accidents are road traffic accident in the course of work 48 deaths in 2010 55 deaths in 2011 8 deaths in Transport and Storage Workplace accidents cost Irish business 3.3 to 3.6 billion a year (Dept. Enterprise, Trade and Employment Indecon Consultants (2006)

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The monetary cost is startling but the human cost is the biggest motivation we have to change our behavior.

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9. Conclusion

Whilst work has the potential to have a negative effect on the health of the individual, it can also have a positive effect. It is this positive impact which workplace health promotion seeks to capture, not least by encouraging workers to adopt positive health behaviors. Creating frameworks for healthy workplaces offers a unique opportunity to bring together health and safety professionals, employers, employees and their representatives that involves everyone in the workplace. A healthy workplace benefits everyone employers, employees, individuals, and businesses and identifies the health risks and behaviors in order to determine ways to change and improve.

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