Workplace Safety Analysis, Industrial Safety History - Coursework Example

Workplace safety analysis Workplace safety is defined as the procedures and policies put in place to ensure the working environment of employees is excellent in regards to both health and safety (Asfahl, 1999). The procedures and policies put in place cover several factors such as workplace violence, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, unsafe working conditions and other environmental hazards. The measures put in place focus on identification and control of known hazards. Usually, the government imposes standards and education training exercises on safety requirements of the employees. These requirements and training exercises will differ depending on the workplace environment. Furthermore, different workplaces require different protection and work handlings. However, common measures both nationally and internationally, are in place that looks into what a specific working environment demands. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are the basic regulation that governs workplace safety (Asfahl, 1999). This essay looks into the history of industrial safety; highlights OSHA in depth, recommendations and ends with a conclusion Industrial safety history Ideally, the gravity of a specific work is indicated by the different red flags it raises. Such red flags can include: the fatality level, injuries and illnesses arising from the workstations. In the United State, industrial safety was not in place until the 20th century. Before the 20th century, it was a risk for the different workers reporting to their workstation daily (Hammer, 2001). Some of the different environments employees worked at, included manufacturing companies, mills, construction sites and mines. Currently, statistics of work safety are usually compiled from the deaths and injuries that occur from the working place per year. Before the 1900s, the numbers of workers deaths or injured in working areas were unknown. For this reason, no traceable records were kept, and there were no enforced laws put in place (Brauer 1995). The 19th century, however, brought with it the birth of laws and regulations to protect employees and the surrounding environments. In addition, modernized devices and instruments were introduced. The progress in technology development has also seen the continued upgrade of working equipment (Asfahl, 1999). Furthermore, in the 19th century companies made a lot of profit. However, many employees, continued to suffer from injuries and others died in the process. The highly rated hazardous venture in 19th century was the manufacturing, train transportation and mining (Haight, 2012). In response to the dangerous situations, most workers left the jobs or took life insurance policies. Most companies gave out high wages for these specific jobs due to this fact, to hold the employees in place. Public effort improvement Before the 1st world war, the Federal Safety Regulation, Bureau of Mines (USBM) was born in US in conjunction with the Food and Drug Administration Act (FDA). The bureau of Mines was specifically formed in 1910 to campaign for safer mining zones and safer working environments. This was after a series of explosion experiences within the mining zones. In addition, other unions were formed which continued to fight for improvement in working equipment, aiming at freight cart and train safety (Krieger & Montgomery, 1997). The birth of workman's compensation In 1908, a law was passed by congress on the Federal Employer's Liability. The law favored the employee and highlighted the employee’s entitled to their workplace. The employer could rarely claim that the work was not the sole responsible for the accident. Rather, the employer was made to pay dearly for the accident. The law made many employees extremely happy because they could now be compensated to a minimum of $2000 rather than $200 for an accident or death. A workmen's compensation law was also developed in New York in 1910. This law eliminated the court procedural, which were a burden to workers and their families. Therefore, companies were forced to always compensate the workers upon injuries within the working environment. The families of the victims were no longer responsible for the non-favoring court procedures. By the year 1921, 43 states had followed the steps of the reregulation taken from New York (Kruaser, 1996). Employers take action The evolution of the compensation laws, in addition to other liability expenses, made workplace injuries increase the losses for employers. Nevertheless, workplace safety was followed slowly and keenly. Large firms in manufacturing, mining and railroading became more interested and focused on safety. As a result, manufacturing companies came up with safer working equipment and tools (Hammer, 2001). The managers, on the other hand, were given the mandate to always identify and report workplace dangers. Hard hats, safety glasses, for example began to be worn by the workers in mining and construction zones. The bureau of mines policies caught the interest of many US firms. As a result, the National Safety Council was formed in 1913, which mainly comprised of business owners. Its mandate was to bring together knowledge of how well the work safety zones can be, using the guideline information from the Bureau of Mines. There was a substantial reduction in the workplace related accidents in the period between 1st and 2nd world war. The safety analysis after the second war to-date The Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were established in 1970. Industrial safety became a prime concern for the US and the firms began to follow the OSHA regulations (Krieger & Montgomery, 1997). OSHA's cornerstones goals include: i. Improved health and safety for all workers: This should be indicated by low numbers of fatalities, illnesses, injuries, reduced exposures and fewer hazards. ii. Workplace culture change: This is indicated by worker involvement, commitment and awareness of health and safety as well as the employer. iii. OSHA's services and program developed and delivered excellently to safeguard the public confidence. In addition, firms should follow other safety rules developed by different safety councils and specific industries. Following these goals, the rate of workplace accidents has significantly reduced since the First World War. Currently, there is an excellent record keeping for each and every fatality, illnesses and accident that is work related (Brauer, 1995). In addition, other regulations were developed with time not only to protect the working environment but also the job for the employees. Such include the Safety regulations laws Code of Federation (CFR): 29 CFR 1904.7 / 29 CFR 1960.29 29 CFR 1904.7 and 29 CFR 1960.29. Safety regulation These laws are titled as 29 with different chapters and sections. CFR 1904.7 lays the issues pertaining safety and health in the occupational areas and administration issues. It involves occupational illnesses and injuries recording and reporting. It outlines the criteria, which should be followed; to ensure any employee injured or gets ill is compensated (Haight, 2012 & (Asfahl, 1999). This law states that all illnesses and injuries resulting from the work place should be recorded and reported if: the event resulted to loss of consciousness, first aid was not sufficient to attend to the injury effectively, led to a job transfer or restricted work, and one could not work for days or led to the death. In addition, information approved by a qualified health practitioner, according to this law can be used to compensate the workers. This is always possible if the health status of the worker is approved to have been work related. The recording is done on OSHA 300 log in the specified sections. Moreover, the justification of illness or injury that resulted from the work situation should follow OSHA guidelines. Cancer, eardrums puncture and other progressive diseases can also result from the work place related environment. OSHA encourages these diseases to be put on record regardless of whether the commencement of the treatment or not is done. To ensure comprehensiveness and protection of the public and employee, CFR 29/1960 reinforces the CFR 29/1904.7. CFR 29/1960 ensures that all information collected during any accident is carefully recorded. Accident scene should not be tampered with so that the investigators can collect any possible evidence that could clarify the accident. Interviews, measurement, photographing, accident descriptions, operations descriptions should be done, and location, time and date of the information and accident recorded clearly. The detailed and clear recorded information is then forwarded to the employee representative, health and safety committees and workplace official in-charge and right measures taken as per OSHA’s guidelines. As a result of this recording, OSHA has been used to evaluate and analyse the level of statistics of different diseases, illness and injuries related to work place. Sample statistics In 2011, 4609 workers died from illnesses and diseases which were work related see the graph 1. From these figures, there were 90 deaths weekly with almost 13 deaths daily. The 2011 figures were a bit higher than in 2009 when death toll was 4,551. However, the figures 2011 were second lowest since the work related death counts were conducted as from 1992. In 2011,729 workers died from work related injuries and illness in Hispanic. This figure translated to 14 deaths per week. In America, of the total number of workers reporting to work 13 die. The death on 2011 of 4,114 in the private sector, 17.5% was recorded from the construction. The causes of death in the construction site resulted from caught in between, struck by object, electrocutions and falls. See chart 1 below Graph 1 Chart 1 However, despite the presence and revisal of OSHA laws regularly, they are still broken due to negligence and not following OSHA’s regulations. Some of the most violated ones are as listed below starting with priority of violation: 29 CFR 1926.451, 29 CFR 1926.501, 29 CFR 1910.1200, 29 CFR 1910.134, 29 CFR 1910.147, 29 CFR 1910.305, 29 CFR 1910.178, 29 CFR 1926.1053, 29 CFR 1910.303 and 29 CFR 1910.212. Recommendation Although the OSHA regulations are quite clear, there is good evidence that the laws are frequently violated. From the research, it is recommendable that those staff or employers found breaking the laws firm action should be taken. On the other side, the employees should always be informed of their workplace safety and health rights. This will ensure they are safe in workplaces and in case of injury they know how to go about it. Conclusion Since OSHA began four decades ago, there is a tremendous change in the workplace health and safety (Kruaser, 1996). Counting down from 1970, the death toll of occupational injuries and illnesses by 2011 had reduced to 65% and 67% respectively (Haight, 2012). Concurrently, employment rate in US has doubled. In United States, 1970, there were 38 worker deaths daily while by 2011, this reduced to 13/day. In 1972 illnesses and injuries were 10.9/100 workers while 2010 this was less than 4/100. Therefore, the workplace safety and health has made a tremendous progress since the placement of OSHA’s laws. However, there is still more to do by increasing safety awareness within the working environments and encouraging safe practices. References Haight, J.M.(ed). 2012. Management applications: the safety professional handbook (2nd ed.). Des Plaines IL: American Society of Safety Engineers. Asfahl, R. (1999). Industrial Safety and Health Management (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Brauer, R.L. (1995). Safety and Health for Engineers (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Interscience Hammer, W. (2001). Occupational Safety and Management Engineering (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Kruaser, T. (1996). The Behavior-Based Safety Progress. management involvement for an injury-free culture (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and sons. Krieger G.R. & Montgomery J.F. (1997). Accident Prevention Manual for Business and Industry: engineering and technology (12th ed.). Itasca; IL: National Safety council Death/illnesses/injuries statistics (2011) retrieved from http://www.osha.gov/ashstats/commonstats.html, 23rd February, 2013 Read More