Accidents and injuries at workplace

Hilton, etc, al, (2010), Accident and injuries at workplace can have a very big effect on the business organization. The employee's health is a main priority that should be given as said in previous topics. If a worker is injured at workplace, first should take a very quick action to help the worker to get care such as a good first aid  then the next duty is to report the accident that occurred, immediately to the employee's supervisor and to the Human Resources Management (Ajay, 2007). Its the duty of the supervisor to get the report of injury. The report of injury should be handed over to the Human Resource Management within 24 hours (Garcie-Herrero, 2012)

Horberry, etc, al, (2004), In the new business organizational world many companies require a formal process of workplace accident and injury forms which should be filled up by the supervisor and employee at the time of accidents and injuries. This form is a type of legal document which consist of the details of an accident occurred, such as description of incident, time, date, injuries, the place of incident, name of witness and so on. Therefore this form will be useful for Human Resource department to claim the worker's compensation (Brown, 2006)

Benefits of  workers compensation claim :-

• Medical expenses
• lost of wages
• Temporary or permanent disability benefits
• Rehabilitation costs
• Death benefits

 Workplace accident can be categorized into six main types:

• Physical -  due to unsafe working conditions such as slippery floor, Objects in walkways, unsafe or misused machinery, excessive noise, work at height
  
• Chemical -  due to contact with gases, chemicals ,dusts, fumes
  
• Ergonomic - due to unsuitable equipment, poor manual handling
• Radiation - due to having close contact with microwaves, infra-red, laser, x-ray
• Psychological - work pressure,Stress
  
• Biological - due to infection by bacteria,virus, insect bite, fungi or parasites through a cut, contact with infected persons.

Responsibilities of Employee at the time of accident at the workplace

• first aid immediately
• report the accident or the injury to the supervisor
• be cooperative with the supervisor
• get medical attention
• keep contact with the supervisor and keep updating with the situation 
• claim the compensation

 Responsibilities of supervisor at the time of accident at workplace

• go to the scene immediately
• give a proper fist aid 
• Get medical treatments if needed 
• Inquire about the incident of accident or injury
• should workout and help with workers compensation claim
• provide a safe workplace
• warmly welcome the injured employee back into the workplace after he or she is fit to work

References

Brown, K.A., (2006). Workplace safety: A call for research, Jounal of Operations Management, Vol.14, pp 157-171

Hilton  M.  F.,  and  Whiteford  H.  A.,  (2010).  Associations  between  psychological  stress,  workplace  accidents, workplace failures and workplace successes, Vol. 83, pp. 923 -933

Horberry, T., Larsson, T.J., Johnston, I. and Lambert, J. (2004). Forklift safety, traffic engineering and intelligent transport systems: a case study. Applied Ergonomics, Vol. 35(6), pp. 575-581

Garcie-Herrero, S. (2012). Working conditions, Psychological, physical symptoms and occupational accidents”. Bayesian network models, safety science. Vol. 50 (9), pp. 1760-1774

Ajay, D. (2007). A data-based evaluation of the relationship between occupational safety and operating performance. The Journal of SH & E Research. Spring, Vol. 4 (1), pp. 95-108

Work Stress issue of employees in an organization

Collins, (2008) shows, Work Stress is a stress in an employee at work arises from the situation when the workplace expect more results beyond the ability and capability of an employee can achieve. In present life work stress is something that is spoken out mainly in organizations. When stress mess up with our lives, it really becomes a very big issue. Overloads of work stress for a very long period can cause harmful to both physical and emotional health of employee (Dar, etc, al, 2011)

Ahmed, etc, al, (2013) highlights, word "Stress" is a type of feeling with Physical and emotional tension. In the other word stress is something that your body's natural way of responding when it starts feeling danger. Here we are going to look into the term "Work Stress". 

Main causes of work stress

There are 2 main factors that causes work stress, they are Organizational factors and Individual factors 

1. Organizational factors

• low salary
• working for overtime
• unsafe and unhealthy working environment
• less promotional opportunities
• peer pressure
• poor communication
• strict rules and regulations
• managers trying to over control the employees

       2. Individual factors

• family problems
• impatient
• personal financial issues
• aggressive

 Special symptoms of work stress

• You may lose concentration and confidence and may become very angry
• Doesn't show interest in work
• A very bad headache
• Feel irritating
• Sleeping problem
• Using alcohol
• loss of sex drive

Viljoen (2009) highlighted, There are many ways that Human Resource Management can help stressed employees to get through. It is important to take effective actions on it.It doesn't only benefits the employee but also helps in organizational development (Dar, etc, al, 2011)

• Should organize a mental health awareness training so that employee would get a good understanding of the issues
• buildup a healthy and safe working environment
• should keep encouraging the employees
• organize a flexible work arrangement
• Employee counseling  :- its a best way to overcome the employee stress

Everyone who work knows and felt the pressure of work stress how it  feels like at some point. The best saying about work stress :-

" A challenging and fulfilling job in a good workplace can be great, but if work starts to take over and we lose the balance, it gets stressful.The ability to have some control over your own workload definitely contributes to the impact work has on the life (Lifang, 2009)

References

Ahmed, A., & Ramzan, M. (2013). Effects of job stress on  employees job performance: A study on banking sector  of Pakistan. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 11(6), pp. 61-68

Collins, S. (2008). Statutory social workers: Stress, job satisfaction, coping, social support and individual differences.  British Journal of Social Work, Vol. 38(6), pp. 1173-1193

Dar, L., Akmal, A., Naseem, M. A., & din Khan, K. U. (2011).  Impact of stress on employee’s job performance in business sector of Pakistan. Global Journal of Management and Business Research

Viljoen, J.P.(2009). Occupational stress, ill health and organizational commitment of employees at a university of technology. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology, Vol. 35(1), pp. 400-421

Lifang, Z. (2009), Occupational stress and teaching approaches among Chinese academics‖, Educational Psychology, Vol.29(2), pp.203-219

Health and Safety of employees in an organization

Bottani etc., al, (2009) indicated, Health and safety is one of the main role in Human Resource Management nowadays in present health and safety issues are the most common ethical issues faced by Human Resource Management directly. The employees are the most valuable assets and main pillars of an organization to succeed, we should consider more about their health and safety issues (Bottani etc., al, 2009)

As said by the World Health Organization (WHO) :- "Occupational health deals with all aspects of health and safety in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of hazards."

The main duty of the employer is to look in to and maintain a healthy and safe workplace for employees, so that we can reduce the risks of injuries and illness of them. Always the healthy employees are the productive employees in a successful organization. When employees come across an unsecure environment or if the organization is not well concerned about their well being ,then the productivity of that organization may collapse. An organization with no safety or unhealthy employees  leads to a poor human Resource management (Cheyne, etc., al, 2002)

Health and safety issues in an organization

• Stress
• Ill health
• Workplace violence
• Accidents and injuries

Human Resource Management actions to be taken to avoid issues in related to health and safety

• Providing health and safety programs
• leadership development programs 
• Strong security system
• Strict safety policy
• Promoting first aid training
• Maintaining records of injuries, illness and worker's compensation.

Bottani etc., al (2009) shows, must make sure that the organization is providing a required training program to all employees so that we can get a good knowledge on safety side. It will be most valuable for both the individual and organization. The target of health and safety programs of organization is to buildup a safe working zone. Human Resource Management should make safe that the managers and employees can work in a safe working place environment (Griffeth, etc., al, 2001) 

Oxenburg (2004) stated, there should be a planned and systematic approach to implementing the safety and health policy through an effective safety and health management system. The aim is to minimise risks. Risk Assessment methods should be used to determine priorities and set objectives for eliminating hazards and reducing risks. Wherever possible, risks should be eliminated through the selection and design of facilities, equipment and processes (Cheyne, etc., al, 2002)

Brandt (2001) highlighted, If risks cannot be eliminated, they should be minimised by the use of physical controls and safe systems of work. Performance standards should be established and used for measuring achievement. Specific actions to promote a positive safety and health culture should be identified. There should be a shared common understanding of the organisation‘s vision, values and beliefs on health and safety. The visible and active leadership of senior managers fosters a positive safety and health culture (Bottani etc., al, 2009)

References

Bottani,  E.,  Monica,  L.,  &  Vignali,  G.  (2009).  Safety  management  systems: performance  differences  between  adopters  and  non-adopters.  Safety Science, Vol. 47(2), pp. 155-162

Cheyne, A., Oliver,  A., Tomas, J.M.,  & Cox,  S. (2002).  The architecture  of  employee attitudes to safety in the manufacturing sector., Personnel Review, Vol. 31, pp. 649 – 670

Griffeth, R. W. & Peter W. H. (2001). Retaining  Valued  Employees,  Sage  Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA

Oxenburg, M. (2004). Increasing Productivity and Profitability through Health and Safety. The Financial Returns from a Safe Working Environment. CRC Press: London

Brandt, S. (2001). Health  and  Work  Productivity, Occupational Environment Journal, Vol. 43, pp.218-255