essay on health and safety in the workplace

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Essay: Health and safety in the workplace

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Accidents and mishaps are unforeseen circumstances that can affect individuals and groups at any time and in any place. Most accidents are preventable, but the carelessness or negligence of the involved individuals leads to major injuries and grievances. Accidents can also occur in the workplace and seriously affect the ability and health of the involved workers.

The objectives of this essay to discuss the safety and wellbeing of all workers are necessary for the organization not only for consistent productivity but also due to regulatory requirements. Workers and human resources are the necessary components of all organizations due to their role in the effective accomplishment of objectives. Corporations cannot achieve long-term success and sustainable growth in the absence of motivated, safe, healthy, and effective workers. The health and safety of all workers are necessary to ensure the enhancement of productivity and efficiency at all levels and areas. Lack of safety measures can create havoc for the organization and negatively affect the working criterion of an organization. The management has to devise and implement effective safety procedures to reduce hazards and prevent accidents in the workplace. The can motivate the employees through this perspective as employees admire working in organizations that prefer safe working conditions. Employees believe that safer working conditions enhance their ability work because they do not feel scared in troublesome situations. The management should coordinate with all the related stakeholders when they devise policies about safety at workplace, as this would enhance a positive change in an organization. Different legislations also depict that organizations should focus on these perspectives and they should attain self-sufficiency in providing workplace safety.

Introduction

Corporations in the current era focus on the development of employees and they believed in the ideology of benefiting employees through different approaches. Safety at the work force is an important aspect that many organizations of today’s world disregard. Many people face mishaps and accidents in various situations especially due to negligence, recklessness, and carelessness. Many accidents and serious injuries are avoidable and preventable by taking effective safety measures and reducing hazards. For example, drivers and passengers can avoid serious injuries and death by wearing seatbelts while traveling in cars. However, many people fail to realize the importance of seatbelts and face a variety of consequences in the event of an accident. Mishaps and accidents are unforeseen occurrences that can lead to several adverse consequences in the absence of effective safety measures and precautions. Accidents, disasters, and mishaps can also occur in the workplace and affect several employees in the absence of precautions and safety procedures. Certain mediocre organizations do not regard this aspect as important and they do not focus on safety at the workplace. The owners and management of the organization need to implement rules, regulations, procedures, and systems relevant to safety and health. The management also needs to ensure that all workers have ample knowledge and information regarding safety procedures, prevention of accidents, and safe working practices.

Human resources

Human resources are one of the most important assets of the organization with respect to success and growth. The success and growth of the organization depend on the effectiveness and efficiency of the human resources. However, the inefficiencies in human resources caused by any circumstances, occurrences, and events can hinder the accomplishments of the organization. Organizations take all necessary measures to ensure the productivity of all workers and employees to maximize profits and achieve organizational objectives (Blair, 2013 ). The wellbeing, safety, and health of all employees are among the highest priorities of all organizations. Organizations cannot take risk for their respective employees because an occurrence of a negative event would tarnish the credibility of an organization. Safe and healthy workers are more productive as compared to injured or sick employees. Employees that cannot work in safe conditions feel suffocated because of the risks associated with their respective work. Risks and hazards associated with a specific job or organization adversely affect the morale and motivation level of employees. The unsafe or hazardous working conditions have several long-term psychological and physiological consequences for the workers and the organizations. When a negative event occurs in an organization, it sets up the mindset of an employee. Employees would feel that this event would occur again and this would create hurdles in their effective working process. Organizations need to create a safe and healthy working environment for all workers to ensure high levels of motivation and enhancement in efficiency (Stricoff & Groover, 2012).

Safety at Workplace

Workplace safety refers to the prevention of illness, injury, and hazards in the workplace for all employees. Workplace safety involves the creation of a safe and healthy environment for all workers to evade hazards, injuries, and illnesses. Organizations can ensure the efficiency of all workers and circumvent a considerable amount of costs by ensuring workplace safety and health. Organizations develop different strategies through which they set up different work place safety policies and benefit the workers through this. Workplace injuries and illnesses lead to compensation benefits, health insurance costs, hiring temporary replacements, lost work hours, and lawsuits. Lack of concentration would cost severe damage to an organization and they should sort such issues in order to attain proactive benefits. Business can save a considerable amount of costs by creating and maintaining a safe and healthy environment for all workers. Safeguarding the interests and wellbeing of the employees allows organizations to circumvent costs relevant to injuries and illnesses (Legg, Laird, Olsen, & Hasle, 2014). On the other hand, workplace safety instills a sense of commitment and dedication among the employees due to the safety assurance of the organization. The morale and motivation of the workers increase due to the implementation of rules that safeguard the health and interest of the employees. Employees feel that they are safe to work in this place, and through this perspective, they would perform well.

Purpose of Workplace safety

The primary objective of safety in the workplace is to create a safe, healthy, and risk-free environment for all workers. Workplace safety involves the evaluation, analysis, prevention, and elimination of hazardous and dangerous elements from the workplace. Workplace safety programs evaluate and remove the risks and hazards relevant to the safety, well-being, and health of workers and other relevant individuals. Organizations develop health and safety standards due to several reasons including laws, regulatory requirements, organizational policies, and historical occurrences. Certain industries and their associations bind organizations to work for the benefit of their employees and they force organizations to focus on different safety related perspectives. Workplace injuries and illnesses caused by working conditions or environment can lead to lawsuits, high costs, and deterioration of the corporate image. There are instances when employees at times die because of sever working conditions. Employees might got injured because of certain safety and the lack of safety would be the only probable reason of this. Enhanced safety measures and appropriate quality of these measures can reduce this perspective to a considerable level.

Safety at the workplace enables organizations to comply with regulatory requirements and prevent high costs resulting from injuries and illnesses. Several corporations can consider the fact that these safety measures would save their health and medicinal costs that would arise when an employees would hurt him. They should take proactive measures earlier through which people can benefit from these perspectives. The management can maintain high levels of productivity and efficiency by creating a safe and healthy working environment. Conversely, the employees work with dedication due to their perceptions regarding the commitment of the organization with respect to the wellbeing of the workers.

Importance of safety at workplace

Legislative and legal requirements are the most prominent cause of health and safety policies in most organizations. The Occupational and Safety Health Act is the primary law for the assurance of health and safety of all workers throughout the United States. The Occupational and Safety Health Act (OSHA) necessitates the dissemination of standards, rules, and regulations relevant to the safety and health of workers. The government establishes and enforces the standards for the safety and health of all workers and their families through the Act. All public and private organizations have to comply with the rules, regulations, and standards prescribed in OSHA (Jung & Makowsky, 2014). They would face legal complications if they do not comply with such policies and measures taken by the decision makers. However, many organizations develop and implement health and safety procedures to safeguard their interests relevant to organizational objectives rather than legal requirements. The financial and moral aspects of workers’ health and safety have a greater influence as compared to regulatory compliance. Corporations can save considerable costs by avoiding high insurance expenses, lawsuits, and employee replacement costs in the event of injuries and illnesses (Barling & Frone, 2003).

Manpower and Management

The primary objective of all managers is to enhance and promote productivity and efficiency in all areas and functions. However, the managers cannot uphold efficiency and effectiveness in the absence of a safe workplace. The managers need to create a safe working environment and increase the awareness and knowledge of all employees with respect to safe working practices. The employees and workers also need to understand the importance of workplace safety and reduce personal injury through attentiveness and removal of hazards. These safety hazards are negative for the effectiveness of organizations and create a long-term negative impact. The attitude of the employees, management, and employers plays a vital role in preventing accidents and creating a safe working environment. The negligence on the part of the employers and employees can cause a variety of hazards and accidents (Rahim, Ng, Biggs, & Boots, 2014). However, the diligence and commitment of all stakeholders regarding safe work practices leads to the prevention of major accidents and injuries. The employees and management can create a safe workplace through a shared responsibility model for workplace safety and cooperation. Organizations should own this perspective and they should realize the fact that it is their managerial responsibility to focus on this perspective so that employees can remain safe.

Conclusively, a safety plan is necessary and it comprises of certain steps that would develop a safer workplace. Organizations should make sure that everyone else in the workplace is aware of the core problem. People should notify their respective supervisors and they should file any reports if there is a problem. An important aspect is that people should realize that there is a problem as sitting back and holding the problem for a long time would not solve the problem.

Barling, J., & Frone, M. (2003). The Psychology of Workplace Safety. New Jersey: Amer Psychological Assn. Blair, E. H. (2013). Building safety culture. Professional Safety , 58 (11), 59-65. Cobb, E. (2013). Bullying, Violence, Harassment, Discrimination and Stress: Emerging Workplace Health and Safety Issues. New Jersey: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. Jung, J., & Makowsky, M. D. (2014). The determinants of federal and state enforcement of workplace safety regulations: OSHA inspections 1990’2010. Journal of Regulatory Economics , 45 (1), 1-33. Legg, S., Laird, I., Olsen, K., & Hasle, P. (2014). Creating healthy work in small enterprises – from understanding to action: Summary of current knowledge. Small Enterprise Research , 21 (2), 139-147. Mathis, T., & Galloway, S. (2013). Steps to Safety Culture Excellence. New Jersey: Wiley. Rahim, A. N., Ng, H. K., Biggs, D., & Boots, K. (2014). Perceptions of safety, physical working conditions and stress between Malaysia and United Kingdom. International Journal of Business & Society , 15 (2), 321-338. Stricoff, R., & Groover, D. (2012). The Manager’s Guide to Workplace Safety. New York : Safety in Action Press.

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Importance of Health and Safety at Workplace, Essay Example

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Both the employer and the employees are responsible for health and safety of the workplace. The most important responsibility of an employee is taking reasonable care of their own safety and health this means you are you own keeper. The employees should use properly any material provided to them for safety purposes, health and safety. For example protective clothes like gloves, protective masks and laboratory coats should always be worn as required. An employee should also ensure that they understand and adhere to what they are trained on concerning the health and safety policies of the company they are working for. For example they should understand all the technical aspects of the machine they operate to avoid accidents and should also observe safety precautions as far as operation of machines is concerned. In operation of machines, loose clothing, long hair, jewellerly which can get entangled by moving parts of the machine. This can be achieved by avoiding such clothing and jewellerly when operating machines and wearing head scarf incase of the long hair.

In any working environment, employees should also be responsible for their colleague’s health and safety by ensuring that what they do does not pose risk to other workers and the environment (Dalton, 98). For example when mixing chemicals in laboratory poisonous gases might be released and so safety precautions – working in a fume chamber- must be taken to avoid their release to the environment because they can produce hazardous effects to the environment in which case the near surrounding is your colleague and also members of the public. Another example is when working in a microbiology laboratory the dust coats and any other protective clothing worn should remain in the lab to avoid contaminating other environments with microbes some of which are a health hazard.

The employer has also responsibility towards the health and safety of his employees. The very vital role is to ensure that the employees get the best training in understanding safety procedures of the work place and providing sufficient protective measures and materials to their employees. For example they should have measures to cater for any emergencies like in case of fire exits should be available. For the disposable protective material like gloves the employer must ensure constant supply. Employers should also change their employee’s jobs if they report any strains resulting from the kind of job they do or if under any medication that reduces their working ability or even in case of pregnancy. Employers have also the duty of ensuring a comfortable work place for their employees’ their duties include ensuring providing the right work equipment and ensuring proper maintenance ensure that ventilation, washing and rest facilities are up to standard as per health safety and welfare requirements. (Directgov.uk)

Addressing health issues and safety in the workplace does not only help the employer save money but also increases business value. This is because when workers sty healthy and whole the business saves costs which would have been spend on occupational injuries which of course come directly from company profits. Direct cost-savings to businesses include: reduced medical expenditures; lower insurance costs used to compensate workers’; reduced costs incurred in job accommodating workers with injuries; reduced expenditures during return-to-work programs; less expenses for overtime benefits and reduced numbers of faulty product.

Health and safety at workplace also result into decreases in costs incurred indirectly due to: increased productivity, production of products of higher quality which means increased sales. Safe workplace also fosters good labor or management relations and hence employees re motivated consequently there is increased production of high quality products s well s decreased turnover.

Employees and their families benefit from safety health and safety also have benefits to the employees and their families because it minimizes stress and they are able to protect their income as well as protecting injuries from hampering the families. It is very clear that health and safety add value not only to businesses, but also to the workplaces as well s lives and therefore protecting people in the workplace should be in our economy, our families, colleagues, and the community at large best interest(Cogwell Anderson R. & Kaczmarek B., vol.4 )..

OSHA and Its Basic Requirements or Provisions

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is an Americans agency under the Labor Department whose responsibility is assuring the health and safety of workers in America by providing education, training and outreach; setting and enforcing standards; encouraging continued improvement in terms of health and safety in the workplace and establishing partnerships (Summary Guide of OSHA Regulations and Requirements).

Requirements or Provisions

OSHA is assigned two main functions by The OSH Act .these re setting standards and inspecting workplace to ensure employers compliance with the standards and provision of a healthful and safe workplace. The OSH Act applies to employees and employers in varied fields like, construction, manufacturing, agriculture, long shoring,, medicine, law, disaster relief and charity , private education and organized labor. Fields not covered by OSH ct include work conditions under the regulation of other federal agencies and statutes like nuclear energy, mining end many parts of the transportation industry, people who re self employed and local government end states employees(Summary Guide of OSHA Regulations and Requirements).

Federal OSHA Standards

OSHA standards my require that employers adopt some means, processes and practices necessary for protecting workers t work. It is the employers’ responsibility to familiarize with standards required by their establishments as well as complying with the standards and to ensure hazardous free conditions to their best capability. Employees must also comply with rules and regulations applicable to their own conduct and actions.

OSHA Standards are divided in four categories: General industry, agriculture, Maritime (long shoring, shipyards, marine terminals and construction. Each of these classes of standards imposes requirements that are aimed to the specific industry except in some instances where they are similar in all industries. Standards that impose similar requirements on all industrial sectors include standards for access to medical records, communication of hazards, access to records of exposure and personal protective equipment.

Equipment for personal protection standard require employers to provide cost free equipment for person protection against certain hazards. Such equipment include goggles, helmets for head protection, eye and hear and gauntlets for iron workers. This standard is separately added to standards for every industrial sector with the exception of agriculture. Access to medical and records of exposure standard requires employers to grant their employees access to all the records they maintain of employees exposure to hazardous substances and medical access. Hazard communication standard require both importers and manufactures of materials that re hazardous to carry out hazard evaluation of the products they import or manufacture and have the containers of the product labeled appropriately if it’s confirmed to be hazardous under the standards terms. In addition safety data sheet should also accompany the material on the first shipment to a new customer. Employers who use the safety data sheet must also have the employees trained on how to follow the safety instructions in the sheet and avoid the present hazardous material.

Reporting, posting and record keeping is imposed by OSHA regulations not a standard. Record keeping regulation require all employers under OSH cover with more than ten employees to maintain specified OSHA records of illnesses and injuries related to job. The regulation has n exception for low industries of low hazards like finance, real estate, some service industries, insurance and retail. The OSHA record keeping requires two forms be filled. form 200 is a log for illnesses or injuries with a separate entry for serious injuries which need recording .These include deaths related to the job, serious illnesses which require hospitalization and medication, restriction from work or motion or which led to transfer from one job to another .the form has also another section where all the injuries for the past year re recorded and posted in the work place every February. The other form is form 101 which provides additional report bout every workers recordable illness or injury. Despite the business category or employee numbers each employer must give reports to the OSHA office in the nearby if any accidents occur and cause hospitalization of more than three employees or cause fatalities. OSHA carries out investigations into the cause of the accident and whether it was s result of violation of standards.

Generally all employers must maintain hazard free workplaces to protect their employees from deaths or serious physical harm regardless of whether OSHA does not give a specific requirement or standard addressing such hazards. in such areas where OSHA has not given a standard to address a certain hazard, its employers responsibility to comply with the “general duty” clause for OSH Act which states that every employer “shall furnish a work place which is free from recognized hazards that are likely to or are causing serious physical harm or death to his employees” (Summary Guide of OSHA Regulations and Requirements).

Works Cited

Cogwell Anderson R. & Kaczmarek B. : The Importance of Promoting Health in the Workplace . The Internet Journal of Academic Physician Assistants. 2004 Volume 4 Number 1

Dalton A,P. Health and Workplace Hazards . London: Cengage Learning.1998.

Employers’ Health and Safety responsibilities . Web. 9 Oct. 2008 http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/HealthAndSafetyAtWork/DG_4016686

Summary Guide of OSHA Regulations and Requirements . Web.4 April 2008 http://www.ehso.com/oshaoverview.php

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Related Programs

Work health, and well-being, related articles, the changing face of worker safety, health, and well-being in a post-pandemic future, it’s not just personal: the economic value of preventing bullying in the workplace, a healthy workplace starts in bed, how covid-19 has changed the standards of worker safety and health — and how organizations can adapt.

Two warehouse workers wearing a mask and hardhat. The female is in the foreground pointing to the left and the male is in the background operating a vehicle.

by Katherine J. Igoe

Ensuring health and safety in the workplace is already a critically important issue; organizations that invest in occupational safety perform better, reduce turnover, and help workers do their jobs more effectively. But COVID-19 has forced companies to act quickly and decisively to keep workers safe. As employers endeavor to slow the spread of the virus while keeping a supportive and productive work environment, they’ve had to adapt new business processes and address existing structures that are lacking.

“COVID-19 has stressed the system. All the flaws that have been in place are totally exposed and have come to the forefront of our daily conversations,” says Jack Dennerlein , adjunct professor of ergonomics and safety in the Department of Environmental Health and co-director of Work Health and Well-being: Achieving Worker Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. From distancing procedures to the availability of remote work, the pandemic has metaphorically ripped off the mask covering the flaws in organizations’ working conditions. How has COVID-19 changed the standards of worker safety and health, and how can employers adapt to these changes?

Total Worker Health and Its Impact in the Workplace

Total Worker Health (TWH) aims to address, reactively and proactively, the challenges of worker safety, health, and well-being. At its core, it measures and assesses what a worker experiences, collects data to understand what to change, provides approaches on how to modify an environment, and encourages collaboration across traditional organizational boundaries to ensure a safe workplace. It’s both an acknowledgement of workers’ existing health, and initiatives to keep them healthy.

“These two general fields — protecting and promoting health — work together in a single workplace. It makes sense to think about this as an integrated effort instead of two siloed efforts that act in parallel,” says Nico Pronk , adjunct professor of social and behavioral sciences, president of the HealthPartners Institute, chief science officer at HealthPartners, Inc., and co-director of Work Health and Well-being: Achieving Worker Health .

As an example, he explains, “If you have diabetes, your eyesight might be diminished, and you might end up with an injury because your work is putting you at risk.” Critically, though, TWH focuses more on an organization’s framework rather than solely on an individual: “the conditions of work rather than on the behaviors of the work. You set the environment — physical, social, economic — which shapes how the workplace is organized. Within that, these factors start to drive the behavior of the individuals within it.”

COVID-19 has fundamentally uprooted assumptions about worker safety, health, and well-being and been an accelerant of addressing these issues. The pandemic has also highlighted classic social issues that workers face, like childcare, sick leave, and disability issues, and underlined safety concerns in health care environments where professionals need to treat patients. The absence of TWH — where workers don’t feel safe in their workplace — is also much more visible. Implementing TWH effectively helps make organizations more resilient during this time.

Even though COVID-19 can be used as a leverage point, Dennerlein notes, “We should be doing it for the good of the people, not just because of COVID-19. If we want this country to be productive, we have to invest in the health and safety of our workforce.” Adds Pronk, “What if you didn’t get sick? What if you didn’t get injured? The benefits come back in spades. You cannot be successful if you don’t have healthy workers, but that recognition is still hardly there.”

“Protecting and promoting health work together in a single workplace. It makes sense to think about this as an integrated effort instead of two siloed efforts that act in parallel.”

Applying and Adapting Total Worker Health During the COVID-19 Pandemic

While the values of TWH may not change, the implementation has evolved to protect workers against COVID-19. In a paper titled “ An Integrative Total Worker Health Framework for Keeping Workers Safe and Healthy During the COVID-19 Pandemic ,” Dennerlein, Erika Sabbath, Susan Peters, and Glorian Sorensen outlined six key characteristics that are essential for applying TWH in this context:

Focusing on working conditions for infection control and supportive environments for increased psychological demands
Utilizing participatory approaches involving workers in identifying daily challenges and unique solutions
Employing comprehensive and collaborative efforts to increase system efficiencies
Committing as leaders to supporting workers through action and communications
Adhering to ethical and legal standards
Using data to guide actions and evaluate progress

In this way, organizations can address the unique demands (including physical, ethical, and legal) of counteracting COVID-19 alongside the needs of workers to complete their tasks in a safe space, while using data and feedback to make changes.

According to the researchers, the most challenging aspect of using a TWH framework is getting top-level support. “Overall organization engagement towards this shared vision of a goal is critical — some key performance indicator for the institution has to include TWH or recognizing its impact. You have to think about that at the systems level,” says Dennerlein.

“If we want this country to be productive, we have to invest in the health and safety of our workforce.”

The Practical Implications of Implementing Total Worker Health in a Pandemic

The researchers have worked with companies to take these theoretical constructs and translate them to practical insights in the workplace. “It took companies as much as six months to learn how to bring health and safety together. Health is in HR, safety is in Operations, and the two don’t usually interact,” Pronk says. Not rushing the organizations and giving them up to a year to develop an implementation plan was key.

After buy-in from leadership, the next step is to test these six characteristics using data and feedback. Previous studies show that program design principles or characteristics are correlated with good health outcomes. “The business units that scored the highest had the lowest number of health risks in their populations. The more they followed these characteristics, the healthier their group was,” Pronk says. Following implementation, organizations would then be able to make changes and use a team-based approach to maintain awareness and continue to evaluate efficacy.

Thus, TWH can be effective, and not just in the short-term. Even after COVID-19 is no longer an immediate threat, the challenges of worker health and safety remain. “What are we doing to create a more resilient workforce ? When we start thinking about the work of the future, workers are going to have to continually reinvent themselves, because work is constantly changing. COVID-19 was a big slap in the face for that. How do we all adapt?” says Dennerlein.

“We rely on the human element in the workforce so much because humans are problem-solvers. TWH tries to broaden that and realize what a great resource we have here. Why aren’t we using that element better? Why aren’t we weaving it more effectively into our organizations to help them make better decisions to affect the bottom line?”

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers Work Health and Well-being: Achieving Worker Health , which provides the full set of skills needed to improve worker health, safety, and well-being in the workplace .

Work and Well-being: The Changing Face of Occupational Safety and Health

There is strong evidence that work, health and well-being are closely and powerfully linked and need to be addressed together. (Dame Carol Black) [1]

The conjunctive phrase “…and well-being” is often used in the occupational safety and health (OSH) literature in the context of health and well-being. However, historically, well-being has not been defined, operationalized, prioritized or specifically considered. To gain perspective on the concept of well-being, it is useful to think of the history of OSH in a conceptual way in terms of five overlapping characteristic eras (see Figure 1)*. These include: Foundational concepts; Child labor/basic welfare/emerging perspectives; Toxic chemicals/physical agents/safety; Health and productivity/work organization factors and stress-related disorders; and, Total Worker Health®/well-being/future of work/sustainability. The most recent era starting with the early 2000’s is influenced by:

1) the realization that the nature of work, the workforce, and the workplace is changing in major ways and at a rapid pace;

2) recognition that a large number of factors external to work such as health behaviors (e.g., alcohol and drug use), aging, pandemics, and chronic disease are influencing work and workers’ health, that some of these conditions are in turn influenced by workplace exposures, and that these factors and effects require new, systems-oriented prevention strategies;

3) growing attention to fatigue, psychosocial hazards and effects; and

4) increasing consideration of decent † , sustainable and healthy work as societal goals. [2] [3]

essay on health and safety in the workplace

Well-Being Defined

To better address these four contemporary factors there is need for an overarching concept such as “well-being”, that encompasses the broad range of domains in the most recent eras of OSH. In general, well-being is understood as a summative concept that characterizes the overall quality of workers’ lives (work and nonwork), including OSH aspects, and it may be a major determinant of productivity at the individual, enterprise and societal levels.[4] [5] As treated in the literature of various disciplines, well-being can be subjective, objective or a composite of the two.[6] Subjective well-being can include flourishing, happiness, satisfaction, and a sense of purpose. Objectively, well-being is having adequate food, clothing, shelter, economic resources, and legal rights.

The threat to well-being of workers is not due just to changes in work and workplace hazards, it is also due to the interaction of work and nonwork factors.[7] Such factors as demographics, economic considerations and globalization, migration, climate change and chronic disease are drivers of current and future working conditions. To optimize well-being, there is need for a comprehensive perspective that allows full consideration of possible leverage points (direction, magnitude and causality) for producing meaningful change.[8] To achieve this, we need to understand the relationship between ‘well-being in work’ and ‘well-being in life’ in terms of directionality, magnitude and causality.

Studying Well-Being in OSH

Much of the literature on the relationship between ‘well-being in work’ and ‘well-being in life’ looks at the intersection between life satisfaction and job satisfaction.[9] [10] [11] Commonly it has involved cross-sectional studies where causal inference is generally not able to be assessed. More recently, a 2020 longitudinal study determined relationships between factors involved in job satisfaction and life satisfaction.[8] These relationships can be bi-directional or uni-directional (life-to-work or work-to-life).

The concept of well-being can be used in OSH in a variety of ways. As shown in Figure 2, it, can be used in research, practice, and policy. To these ends, well-being can be investigated in terms of what can cause it and its impact on productivity, organizational effectiveness, and health-related outcomes. Well-being may prove to be a leading indicator of these outcomes. It can be a practical objective for employers and workers, and it can be the target of policy or an indicator of whether a policy achieves well-being.

If the concept of well-being is to be operationalized for use as an objective or a condition of workers or organizations there is a need for a way to measure it. The literature on measuring well-being is broad and provides many approaches.[12] The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a conceptual framework for worker well-being that includes five domains and 20 subdomains that have been incorporated in a survey instrument called the NIOSH WellBQ . [13] [14] The instrument may be useful as a tool for research, practice and policy development.

Using Well-being in OSH and Beyond

Ultimately, if the concept of well-being is to be used by OSH in the future there is need for the OSH field to be prepared for, and to have the capacity to use it. This preparation requires that, in the future, OSH investigators and practitioners need to have appropriate training, understanding of relevant complementary disciplines, and the readiness to think about OSH concerns from a multifactorial perspective. Three approaches to expand OSH training to address well-being can be envisioned. One pertains to increasing the knowledge base and skill sets of OSH practitioners and investigators with augmented training and systems-thinking that is inclusive of extra-organizational influences and cross-disciplinary perspectives and approaches. The second is to engage professions outside the OSH discipline to understand basic principles of OSH, expand their attention toward OSH and to develop collaborations and partnerships with OSH professionals. The third would be a combination of both.[15] For all three approaches to focus on well-being as an outcome of OSH activity, a holistic analysis of worker health and well-being is needed.

The OSH field will need to have a more transdisciplinary focus. A transdisciplinary focus means that researchers and practitioners from different disciplines work jointly using a shared conceptual framework drawing together disciplinary-specific theories, concepts and approaches to address common problems.[15] Recognizing the need for a more holistic framework in OSH, NIOSH has initiated a new program of research under the rubric of Total Worker Health ® (TWH) to better understand how conditions inside and beyond the work environment combine to influence the well-being of workers, to develop integrative prevention strategies that cross these domains to improve worker well-being, and to improve the capacity of occupational health professionals in systems approaches to OSH.[16]

While OSH professionals generally take a systematic approach to their work, how to train OSH professionals in systems-thinking and skills could be a challenge because of the multifactorial nature of so many of the contemporary and emergent OSH problems, [15] although training programs of this nature have already been initiated by some partners of the NIOSH TWH program. Systems thinking in OSH involves taking a holistic view of factors and interactions that contribute to problems, diseases, and outcomes in workers. [17]

Ideally, OSH will become part of a societal consideration that includes sustainability, climate change, decent work and a future impacted heavily by technology, all impacting work and worker well-being and requiring more expansive intervention strategies in OSH. As noted, in this scenario, researchers and practitioners conducting research and developing and implementing OSH interventions will require a broader set of skills and perspectives.[18] Psychosocial hazards in particular will likely become an even greater problem for workers and employers, necessitating additional skills and new inter-disciplinary partnerships for OSH professionals., While recognizing the increasing role of psychosocial hazards and adverse effects, the OSH field will also have to address the ongoing threats of all hazards which the current era overlaps with as shown in Figure 1, as well as new physical, chemical, and biological hazards.

Ultimately, adoption of the well-being concept in OSH will require further agreement on how to operationalize the concept and development of investigatory and intervention strategies that reach beyond the workplace. It is important to guard against blaming the workers for poor well-being outcomes and to consider privacy and confidentiality concerns when addressing non-work characteristics. Additionally, because some interventions necessary to address the well-being of workers may be outside the control of the workplace, broader society-level policies, changes in personal choice-making, clinical services, and health promotion interventions will be necessary to affect well-being in these instances.

Moving Forward

Critical in the evolution of OSH (from a labor to more of a public health perspective) will be the need to address not only hazards in work and elsewhere as they relate to worker well-being, but also lack of workers’ opportunity in terms of unemployment and underemployment. The technological displacement of workers is a growing issue and one that will affect the workforce into the future. The impact of underemployment and unemployment on well-being has been richly described; however, in the future it may become more significant. Intervention to address this will be a challenge for OSH. The field will have to evolve to address lack of employment opportunity as a hazard to workers by adopting a more public health approach to worker health. Additionally, the OSH field may have to think not only of hazards to workers, but hazards to, and characteristics of the workforce, and the health and welfare of workers’ families (Figure 3) ‡ . Strategies to affect all or parts of the workforce will be of critical importance. Both of these new focal areas for OSH are well beyond historical practices and perspectives. However, they ultimately tie to worker well-being and a more broadly prepared field of OSH professionals would ideally be well-positioned to pivot, evolve, and envision solutions and quickly implement them.

Paul A. Schulte, Ph.D., is the Director of the NIOSH Division of Science Integration.

Steven L. Sauter, Ph.D., is a consultant to the NIOSH Total Worker Health program.

This blog is part of a series for the NIOSH 50th Anniversary. Stay up to date on how we’re celebrating NIOSH’s 50 th Anniversary on our website .

* These eras represent the authors’ interpretation of occupational safety and health history based on supporting literature. See Melling and Carter (2012) [19] for further discussion.

† “Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives. It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers fair income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, ability to organize and participate in decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.” ILO [20]

‡See the 2012 WHO report on the importance of health, safety, and well-being at work.[21]

1. Black C. [2008]. Working for a healthier tomorrow. London England: The Stationary Office.

2. Burton J [2010]. Healthy workplaces: a model of action for employers, workers, policy-makers and practitioners. Geneva Switzerland: World Health Organizations.

3. Howard J. Nonstandard work arrangements and worker heath and safety. Am J Ind Med 60 (1): 1-10, 2017.

4. Schulte PA, Vainio H [2010]. Well-being at work – overview and perspective. Scan J Work Environ Health 36(5):422-429.

5. Gervais R, Buffet M-A, Liddle M, Eekelaert L [2019]. Well-being at work: creating a positive work environment. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work.

6. Schulte, PA, Guerin RJ, Scholl AL, Bhattacharya A, Cunningham TA, Pandalai S, Eggerth D, Stephenson CM. [2015]. Considerations for incorporating “well-being” in public policy for workers and workplaces. AJPH, August 0015; 106 (f) 31_e44, https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/full/10.2105/AJPH.2015.302616# .

7. Schulte PA, Pandalai S, Wulsin V, Chun K. Interaction of occupational and personal risk factors in workforce health and safety. Am J Public Health 102; 434-448, 2012. Pls let me know if you have further questions.

8. Weziak-Bialowolski D, Bialowolski P, Luigi Sacco, VanderWeele TJ, McNeely E [2020]. Well-being in life and well-being at work: which comes first? Evidence from a longitudinal study. Front. Public Health. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00103/full

9. Bowling NA, Eschleman KJ, Wang Q [2010]. A meta-analytic examination of the relationship between job satisfaction and subjective well-being. J Occup Organ Psychol. 83:915–34. doi: 10.1348/096317909X478557.

10. Judge TA, Watanabe S [1993]. Another look at the job satisfaction-life satisfaction relationship. J Appl Psychol 78:939-948. Doi: 10.1037/0021-9010.78.6.939.

11. Rain JS, Lane IM, Steiner DD [1991]. A current look at the job satisfaction/life satisfaction relationship: review and future considerations. Human Relations. (1991) 44:287–307. doi: 10.1177/001872679104400305.

12. Cooke PJ, Melchart TP, Connor K [2016]. Measuring well-being: a review of instruments. The counseling psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000016633507 .

13. Chari R, Chang C-C, Sauter SL, Petrun Sayers EL, Cerully JL, Schulte PA, Scholl AL, Uscher-Pines L [2018]. Expanding the paradigm of occupational safety and health: a new framework for worker well-being. JOEM 60:921-929.

14. NIOSH [2021]. NIOSH worker well-being questionnaire (WellBQ). By Chari R, Chang CC, Sauter SL, Petrun Sayers EL, Huang W, Fisher GG. Cincinnati, OH: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2021-110 (revised 5/2021), https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHPUB2021110revised52021

15. Schulte PA, Delclos G, Felknor SA, Chosewood LC [2019]. Toward an expanded focus for occupational safety and health. Int J Environ Res and Public Health 16, 4946; DOI:10.3901/jerph 16244946.

16. Hudson HL, Nigam JAS, Sauter SL, Chosewood LC, Schill AL, Howard J [2019]. Total Worker Health. American Psychological Association Washington D.C. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000149-000

17. Carey G, Malbon E, Carey N, Joyce A, Crammond B, Carey A [2015]. Systems science and systems thinking for public health: a systematic review of the field. BMJ open. 5(12):e009002. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009002.

18. Schulte PA, Streit JMK, Sheriff F, Delclos G, Felknor SA, Tamers SL, Fendinger S, Grosch J, Sala R [2020]. Potential scenarios and hazards in the work of the future: A systematic review of the peer-reviewed literature and gray literatures. Ann Work Exp and Health 1-31. Doi: 10.1093/annweh/wxaa051.

19. Melling J, Carter T [2012]. Donald Hunter and history of occupational health: precedents and perspectives. In Baxter ed al (eds) Hunter’s diseases of occupations. Pp5-23. https://doi.org/10.1201/b13467

20. International Labour Organization. Decent Work. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/decent-work/lang–en/index.htm

21. Kim, P. [2012]. WHO and well-being at work. Presentation well-being at work 2012. Manchester UK May 21, 2012. https://www.hsl.gov.uk/media/202146/5_kim_who.pdf

70 comments on “Work and Well-being: The Changing Face of Occupational Safety and Health”

Comments listed below are posted by individuals not associated with CDC, unless otherwise stated. These comments do not represent the official views of CDC, and CDC does not guarantee that any information posted by individuals on this site is correct, and disclaims any liability for any loss or damage resulting from reliance on any such information. Read more about our comment policy » .

Very informative blog.

Thank you for sharing this informative blog with us..

It is informative.. And also covered everything in details.

Nice Blog. explained really nice

Useful Information, thanks for sharing.

This is a good one Thanks

Thank you for sharing this informative.

keep sharing this type of informative content. This is a very informative content. Thanks

strongly agree, health and safety at work is a priority that must be owned by someonem. Btw iam from indonesian

great article share thanks for information.

very good article, thank you

thanks for sharing with us

Great article share thanks for information. Strongly agree, health and safety at work is a priority that must be owned by someones.

101℅ agree with your thoughts and idea.

Will read more like this Thanks

I agree ! I like it due to lots od information and refrences

I think health and occupation is a relevant topic to talk about, since, I’ve seen these two things collide with each other. Working while being best at your health is hard these days due to diversity of working style in out country. Some people work at places where more physical movement is demanded. For young people it isn’t that bad but, for people over 40 it gets a little difficult to work. I think to avoid health problems due to work after 40’s, jobs opportunities should be changed. Since, younger people are more energetic, they should have job opportunities related with physical work, whereas, people who develop poor health condition over time should be provided jobs that require less physical activity.

101℅ agree with your thoughts and idea. Good bless you.

Will read more like this….. Thanks

Thank you for your post sharing with us. Really it’s a very helpful post. Hope everybody will be benefited from your post.

I think this is very informative, but there are a few things I’m afraid I have to disagree with. Even so, it is an additional insight for me.

Thank you for your post and sharing it with us. it’s a very helpful post. Hope everybody will be benefited from your post.

Such a very Impressive Article . i got more useful information thanks for sharing it with us

thanks, the article is very great and useful

Great article share thanks for information. Strongly agree, health and safety at work is a priority that must be owned by someone.

Great article share thanks for information.

indeed in a job, a very important factor is work safety. This of course must be accompanied by a certificate of competence on work safety. In Indonesia, it must be owned by every employee, especially employees in oil and mining

work safety is the most important

Completely agree. This is why we approach everything in our company in balance. More than anything, we let our employees rest, and when they feel overwhelmed, we grant them leave.

Thank you for your post sharing with us. Really it’s a very helpful post. Hope everybody will be benefited from your post.

Nice information.

Nice article and Very Informative. I think health and occupation is a relevant topic to talk about, since, I’ve seen these two things collide with each other. Working while being best at your health is hard these days due to diversity of working style in out country.

Agreed to each and every points . Great article for daily workers.

Nice article.

very very useful article and Very Informative. I think health and occupation is a relevant topic to talk about, since, I’ve seen these two things collide with each other. Working while being best at your health is hard these days due to diversity of working style in out country.thank you

La salud y el trabajo es un tema delicado y hay que saberlo manejar. Hay que hilar despacio.

From Google Translate: Health and work is a sensitive issue and you have to know how to handle it. You have to spin slowly.

Thanks for sharing

informative blog…thx

Agreed to each and every points. Great article for daily workers.

thanks for the information

Thank you so much as you have been willing to share information with us.

Hey Thank you for the informative post. After the COVID thing, from the day, we started WFH, we all almost forget about the well being so it is necessary to have a full knowledge how to be balance your life and work.

This article sheds light on other aspects of well-being in regards to the workplace that are very rarely touched upon. The most interesting one to me is external work factors – alcohol and drug use, aging, chronic disease – I’d even include family/living dynamics at home.

An employee can come to work and do their job but you have no idea what’s going on in their personal lives that may affect their true well-being as a human. Perhaps they are living in a loud environment, don’t get any sleep and require sleep medication. Or they live in a dangerous neighborhood and have to carry self defense weapons for protection which increases their stress.

I like the discussion about well-being at work and well-being at life. Are people fulfilled if they are not doing work that aligns with something purposeful in their lives? Can well-being at work truly align with well-being in life if you are working for a company or someone else and don’t get full say on your role and objectives? Perhaps some people can, but I venture that it’s very challenging for most. At the end of the day, a job is a job that pays the bills, and sadly the employee, and the employer, understand this.

Very beautiful infography and helpful tips. Appreciated. Thank you.

thank you this very helpful blog

Great article

Thanks for putting this together.

thank you this very helpful this blog

Thank you on this helpful article!

Completely agree. This is why we approach everything in our company in balance.

This article provides an insightful overview of the evolution of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) with a particular focus on the emerging emphasis on workers’ well-being. I commend the inclusion of broader societal factors such as sustainability and climate change, that indirectly but significantly impact worker well-being. The notion of well-being encompassing not just physical safety but also psychosocial aspects, underemployment, and the influence of non-work factors reflects the complexity of contemporary work environments. As OSH evolves to address these facets, the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration and a systems-thinking approach cannot be overstated. This comprehensive perspective promises to pave the way for healthier workplaces and a more holistic approach to worker health and productivity.

Thank you for your comment. This is precisely the direction the NIOSH Total Worker Health Program is taking us. Please visit the Total Worker Health webpage for more information.

Wow, what an insightful blog post! As someone who has always prioritized both my work and well-being, it’s refreshing to see a topic that hits close to home. The evolving landscape of occupational safety and health is something we can’t ignore, especially with the changing dynamics of the modern workplace.

The way you highlighted the importance of striking a balance between work and well-being resonated deeply with me. It’s not just about physical safety anymore; mental and emotional well-being are equally vital. Our workplaces should be nurturing environments that encourage growth, productivity, and, most importantly, happiness.

I particularly appreciated your emphasis on the role of employers in promoting a healthy work environment. I am a Call Center owner and when employers prioritize the well-being of their employees, it fosters a positive culture that leads to increased job satisfaction and overall productivity. After all, a happy employee is a productive employee!

It’s fascinating how technology has both facilitated and challenged the field of occupational safety and health. On one hand, it has revolutionized workplace practices, allowing for remote work and flexible schedules. On the other hand, it has introduced new risks and challenges that we need to address proactively.

Overall, this blog post has shed light on a crucial aspect of our lives. It’s a wake-up call for both employers and employees to recognize the significance of work-life balance and well-being. Let’s continue the conversation and strive for workplaces that not only keep us safe but also promote our holistic well-being. Great job!

Thank you. We appreciate your comments.

Occupational safety and health is very important . Especially in developing countries common safety guidelines in any occupation are not properly followed. This piece of information is very beneficial. Thanks

Thank you so much

I like this informations !!

I really enjoyed reading your blog post about work and well-being. I agree that it is important to find a balance between work and personal life, and that both can contribute to our overall well-being.

I found your point about the importance of having a sense of purpose in our work to be particularly interesting. I think that when we feel like our work is meaningful, it can make a big difference in our overall happiness and satisfaction.

I also appreciated your suggestions for how to improve work-life balance. I think that setting boundaries, taking breaks, and making time for relaxation are all important things that we can do to improve our well-being.

Thanks for sharing your insights!

This blog post sheds light on a crucial and often overlooked aspect of occupational safety and health – the interconnectedness of work, health, and overall well-being. It’s a perspective that resonates with Dame Carol Black’s insight that these elements are tightly intertwined and must be collectively addressed.

The authors highlight a fascinating progression through distinct eras in the history of occupational safety and health. From foundational concepts to the emerging focus on total worker health and well-being, the evolution is marked by evolving societal norms, changing work environments, and a deeper understanding of the complexities involved.

The modern era, starting in the early 2000s, has brought about a paradigm shift in how we perceive work-related health and well-being. Factors like rapidly changing work dynamics, external influences such as health behaviors and pandemics, and the recognition of psychosocial hazards, fatigue, and stress-related disorders have pushed the boundaries of traditional occupational safety considerations.

Moreover, the concept of “decent, sustainable, and healthy work” reflects a forward-thinking approach that aligns workplace goals with broader societal aspirations. This evolving perspective acknowledges the significance of fostering environments where employees not only thrive but contribute to a larger vision of a healthier and more sustainable society.

As we navigate the complexities of the modern workplace, it’s crucial to recognize that a holistic approach to occupational safety and health is essential. By integrating well-being into the conversation, we move closer to a comprehensive understanding of how work impacts individuals and society as a whole. This thought-provoking article invites us to contemplate the evolving landscape of occupational well-being and consider innovative strategies to ensure the health and vitality of the workforce.

This thought-provoking analysis sheds light on the evolution of occupational safety and health (OSH) and the often overlooked aspect of well-being. It is intriguing to see how the concept of well-being has been gradually integrated into the OSH framework over time. This article offers valuable historical context and raises important questions about the future of work and the significance of well-being in creating sustainable and thriving workplaces. An insightful read indeed! 👍

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Health and safety in the workplace

Consideration for public health and social measures in the workplace in the context of COVID-19

COVID-19 spreads primarily through respiratory droplets or contact with contaminated surfaces. Exposure can occur at the workplace, while travelling to work, during work-related travel to an area with local community transmission, as well as on the way to and from the workplace.

The risk of exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace depends on the likelihood of coming within 1 metre of others, in having frequent physical contact with people who may be infected with COVID-19, and through contact with contaminated surfaces and objects.

Managers with the support of an occupational health and safety advisor should carry out rapid risk assessments to determine the possibility of exposure risk in order to put in place preventive measures. This should be done for each specific work setting and each job.

Low exposure risk

Jobs or work without frequent, close contact with the general public or others. Workers in this group have minimal occupational contact with the public and other co-workers. Examples of such jobs may include remote workers (i.e., working from home), office workers without frequent close contact with others and workers providing teleservices.

Medium exposure risk

Jobs or tasks with close, frequent contact with the general public or others. This risk level may apply to workers who have frequent and close contact with the people in high-population-density work environments (e.g. food markets, bus stations, public transport, and other work activities where physical distancing of at least 1 metre may be difficult to observe), or tasks that require close and frequent contact between co-workers. This may also include frequent contact with people returning from areas with community transmission. Examples of such jobs may include frontline workers in retail, home deliveries, accommodation, construction, police and security, public transport, and water and sanitation.

High exposure risk

Jobs or tasks with close contact with people who may be more likely to have COVID-19, as well as contact with objects and surfaces possibly contaminated with the virus. Examples include transporting people known or suspected to have COVID-19 without separation between the driver and the passenger, providing domestic services or home care for people with COVID-19, and having contact with the deceased who were known or suspected of having COVID-19 at the time of their death. Jobs that may fall under this category include domestic workers, social care workers, personal transport and home delivery providers and home repair technicians (plumbers, electricians) who have to provide services in the homes of people with COVID-19.

For each risk assessment, consider the environment, the task, the threat, resources available, such as personal protective equipment, and the feasibility of protective measures. The risk assessment should also extend to collective accommodation provided by the employer for workers, such as dormitories. Essential public services, such as security and police, food retail, accommodation, public transport, deliveries, water and sanitation, and other frontline workers may be at an increased risk of exposure to occupational hazards for health and safety. Workers who may be at higher risk of developing severe COVID-19 illness because of age or pre-existing medical conditions should be considered in the risk assessment for individuals.

Workplaces for jobs at medium risk require daily cleaning and disinfection at least two times a day of objects and surfaces that are touched regularly, including all shared rooms, surfaces, floors, bathrooms, and changing rooms. Consider suspending any activity where physical distancing of at least 1 metre cannot be implemented in full. If this is not possible, increase ventilation, implement enhanced regular hand hygiene, and require staff to wear appropriate face masks, goggles, gloves and work clothes during cleaning procedures that generate splashes, providing training on their use. Organize changing and washing of work clothes at the workplace, so that workers to do take them home.

WHO recommends keeping a physical distance of at least 1 metre between each person in all settings, including in workplaces. Because transmission can occur in crowded workplaces, WHO recommends providing sufficient space, at least 10 square meters, for every worker. National recommendations for physical distancing may require greater physical distance and should be complied with.

In order to support compliance with national or local recommendations, implement physical distance guidelines in a way that is practical and feasible in the context of work tasks, and which is acceptable to both workers and employers. Stimulate workers to comply with physical distancing norms also at events outside the workplace, in the community, and in dormitories.

Risk assessment and consultation between employers and workers is very important for setting up and implementing physical distancing measures at the workplace. This may require modification of workstations, changing the use of common spaces and transport vehicles, staggered work shifts, split teams and other measures to reduce social mixing at the workplace.

If physical distancing measures at the workplace are not feasible for specific work tasks, consider whether the work can be suspended, and if this is not possible, apply additional protective measures, such as the use of screens, sneeze guards, face masks, enhanced hand hygiene, ventilation and disinfection.

Physical distancing alone can’t prevent COVID-19 transmission, it is important that it is combined with other public health measures, such as hand and respiratory hygiene, environmental clean-up and disinfection of commonly touched surfaces and objects, ventilation, wearing face masks and a policy of staying at home if unwell.

Employers, workers, and their organizations should collaborate with health authorities to prevent and control COVID-19. Cooperation between management and workers and their representatives is essential for workplace‐related prevention measures. International labour standards on the rights and responsibilities of workers and employers in occupational safety and health should be fully respected.

Employers, in consultation with workers and their representatives, should plan and implement measures to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 at the workplace through engineering and administrative controls, and provide personal protective equipment and clothing according to the risk assessment. Such measures should not involve any expenditure on the part of the workers.

Special measures are needed to protect workers at higher risk of developing severe disease, such as those age 60 and over, or with underlying medical conditions, upon recommendation of the occupational health services. Workers in the informal economy and digital labour platforms, those in small enterprises, domestic and migrant workers should not be left behind in the protection of their health and safety at work and their livelihood .

There should be no social stigma or discrimination at the workplace for any reason, including access to information and protection from COVID-19, occupational health services and mental health and psychosocial support.

If COVID-19 is contracted through occupational exposure, it could be considered an occupational disease and, if so determined, should be reported and compensated according to the international labour standards and the national schemes for employment injury benefits.

Workers are responsible to follow the measures for occupational safety and health and infection prevention and control established for their workplace, and to participate in training provided by the employer. Workers should report to their supervisor any situation which may present an imminent and serious danger to their life or health. Workers have the right to remove themselves from any work situation that they have reasonable justification to believe presents an imminent and serious danger to their life or health, and should be protected from any undue consequences as a result of exercising this right.

Workplaces should develop action plans to prevent and mitigate COVID-19 as part of the business continuity plan and according to the results of the risk assessments and the epidemiological situation.

The action plan and preventive measures should be regularly monitored and updated. Workers and their representatives should be consulted and should participate in the development, monitoring and updating of the workplace COVID-19. It is very important to monitor the effectiveness of preventive measures, and the compliance of workers, visitors, customers, clients and sub-contractors with the measures. The plans should be updated when someone with known or suspected COVID-19 is at the workplace.

Temperature screening cannot detect all cases of COVID-19, since infected individuals may not have fever early in the course of infection or illness, such as during the incubation period or just before other symptoms begin, even though they may already be infectious. Some people may reduce fever with a fever-reducing medication if they are concerned about the possible consequences of not coming to work. Relying on temperature screening alone will not stop the spread of COVID-19 at work.

Thermal screening at the workplace can be considered part of a package of measures to prevent and control COVID-19 at the workplace. Workers should be encouraged to self-monitor their health, possibly with the use of questionnaires, and take their own temperature regularly at home. Workplaces should adopt “stay at home if unwell” and flexible sick leave policies to discourage workers with symptoms consistent with COVID-19 from coming to the workplaces.

Wearing masks depends on the risk assessment. For jobs and tasks that carry a medium or high risk, for people aged 60 and older, and for those with underlying health conditions, a medical mask and other personal protective equipment should be provided. Fabric masks or face coverings are currently recommended for younger people and those with no symptoms where physical distancing is not achievable. This prevents the spread of virus from the wearer (who could have COVID-19 but no symptoms) to others. The policy on wearing a mask or face covering in low risk workplaces should be in line with national or local guidelines. Masks may carry some risks if not used properly.

COVID-19 is associated with a range of concerns, such as fear of falling ill and dying, of being socially excluded, placed in quarantine, or losing a livelihood. Symptoms of anxiety and depression are common reactions for people in the context of COVID-19. Mental health and psychosocial support should be made available to all workers. Comprehensive risk assessments can help identify and mitigate related occupational hazards for mental health

Full Guideline Document Considerations for public health and social measures in the workplace in the context of COVID-19 is accessible at: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/considerations-for-public-health-and-social-measures-in-the-workplace-in-the-context-of-covid-19

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Workplace Health and Safety

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7 Strategies to Improve Your Employees’ Health and Well-Being

Erin L. Kelly,
Lisa F. Berkman,
Laura D. Kubzansky,
Meg Lovejoy

A roundup of research on how to create a positive working environment.

At a time when worker burnout and turnover is a major problem, companies can reduce both by redesigning work in ways that promote employee well-being and health. A review of research on the specific work conditions that affect employee well-being and how to improve them generated seven practical approaches that employers can apply to redesigning jobs.

Your company may pride itself on being a good employer. But even with the best of intentions, your company could be hurting employees’ health and well-being because of the way the work is organized. Working conditions and the demands of the work environment are a significant source of stress for many Americans , and research has found that the design of work can have substantial effects on employee well-being and health as well as health care expenses .

Erin L. Kelly is the Sloan Distinguished Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management and codirector of the MIT Institute for Work and Employment Research .
Lisa F. Berkman is the director of the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies and the Thomas D. Cabot Professor of Public Policy and of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Laura D. Kubzansky is the Lee Kum Kee Professor of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School and codirector of the school’s Lee Kum Sheung Center for Health and Happiness .
Meg Lovejoy is the research program director of the Work and Well-Being Initiative at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies.

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Indian J Occup Environ Med
v.26(2); Apr-Jun 2022

A Study of the Effectiveness of Workplace Health and Safety Programmes in a University Setting in Canada

Zakia hoque.

Division of Community Health and Humanities, Faculty of Medicine, Memorial University, St John's, NL, A1B 3V6, Canada

Veeresh Gadag

Atanu sarkar, introduction:.

Nearly a quarter-million people work in universities in Canada, making it one of the fastest-growing sectors. Although each university provides occupational health and safety services and training programmes to their employees, there have been no studies conducted on the impact of such programmes on employees’ knowledge, attitude and behaviour. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of dissemination of information of workplace health and safety programmes to workers at a Canadian university.

The study compared two cross-sectional online surveys of employees of a Canadian university regarding workplace health and safety with a previously conducted cross-sectional study and thematic analysis of key informant interviews to address the issues raised in the surveys.

Participation in health and safety presentations could enhance understanding and practices of safety. Age, employment status and duration of employment were associated with the levels of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of employees and graduate students. The key informant interviews highlighted some new initiatives such as the establishment of workplace health and safety committees in all university buildings; the development of a safety app and health and safety management system; routine annual inspections of all university building offices and laboratories; new orientation for undergraduate students where general safety rules are described.

Discussion:

University should have regular presentations on the available health and safety programmes and should increase the number of safety training programmes and keep track of the employees that have not received any training, particularly for those working in hazardous environments.

I NTRODUCTION

The labour force in the university sector in Canada is large and has considerable occupational diversity. According to Statistics Canada, out of 17 million-member workforce, 1.3 million (8%) are in educational services, and almost 20% of these individuals (~250,000) work in various universities.[ 1 ] The 2016 census shows that educational services in Canada had the fourth-highest rate of growth and more than half of this increase was in universities.[ 2 ] The working environment in universities is highly diverse, as there are a wide range of disciplines involving teaching, research, administration and maintenance. Due to this multifaceted working environment in the universities, employees encounter various types of occupational health risks. Despite the complexity of occupational risks, little has been written about occupational health and safety programmes of the university employment sector.[ 3 ]

In Canada, workers are covered by provincial or federal labour codes, depending on the sectors in which they work. While workers in mining, transportation, and the federal government are covered by the Canada Labor Codes, other workers such as employees of universities are covered by provincial health and safety legislation.[ 4 ]

Venables and Allender (2007) described the occupational health services in 93 universities in the UK by drawing on data from surveys carried out in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Most survey responses were received from universities and in-house services. The surveys requested self-completed information on occupational health services from each university. The results indicated that 50% of the universities had an in-house health service, 32% relied on a contractor, 9% used the campus student health service, and a further 9% had an ad hoc arrangement or no arrangement. On average, the service was poor, as usually only one half-day doctor with one full-time nurse and a part-time clerk were available to provide service. The wide variation among universities in staffing levels suggested that some universities might have less-adequate services than others.[ 3 ] A study examining the safety concerns of faculty members of a university campus in USA (Alabama) showed that women faculty members took more personal safety precautions than men and felt more strongly about the need for the improvement of safety features on campus. A 160-item questionnaire was distributed to the faculty members asking about socio-demographic information, daily campus activities, personal safety protection taken while on campus, awareness and attitudes about safety on campus, and reported cases of victimization on campus. A few months later, the authors examined the safety awareness of male and female staff members in the same university using the same questionnaire. The results indicated that although female staff members reported more regarding acts of violence against them than male staff members, there was not much difference in their attitudes towards improving safety features on campus. Faculty and staff members identified that they like to use avoidance strategies such as walking with a friend or using objects as a weapon rather than contacting campus security.[ 5 ]

All Canadian universities have Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) or similar departments through which Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) services are provided. All the universities follow a similar practice such as a) having health and safety committees on the campus, b) promoting health and safety and providing risk management services, c) conducting regular workplace inspections and reviewing incident investigative reports, e) creating annual reports about incidents, lessons learned, and providing recommendations to senior administrators, and e) organizing health and safety information session for the employees. The EHS unit mainly offers training on fire safety, first aid, laboratory safety, biosafety, X-ray safety, radiation and laser safety, WHMIS (Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System), contractor safety, respiratory protection, ergonomics, hazardous waste management and disposal and also provides health and safety committee representative training.[ 6 ]

Despite the existence of occupational health and safety programmes in various Canadian universities, recorded evaluation of such programmes is sparse. Considering the large workforces in universities and their unabated positive growth, it is crucial to evaluate the existing occupational health and safety programmes in Canadian university settings. The aims of this study were: a) to evaluate the effectiveness of health and safety programmes through well-designed surveys of faculty members, staff and graduate students of a Canadian university (Memorial University of Newfoundland or MUN); and b) to conduct a key informant interview of the officials of MUN responsible for the operation of the health and safety unit to address the issues raised in the surveys.

In 2013, MUN contracted a third-party consultant to conduct an impartial assessment of the safety culture at the university. The consulting group was asked to do a complete assessment of the current state of health and safety programmes offered by MUN through the Office of the Chief Risk Officer and to identify gaps in the programme. The consulting group surveyed about 10% of the permanent employees of MUN in 2013 and produced a report in 2014. The Office of the Chief Risk Officer called the report a ‘Gap Analysis (GA) survey’. In 2015, to address the identified gaps and to increase awareness about the health and safety programmes, the Office of the Chief Risk Officer organized several health and safety presentations for MUN employees. We sought to examine if these presentations had any effect on the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the employees and graduate students at MUN and if their level of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour are sustainable over time. As a result, in consultation with the EHS Unit in 2016, we administered two identical online surveys to employees and graduate students at MUN. The purpose of the first survey was to answer the following research questions:

Has there been any significant improvement in the perception of the workplace health and safety of MUN employees since 2013 when the survey on gap analysis in safety culture was conducted?
Do knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding the health and safety of MUN employees differ with respect to demographic variables?
Is there any significant difference in the perception of safety practices between those who attended the health and safety presentations and those who did not attend these presentations?

The purpose of the second survey (using the same questionnaires of the first survey) was to assess the retention of health and safety knowledge over the period of 6 months. The intent of conducting the surveys was to gain insight into important factors that could make MUN's health and safety programmes more effective. The study also intended to explore the responses of the officials to the issues raised in the surveys.

We used a mixed-methods approach by collecting, analysing and integrating quantitative (surveys) and qualitative (interviews) data to gain in-depth understanding and corroboration while offsetting the weaknesses inherent in using each approach by itself.[ 7 , 8 , 9 ] Approval from the ethics committee was obtained. The date of the approval 23rd August 2016.

Survey participants

The survey participants in the two surveys that we conducted, included graduate students/researchers, faculty members and staff, as they work for the MUN as employees. As the surveys were anonymous, the second survey was sent to the same entire population and not to only the respondents of the first survey. This allowed us to compare the results with those of the independent surveys to determine if there are any changes in the knowledge level of the employees on health and safety-related information.

Survey design

Two identical online surveys of MUN employees were conducted between 1) October 19, 2016 and November 30, 2016, and 2) April 10, 2017 and June 10, 2017. The purpose of the first survey was to gauge the level of uptake of the information on health and safety, disseminated by the EHS Unit to the MUN Community through their safety workshops in 2015–2016 as well as through their broader reach-out mechanisms. Further, we wanted to study the effect of the knowledge about health and safety on the attitudes and behaviour of the employees and graduate students at MUN. The second survey was conducted six months after the first survey. It targeted the same population and followed the same methodology as the first survey and aimed to understand the retention of knowledge over time and whether the knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the employees changed over time.

Our survey was developed based on input from the EHS unit. Some questions were based on questions from the GA survey with the intent of comparing the results. We also adopted some questions from the survey questionnaire of the study ‘Montana Tech Campus Safety, Security and Safety Awareness Survey’ conducted by Kristine Witt in 2011 at Montana Tech University, USA.[ 10 ] We conducted a pilot survey of some faculty members, staff and graduate students to ensure the readability, clarity, and organization of the survey questionnaire. We sent e-mails to all faculty and departments of MUN's main campus in St. John's and affiliated Grenfell campus in Corner Brooke, detailing the nature of the survey and provided a web-link (Survey Monkey ® ) to access the survey. The questionnaire with the references is presented in a supplementary file (S1) . At the beginning of the survey, online consent was obtained. The survey instrument was prepared to capture the awareness, attitudes and behaviour of employees and graduate students toward health and safety programmes offered by MUN. The questions were divided into three groups: 1. Knowledge (refers to the awareness and perception of the participants related to health and safety); 2. Attitudes (collects information on the viewpoints and beliefs of the participants about occupational health and safety); and 3. Behaviour (collects information on participants’ day-to-day safety practices/protocols at the workplace).[ 11 ] Questions 7-18, 21, 22, 25, 29, 31 and 40 were designed to test the knowledge of the participants regarding occupational health and safety; questions 19–20, 26–27 were combined to assess their attitudes; and questions 28, 30, 32, 34, 36 and 41 were grouped under behavioural questions (please refer to the questionnaire in supplementary file S1 ). The last few questions were on the perceptions of the participants about safety in specific areas on the campuses.

In the knowledge group, there are 18 questions. For each question, we assigned a score of 1 for the answer “No” and a score of 2 for the answer “Yes”. We added the scores of these 18 questions, which ranged from 18 to 36. We divided this range of responses into halves, 18–27 representing lower score and 28–36 representing higher score, following the procedure described in.[ 12 , 13 ] we used a similar procedure with four questions representing attitudes and six questions representing behaviour groups. The purpose of creating these categories was to test for the association between the levels of the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of the participants among themselves and with the demographic variables, using frequency analysis technique.

In order to compare with the GA survey, we selected only the Yes/No-type questions (similar to the GA survey) and divided them into three broad themes: i) Environmental Health and Safety Office-related questions, ii) Faculty/Building-related questions, and iii) Department/Division-related questions.

Key informant interviews (KII)

After completing the cross-sectional surveys, we conducted KII with eight officials who have been responsible for the development and implementation of health and safety programmes at MUN. Among them, five officials were from the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) unit, two officials were from the Workplace Health and Safety Committee (WHSC) and one official was from Facilities Management (FM). The interviews were recorded in writing. A thematic content analysis approach was used for data analysis. Each transcript was reviewed and coded to identify key emerging themes. We then compared the coding of the transcripts. The first question of the interview is about the initiatives taken by the EHS unit to raise awareness about health and safety among MUN employees after 2013. For further analysis, we divided the rest of the questions into three groups. The first group is about knowledge and awareness of safety policies. Questions 2–6, 12 are included in this group. Questions 7–10 are in the group on laboratory safety and workplace hazards. Questions 11, and 13–15 are in the group of MUN facilities and services (please refer to the questionnaire in supplementary file S2 ). The primary motivation of the KII was to collect further information related to the survey questionnaire and to find answers to some of the comments made by the participants in the surveys. Therefore, some questions asked in the KII were based on the outcomes of the survey results.

Data analysis

Apart from descriptive statistics, Chi-square tests were conducted for correlation and P - value less than 0.05 was considered significant. For data analysis, SPSS (version 24) was used. For a detailed statistical analysis, please refer to the supplementary file (S3) .

In the first and second surveys, 148 and 103 valid independent respondents were identified, respectively. Table 1 shows demographic information of survey 1 and survey 2 participants. There was an increase in the level of the participants’ knowledge/awareness about MUN's health and safety policies, when compared to GA survey (please see detailed findings in Supplementary file (S4) ). There was an increase in the level of awareness among the employees about the presence of the EHS unit at MUN and improved communication with the Health and Safety Committee compared to GA results. On the other hand, there were lower levels of knowledge about MUN's working alone procedures, and about AED (automated external defibrillator) locations. In all three surveys, the participants demonstrated little familiarity with the OHS Act.

Demographic characteristics of the university worker participants

Demographic information	Survey 1 =148	Survey 2 =103
Employment status
Faculty	19	24
Staff/administrator	48	35
Graduate student/researcher	33	41
Gender
Male	51	52
Female	49	48
Department?
Medicine	21	22
Pharmacy	1	2
Nursing	1	1
Science	8	8
Engineering	38	42
Business	5	7
Education	1	1
Arts	2	2
Administrative and other offices	23	15
Years of Age
Less than 30	22	20
30-39	26	29
40-49	23	31
50-59	20	12
60 or more	9	8
Duration of employment
Less than 4 years	43	53
4-9 years	24	19
10-14 years	9	13
15-19 years	11	5
20-24 years	5	2
25 years or more	8	8
Attended the safety presentation at MUN
No	42	44
Yes	47	41
I don’t remember	11	15

We have observed some association between demographic variables and knowledge, attitudes and behaviour (safety practices) of employees regarding health and safety programmes. Table 2 presents the association between the knowledge level score and demographics of the employees. In the first survey, there are associations between ‘the level of health and safety knowledge of the participants’ and their (a) ‘attendance at the safety presentations’ ( P < 0.05), b) ‘employment status’ i.e., faculty/staff/graduate student ( P < 0.05) and c) ‘age’ ( P < 0.05). For a detailed statistical analysis, please refer to supplementary file (S3) [Tables # S3.3.1 , S3.3.2 , S3.3.3 ]. In the second survey, there are associations between: ‘the level of health and safety knowledge’ and (a) ‘employment status’ ( P < 0.05), b) ‘age’ ( P < 0.05), and c) ‘duration of employment’ ( P < 0.05). For a detailed statistical analysis, please refer to supplementary file (S3) [Tables # S3.3.4 , S3.3.5 , S3.3.6 ].

Cross-tabulation between demographics and Knowledge level score

Whether attended the safety presentation at MUN	Survey 1		Survey 2

	Low score	High score	Low score	High score
No	23	23	15	20
Yes	9	50	8	28
Employment status
Faculty	6	16	6	15
Staff/administrator	6	52	4	26
Researcher/graduate student	24	13	17	17
Gender
Male	20	35	14	32
Female	17	44	13	26
Age
Below 40 years	24	30	18	22
40 years or more	13	50	8	35
Duration of employment
Less than 4 years	5	13	7	11
4 years or more	8	53	3	28

* Low score: 18-27; High score: 28-36; α significant for survey 1, β significant for survey 2

Table 3 presents the attitude level score and demographics of the participants. In the first survey, there are associations between ‘the level of attitude towards safety’ and: a) ‘employment status’ a) ( P < 0.05), and b) ‘age’ ( P < 0.05). In the second survey, no association was found between any of the demographic information and attitude towards safety. Please refer to Supplementary file S3 for a detailed statistical analysis [Tables # S3.4.1 , S3.4.2 ].

Cross-tabulation between demographics and attitude level and behaviour level scores

	Survey 1		Survey 2
Attitude level score
Whether attended the safety presentation at MUN	Low	High	Low	High
No	35	42	30	13
Yes	23	19	24	14
Employment status
Faculty	16	9	14	10
Staff/administrator	49	16	26	9
Researcher/graduate student	22	21	24	13
Gender
Male	44	20	32	19
Female	42	27	32	13
Age
Below 40 years	35	28	32	13
40 years or more	52	18	31	18
Duration of employment
Less than 4 years	15	4	13	8
4 years or more	49	21	26	10

Behaviour level score
Whether attended the safety presentation at MUN
No	44	9	32	3
Yes	39	23	21	15
Employment status
Faculty	19	5	17	4
Staff/administrator	38	27	22	9
Researcher/graduate student	36	5	26	7
Gender
Male	47	14	33	14
Female	47	22	32	6
Age
Below 40 years	46	14	30	9

α significant for survey 1, β significant for survey 2

Table 4 also presents the association between ‘the behaviour (safety practice) level score’ and ‘demographic variables’ of the participants. In the first survey, there are associations between ‘behaviour level score’ and: a) ‘attendance at the safety presentation’ ( P < 0.05), and b) ‘employment status’ ( P < 0.05). In the second survey, there is an association between ‘attendance of the safety presentation’ and ‘behaviour level score’ related to health and safety ( P < 0.05). Please refer to Supplementary file S3 for a detailed statistical analysis [Tables # S3.5.1 , S3.5.2 , S3.5.3 ].

Laboratory safety related responses from different groups (in percentage)

Faculty/staff/administrator	Survey 1			Survey 2

	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	Agree	Neutral	Disagree
I feel safe in campus labs	70	28	2	82	18	0
PPE is available in the labs	62	33	5	78	21	1
Lab safety is properly explained	66	26	8	65	35	0
I received training on appropriate use of eyewash station	57	27	16	63	29	8
I know the location of the nearest safety shower	63	24	13	76	16	8
Overall the lab is safe	59	37	4	63	37	0
Graduate student/researcher
I feel safe in campus labs	51	43	6	37	53	10
PPE is available in the labs	63	34	3	46	47	7
Lab safety is properly explained	58	34	8	38	52	10
I received training on appropriate use of eyewash station	53	30	17	45	39	16
I know the location of the nearest safety shower	58	31	11	50	38	12
Overall the lab is safe	50	40	10	44	39	17

In our two surveys, we observed that those who attended safety presentations had a better level of safety practices than those who did not attend the safety presentations. Overall, there is no significant difference in the knowledge, attitudes, and behaviour of the employees and graduate students between the two surveys. In Tables Tables2 2 and and3, 3 , the Chi square test results indicate that the levels of knowledge, attitudes and behaviour of the employees and graduate students have not changed much over the period of six months.

The only change we observed is a decrease in the knowledge of graduate students and researchers regarding laboratory safety in the second survey [ Table 4 ]. In both surveys, the participants reported that some places on the campus are safe [ Table 4 ]. In the first survey, 70% of the faculty/staff reported that they felt safe in the campus labs, and 51% of graduate students/researchers reported that they felt safe in the campus labs. Compared to the first survey, the difference in knowledge regarding lab safety between faculty/staff/administrators and graduate students/researchers decreased in the second survey (Please refer to Table 5 for the results). It can, therefore, be stated that the graduate students/researchers need more awareness sessions and training on laboratory safety.

Group wise health and safety ratings of different on-campus areas (except laboratories) (in percentage)

Faculty/staff/administrator	Survey 1			Survey 2

	Safe	Neutral	Unsafe	Safe	Neutral	Unsafe
Parking Lots	55	32	13	62	33	5
Elevators	63	31	6	60	34	6
Library	78	16	6	89	11	0
Classrooms	77	20	3	85	13	2
Restrooms	69	23	7	68	30	2
Gym	78	22	0	86	14	0
Student Union Building	75	22	3	85	15	0
Dormitories	64	30	6	73	27	0
Graduate student/researcher
Parking Lots	52	42	6	55	40	5
Elevators	56	25	19	40	43	17
Library	87	7	6	81	19	0
Classrooms	85	15	0	69	26	5
Restrooms	63	37	0	49	43	8
Gym	82	18	0	64	33	3
Student Union Building	79	21	0	60	39	1
Dormitories	55	42	3	50	39	11

For KII, five officials from the Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) unit of MUN, two officials were from the Workplace Health and Safety Committee (WHSC) and one official was from Facilities Management (FM). During the interviews, the participants from the EHS unit highlighted several initiatives undertaken by their unit since the release of 2013 Gap Analysis (GA) results. Some important recent initiatives undertaken by EHS were: (a) Five to seven safety campus-wide presentations were organized, some of which were geared towards senior management and WHSC members; (b) MUN restructured 27 WHSCs on its campuses to provide adequate safety services and to meet the legislated requirements of CCOHS and the University OHS Act and Regulations. Each of the 27 WHSCs covered few buildings on campus; (c) In 2014, MUN implemented electronic safety reporting system (e-alert) (d) MUN Safe App was introduced in 2016; (e) Inspections of all university building offices and 350 laboratories are being conducted annually; (f) Orientation sessions for new undergraduate students each year are being organized, where general safety rules are described; (g) Established a chemical management system for labs; and (h) Created annual water sampling procedure for drinking water safety. The participants from WHSCs also mentioned some initiatives undertaken by the EHS unit such as (a) an increase in the participation of representatives from the EHS Unit to sit on the WHSC meetings and (b) more frequent laboratory inspections. The participant from FM mentioned some initiatives such as maintaining a good database to track the expiry date of the employee training; and more engagement in the weekly Toolbox Talks to discuss potential hazard assessment.

Most of the KII participants mentioned that the graduate students’ supervisors are responsible for providing information to the students on laboratory safety rules and whom to call first in the event of an incident/accident. They placed the responsibility for providing laboratory safety equipment on the Department Heads. The participants emphasized budget and manpower as the main bottlenecks for addressing workplace hazards in a timely manner. There were some suggestions from the KII participants to improve health and safety at MUN such as (i) making attendance of safety presentations mandatory and included as part of the new employee and student orientation packages, (ii) demonstrating the AED in every building, (iii) encouraging all university members to install the MUN Safe App on their phones, and (iv) constantly improving app on a regular basis.

D ISCUSSION

The survey results indicate that there are significant associations between: a) ‘attendance at the safety presentation’ and ‘participant's health and safety knowledge’, b) ‘level of attitude’ and ‘behaviour levels’, c) ‘employment status’ and ‘participant's knowledge level on health and safety’, d) ‘participant's age’ and 'safety knowledge level’, and e) ‘length of service’ and ‘participants’ level of knowledge on health and safety. In our two surveys, we observed that those who attended safety presentations had much better understanding and practices of health and safety than those who did not attend. It is clear from the results that there should be more emphasis on dissemination of the activities of the EHS unit to a larger number of MUN employees and students on a regular basis. The results of the cross-sectional surveys (our two surveys and the GA survey) show consistency in the three survey results. As presented in Table 2 , the respondents increased their awareness about the presence of the EHS unit at MUN and improved their (respondents) communication with the Health and Safety Committee over time. On the other hand, we identified some issues that need to be addressed such as less familiarity with MUN's working alone procedures, AED locations, and OHS Act. The dissemination of information on the OHS Act needs improvement, as this is the basis of all health and safety-related regulations, responsibilities, and rights.

Health and safety programmes should be evaluated periodically to ensure that best practices are being followed on a regular basis. Programme Evaluation always helps the institute to update guidelines as necessary, and to address areas of need or concern in the institute. In some of the previous studies, periodical evaluations were conducted to investigate any change or improvement in population health. Two cross-sectional surveys were conducted in1990 and in 1998 in Copenhagen, Denmark to investigate whether the prevalence of skin-prick-test (SPT)-positive allergic rhinitis had increased in an adult general population in Copenhagen, Denmark. A screening questionnaire on respiratory symptoms was distributed in random samples of 15–41-year-old people in 1990 and in 1998. Among the responders, random samples were invited to a health examination including SPT.[ 14 ] Two International Studies on Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) - questionnaires based surveys were carried out in 1994 and in 2001 among school children in Singapore to evaluate the hypothesis that the prevalence of asthma would further increase and approach to western figures over time.[ 15 ] A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in 1973 among 12 years old children in South Wales, Britain. In 1988, the survey was repeated in the same area among 12 years old children to again to observe whether the prevalence of asthma had increased.[ 16 ] Frequency of prescribed drugs use was assessed by a sample of elderly people 65 years and over in Nottingham in 1985 and 1989. The aim was to observe the change in numbers in the use of prescribed drugs.[ 17 ] Though in our study, we do not observe any significant difference overall in the knowledge, attitude, and behaviour of the employees between the two surveys, we observe a significant decrease in the knowledge regarding laboratory safety in the second survey. Our study is therefore, successful to investigate the change in perceptions of the employees regarding workplace health and safety over time.

This study used a mixed-methods approach as such a method allows for a more robust analysis.[ 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 ] We conducted online surveys as online survey can easily obtain large sample, it can control answer order, it required completion of answers, and online survey can ensure that respondents answer only the questions that pertain specifically to them.[ 18 ] Through the quantitative online survey analysis of MUN employees and graduate students, we learned of their perceptions regarding MUN's workplace health and safety programmes. These perceptions are a one-sided view of the survey participants, and quantitative survey analysis does not provide a detailed explanation of several issues. Through the KIIs, we collected further information related to health and safety programmes at MUN and clarified some of the issues raised by the participants in the surveys. Such as, the KII participants clarified that the graduate students’ supervisors are responsible for providing information to the students on laboratory safety rules and whom to call first in the event of an incident/accident; the Department Heads are responsibility for providing laboratory safety equipment; and budget and manpower are the two main bottlenecks for addressing workplace hazards in a timely manner. The KII participants also mentioned some recent beneficial initiatives such as, the arrangement of five to seven safety presentations campus-wide, restructuring of the WHS and EHS committees, the implementation of an electronic safety reporting system and the MUN Safe App, new orientation for undergraduate students where general safety rules are described, and development of the Health and Safety Management System. There had been a gap in understanding about health and safety matters between the employees and MUN health and safety officials. The qualitative analysis of the KII has filled this gap.

Our study is the first of this kind in the context of Health and Safety Program evaluation in Canadian university. Our study focused on the level of uptake of the information on health and safety disseminated by the university EHS unit through their safety presentations and workshops. We have also studied the effect of employee's and graduate student's knowledge about health and safety programmes at MUN on levels of their attitudes and behaviours. In addition, we have conducted KII interviews of the officials who are engaged in developing workplace health and safety programmes at MUN. As a result, improvements in the health and safety programmes have been planned by university officials. This is the practical implication of this study as the KII participants suggested some future procedures to improve health and safety at MUN such as making attending safety presentations mandatory for all employees and students; demonstrating the AED in every building; and encouraging all university residents to install the MUN Safe App on their phones.

There were some limitations of our study. The sample sizes of the surveys were small as participation was voluntary, and there was no incentive for participating in the surveys. The survey participants were not equally distributed across the disciplines, as the numbers of respondents from some faculties were much higher (Engineering faculty) than the number of respondents from other faculties (Arts and Education faculties). The survey data were anonymous, so our assertion on sustenance of the perceptions of the health and safety of respondents over the six-month period of time is not stronger.

In future surveys, undergraduate students should be included, as they are also exposed to similar risks as graduate students, and they outnumber graduate students. There is a sizable workforce involved in post-secondary university institutions in Canada, and this sector is growing. Varying ranges of working environments in the universities expose employees to multiple occupational risks. Safety training in a university is often not mandatory, and the survey analysis clearly indicates that there is need to increase the level of uptake on the information on health and safety programmes of university by employees and graduate students. Therefore, the universities should increase the number of safety training programmes and keep track of the employees that have not received training, particularly for those working in hazardous environments. Assured provision of financial resources is the key to maintaining a safe work environment and practices.

Key Messages

Universities should make safety training mandatory for all employees and graduate students. Therefore, there is a need to increase the number of training sessions to accommodate all eligible persons. Also, the universities should keep track of the employees and students that have not received training, particularly for those working in hazardous working conditions. The universities have to set aside financial resources for such regular trainings.

Financial support and sponsorship

Conflicts of interest.

There are no conflicts of interest.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Associate Director of the EHS Unit of the Office of the Chief Risk Officer, Memorial University, Ms. Barbara Battcock, for her valuable suggestions throughout the survey. We would also like to thank all the anonymous participants who volunteered for the surveys and for the key informant interviews.

Supplementary File S1

Memorial University-Workplace Health and Safety Survey .

1. Did you attend the Safety-Presentation provided by Environmental Health and Safety Unit at Memorial University?

[ ] I don’t remember.

2. Employment Status

[ ]Faculty.

[ ]Researcher/Graduate student.

[ ]Administrator.

4. Which faculty/office do you belong to?

[ ] Medicine

[ ]Pharmacy

[ ]Engineering

[ ]Business

[ ]Education

[ ]Administrative office

[ ]Other (Please specify)

5. In which age group do you fall?

[ ] Less than 30

[ ] 60 or more

6. How long have you been on the Campus as an employee?

[ ] less than 5 years

[ ] 5-9 years.

[ ] 10 -14 years

[ ] 15-19 years

[ ] 20-24 years

[ ] 25 years or more

7. Are you aware of the presence of the Environmental Health and Safety Unit at Memorial University? (GA Survey, 2013)

8. Are you aware of Workplace Health and Safety Committees (WHSC- formerly known as Occupational Health and Safety Committees) of the building you work in? (GA Survey, 2013)

9. Does the WHSC in your building communicate with you? (GA Survey, 2013)

10. Do you read newsletters, brochures, bulletins, etc., relating to health and safety e-mailed by Environmental Health and Safety Unit? (GA Survey, 2013)

[ ] I don’t receive any of them.

11. Were you informed about the Occupational Health and Safety Act? (GA Survey, 2013)

12 Do you know where to report a safety concern, a safety hazard or accident? (GA Survey, 2013)

13 Do you know your role in the event of an emergency? (GA Survey, 2013)

14) Do you know the campus emergency telephone number? (GA Survey, 2013)

15. Do you know the shortest exit route from your work area (s)? (GA Survey, 2013)

16. Do you know whom you call first if you get injured at work? (GA Survey, 2013)

17. Are you aware that there are Automated External Defibrillators (AED) available in campus buildings? (GA Survey, 2013)

18. Do you know where the AEDs are located in the buildings you work? (GA Survey, 2013)

19. If AED training is made available through MUN, would you be interested in participating in the training? (GA Survey, 2013)

[ ] I am already trained in using AED.

20. In your experience, do you think that safety is a priority within your department/division/faculty/office? (GA Survey, 2013)

21. Do you understand your responsibilities for your and your colleagues’ health and safety? (GA Survey, 2013)

22. Are you familiar with MUN's health and safety policies? (GA Survey, 2013)

23. Please rate how safe you feel in the following areas on campus. (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011).

	Safe	Neutral	Unsafe	N/A
Parking Lots
Elevators
Gym
Library
Student Union Building
Classrooms
Laboratories
Restrooms
Dormitories

Please elaborate on any other particular areas you feel unsafe.

24. What precautions do you think you should take to increase your safety on campus? (Check all that apply). (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011).

i) Carry a cellular phone.
ii) Let others know where I will be.
iii Take safety- training classes.
iv Other, please specify.

25. Are you aware of Memorial's online reporting system for the health and safety issues/concerns? (GA Survey, 2013)

26. Do you report unsafe acts/conditions if you see them? (GA Survey, 2013)

’Toolbox Talks’ is the name of a meeting, which gives opportunity to Memorial University workers, supervisors and Department Heads a means of communicating health, safety and environmental initiatives as well as accident/incident ‘Lessons learned’ and expressing concerns, obtaining information, and resolving issues related to safety in the workplace.

27. Are toolbox talks/safety meetings relevant to your task? (GA Survey, 2013)

[ ] I do not know.

28. Have you participated in a toolbox talk/safety meeting? (GA Survey, 2013)

29. Are you aware of MUN's working alone procedures? (GA Survey, 2013)

30. Do you work after hours at least some times? (GA Survey, 2013)

31. Are you aware of MUN's safety escort service? (GA Survey, 2013)

32. Do you work at a lab or visit one frequently?

33. Please rate the following regarding laboratories on campus.

	Agree	Neutral	Disagree	N/A
I feel safe in campus labs (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011)
PPE is available in the labs. (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011)
Lab safety is properly explained. (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011)
I received training on appropriate use of eye wash station
I Know the location of nearest safety shower

34. Is safety discussed in your workplace? (GA Survey, 2013)

35. Were you provided information/training on the safe use and maintenance of tools and equipment necessary for your job? (GA Survey, 2013)

36. Have you requested specific safety training appropriate to your position? (GA Survey, 2013)

37. Were you informed about the hazardous materials that are present in your workplace? (GA Survey, 2013)

For the purpose of this survey a hazard is defined as: ‘Any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone under certain conditions at work’.

38. How many hazards have you identified in your work place in the last one year.

0 1 2 3 4 or more.

In the above question if your answer is 1 or more than 1 go to question 34 or else go to question 35.

39. How many of them have been corrected in a timely manner?

40. Are Employees given feedback on accidents that occur in your workplace? (GA Survey, 2013)

41. Do you have any concerns regarding your safety and/or security in your faculty or department?

If you answered yes please specify.

42. Which of the following do you think MUN should provide to help increase the safety of the campus community? (Check all that apply). (Montana Tech Safety Awareness Survey, 2011)

Improve safety escort service.
More emergency call boxes.
Additional lighting.
More security guards.
More safety presentations.
Self-defence classes.
Other, please specify

Supplementary File S2

Key Informant Interview Questions

Q1. After the 2013 Gap Analysis survey on safety culture, can you recall any additional initiatives that EHS Unit has initiated to create awareness on health and safety among MUN employees?

Q2. In the surveys less than 50% respondents (first survey 46.6%, second survey 40.8%) notified that they had participated in the safety presentation/workshop in 2015. Is this level of participation satisfactory? If not what additional steps can be taken to reach out to more people at MUN?

Q3. The survey results indicate that, the graduate students and researchers have low level of knowledge/awareness on occupational health and safety programmes compared to the faculty and staff. Knowing that the graduate students and researchers are more exposed group to different safety critical scenarios,

i Does this appear as a concern?
ii How do you think the safety awareness of graduate students and researchers can be improved?

Q4. In the surveys less than 65% of the participants know whom to call first if they get injured at work. Is this level of awareness acceptable? What are the current mechanisms to educate researchers/employees about this information? How do you think this information can be disseminated more effectively?

Q5. The respondents have suggested to improve communication and implementation of the policies and to provide more auditing of safety policies by EHS department to ensure compliance, do you have a similar observation? Is there any continuing effort to improve this concern?

Q6. The surveys indicate that, among the people who said Tool Box Talk is relevant to them, the level of participation in toolbox talk decreased over time. Does your observation support this finding? If so, what can be done to increase the participation?

Q7. The survey analysis indicates that, the graduate students and researchers need more training on eyewash station and safety shower, can you explain the current mechanisms for training graduate students on these basic safety practices? Do you see any way to improve the provision of training and increase the level of participation?

Q8. The respondents suggested to install more flammable gas detectors and improve the splash proof safety goggles. In your opinion are the units/labs equipped with adequate gas detectors and splash proof safety goggles?

Q9. The respondents commented on shortage of lab space and shortage of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).

i) Is there any continuing effort to create more lab space?
ii) Who is normally responsible to provide the PPE to the researchers/graduate students? How can one address the shortage of PPE in labs at MUN?

Q10. In the surveys over 50% of the respondents mentioned that, none of the hazards at their workplaces had been addressed in a timely manner.

(i) What are the current practices for reporting, follow-up and correction of hazards?
(ii) Do you see any bottleneck in the addressing the hazards in a timely fashion?

Q11. The survey results show that over 70% of the respondents want to participate in AED training. Is there any continuing effort to provide AED training to the employees and students at MUN?

Q12. The surveys indicate that a significant portion of the employees is not aware of MUN's working alone procedure though most of the employees are working after hours at the office. Is this a concern? If so what can be done to increase awareness on working alone procedure among the employees?

Q13. The participants have suggested repair of walkways and parking lots and removal of thick layer of ice from the parking lots to prevent slips and falls. Does this come under the purview of EHS Unit? If yes how can one address this issue?

Q14. Many respondents showed their concern about the design and usage of MUN Safe App. Is there a continuing effort to improve the App and make it user friendly?

Q15. In the surveys many of the participants have suggested the improvement of the on-campus safety escort service. How is the current safety escort service implemented and what additional steps can be taken to improve it?

Supplementary File S3

Table s3.3.1.

Chi-Square Tests for table 3

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	14.728	1	0.000
Continuity Correction	13.133	1	0.000
Likelihood Ratio	14.951	1	0.000
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.000	0.000
Linear-by-Linear Association	14.587	1	0.000
No. of Valid Cases	105

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 14.02, * p-value < 0.05 considered significant

Table S3.3.2

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*
Pearson Chi-Square	30.585	2	0.000
Likelihood Ratio	31.058	2	0.000
Linear-by-Linear Association	14.304	1	0.000
N of Valid Cases	115

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.89

Table S3.3.3

Chi-Square Tests for Table 3

	Value	Df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	7.623	1	0.006
Continuity Correction	6.562	1	0.010
Likelihood Ratio	7.681	1	0.006
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.009	0.005
Linear-by-Linear Association	7.558	1	0.006
N of Valid Cases	117

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 17.08

Table S3.3.4

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*
Pearson Chi-Square	10.017	2	0.007
Likelihood Ratio	10.442	2	0.005
Linear-by-Linear Association	4.060	1	0.044
N of Valid Cases	85

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.67

Table S3.3.5

Chi Square Tests for Table 3

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	6.711	1	0.010
Continuity Correction	5.541	1	0.019
Likelihood Ratio	6.830	1	0.009
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.017	0.009
Linear-by-Linear Association	6.631	1	0.010
N of Valid Cases	83

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 12.53

Table S3.3.6

	Value	Df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	5.982	1	0.014
Continuity Correction	4.319	1	0.038
Likelihood Ratio	5.820	1	0.016
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.025	0.020
Linear-by-Linear Association	5.860	1	0.015
N of Valid Cases	49

a. 1cells (25.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 3.67

Table S3.4.1

Chi-Square Tests for table 4

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*
Pearson Chi-Square	6.455	2	0.040
Likelihood Ratio	6.440	2	0.040
Linear-by-Linear Association	2.187	1	0.139
N of Valid Cases	132

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 8.71

Table S3.4.2

Chi-Square Tests for Table 4

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	5.142	1	0.023
Continuity Correction	4.347	1	0.037
Likelihood Ratio	5.166	1	0.023
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.029	0.018
Linear-by-Linear Association	5.103	1	0.024
N of Valid Cases	133

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 21.79

Table S3.5.1

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	5.757	1	0.016
Continuity Correction	4.799	1	0.028
Likelihood Ratio	5.933	1	0.015
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.022	0.013
Linear-by-Linear Association	5.707	1	0.017
N of Valid Cases	115

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 14.75

Table S3.5.2

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*
Pearson Chi-Square	12.299	2	0.002
Likelihood Ratio	12.920	2	0.002
Linear-by-Linear Association	1.858	1	0.173
N of Valid Cases	128

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 6.94

Table S3.5.3

	Value	df	Asymptotic Significance (2-sided)*	Exact Sig. (2-sided)	Exact Sig. (1-sided)
Pearson Chi-Square	10.271	1	0.001
Continuity Correction	8.597	1	0.003
Likelihood Ratio	11.019	1	0.001
Fisher’s Exact Test				0.002	0.001
Linear-by-Linear Association	10.126	1	0.001
N of Valid Cases	71

a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is 8.87

Supplementary File S4

Comparison of surveys

	GA Survey, 2013, =293		Survey 1, 2016, =148		Survey 2, 2017, =103

	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
EHS Office related questions
Are you aware of the presence of the EHS Unit at MUN ?	62	38	90	10	91	9
Do you read newsletters, brochures, bulletins e-mailed by EHS Unit?	52	48	78	22	68	32
Were you informed about the Occupational Health and Safety Act?	69	31	68	32	68	32
Do you know where to report a safety concern, a safety hazard or accident?	84	16	85	15	86	14
Do you know the campus emergency telephone number?	N/A	N/A	73	27	73	27
Are you familiar with MUN’s Health and Safety Policies?	41	59	66	34	76	24
Are you aware of Memorial’s online reporting system for health and safety concerns?	66	34	61	39	75	25
Are you aware of MUN’s Safety Escort Service?	N/A	N/A	49	51	68	32
Faculty/Building related questions
Are you aware of Workplace Health and Safety Committee of the building you work in?	38	62	92	9	90	10
Does the WHSC in your building communicate with you?	37	63	75	25	73	27
Do you know your role in the event of an emergency?	54	46	72	28	89	11
Do you know the shortest exit rout from your work area (s)?	N/A	N/A	95	5	95	5
Do you know whom you call first if you get injured at work?	76	24	64	36	61	39
Are you aware of Automated External Defibrillator available in campus buildings?	N/A	N/A	87	13	81	19
Do you know where the AEDs are located in the buildings you work?	N/A	N/A	73	27	66	34
If AED training is made available through MUN, would you be interested in participating the training?	N/A	N/A	76	24	74	26
In your experience, do you think safety is a priority within your department/faculty/office?	72	28	81	19	86	14
Do you report unsafe acts/conditions if you see them?	94	6	86	14	90	10
Department/Division related questions
Do you understand your responsibilities for your and your colleagues’ health and safety?	63	37	85	15	88	12
Are toolbox talk/safety meeting relevant to your task?	24	76	59	41	47	53
Have you participated in a toolbox talk/safety meeting?	29	71	38	62	25	75
Is safety discussed in your workplace?	74	26	82	18	84	16
Were you provided information/training on the safe use of tools necessary for your job?	43	67	81	19	76	24
Have you requested specific safety training that is appropriate to your position?	23	77	53	47	45	55
Were you informed about the hazardous materials that are present in your workplace?	55	45	71	29	67	33
Are employees given feedback on accidents that occur in your workplace?	73	27	59	41	68	32
Do you work after hours at least sometimes?	75	25	85	15	81	19
Are you aware of MUN’s working alone procedures?	81	19	45	55	54	46

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Safety In The Workplace - Free Essay Examples and Topic Ideas

Safety in the workplace refers to the measures and protocols put in place to prevent accidents, injuries or illnesses to employees while on the job. This may include providing protective gear, conducting safety training, maintaining equipment, and implementing emergency response procedures. Ensuring workplace safety enhances productivity, improves employee morale, and reduces costs associated with accidents or lawsuits. It is the responsibility of both employers and employees to prioritize safety in their workplace.

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Health And Safety In The Workplace
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DOI: 10.1093/pubmed/fdae195
Corpus ID: 271842630

Can AI revolutionize workplace safety without compromising ethical standards and regulatory oversight?

Jose Eric M Lacsa
Published in Journal of public health 11 August 2024
Computer Science

4 References

Restructuring the occupational health and safety management system in the era of artificial intelligence., artificial intelligence and ethics: a comprehensive reviews of bias mitigation,transparency, and accountability in ai systems, drawbacks of artificial intelligence and their potential solutions in the healthcare sector, ensuring integrity in online exams with ai anti-cheat system, related papers.

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Work Safety, Accidents’ Causes and Prevention Essay

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As a template for you assignment

Introduction

Research background.

Since the Stone Age, man has often made his works, easier, efficient and effective through the use of tools, machines and equipment. Even with the better production processes and methods attached to the items, come hazards on the user of these items. These range from simple scratch to possible fatalities.

The rate and severity of damage caused by an accident at work place seem to increase as an organization size increases. In large organizations, several activities have to be put together to attain a given goal. Several activities mean that large and coordinated workforce has to be in place. It is this interaction among people and between people and systems that results to accidents. (Proctor & Zandt, 2008)

Crichton (2008) highlights that minimization of accidents in work place has been a goal that has always accompanied productivity. In as far as an economic entity is to produce, it should be done at minimal accidents occurrence. It therefore, calls for establishment of a safe environment which lessen the chances of an accident happening.

Safety in work place has been on one of the most contentious issues, attracting ubiquitous confrontations between management and those in operational levels. Even as an organization purports to economically operate, it can not ignore the welfare of the most important assets it possesses -human resource. It is also factual that these people will not be able to operate in solitary, devoid of machines and equipment. The safe interaction between the people and machinery should be at the heart of every organization.

Problem statement

An accident, injury or death caused to an employee or any other person by the mechanical nature of a business, means a consequent financial loss to the company and the victim or the victims dependants. So much is paid to insurance companies, usually corresponding to the magnitude of likelihood of accident occurrence in an organization.

Damage which accrues to a particular accident has incidental negative financial loss to the business. This comes from the repair expense to be incurred or the damage that happens to the products in process at the inopportune time. These losses can be reduced if management put in place sufficient safety measures in mechanical areas among other areas. In establishing and maintaining safety in work place, a business should identify the major cause of the accidents in its systems of operations. This study assessed the major causes of accidents across the business fraternity and suggested recommendations that would help curb situations from occasioning or alleviating damage that would occur.

Safety in work place is a wide area but this research project specialized on major causes accidents in workplace. Safety here emphasizes on the most vulnerable areas such as safety in points that involve motion of overall machine, part of it, the operator or goods undergoing processing. Other possibilities of accidents in workplace such as slippery floors, air conditioning, electricity accidents have also been considered.

The objectives of the study include;

To evaluate the impact layouts, stress, aggression and violence, workload and types of machines on rate of accidents.
To evaluate effectiveness of appropriate clothing to accident prevention
To determine the effect of accident (insurance expense) on business financial performance
Safety measure reduces the financial losses to a business.
Given layouts of machines and equipment influence the rate of accidents in an organization.
Inappropriate dressing and inadequate training accelerates the rate of accident in work setting.

Literature Review

This study builds on massive researches done by various scholars in academic institution and researchers in various organizations. Their allusions and insinuations in their publications may attract questions whose answers calls for a study as this one and comments to streamline the facts as presented in the work place away from concepts and theories (Mendez, 2011).

Theories and concepts

According to Huchner (2010) Systems portend the largest cause of accidents in work place. The nature of machines and equipment has a good take on frequency of accidents in a business. For instance the more a manual a machine is, the more the operator is prone to injuries caused by such a machine.

The human resources, at the same time do not escape the blame because of their imperfect nature and their Omni-exposure to erring (Whittingham 2004). The author delves much into theories and concepts, unearthing the level of weaknesses engulfing human being and how mistakes, ignorance, lapses and slips among others cause errors and consequent vulnerabilities. With the previous allusion that it’s the systems that cause accidents, the probability attributable to each the two causes still remain to be explored.

Hughes (2007) has a different look about the same issue. He focuses on losses that come with the accidents instead of the causes. In addition to loosing experienced expertise, time and products, a business incurs financial loss, underfunds its operations and as the vicious spiral whirls, its public image and general performance heads to a detrimental future.

It’s true that for a business to grow and maintain its going concern nature, the losses have to be kept at minimum while its operation are carried out in the most impeccable way. This can be done by preventing any interruptions fathomable (Apgar, 2000). It is always better to deal with the root of a problem, which in this study happens to be causes of perils at the work place. Ultimately losses will be minimized –the very goal of any business.

Conceptual framework

Various items are known to cause accidents in areas where machines and equipment are used. Due to the scope of this study, dressing, training, machines types and their layouts are considered. Their impacts were measured with regard to their contribution to the workplace accidents and the resultant financial losses.

Methodology

To be able to come up with the data and subsequent analysis, historical data from a sample of selected companies were to be collected. A sample of 15 companies in was selected on convenience basis to represent the larger picture of situation in the entire businesses world.

The chosen companies also represent the two types of business sector, that is, manufacturing and service sectors. It is from these companies’ databases of work place accidents that information on aforementioned independent variables was collected for analysis.

From the warehouse of data and statistics, this study identified what each of the fifteen companies identifies as the major cause of accidents in its workplaces.

R esults and Discussion


Inappropriate dressing	1	0.067
Inappropriate layouts of machines	2	0.133
Stress	4	0.267
Workload and multitasking	3	0.200
Aggression and violence	3	0.200
Inadequate training	1	0.067
Others	1	0.067
totals	15	1.000

Data Analysis and Discussion

According to the data collected from the statistics of representative companies it is seen that, stress scores highest as the major cause of accidents in the work place. Various post –accidental investigations by the companies reveal a significant similarity on accidents resulting from human error; the causing agent, and most of the times the victim, erred because he was stressed up and did an action irresponsibly. At least 26% of companies attribute major causes of accidents at workplace to stress.

The results seen here are supported by Lee (1997) who explains succinctly the impacts of stress in work place. He reiterates that stress not only lead to lowered productivity but also is a major cause of accidents. The temporarily blinded and exhausted mind is bound to fail in coordinating other human faculties and therefore irrational activities that lead to accidents. When sober and devoid of stress, one is bound to not only carry out ones duty as required, but also be cautious of any latent dangers ones workplace exposes one and others to.

Workload and Multitasking

Workload refers to the amount of work that a worker is supposed to do in a given time. Multitasking is an aspect of workload defined by the number of different activities a worker is bound to do in a given period of time.

From the statistics collected it is seen that a significant proportion (20%) of companies mention these as the cause of accidents in their workplaces. Such companies cite exhaustion and lack of specialization as the forces behind workplace accidents. This is prevalent in businesses which are under the manufacturing sector where individual are involved in strenuous activities, which wears off the ability of these people to handle more work. Service industry is not exempted but it reports comparatively lower cases.

Inappropriate Dressing

It has been noted that poor dressing is a major cause of accidents in some companies. 6.7% of companies, most companies, especially those that produce chemical or use chemicals in their operations, face accidents emanating from poor dressing. This means that workers do not use the approved protective clothes and end up contacting chemical or inhaling the poisonous fumes.

Inappropriate layouts of machines

Machines especially those that are in motion have been identified to cause accidents too. 20% of the sample elements identified this as a major cause of accidents in their workplaces. When machines are place in areas where people moving to and fro, their activities are a hazard to these people. This is aggravated by the nature of machines. Manual, rotating and cutting machines cut the limbs of many in organizations while belts are known to grab people by their loose clothes or hair and dragging them along causing serious injuries.

Inadequate Training

This is a major cause of accidents, according to this study, for 6.7% of companies. Companies here mention that those that do not have enough experience or have not attained adequate training are the major cause of accidents in work places.

Aggression and violence

These come around due to poor relations among employee. A fifth of the companies have aggression and violence as their major cause of accidents in work places. Fighting or negligence as a result or disagreements leads to the unpalatable outcomes accidents (Gunningham & Johnston, 1999).

Companies in this category were unable to identify any major cause of accidents in their organization. Instead, their identified several causes such as the ones mentioned as well as others, for instance, malicious motives of some individuals, weather and other catastrophe.

Recommendations

As stated earlier, accidents in work place have tremendous consequences both to the workers and the company. Even though accidents cannot be completely eliminated, safety measures and mechanisms can be employed to reduce the frequencies of these incidents occurrences and their severity as well. The following may serve as some of guidelines to curbing accidents in workplace;

A company should, through the available means, ensure that the relationship among its employees is healthy, provide appropriate protection to its workers, give the proper orientation and training before deploying personnel to task. The company should also install their machines in location that do not expose workers and attach to these machine easily comprehensible warning labels in places where they can be seen. Precautions should be well explained during training and whenever need arises.
Potential hazards such as naked electric wire, chopping blades, rotating part and moving belts should be handled with much care. Harmful emissions in workplace should be prevented by regular checks of emission pipes and cylinders. Harmful liquid and other chemical should be transported in tightly sealed containers (Killham & Krueger, 2007).
All the precautions usually considered trivial should be observed. These include avoiding spilling liquids on the floor, aerating workplaces by providing ventilation, disposing off broken object and anything that may cause tripping.
Companies should strive to ensure that each of its employees is well emotionally. They need to combat the eminent stress that would results from conflicts from home or at work place. This can be done by incorporating relaxation moments in the course of job and promoting games, for instance, after work. This will mean there will be no buildup of stress.

According to studies, safety in the workplace is a fundamental issue which should occupy a good deal of business’ strategic debates. Cases of accidents cost a company detrimentally contributes to financial losses and even fall of some businesses. The amounts paid for insurance as well as other compensations add up to additional expenses that can be reduced by implementation of safety in workplace.

Safe working environment is a source of motivation to workers, an incentive for efficient and effective processes and an ingredient that lures qualified employees while acquiring and retaining customers. Positive public image thus assumed, widens the market and improve public relations.

Still, with the understanding that it is hard to get rid of risks, the organization will require efforts to maintain their combatant urge against accidents in the workplace. It is with these efforts that going concern will be able to plan, forecast and attain their goals since minimal contingencies will exist.

This project paper indicates that business operations are prone to differing likelihoods of accidents occurrence. It is also seen that an organization has a role to play in reducing these accidents. Appreciating safety in work place for serene and economical operations, calls for everyone to be a part of the effort.

Apgar, M. (2000). The alternative work place . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Crichton, M. (2008). Safety at sharp end . Burlington: Ashgate publishing Company.

Gunningham, N., & Johnston, R. (1999). Regulating workplace safety: Systems and sanctions . New York: Oxford University Press.

Huchner, P. (2010). Work safety practices: Staff safety and Management . Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Hughes, P. (2007 ). Introduction of health and safety in production . Burlington: Elsevier Publishers.

Killham, E., & Krueger, J. (2007). At work: feeling good at the workplace . New York: Gallup press.

Lee, D. (1997). The hidden cost of trauma in work place: The John Liner Review, 11 (3), 33-38.

Mendez, A. (2011). Compensation: Health Insurance. New York: W. W. Wiley & Sons Company.

Proctor, R. W., & Zandt, V. (2008). Human efforts in simple and complex systems . Boca Raton: CRC press.

Whittingham, R. (2004). The blame machine: Why human errors cause accidents . Burlington: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann.

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Key informant interviews (KII)

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Financial support and sponsorship

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Work Safety, Accidents’ Causes and Prevention Essay

Introduction

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Literature Review

Theories and concepts

Conceptual framework

Methodology

R esults and Discussion

Data Analysis and Discussion

Workload and Multitasking

Inappropriate Dressing