Today, it has become clear that optimal health can generally be achieved through environmental safety, organizational changes, and different lifestyles.
a) Developing Safety Programs—Organizational safety programs require planning for prevention of workplace accidents. Plans may be relatively simple or more complex and highly sophisticated in order to fit the organization’s size. Top management’s support is essential if safety programs are to be effective. Tremendous economic losses can result from accidents.
Job hazard analysis: The main goal of safety and health professionals is to prevent job-related injuries and illnesses.
Employee involvement: One way to strengthen a safety program is to include employee input, which provides workers with a sense of accomplishment.
b) Accident Investigation—Accidents can happen even in the most safety-conscious firms. Each accident, whether or not it results in an injury, should be carefully evaluated to determine its cause and to ensure that it doesn’t recur. The safety engineer and the line manager jointly investigate accidents—why, how, and where they occur and who is involved. Main causes that can create accidents at workplace are:
*Chance occurrences
*Unsafe working conditions
*Unsafe acts by employees
*Unsafe conditions
**Physical conditions
***Defective Equipment
***Inadequate Machine Guards
***Lack of Protective Equipment
**Environmental conditions
***Noise
***Dust, Fumes
***Stress
***Unsafe behaviors
c) Evaluation of Safety Programs—perhaps the best indicator that a safety program is succeeding is a reduction in the frequency and severity of injuries and illnesses.
d) Rationale for Safety and Health Trends—Firms are spending an increasing amount of money on safety. Reasons include; (1) profitability—employees can produce only while they are on the job, (2) employee relations—firms with good safety records can attract and retain good employees, (3) reduced liability—an effective safety program can reduce corporate and executive liability, (4) marketing—a good safety record may well provide companies with a competitive edge, and productivity—(5) an effective safety program may boost morale and productivity while simultaneously reducing rising costs.
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