Protection from Hazards

1. Protection from Hazards • Conflict between needs for higher productivity and output and protection from hazards • Impact of legislation

2. Health, Safety & Welfare • Welfare – well being • Health and safety – aspects of employee welfare

3. Benefits From the Provision of Welfare Facilities • Physical benefits – measures to improve health and safety, as well as provision of holidays, reduced hours, etc • Emotional welfare – provisions to improve mental well-being, e.g. counselling, improved communications

4. HRM • Development of HS&W provision interrelated with development of HRM • HS&W increasing importance to trade unions • Conflict between HS&W and other business considerations

5. A Business Case For Effective Health & Safety and Welfare Provision • Illness and injury which is work related leads to avoidable absence • Serious illness or injury can lead to litigation and substantial compensation claims • A poor reputation for safety and welfare makes it harder to recruit and retain staff

6. Health & Safety Law • Factories Act 1961 • Offices, Shops, and Railway Premises Act 1963 • Fire Precautions Act 1971 • Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 • COSHH Regulations 1988 • EU Directives • Working Time Regulations 1988 • Single European Act 1987

7. Criminal Law Health and safety inspectors have a great deal of power • Improvement notices • Prohibition notices • Prosecution and Fines

8. Purposes of Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 • To secure the health, safety and welfare of people at work • To protect the public from risks arising from workplace activities • To control the use and storage of dangerous substances • To control potentially dangerous environmental emissions

9. COSHH Regulations 1988 • Assessing risk of substances used and precautions needed • Appropriate measures to control or prevent risk • Control measures used, procedures observed, and equipment maintained • Health surveillance • Employees informed about risks and trained about them and precautions

10. Working Time Regulations 1998 Workers’ Entitlements (1 of 2) • A working week limited to 48 hours • 4 weeks paid annual leave per year • Limitation on night working (8 hours in any one 24 hour period) • 11 hours rest in any one 24 hour period

11. Working Time Regulations 1998 Workers’ Entitlements (2 of 2) • An uninterrupted break of 24 hours in any one 7 day period • A 20 minute rest break in any shift of 6 hours or more • Regular free health assessments to establish fitness for night working

12. Civil Law • Breaches in employer implied duty of care to provide safe systems of working • Courts have to satisfy themselves that employer failed to act reasonably • Distinct from criminal sanctions • Often brought alongside criminal proceedings • Most claims brought under the law of contract

13. Defences open to Employers • Where accident was not foreseeable • Where employee voluntarily assumed a risk despite being warned of possible danger • Where injury sustained outside the workplace was worsened as a result of working • Where employee contributed to their own injury

14. Managing Stress & Emotional Welfare • Workplace stress is a source of litigation • Recently fewer successful personal injury claims made • Court of Appeal – employers now able to take tougher line of stress related absences

15. Stress at Work • Chronic stress often a by product of management initiatives • Results of stress – adverse health conditions and behavioural consequences • Often consequences of strains inside and outside the organisational setting

16. Managing Stress at Work • Someone to talk to – someone to advise • Reorganisation of work • Positive health programmes

17. Managing Physical Welfare • Making the work safe • Enabling employees to work safely • Safety training and other methods of persuasion • Occupational health departments

18. Managers’ Responsibilities • Scrupulously informing employees of what they must do – communicating processes, procedures, and instructions • Ensuring knowledge is translated into action

19. Purpose of Safety Training • Inform and check understanding about nature of hazards in the workplace • Awareness of safety rules and procedures • Compliance with procedures

20. Settings for Safety Training • Induction • On the job • Refresher

21. Occupational Health Departments (1 of 2) • Emergency treatments • Medical, dental, and other facilities • Immediate advice on medical and related matters • Monitoring of accidents and illnesses • Identification of hazards and danger points

22. Occupational Health Departments (2 of 2) • On site medical examinations for joiners • Regular medical examinations of employees • Input into health and safety training courses • Regular screening services

23. Summary • Occupational welfare is the well-being of people at work • History of HR interrelated with the development of welfare • Legal framework includes both criminal and civil law • The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 major piece of legislation • Increasing interest in occupational health and welfare