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HUMAN RESOURCES SAFETY AND HEALTH
Human Resource Development (Ulster University)
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HUMAN RESOURCES: SAFETY AND HEALTH
In the context of the modern economy, the worker or employee depends on the
weekly, fortnightly or monthly income you receive from your employer to meet your
financial responsibilities. Due to the importance that this income represents for
both the individual and their dependents, the authorities have made sure to
guarantee to the wage earner or employee the continuation of their income during
certain periods and under certain conditions. For example, when a disease
incapacitatesed the worker for three months, his economy would be devastated if
all his income were suspended. Along with medical treatment, the worker requires
continuity in their perceptions.
The organization, for its part, might be faced with serious financial and
administrative difficulties if every worker gets sick directly responsible for ensuring
the interests of the member. To address these roles and adequately protect staff,
most countries have a state-owned security structure for the wage-earner, who
receives in most cases the name of social insurance or social security.
Social Security
No Social History of Hispanic-American countries such as Mexico,
Colombia, Argentina, Peru, and several more could be considered complete if it
does not include a detailed treatment of the history of their respective social
insurance, social security or Specific denomination you have adopted in the
country.
Powerful forces allied to thwart and impede their validity, and workers were
often forced to fight difficult battles that allowed them to establish their rights. For
example, one of the fundamental postulates of the labor sector during the Mexican
Revolution was the conquest of dignified and safe conditions. After many
vicissitudes and alternatives, the right to access to fields such as health and
financial security was established in the country's constitution. Similar Processes
were found in almost all the subcontinent, as well as in Spain.
In Order To fulfil its multiple obligations and operate appropriately, social
security requires considerable resources, which come, almost in all the countries of
the world, from three sources: the contributions of the Affiliates, the contributions of
the Companies and government contributions. In such cases, social security has
evolved to become much more complex than a mere retirement program, the
activity that historically marked its beginning. AOme of the aspects that are covered
in the social security of most of the Latin American nations.
Information available on the benefits and benefits of social security affiliation
is often not well known or understood by a company's staff. An important role of the
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human Resources Management Department is to acquire and disseminate this
information at all levels of the organization.
In General, all workers in an organization are covered by social security, and
whether they choose to use their services or prefer to resort to other sources,
everyone must make the contributions that the law determines. These contributions
are directly related to the amount of employee income and are calculated
proportionately: a higher level of income, increased contributions. In practice,
middle-or high-income employees often resort to private services, while lowerincome employees in some circumstances do not take advantage of benefits to
which they are entitled because simply Unknown. Correcting this situation through
appropriate guidance and preparation programs is one of the responsibilities of the
Human resources department.
Over time, these social mechanisms that the State makes available to the
public have become more complex, so the human resources department must
carry out an internal administration work of all aspects related to the Social
Security.
Coverage and administration of social security programs
Virtually all workers in any Latin American country are protected by the labor
laws of their respective countries. The Human Resources department is often the
affiliate's first resource to resolve questions and concerns about the system.
A first and important precision is to separate clearly the financial rights of
health rights. As a rule, the financial rights of the workers are directly proportional
to the time they have worked and to the amount of the contributions they have
made. For example, a social security affiliate who has made contributions for
twenty years or more will be entitled to higher-than-amount compensation than has
only been made for six months. In the margin of the financial rights that assist it,
the health rights of the affiliates are equal; For example, when a serious illness
threatens a worker's health, social Security offers the right treatment, irrespective
of the contributions that the Affiliate has contributed.
Implications for the Human resources area
The implications of the administration of social security programs for the
human resources departments are multiple. A first obligation of the Department is
to explain how the system works for all members.
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On some occasions, the affiliate only has a vague idea about the
characteristics of the system and how it operates. In others, it can accommodate
expectations and assumptions that are not true. In all cases, confusion and
uncertainty about social security can lead to moral problems when information is
not properly managed.
The Human resources manager must consider the phenomenon of change
that has operated in the population and thus in the field of social security at the
beginning of the century xxi, in order to properly plan how to protect the company's
personnel. This change has been studied by several specialists, including
sociologists and actuaries. The latter play a prominent role in the planning of social
security systems, because their mathematical calculations establish firm financial
bases that allow the system to meet the responsibilities assigned to it in the field of
Coverage of life and sickness insurance, as well as in all areas that have been
added to the original field.
In Latin America, as in other parts of the world, contemporary systems of
securing large demographic groups had their origin in the Decades of 1920 and
1930, when most of the population consisted of very young people and only a
small Percentage was 60 years old or older. Based on this demographic structure,
the planners of the time (already used the term actuary) established systems that
allowed the large group of young and healthy workers to provide the necessary
resources for the maintenance of the Small group of retirees and people suffering
from permanent disabilities.
THE demographic structure of Latin American countries has been changing
radically, because of "young countries" we have moved to the demographically
"mature" countries, with a larger proportion of people between 40 and 60 Years old.
The Group of people with more than 60 years has increased considerably, while
the number of children per couple continues to decline. If the trends are
maintained, almost all Latin American countries will show a demographic structure
very similar to that of the countries of Western Europe and North America of today,
in which the sector of the so-called Third Age has increased Over the last few
decades.
Every country in the developed world has a social security system.
Countries in northern Europe tend to cover benefits and services more Generous
than those that characterize the United States, where in turn the general level of
coverage exceeds that of Japan. Towards 2025, countries like Japan, Germany
and Italy will have retirees to millions of workers. Also, in that year, it is estimated
that in the United States there will be 3.3 people economically active for each
retiree, 2.5 in Germany and only 2.3 in Japan.
This context leads to an unforeseen circumstance in Latin America during
the first decades of the last century: soon there will be fewer young workers to
keep more retirees, implying financial burdens that traditional systems of social
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security were not prepared to assume. For these reasons, the authorities of Latin
American countries face difficult dilemmas. One option can be to raise the level of
contributions and tax pressures of the population, to obtain resources to continue
operating with their current characteristic’s social security systems but increases in
the field of taxes do not They are usually well received in most cases and to be
accepted require difficult political processes. The option of reducing the services
that are provided to the population is equally difficult to implement, because there
are many people who see their level of social security diminishing.
More and more countries, like Chile, are likely to opt to channel resources
from social security contributions to retirement fund management plans. Other
countries have Also ventured into the field of alternatives to the traditional social
security system. In Mexico, for example, the Retirement Savings System (SAR) is
a creative response to the pressures created by the country's demographic
change. Similar efforts and responses have been given in other nations of the area
as well as in Spain.
Unemployment Compensation
The industrialized world faced a serious economic crisis during the 1930
decade, when much of the workforce in countries such as the United Kingdom,
France, Germany, and the United States lost their sources of income, given the
general depression that affected the economy. Efforts to remedy the worst effects
of the depression have led to continued supply of income to ensure a decent and
acceptable standard of living for affected families. In many respects, legislators and
economists In the United Kingdom have established the basis for unemployment
compensation.
The Latin American Economic reality, on the other hand, is very different,
because in many countries of the region there is no similar system, which
guarantees a reasonable minimum income to the large sectors of the population
that are affected by economic phenomena that They escape their direct control.
DeSpite this, the human resources administrator will benefit from knowing the
aspects System, which has been adopted with variants throughout the developed
world.
In its financial aspects the system is based on the contributions of the
people affiliated to the social protection system in force in the country, together with
the various emergency funds that the central authorities keep available to
anticipate the Contingency of a massive level of unemployment.
In General, all employers are required to participate in the system, except
for those with only one or two employees in practically family operations. In
countries that have adopted the system, the worker usually has access to
unemployment compensation payments when he meets two requirements.
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The first is that the employee has been unwittingly separated from his work,
without a lack of his part. For example, if a company's sales level is substantially
reduced and management is forced to cut the number of its employees, the
workers who are left are covered by unemployment compensation. If The company
is working normally and a worker decides to separate from his or her job
voluntarily, in most cases the worker will not be entitled to unemployment
compensation. Likewise, in cases where the undertaking is obliged to terminate the
employment contract of an employee due to serious non-compliance on his part,
such as habitual absenteeism or absence from the internal discipline system, the
worker is not entitled to compensation.
The second requirement to receive unemployment compensation is to carry
out a good faith effort to re-use it. To do so, the unemployed worker needs to show
that he is actively looking for a new occupation, in compliance with certain
parameters that determine the laws of each country or locality. It is usually
expected to find a job that is appropriate to its preparation and previous income
level; For example, an engineer is not required to accept a brick-laying position in a
building, nor is the business administrator expected to agree to work in a public
garden maintenance area.
In The general mechanism of unemployment compensation for developed
countries, the amount of payments made to the worker who has been dismissed
without his or her part's guilt usually amounts to a sum that is not less than half of
his or her previous salary, nor more than three-quarters. In the case of executives
or specialists of very high level, the authorities are likely to reduce the amount of
compensation, which does not usually exceed the maximum levels that determines
the economic level of the region or area of the country where it is located.
Physical Security
The drawback of social security programs is that they are reactive in nature;
Respond or react to the circumstances that occur in the external environment. For
that reason, many companies strive to identify preventive measures to protect the
worker.
Although considerable progress has been made in the field of industrial
safety, there are still thousands of unnecessary occupational injuries and illnesses
that could have been avoided every year. From The office clerk who injures the
tendons of the arms by not operating properly a computer, at the right position and
angle, to the farm worker who is not protected against the insecticide that is
spraying in a plantío, our strength Work continues to suffer the effects of
insufficient protection, although progress has been made in all fields.
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It Is A fact that the goal of human resources managers (as well as public
officials) is to preserve human capital; In general, very few professionals would be
willing to disagree when it is stated that one of its fundamental objectives is to
preserve and maintain conditions in which the workforce can perform with safety,
health and general well-being.
Coverage and Administration
Almost all workers must be protected by the general legislation of their
countries, except for individuals working independently. The worker can
spontaneously meet the legal requirements, but the person responsible for
complying with the legal guidelines regarding safety and hygiene is the employer.
To ensure that the provisions in force are being properly complied with, the
authorities carry out safety and hygiene inspections. It Is The responsibility of the
company and the Human resources department to adequately address and meet
these inspections.
As you might expect, the authorities tend to concentrate their efforts and
supervision on companies that show a higher accident rate. When an industrial,
commercial or service activity traditionally considered to be high risk shows a low
accident rate, it is gradually reclassified between medium-risk, or even moderate,
and therefore companies in that sector are subject to less scrutiny; On the other
hand, when a "safe" undertaking starts to incur certain dangers and accidents, it is
inevitably necessary to submit it to a greater and more rigorous level of
supervision.
Risk and accident reduction Campaigns
As in all other aspects of its work, the human capital Administrator assumes
a proactive role and philosophy in the reduction of accidents and risks within the
company. Inevitably, the authorities determine that during a risky activity it is
necessary not only to adopt certain precautionary measures, but also to
adequately inform the competent bodies about the decisions taken in this regard,
to be Prepared for inspections that official personnel can carry out within a preestablished or surprising timetable, and ensure that the company covers in a timely
manner fines and disciplinary measures imposed on it by Inadequate compliance
with existing standards.
Given the nature of many current operations, of great technical complexity,
the human resources Administration professional works in these fields in close
collaboration with the specialists of the Organization in the various facets that can
Present risks. For example, the Human capital Administration Professional is not
qualified to determine whether the boilers in an installation are being well
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maintained, and whether the temperature to which they operate is optimal, but it is
in a position to contribute positively to the Integration of various groups of workers
and executives who ensure the safety of the facilities and ensure that various
provisions are complied with.
Inspections
There Are several situations that cause inspections in a company. Some
Circumstances act as "flags of attention" that alert the authorities to the need to
proceed to an inspection of a plant or corporation. These include:
1. Inspections carried out by imminent danger of catastrophe. When the
authorities detect a circumstance that can cause a casualty that affects the
health of the personnel or the loss of lives, or a serious damage to the
ecology of the city or population, they are very likely to proceed to take
immediate measures of prevention and correction. Sometimes the simple
appearance that something does not work well or is about to cause an
accident can to cause the inspection. For example, a valve that lets steam
escape at irregular intervals can be interpreted by a Lego in the matter as "a
broken pipe, which is letting an unknown substance escape".
2. The fact of having suffered an accident in the field of the company.
Whenever An accident occurs in an installation, and regardless of whether
the problem was the company's fault or not, the authorities will tend to visit
the facility more often. In these cases, the organization strives to
demonstrate that the circumstances that created the danger have been
corrected and that the measures of Security. If during an inspection the
official determines that the same conditions that led to the accident are
being repeated, the company will face sanctions and restrictions of its
activity.
3. Employee Complaints. If There is discontent in the company or among the
staff, the door is opened for complaints Whether justified or not to be raised
to the competent authorities, which may sometimes lead to considerable
and complicated justifications. Sometimes the authorities do not disclose the
name of the employee who has filed a complaint so that he does not incur
sanctions that the employer may impose. The existence of adequate
channels of upward communication constitutes one of the best preventives
of this possibility.
4. Classification of the authorities in a high-risk category. Certain industrial
activities, such as the handling of substances, including petrol and other
petroleum derivatives, meat-cutting and drying operations, steel-sheet
preparation workshops and rods of various types, operations Forestry and
several other industries are classified in this category. Some activities
considered high-risk, however, have been reclassified, as organizations
have managed to implement higher levels of security. Modern printing
workshops, for example, are now much safer than in the past.
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Parameter Maintenance
The standards and parameters established by the authorities in the facilities
for the exercise of certain industrial activities are very specific and detailed. Much
of the electrical installations of an office or factory, for example, must adhere to
stringent specifications, which even regulate the type of cable to be used for
certain uses and the cable that is unacceptable.
Even if from the point of view of the technicians in the area the materials that
were used for a particular installation were adequate, but not the ones that the law
determines, when there is a work accident it is probable that the authorities and the
victim conclude that the Company did not comply with the rules and regulations in
force.
For these reasons, they can negatively affect the company, but essentially
because one of its fundamental responsibilities consists in preserving the health
and well-being of the members of the Organization, the Human resources
department You must take care that the safety maintenance rules are complied
with, in accordance with the legal parameters and with the recommendations and
suggestions of the experts in the area.
Although The company maintains the most stringent safety and quality
standards for staff protection, it will remain undeniable that certain Activities carry a
level of risk that can go from moderate to high. Sometimes that risk is obvious to
the employee or operator; For example, a tractor operator, a truck driver, or an
airplane pilot are aware that your vehicle is susceptible to a serious accident if it is
not operated with care. Even If the appliance is operated within the most stringent
safety parameters, an accident may occur.
In other circumstances the risk of an activity or the use of a certain
equipment is not so obvious to the employee, and in such cases, it has become an
ethical and legal imperative to communicate clearly and objectively the dangers to
which it is exposed. For example, not all staff are informed that working on the
keyboard of a computer for several hours a day can lead to serious damage to the
arm tendons, which allow the fingers to move at a certain time. A person who is
going to operate a computer for most of the day will benefit from a clear and honest
warning about the long-term danger that it represents for your health to operate a
device that is apparently perfectly harmless.
Record Keeping
The Department of Human Resources or the area of industrial relations, if
any must keep careful records of all incidents, whether fatal or not, intentional or
otherwise, and costly or not, occurring within the scope of the enterprise, and
sometimes even When they happen outside of it. These records are used both
internally and externally.
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Internally, accident records and statistics allow security experts to detect
current trends, the causes of accidents and possible ways to avoid them in the
future. At The external level, the records document to the authorities the efforts and
programmes that have been implemented to ensure that within reasonable and
law-sanctioned parameters the health of the company's members is not adversely
affected for the work.
An experienced inspector easily detects any attempt to forge or tamper with
the company's security logs. A manipulation of these documents is tantamount to
an unacceptable ethical and professional failure, as well as to an Active
participation in preserving circumstances that may even cost health and even life of
another person.
New Trends in safety and health
At present, safety and health studies are geared not only to industrial or
ergonomic safety aspects in organizations. Other important factors are
psychosocial at work and Particular way anxiety and labor stress, and social
responsibility factors such as those related to ecology.
Psychosocial Factors at work
The psychosocial factors in the work represent the whole of perceptions and
experiences of the worker, some are of individual character, others refer to the
economic expectations or of personal development and others more to the human
relations and their Emotional aspects.
The most common approach to dealing with the relationship between the
psychological work environment and the health of workers has been through the
concept of stress. Both in developing countries and in industrialized States The
working environment in conjunction with lifestyle provokes the action of negative
psychological and social factors. So, the importance of his study from a
professional point of view has been increasing. These studies should include both
physiological and psychological aspects, as well as the effects of modes of
production and labour relations.
Current trends in the promotion of occupational safety and health include not
only the physical, chemical and biological risks of working environments, but also
the multiple and diverse psychosocial factors inherent in the company and the way
As They influence the physical and mental well-being of the worker.
These factors consist of the interactions between work, its working
environment, job satisfaction and the conditions of the Organization, on the one
hand, y on the other hand, the personal characteristics of the worker, his needs, his
culture, his experiences and his perception of the world.
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The main psychosocial factors that generate stress in the working
environment involve aspects of organization, administration and work systems and,
of course, the quality of human relations.
Therefore, the organizational climate of a company is linked not only to its
structure and the living conditions of the collectivity of work, but also to its historical
context with its set of demographics, economic and social problems. Thus, the
economic growth of the company, the technical progress, the increase of the
productivity and the stability of the organization depend in addition to the means of
production, the conditions of work, the lifestyles, as well as the level of health and
well-being of Their workers.
There are now accelerated technological changes in the forms of production
that affect workers in their work routines, modifying their working environment and
increasing the onset or development of chronic stress diseases.
Other factors outside the workplace but which are closely related to workers '
concerns derive from their family circumstances or their private life, cultural
elements, nutrition, transportation facilities, housing, Health and safety in
employment.
Some of the main psychosocial factors that with notable frequency condition the
presence of occupational stress is indicated below:
a) Professional Performance:
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High degree of difficulty Work
Work with great demand for care
Activities of great responsibility
Contradictory Functions
Creativity and initiative restricted
Demanding Complex decisions
Untimely technological Changes
Absence of working Life plan
Threat of Labor demands
b) Address:
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Inadequate Leadership
Misuse of worker skills
Poor delegation of responsibilities
Ambivalent Labour Relations
Worker Manipulation or coercion
Poor Motivation
Lack of training and staff development
Lack of recognition
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Absence of incentives
Non-equitable Remuneration
Random Job Promotions
c) Organization and Function:
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Inappropriate administrative Practices
Ambiguous Attributions
Misinformation and rumors
Authority Conflict
Bureaucratic Work
Poor Planning
Punitive Supervision
d) Tasks and activities:
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Excessive Workloads
Deficient Labor Autonomy
Hurried work Pace
Excessive performance Requirements
Multiple work Activities
Obsessive work Routines
Excessive, unfair or destructive Competition
Monotonous or routine Work
Poor Job Satisfaction
e) Working Environment:
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Inadequate physical working Conditions
Restricted Physical Space
Exposure to constant physical risk
Conflicting working Environment
Non-Solidarity Work
Disrespect or contempt of the worker
f) Working Day:
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Shift Rotation
Excessive working Days
Indefinite Duration of the day
Excessive body physical Activity
g) Company and social environment:
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Unstable company Policies
Absence of corporatism
Lack of legal support by the company
Intervention and trade union action
Insufficient Salary
Lack of job security
Underemployment or unemployment in the community
Employment and job market Options
Work Stress Management
The prevention and attention of Labor stress are a great challenge, the
criteria to counteract it should be organizational and personal. The main idea is to
identify the causal agents of stress and make the worker aware of them, show you
the possibilities of solving the situation or the intelligent management of stress in
order to act accordingly and counteract it. It Is important to improve the habits of
the worker, the adequate feeding, moderate physical exercise, gradual and
progressive, adequate rhythms of sleep, to propitiate the recreational activities, to
reduce the addictions and to avoid the sedentary life.
Individual care programmers at workplaces include the dissemination of
stress information, its causes, and how to control it through workers ' health
education, in order to help them develop personal skills That will allow them to
reduce the problem.
Organizational Measures
In the collective management of the factors that cause the stress, the
predominant criterion is to reduce to the maximum the situations generating of
tension within the company. The actions are directed towards the structure
characteristics of the organization, communication styles, decision-making
processes, corporate culture, work functions, physical environment and methods of
selection and training of staff.
The organization's change measures pursue the restructuring of the
processes and tasks that allow the development of the capacities of the worker,
improving his responsibility and forms of communication through assistance
programmes for the workers, Quality circles, advisory groups, support,
Participation, teamwork, labor solidarity, professional development, promotion of
their creativity and processes of continuous improvement.
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Change must be fostered by gradual incorporation of workers into the
organization through different strategies such as organizational development,
adequacy of leadership styles, redistribution of power and authority, participation
Responsible and active in the decision making processes of the areas, favouring
the formal and informal internal communication, improving the working
environment, creating a favorable working climate for the company and conducive
to the sustainable, healthy and integral development of The productive life of the
workers.
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