Chapter 14 – Employee Health and Safety
CHAPTER 14
EMPLOYEE HEALTH AND SAFETY
Objectives.
After reading this chapter, you should be able to
1. Understand the extent and costs of employee accidents, illnesses, and deaths on the
job.
2. Discuss the role of workers’ compensation programs for job-related injuries and
illnesses.
3. Describe legal issues related to health and safety.
4. Explain the functions of OSHA and review research on the effectiveness of this act and
related regulation.
5. Discuss recent approaches that have been used to improve workplace safety and health.
6. Review contemporary issues and programs that seek to improve worker health and
safety, including drug testing, antismoking policies, threat management teams, stress
management interventions, employee assistance programs, and employee wellness
programs.
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CHAPTER 14 – SUMMARY
I. Overview
A. Growing interest due to number of increasing illnesses and occupational injuries
B. Industrial accidents cost the U.S. economy billions of dollars per year
C. OSHA is responsible for establishing and enforcing occupational health and safety
standards
D. Death and accident rates vary substantially as a function of the industry, occupation,
and organization size
E. Moderate-sized organizations have highest accident rates
F. Unions were instrumental in improving working conditions
G. U.S. is safer than most countries
H. Chemical hazards, repetitive stress injuries, and job burnout are three growing
problems
II. Common Workplace Injuries and Diseases
A. Lower-back injuries account for 25% of all lost workdays
1. Texting while driving
2. Sleep deprivation
E. Sleep deprivation is a major cause of accidents in general
III. Legal Issues Related to Health and Safety
A. Worker’s Compensation, Figure 14-1, page 507
1. Federally mandated insurance program based on liability without fault
2. What Employers Need Workers Compensation Coverage and What are the Costs
a) Public and private employers are covered
b) Policy and provisions vary across states, and not all jobs are covered
i) State law determines what claims are admissible
ii) Premium rates vary across states and according to health and safety
records
3. What Injuries or Diseases Are Covered?
a) Accidental injuries and occupational diseases
i) Mental or nervous injury due to stress generally not covered
ii) Work-related condition that causes fear or dislike of others based on
protected class status
iii) “Pain and suffering” are not compensable
b) Negligence and willfulness can reduce the amount of a claim
c) Workers must file claims for benefits, and employers may contest claims
d) Employers usually start paying after 21 days of disability
i) Usually not liable for first 7 days
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ii) Compensation usually at 2/3rds average weekly wage
e) There is a considerable amount of fraudulent claims
i) The “Fake Bad Scale” for fraud cases has limited research support
ii) Disputes between employee and employer are common
f) No fault provisions
g) Worker’s compensation laws encourage safety
B. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act 1970
1. Created OSHA within the U.S. Dept of Labor
2. OSHA’s mission is to prevent work-related injuries, illnesses, and deaths
a) Data indicate trend of reduced fatalities and accidents
3. OSHA applies to all U.S. employers
4. Severe Violator Enforcement Program is designed to address employers who
repeatedly and willfully violate the law
5. OSHA encourages states to create safety and health programs for workers
6. OSHA is focused on three strategies
a) Strong, fair and effective enforcement
b) Outreach education and compliance
c) Partnerships and cooperative programs
7. OSHA imposes standards and conducts workplace inspections
8. General duty clause covers areas that do not have specific standards
9. Setting limits for exposure to hazardous materials
10. Employers may request a temporary variance when unable to comply with a new
standard
11. Record keeping and Reporting
a) Employers with 11+ employees must record of injuries and illnesses (Figure
14–3)
a) Must be kept for 5 years
b) Used for analyzing workplace & identifying ergonomic problems
12. Defining Occupational Injury or Illness
a) Occupational Injury: any injury that results from a work-related accident or
from exposure involving a single incident in the work environment
a) Occupational illness: any abnormal condition or disorder, other than one
resulting from an occupational injury, caused by exposure to environmental
factors associated with employment
b) Recorded when
i) Death
ii) One or more lost work days
iii) Restriction of work or motion
iv) Loss of consciousness
v) Transfer to another job
vi) Medical treatment beyond first aid
13. Workplace Inspections
a) OSHA is authorized to
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i. Enter without delay at reasonable times
ii. Inspect and investigate within reasonable limits and manner
b) Priorities:
i) Reports of imminent dangers and actual accident sites
ii) Employee complaints
iii) Target industries
iv) Random inspections
v) Follow-up inspections
c) Inspections are conducted without advance notice
d) Inspections conducted by trained inspectors
i) Marshall v. Barlow’s Inc (1978)- OSHA may not conduct warrantless
inspections without an employer’s consent
e) Inspections
ii) Opening conference scope of inspection is stipulated
iii) Inspection Tour
iv) Closing Conference
f) Appeals rights
14. Abatement period – time to fix problems
15. Types of violations
a) Other than Serious
b) Serious
c) Willful
d) Repeated
e) Failure to Abate Prior Violation
16. Additional Penalties
a) Falsification
b) Violation of posting requirement
c) Assaulting a compliance officer, or otherwise resisting and opposing
d) Citations and penalties vary from state to state
e) The average OSHA penalty is low
17. Top Five OSHA violations
a) Scaffolding
b) Hazard communication
c) Fall protection
d) Lockout/control of hazardous energy respitory protection
e) Electrical wiring
18. Services Available
a) Consultation assistance
b) Voluntary protection programs:
i) Recognize outstanding safety achievement
(a) Star –most demanding and most prestigious
(b) Merit –stepping stone to Star program
(c) Demonstration
c) Training and education
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19. Employer Responsibilities under OSHA
a) Meet your general duty responsibility to provide a workplace free from
recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious
physical harm to employees and comply with standards, rules, and
regulations issued under the act
b) Familiarize yourself and employees with mandatory OSHA standards and
make copies available to employees for review upon request
c) Examine workplace conditions to ensure they conform to applicable
standards
d) Minimize or reduce safety and health hazards
e) Ensure that employees have and use safe tools and equipment (including
appropriate personal protective equipment) and that such equipment is
properly maintained
f) Employ color codes, posters, labels, or signs in several languages to warn
employees of potential hazards
g) Establish or update operating procedures and communicate them so that
employees follow safety and health requirements
h) Provide medical examinations when required by OSHA standards
i) Report to the nearest OSHA office within 48 hours of any fatal accident or
one that results in the hospitalization of five or more employees
j) Keep OSHA-required records of work-related injuries and illnesses and post a
copy of the totals from the last page of OSHA Form 300 during the entire
month of February each year
k) Post, at a prominent location within the workplace, an OSHA poster
informing employees of their rights and responsibilities
l) Provide employees, former employees, and their representatives access to
the Log and Summary of Occupational Injuries and Illnesses (OSHA Form 300)
at a reasonable time and in a reasonable manner
m) Cooperate with the OSHA compliance officer by furnishing names of
authorized employee representatives who may be asked to accompany the
compliance officer during an inspection
n) Refrain from discriminating against employees who properly exercise their
rights under the act
o) Post OSHA citations at or near the work site involved. Each citation, or
citation copy thereof, must remain posted
20. Employee Rights under OSHA
a) Protection to seek safety and health on the job without fear
b) Employers cannot discriminate against employees
c) Whirlpool v. Marshall 1981, ruled that employees who have a reasonable
apprehension of death or serious injury may refuse to work until the hazard
is corrected
d) Additional employee rights include access to standards and hazards, request
inspections, and participation in the inspection process
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21. The Effects of OSHA
a) Establishment of formal safety committees
b) Improved equipment
c) Improved medical facilities
d) Greater emphasis on health and safety
e) Mixed evidence on whether OSHA has reduced accidents, deaths, or injuries
i) Difficult to assess effects-extent to which OSHA is responsible for
reduction in fatalities is unclear
ii) Decline in construction injuries (Figure 14-6)
iii) Illegal immigrant workers and reported injuries
iv) Decrease in rate of rate of injuries/illnesses resulting in lost workdays
from 1984-2007
v) Increase in total injuries since 1984 due to RSI reports
vi) “Right– to– know” provisions should have positive impact on company
health record keeping
f) Unions take a positive position on the effects of OSHA
IV. Programs to Reduce Accidents at Work
A. Key principles (Figure 14-7)
1. Safety should be internally, not externally, driven
2. Culture changes require people to understand the principles and how to use them
3. A total safety culture requires continuous attention to factors in three domains:
environment, behavior, and person
4. Don’ t count on common sense for safety improvement
5. Safety incentive programs should focus on process rather than outcomes
6. People view behavior as correct to the degree they see others doing it
7. On-the-job observation and interpersonal feedback are key to total safety culture
8. Behavior is directed by activators and motivated by consequences
9. People compensate for increases in perceived safety by taking more risks
10. Stressors lead to positive stress or negative distress, depending on appraisal of
personal control
11. When people feel empowered, their safe behavior spreads to other situations
12. Numbers from program evaluations should be meaningful to all participants
B. Selective Hiring
1. Eliminate high risk applicants
2. Can you predict accident proneness
a) Older employees are safer than young employees
b) Physical characteristics are related to accident rates when critical to the job
c) A poor driving record does not predict future behavior
C. Safety Training
1. Formal programs are more effective
2. Supervisory safety practices are important
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3. OSHA has issued “voluntary training guidelines”
4. Training typical in industries with serious accident problems
5. Training needs to adjust to changing workforce
D. Teamwork, Supervision, and Decentralized Decision Making
1. Fosters higher group cohesion
2. Quality of supervisor-employee relationship and group cohesion are the best
predictors of the tendency to comply with safety rules
3. Workers in teams tend to feel responsible for their own and each other’s safety
4. Provides greater opportunity for control
E. Incentive Systems
1. Small incentives can change employees’ attitudes
2. Safety contests that departments compete or with past records for prizes
3. Research supports value of safety incentive programs
4. If rewards are too large, could be an incentive to not report
F. Safety Rules
1. Detailed handbooks are most effective
2. Safety rules must be enforced to be effective
V. Contemporary Issues Related to Health and Safety
A. AIDS and the Workplace
1. Costs of AIDS include medical, HR issues and productivity losses
2. ADA protects AIDS victims
3. OSHA mandates firms have HIV/AIDS policy
4. Bloodborne Pathogen Standard
5. Business must have a comprehensive HIV/AIDS policy and communicate the plan
throughout the workplace
6. CDC AIDS Clearinghouse provides businesses with information on policies and
education
B. Drugs in the Workplace
1. Cost business $102 billion annually
2. Drug user creates higher incidence of workplace violence, irritability, accidents,
and errors
3. Drug Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires federal contractors to provide drug-
free workplace
4. Most companies do drug testing (AMA survey found 78%)
a) Personal injuries decline after a drug test program is initiated
b) Five approaches to drug testing
i) Preemployment
ii) Random
iii) Reasonable cause
iv) Return to duty
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v) Post-accident
c) Often contested under the Fourth amendment; unreasonable search and
seizure
d) Unionized employers must bargain with the union about the procedures to
be used
e) Components of a sound drug testing policy:
i) Notice to employees (or applicants) that drug testing will be conducted
and the procedures to be used
ii) An opportunity for the individual to disclose which prescription or over-
the-counter drugs he or she is currently taking as well as other
information that might skew the test results
iii) A careful chain of custody to ensure that samples are not lost, mixed up,
or switched
iv) A dignified but secure method of collecting samples
v) Confirmation of all positive drug results with more sensitive tests
vi) The opportunity for the individual to have the sample retested at his or
her own expense
vii) Confidentiality of test results
f) Determine what substances are permissible
g) Apply due process
C. Smoking in the Workplace
1. Businesses lose $82 billion in lost productivity from smokers
2. Secondhand smoke as the third largest cause of preventable death
3. EPA “Guide to Workplace Smoking Policies” recommends ventilated smoking
lounges in the workplace
4. Increasing number of companies banning smoking both on and off the job
5. No specific OSHA regulation, covered by “general duty” requirements
6. Numerous states have issued antismoking restrictions and 29 have passed
smoker protection laws
7. Evidence shows that employees who smoke are more expensive
8. Companies should development workplace smoking policies
D. Violence in the Workplace
1. Increasing in frequency and severity
2. Homicide is second leading cause of workplace deaths
3. HR needs to be aware of all forms of workplace violence
4. OSHA issued guidelines recommend assessment of security issues
5. Consequences
a) Pain and suffering or loss of life
b) Health care costs
c) Higher workers’ compensation fees
d) Legal costs
e) Lost wages and productivity
f) Damaged image
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6. Violence Prevention Programs
a) Pre-employment Screening
i) Predict likelihood that applicant is prone to violence
ii) Background checks
iii) Structured interviews
b) Develop written policies and procedures
c) Negligent hiring/negligent retention
d) Training and Education
i) Educate managers and supervisors on signs of stress
ii) Give employees an outlet for grievances
e) Employee assistance programs (EAPs)
i) Educate employees on stress, abuse awareness, and emotional problems
ii) Train on dismissals
iii) Counseling after dismissals
f) Threat Management Teams
i) Conduct risk assessments
ii) Outline scope of activities
iii) Coordinate services
iv) Communicate to families
g) Security
i) Regular police checkups
ii) Clearing high-risk areas
iii) Safe arrangement of office furniture
iv) Escape routes
7. Video Display Terminals (VDTs)
a) Eye fatigue “computer vision syndrome”
b) Muscular and wrist problems
c) Extend of health risks unclear
d) Psychological stress based on unknown impact documented
e) Mitigate problems thru training and ergonomic methods and equipment
f) OSHA issued VDT checklist (Figure 14-10)
8. Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI)
a) Costs in workers’ compensation claims $20 billion
b) Ergonomics is science of designing work space
c) Investigated and enforced under “general duty clause”
d) California is the only state with safety standards related to RSI
e) “Best Practices” program designed by OSHA-use of program reduced RSI
injuries/lost work days
9. Occupational Stress
a) Rising stress levels
b) Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
c) Effects of stress include potential for violence and accidents at work
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d) Job stress – job related factors cause a worker to deviate away from normal
functioning
e) Stressors related to job demands
i) Role overload
ii) Role conflict
iii) Role ambiguity
f) Individual differences-personality variables
i) Type A personalities suffer more stress
ii) “Proactive” personality types more able to control stressful situations
g) Conflicts of job obligations with family obligations
h) Burnout-reflects emotional exhaustion
i) Interventions
i) Role of manager critical for reducing number and intensity of stressors
ii) Telecommuting
iii) Increased job control leads to reduced stress
iv) Physical job performance exams
v) Job Design
j) Types of Stress
i) Challenge related stress can be positive
k) Intervention Targets
i) Change the situation
ii) Modify employee appraisal of stress
iii) Help Employees cope
10. Employee Assistance Programs
a) Programs found to be cost- effective
b) Exempts supervisors from trying to diagnose
c) Treat job stress, alcoholism, drug abuse, marital and emotional problems,
and financial problems
d) Goal is to return to normal, productive functioning on the job
e) Usually run by outside health service organization
11. Employee Wellness or Fitness Programs
a) Focus on prevention
b) They are cost effective for organizations
c) Incentives to stay well
VI. Summary
A. Eight Essential Steps in Improving the Work Environment
1. Affirm management’s commitment to a safe and healthy environment
2. Review current safety objectives and policies
3. Conduct periodic evaluations and inspections of the workplace
4. Identify potential and existing work hazards in the areas of safety and health
5. Identify the employees at risk
6. Make the necessary improvements in the workplace
7. Prepare and conduct preventive programs
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8. Monitor the feedback results and evaluate costs
B. Top management taking active role in the health of workers
C. Resources must be made available
D. Employee participation is crucial
E. Managers should create an atmosphere where employees feel comfortable
reporting
F. Managers held accountable for the health and safety of workers
G. Health and safety is an international issue