Chapter 20 – Providing a Safe and Healthy Work Environment
20-1
CHAPTER 20
Providing a Safe and Healthy Work Environment
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Discuss the supervisor’s responsibility for safety.
2. Appreciate the costs associated with work-related accidents and illnesses.
3. Discuss the major causes of work-related accidents.
4. Measure safety in the workplace.
5. Explain the basic purposes of a safety program.
6. Outline several organizational strategies for promoting safety.
7. Outline several specific things that the supervisor can do to prevent accidents.
8. Identify several warning signs that can help supervisors learn to recognize potentially
violent employees.
9. Understand the purpose of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA).
10. Explain the basic purpose of the Hazard Communications Standard.
SUGGESTIONS FOR PRESENTATION
Get a discussion going.
Safety programs in most companies are mandated, but often ill received. Everyone has the
attitude that “it can’t happen to me.” Getting people involved in some controversy may raise the
interest level.
Some things that might be good discussion starters:
• Should seat belt use be mandatory?
• Should motorcycle and/or bicycle helmet use be mandatory?
• How much does insurance cost your employer? What kinds do (or must) they carry?
Do a safety inspection
Do a safety inspection of the classroom building in which you are meeting. What problems are
uncovered?
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LECTURE OUTLINE
Supervision Dilemma
Jane has filled out OSHA forms for two major injuries in her department this year. She is
concerned about preventing more accidents.
I. The Supervisor’s Responsibility for Safety
• A successful safety program starts at the very top of the organization.
o Because the supervisor is the one representative of management who has daily
contact with the employees, the supervisor is the key person in the program.
▪ Even in organizations that have a safety engineer or a safety director, the
supervisor is responsible for seeing that the safety directives are carried out.
▪ It is the supervisor who shapes the employees’ attitude toward safety.
every orientation program.
▪ Supervisors may also be responsible for such things as accident investigation,
first aid, maintenance of proper safety records, and the dissemination of
changes in safety regulations and methods.
II. The Cost of Accidents
• The costs of work-related accidents are high. The factors that contribute to these costs are
many and varied.
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o A major category of costs is directly related to lost production.
▪ This category includes costs incurred as a result of work slowdowns, damaged
equipment, damaged or ruined products, idle equipment, excessive waste, and
physician.
❖ One major criticism of workers’ compensation concerns the variation in
coverage provided by different states.
▪ Health insurance covers such things as normal hospitalization and outpatient
doctor bills.
• Less obvious costs are those associated with employee morale, employee relations,
community relations
III. The Causes of Accidents
• Accidents are generally the result of a combination of circumstances and events.
o The circumstances and events causing accidents are usually unsafe personal acts or
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A. Personal Acts
• Most experts believe that unsafe personal acts cause the bulk of workplace accidents.
o Acts of this kind include taking unnecessary chances, engaging in horseplay,
B. Physical Environment
• Accidents can and do happen in all types of environments. However, they occur most
frequently in certain kinds of situations.
o Listed in order of decreasing frequency, these locations are:
▪ Wherever heavy, awkward material is handled, using hand trucks,
▪ Serious understaffing or not having enough people to do the job safely.
▪ Unguarded or improperly guarded machines.
▪ Poor housekeeping (such as congested aisles, dirty or wet floors, and
improper stacking of materials).
▪ Defective equipment and tools.
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when working on a lathe).
o Figure 20.3 lists specific safety hazards that also result in accidents.
C. Accident-Proneness
o A frequency rate indicates the frequency with which disabling injuries occur.
o A severity rate indicates how severe the accidents were and how long the parties
were out of work.
▪ Disabling injuries are injuries that cause the employee to miss one or more
days of work following an accident. Disabling injuries are also known as lost-
• A major objective of any safety program is to get the employees to “think safety”—to keep
safety and accident prevention on their minds.
o Four basic elements are present in most successful safety programs:
▪ A safety program that has the support of top and middle management.
▪ A safety program that clearly establishes safety as a line organization
responsibility.
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▪ A positive attitude toward safety exists and is maintained throughout the
organization.
▪ One person is in charge of the safety program and is responsible for its
operation.
A. Organizational Strategies for Promoting Safety
• Many strategies are available for promoting safety within an organization. Some
suggestions are provided below.
o Make the work interesting
▪ Uninteresting work often leads to boredom, fatigue, and stress, all of
which can cause accidents.
o Incorporate ergonomics
▪ Ergonomics is the study of the interface between people and the
equipment and machines with which they work.
o Establish a safety committee
▪ The safety committee is a way to get employees directly involved in the
▪ Make use of e-mail to periodically remind employees of safety issues and
to present new safety information.
o Reward employee participation
▪ Provide some type of reward or recognition for people who are actively
and positively involved in the safety program.
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B. How the Supervisor Can Prevent Accidents
• In addition to fostering a healthy attitude toward safety, the supervisor can do several
specific things to prevent accidents:
o Be familiar with organizational policies that relate to safety.
o Know the proper procedures for investigating an accident and determining how
it could have been prevented.
o Always set a good example with regard to safety.
• Figure 20.6 summarizes the accident process and the supervisor’s role in that
process.
VI. Violence in the Workplace
• Historically, safety prevention has focused on the prevention of accidents in the workplace.
Recently, however, workplace violence has become an increasing concern.
o While most violence-prevention programs contain many elements, the following
suggestions are things that organizations can do to deter workplace violence:
▪ Hire carefully, but realistically.
▪ Draw up a plan and involve employees in it.
▪ As part of the plan, adopt a “zero tolerance” policy.
▪ Enlist the aid of professionals—with an eye on the cost.
• Because most violent acts are not spontaneous, supervisors must learn to identify
potentially violent situations.
o Specifically, supervisors should learn to spot the following warning signs:
▪ Employees making threats or being threatened.
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▪ Employees who demonstrate a loner mentality.
▪ Employees who make fatalistic statements.
VII. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
• Original stated purpose of Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was “to assure
so far as possible every working man and woman in the nation safe and healthful working
conditions and to preserve our human resources.”
o The Occupational Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor
enforces OSHA, which covers nearly all businesses with one or more employees.
o Under OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration does the following
▪ Encourages employers and employees to reduce workplace hazards and to
implement new safety and health management systems or improve existing
safety and health personnel.
▪ Provides technical and compliance assistance, and training and education to
help employers reduce worker accidents and injuries.
▪ Works in partnership with states that operate their own occupational safety and
health programs.
▪ Supports the Consultation Programs offered by all 50 states, the District of
Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and the Northern Mariana
Islands.
• Few laws have evoked as much initial negative reaction as OSHA.
o While few people would question the intent of OSHA, many have criticized the
manner in which it has been implemented.
o In addition, many OSHA regulations have been criticized as excessively petty.
• OSHA has been effective in making the workplace a safer environment.
o While OSHA cannot claim all the credit for these impressive reductions, it has
certainly had a major positive impact.
o Individual states are encouraged to develop and operate their own job safety and
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health plans.
A. Reporting and Record-Keeping Requirements
• All employers must report to OSHA within eight hours of learning about:
o The death of any employee from a work-related incident.
o The in-patient hospitalization of three or more employees as a result of a work-
related incident
▪ Deaths from motor vehicle accidents on public streets (except those in a
construction work zone) and in accidents on commercial airplanes, trains,
subways, or buses do not need to be reported.
• Employers with more than 10 employees and whose establishments are not classified
as a partially exempt industry must maintain three basic OSHA forms:
o OSHA Form 300, Log of Work-Related Injuries and Illnesses
B. The Supervisor and OSHA
• Supervisors are often asked to accompany OSHA officials while these officials
inspect an organization’s physical facilities.
o It is in the best interests of the supervisor and the host organization for the
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D. Hazard Communications Standard
• The Hazard Communications Standard (HCS), established uniform requirements
to ensure that the hazards of all chemicals imported into, produced at, or used in the
workplace are evaluated and that the results of these evaluations are transmitted to
affected employers and exposed employees.
o Basically the HCS included three requirements:
▪ Employee training
• The HCS specifically requires that employers maintain complete and updated
Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDSs).
o MSDSs provide information on the nature of hazards, including appropriate
handling and remedies for unexpected exposure.
o The revised HCS provides a common and coherent approach to classifying
chemicals and hazard information on labels and safety data sheets (SDSs).
Solution to the Supervision Dilemma
SUPERVISION ILLUSTRATIONS
20-1: Company Convicted for Safety Violations
20-2: Making Safety Second Nature
20-3: OSHA Settles With Supermarket Chain
20-4: Beyond Normal OSHA Standards
20-5: OSHA Loses an HCS Appeal
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REVIEW QUESTIONS
1. Name three major categories of accident costs to the organization.
Three major categories of accident costs to the organization include:
2. What are the differences between workers’ compensation and disability insurance?
3. What are the major causes of accidents? Which cause accounts for the majority of work-
related accidents?
4. Name several unsafe physical conditions that frequently cause accidents.
Several unsafe physical conditions that frequently cause accidents are as follows:
• Serious understaffing or not having enough people to do the job safely.
5. What is accident-proneness?
6. What are the most widely accepted methods for measuring an organization’s safety record?
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7. List several things that a supervisor can do to promote safety.
Several things that a supervisor can do to promote safety are as follows:
• Make the work interesting
8. State several specific things that a supervisor can do to prevent accidents.
Several specific things that a supervisor can do to prevent accidents are as follows:
• Be familiar with organizational policies relating to safety
• Be familiar with the proper procedures for safely accomplishing the work
9. What is the stated purpose of OSHA?
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10. What does OSHA specifically require of the supervisor?
11. What are Safety Data Sheets (SDSs)?
exposure. [p. 435]
SKILL BUILDING QUESTIONS
1. How would you answer this question: “How can I improve safety in my department since I
don’t have the authority to significantly alter the physical environment?”
2. Susan Baker has just been appointed the Que Company’s director of safety, a newly
created job. What are some of the more important safety thoughts that she should keep in
mind?
3. Suppose many of your employees circumvent the safety regulations whenever possible
because they feel that these regulations slow them down unnecessarily and keep them from
making more money. What might you do in this situation?
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Students’ answers may vary. For this to be a concern the employees apparently are on a
4. Do you think that the overall benefit of OSHA has been positive or negative? Support your
answer.
OSHA, nor is there any good way of valuing the “prevention” of an accident.
REFERENCES
ADDITIONAL READINGS
SKILL-BUILDING APPLICATIONS
Incident 20-1: The Safety Inspection
This case illustrates some of the problems in getting employees to follow the safety rules.
1. Do you think that Joe’s problem is unique?
20–15
2. Why do you think that employees are often lax with regard to safety rules that have been
established for their own safety?
3. What would you do if you were Joe?
suggestion systems, and a safety committee might all be considered.
Incident 20-2: No One Listens
This case illustrates several possible methods of improving a department’s safety record.
1. Why do you think Jackson has been having safety problems?
2. Which of the suggestions given to Jackson would you attempt to implement?
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3. What additional ideas might you try if you were Jackson?
Students’ answers may vary. For promoting safety Jackson needs to get tough and get the
attention of the employees. Additional suggestions which may help accomplish this can
include the following:
• Making the work interesting
Exercise 20-1: Potential Safety Problems
Exercise 20-2: National Safety
1. All things considered, what is your opinion of OSHA? Without doing any additional
research, prepare an outline of the points that you would use to support your position.
the exercise.
2. The instructor will divide the class into two teams. One team will take a pro position
regarding OSHA and one will take a con position. Each team will be given equal time to
prepare arguments supporting its position. The instructor may ask each team to orally
present its arguments.
answer; the exercise can be used as found helpful for the instructor and the students’
Chapter 20 – Providing a Safe and Healthy Work Environment
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classroom learning.
SUPERVISORY ANECDOTE
A story about OSHA
deficiencies….
Without placing any blame for his agency’s failure to pass the inspection, Secretary Marshall
a little time’ to improve the agency.”
***
As a kinesiologist, it is Allison O’Reilly’s job to identify the stresses that cause employee
everyone’s concerns. More important, the number of injuries dropped significantly once the
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Copyright © 2014 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of McGraw-Hill
Education.
solution was put in use. In addition to safety benefits, O’Reilly says the new process has more
consistency in terms of scheduling.
Source: “Ergonomics: Lightening the lifting load.” by J. Hamill in PEM: Plant Engineering &
Maintenance Sourcebook issue for Winter/Spring 1994 p: 50.
RELATED VIDEOS
1. The Safety Secret, American Media, 25 mins. This award-winning video tells how to
increase safety and recognize and respond to hazards in the workplace.
ignoring safety rules in offices, warehouses, factories, etc.
3. Safety: The Cheapest Premium, Salenger, 10 mins. This video depicts the importance of
using those few extra seconds.
reduce hazards. It includes a pretest and post test.
5. Office Safety, Barr Films, 19 mins. This video creates an awareness of safety in the office
environment.