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HEALTH AND SAFETY

Presented by-
RAHUL KESARWANI
MBA (II SEMESTER)
SAFTEY
Safety refers to the absence of accidents. Stated differently,
safety refers to the protection of workers from the danger
of accidents.
 - K Aswathappa

Relative freedom from danger, risk, or threat of harm,


injury, or loss to personnel and/or property, whether
caused deliberately or by accident.
- www.businessdictionary.com
TYPE OF ACCIDENTS
Accidents

Internal External

Major Minor

Fatal Disability

Temporary Permanent

Partial Total Partial Total


NEED FOR SAFETY
 Cost saving – Two types of costs are incurred by the
management when an accident occurs i.e.
1) Direct cost- It may be in the form of compensation
payable to the dependents of victim if the accident is
fatal, and medical expenses incurred in treating the
patient if the accident is non fatal.
2) Indirect cost – It includes loss on account of down time
of operators , slowed up production rate of other
workers, materials spoiled and labor for cleaning,
and damages to equipment.
 Increased Productivity – Safety promotes productivity
because employee in safe plants can devote more time
on improving the quality and quantity of their output
and spend less time worrying about their safety and
well being.

 Moral – Safety is important on human grounds too.


Managers must undertake accident prevention
measures to minimize the pain and suffering the
injured worker and his/her family is often exposed to
as a result of the accident.
 Legal – There are legal reasons too for undertaking
safety measures. There are laws convering
occupational health and safety, and penalties for non
compliance have become quite severe. The
responsibility extends to the safety and health of
surrounding community, too. The supreme court
held :
 “ An enterprise which is engaged in a hazardous
or inherently dangerous industry which poses a
potential threat to the health and safety of the persons
working in the factory and industry in the surrounding
areas, owes an absolute and non-degradable duty to
the community to ensure that no harm results to
anyone on account of the hazardous or inherently
dangerous nature.”
Safety Programme
 Safety programme deals with the prevention of
accidents and with minimizing the resulting loss and
damages to person and property. Five basic principles
must govern the safety programme of an organization
these are :-
1) Industrial accidents resulting from a multiplicity of
factors must be traced to their root causes.
2) The most important function of safety program is to
identify potential hazards, provide effective safety
facilities and equipment and to take prompt remedial
action.
3) The safety police should be determined by top level
management and it must be continuously involved in
monitoring safety performance and in ensuring that
corrective action is taken when necessary.
4) The management and supervision must be made fully
accountable for safety performance in the working
areas they control.
5) All employees should be given through training in safety
methods of work and they should receive continuing
education and guidance on eliminating safety
hazards and prevention of accidents.
 A safety programme generally consists of six elements :-


Strategic Development of Safety Policy Organization for Safety
Choices

Evaluation of Effectiveness
Implementation of the Programme
Analysis of Causes for Accidents
1) Strategic Choices – Some of the strategic choices are :-
 1.1 Managers must determine the level of protection
the organization will provide for employees.
 1.2 Managers can decide whether a safety
programme will be formal or informal.
 1.3 Managers can also be proactive or reactive in
developing procedures or plans with respect to
employee safety.
 1.4 Managers can decide to use the safety of workers
as a marketing tool for the organization.
2) Safety Policy – Safety policy specifies the firm’s goals
and designations the responsibilities and authority for
their achievement. It may also contain caveats and
sanctions for failing to fulfill them.
 Specifically, a safety policy must contain a
declaration of the organizations intent and the means by
which the intent is to be realized.
3) Organization for Safety – Companies constitute safety
committees which are, composed of employees from
across the organization. Typically, safety committees
serve in advisory capacities and are responsible for
such tasks as reviewing safety procedures, making
recommendations for eliminating specific safety and
health hazards, investigating accidents, fielding
safety- related complaints from employees and
monitoring statutory compliances.
4. Causes, Extent and Remedies for Accidents –
Causes - Causes are of two types.

Unsafe
 Acts of Persons Unsafe Mechanical or Physical
1. Operating without clearance, Condition
1. Inadequately guarded, guards of
failure to heed
2. Operating orwarning.
Working at an improper height,
2. Unguarded, strength,
absence mesh,
of required
unsafe speed
3. Making safety device etc
guards.
3. Defective, rough, sharp,
inoperative.
4.Using equipments unsafely. slippery,
4. Unsafelydecayed,
designedcracked, etc
machines,
5. Unsafe loading, placing, tools, etc.. arranged, poor
5. Unsafely
mixing,
6. Takingcombining,
an unsafe etc.
position or housekeeping,
6. Inadequatelycongestion, blocked
lighted, sources of
posture.
7. Working on moving or exits,
glare, etc
etc
7. Inadequately ventilated, impure
dangerous equipment.
8. Distracting, teasing, abusing, oil source, etc
8. Unsafely clothed, no goggles,
etc
9. Failure to use attire or personal glares or masks,
9. Unsafe high
process, heels etc
mechanical,
protective devices. chemical, electrical, nuclear, etc
Accident Rates – Accidents is described in terms of
frequency, severity and incidence. Organizations
generally maintain frequency, severity and incidence
records.
Incidence rate =
Number of Recordable injuries * 1 million
 Number of employee exposure hour
 Severity rate = Total hours charged * 1 million
 Number of employee hours worked
 Frequency rate = Number of disabling injuries * 1 million
Number of employee hours worked
 Extent of Accidents – It is estimated that 14 lakh
workers in India, five or seven times more than in Japan,
U.K and U.S. are exposed to accidents. The problem is
much more severe because there are thousands of
unregistered industrial accidents, most of them small and
tiny, which pose a major threat to the workers and the
community.

 Remedies - The method and devices for the
prevention of accidents are now available in plenty.
 There are certain principles which enables the
management to understand the causes and consequences
of accidents and to introduce suitable safety devices. The
principles are –
1) The occurrence of an injury invariably results from a
complete sequence of factors, the last one of these being
accident itself.
2) The unsafe act of employees are responsible for a majority of
accidents.
3) The employee who suffers a disability/injury caused by an
unsafe act has an average of over 300 narrow escapes
from serious injury that might have resulted from the very
same unsafe act.
4) The occurrence of an accident that results in an injury is
largely preventable.
5) Four basic methods are available for the prevention of
accidents- engineering revision, persuasion and appeal,
personal adjustment and discipline.
6) The humanitarian incentive for preventing accident injury is
supplemented by a realization of two powerful economic
factors, namely –
 (i) A safe establishment is efficient and an unsafe
establishment is ineffective.
 (ii) The direct employer costs of industrial injuries for
compensation claims and for medical treatment are but one-
fourth of the total which the employer must bear.
7) The method most valued in accident prevention are analogous
to the methods required for the control of quality, cost and
quantity of production.
8) The supervisor is the key person in industrial accident
prevention.
9) Safety should be driven internally, not externally.
10)Do not count on common sense for safety improvement.
11)Safety incentive programs should focus on process rather than
outcomes .
12)When people feel empowered, their safe behavior spreads to
other situations.

 Training is Safety –
 Systematic training of industrial employees is necessary if
they are to do their jobs efficiently and safely.
 Training practice will be found to vary widely from
company to company and the difference will be
influenced by the size of company, the types of jobs
performed, and awareness of the management
regarding the importance of training.
 It is not enough if workers are trained on the methods of
avoiding accidents. They must be trained on the ways
of minimizing damage .
 5) Implementing the Policy – For implementing the policy
the programme must cover –
 Procedures for reporting accidents, hazards, fire
precautions, first aid.
 Arrangements for instructing workers about safe working
methods and for training employees in safety matters.
 Special rules for work done at a height, in confined
spaces, on certain electrical equipment or unguarded
machinery.
 The maintenance of equipment and the provision of
proper inspection and testing arrangements.
 General rules on safe working habits.
 Special rules for internal transport drivers.
 Arrangement for checking new machinery and materials.
 Safety inspection.
 The provision of personal protective equipment, and rules
as to its use.
 Suggestions on safety matters.
 6) Programme Evaluation – Mainly there two methods for
evaluating the effectiveness of safety programme viz
-Organic and Systematic.
 Organic Measures - This method attempts to
evaluate how well the safety programme is designed and
fulfilled.
The techniques used are –

1 Safety Inspection
2 Safety Audit
3 Comparison

 Systematic Measures – The concern is with the


outcome of the programme i.e. the achievement of the
aim the programme is designed to serve.
Health
 Health as defined by World Health Organization (WHO),
it is a "State of complete physical, mental, and social
well being, and not merely the absence of disease or
infirmity." Health is a dynamic condition resulting
from a body's constant adjustment and adaptation in
response to stresses and changes in the environment for
maintaining an inner equilibrium called homeostasis.
 -
www.businessdictionary.com
We can examine employee health from following angles –

1) Physical Health – Bad health of employees results in reduced


productivity, high unsafe acts, and increased absenteeism. A
healthy worker on other hand, produces results opposite to
these.
Physical health can be affected by several causes shown below -

Health Hazards Causes



Lung Cancer
White Lung Disease
Black Lung Disease Coal dust
Brown Lung Disease Cotton Dust
Leukemia Benzene, Radiation
Cancer Asbestos, radiation, Vinyl chloride, coke
Sterility oven emissions
Radiations
Deteriorating Eye Sight Chemical fumes
Hearing Impairment High noise levels
 2) Mental Health – In resent years, mental health of
employees, particularly that of executives, has engaged
the attention of employers. There are 3 reasons for this –
1 Mental breakdowns are common in modern days because
of pressures and tensions.
2 Mental disturbances of various types result in reduced
productivity and lower profits for the organization.
3 Mental illness takes its toll through alcoholism, high
employee turnover, and poor human relationships.
 A mental health service is generally rendered in the
following ways –
1) Psychiatric counseling.
2) Education of company personnel in the nature and the
importance of mental health.
3) Development and maintenance of an effective human
relations programme.
 3) Noise Control – Noise can only be minimized but cannot
be totally eliminated, constant exposure to noise not only
impairs hearing ability, it has adverse effects on general
health of the employees.
 Noise control cal be achieved -
1 At the source
2 Through enclosures
3 By absorption
4 By ear protection
 4) Work Stress – Stress refers to an individual’s response to
a disturbing factor in the environment and the
consequences of such reactions. Stress is mostly
understood to be negative. But it has positive dimensions
also. Where stress brings out something better from an
individual, it is called eustress.

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