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Essay writing on occupational health and safety
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In the early 1900s industrial accidents were commonplace in this country; for example, in 1907 over 3,200 people were killed in mining accidents. At this time legislation and public opinion all favored management. There were few protections for the worker's safety. Today's industrial employees are better off than their colleagues in the past. Their chances of being killed in an industrial accident are less than half of that of their predecessors of 60 years ago. According to National safety Council (NSC), the current death rate from work-related injuries is approximately 4 per 100,000, or less than a third of the rate of 50 years ago. Improvements in safety up to now have been the result of pressure for legislation to promote health and safety, the steadily increasing cost associated with accidents and injuries, and the professionalization of safety as an occupation. When the industrial sector began to grow in the United States, hazardous working conditions were commonplace. Following the Civil War, the seeds of the safety movement were sown in this country. Factory inspection was introduced in Massachusetts in 1867. In 1868 the first barrier safeguard was patented. In 1869 the Pennsylvania legislature passed a mine safety law requiring two exits from all mines. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) was established in 1869 to study industrial accidents and report pertinent information about hose accidents. The following decade saw little progress in the safety movement until 1877, when the Massachusetts legislature passed a law requiring safeguards for hazardous machinery. In 1877 the Employers' Liability Law was passed. In 1892, the first safety program was established in a steel plant in Illinois, in response to the explosion of a flywheel in that company. In 1907 the U.S. Department of the Interior created the Bureau of Mines to investigate accidents, examine health hazards, and make recommendations for improvements. One of the most important developments in the history of the safety movement occurred in 1908 when an early form of workers ' compensation was introduced in the United States. Workers' compensation as a concept made great strides in the United States when Wisconsin passed the first effective workers' compensation law in 1911. In the same year New Jersey was the first state to uphold a workers' compensation law. In 1913 National Council of Industrial safety is formed and two years later, National Council of Industrial safety changed its name to National Safety Council. From the end of World War I (1918) through the 1950s there was a steady growth in safety awareness.
McGuire, C. (2011, April). Workplace Safety 100 Years Ago. Safety Compliance Letter(2524), 1-6. Retrieved April 22, 2014, from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=60166397&site=ehost-live&scope=site
23 "After The Triangle Fire: State And National Workplace Safety Reforms." Last modified March 25, 2011.Accessed March 27, 2014.politicalcorrection.org.
In the 1920 's, after World War 1, danger signals were apparent that a great
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was formed as an agency of the federal government that is charged with protecting workers from recognized safety hazards within the workplace. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was created as a result of passage of the “Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 in response to dangerous working conditions across the nation and as a culmination of decades of reform” (Walter, 2011, para. 5). President Richard Nixon signed the act into law on December 29, 1970 and The Occupational Safety and Health Administration was officially established on April 28, 1971 (Walter, 2011). During the 41 years on the job, The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has identified and addressed numerous work hazards, as well as provided solutions to mitigate and/or avoid placing workers in unnecessary danger. OSHA regulates as enforces regulations throughout the country, however the agency does declare that “states can run their own safety and health programs as long as those programs are at least as effective as the federal program” (http://www.dol.gov/compliance/laws/comp-osha.htm). The states that choose to implement their own version of the occupational safety and health plan are referred to as OSHA states, whereas those who implement no plan are required to follow the federal regulations, as set forth by OSHA. OSHA effects all workers and employers in the United States, as the desired effect of the Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act is “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” (Williams-Steiger Occupational Safety and Health Act, 1970). OS...
The 1911 the Triangle Shirt Factory fire was a wakeup call for safety precautions for the workforce in America. The fire made people realize what was really happening, how workers were being put in danger and being mistreated. I believe that if Theodore Roosevelt had known about the conditions or even cared about the conditions that he would have supported regulation of factory safety. There is a quote that says “you do not know what is happens behind closed doors;” I believe this is exactly what happened, because there were no laws saying they could or could not have the doors locked or working in rooms with windows or fire escapes or that smoking was not allowed in buildings. A year before the fire the same women that died in the factory
Bringing out warning signs to alert other staff members of the dangers in the workplace
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire most of all impacted all forms of industry, and changed the way workers worked. Along with the legislations that impacted women and children, laws also centered on the safety and well being of all workers. One of the main reforms and changes came through the formation of the New York Factory Investigating Commission, or the FIC: a legislative body that investigated the manufacturers for various infractions. They were based on protecting the workers: both their rights and their lives. The FIC investigated countless factories and “enacted eight laws covering fire safety, factory inspections and sanitation.” The FIC was highly focused on the health and safety of industrial workers, making reports and legislation that focused on “fire safety, building construction, machine guarding, heating, lighting, ventilation, and other topics” and on specific industries like “chemicals, lead trades, metal trades, printing shops, sweatshops and mercantile establishments.” Thirteen out of seventeen of the bills submitted by the FIC became laws, and “included measures requiring better fire safety efforts, more adequate factory ventilation, improved sanitation and machine guarding, safe operation of elevators” and other legislations focused for specific establishments.” Fire safety and new fire codes such as “mandate emergency exits, sprinkler systems, and maximum-occupancy laws,” such as the Fire Prevention Act of 1911, were put into place to limit the likelihood that another fire like the one at Triangle would occur, or be as drastic and deathly. Other organizations like the Joint Board of Sanitary Control “set and maintain standards of sanitation in the workplace,” as well as actually enforcing these stand...
Furthermore, it saves the company from fines and any chances of been shut down by OSHA. There are several ways in which one can find the latest information on OSHA. OSHA law states that some safety and health plans that have been approved by the federal government can be adopted by any organization or territory. On reaching the minimum OSHA requirements, any state plan on health and job safety becomes fully OSHA-approved and is entitled to funding by the federal government (Manuele, Fred A,
In his essay Occupational Hazards: Why Military Operations Succeed or Fail, David Edelstein makes the case that though there is no perfect recipe for occupation, three factors do increase the likelihood of success. These are ensuring a necessity of occupation, having a commonly perceived threat and establishing credible guarantees, factors that all lend to cooperation from the occupied population, and thus ensure a more agreeable occupation. Thus, recent successful occupations are predominantly found in the post World War II, at the start of the Cold War, era, for at this time both a necessity of occupation was present (the occupied populations maintained hope that the occupying states would help them rebuild their territories) as well as a commonly perceived threat, that being the Soviet Union. However, since the end of the Cold War and the United States’ rise to being the sole great power, successful occupations have been scarce to come by. Edelstein notes that occupying powers need to make more of an effort to...
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. Created to help employers and employees reduce on the job injuries, illness, and death. Since OSHA was created work place deaths have decreased by 60%, injuries and illness have been decreased by 40%. It has beneficially lowered training cost due to fewer replacement workers, and overtime has also been decreased. OSHA directs national compliance in occupational Health and Safety. Workers compliance Insurance cost, medical cost, and decreased payouts to Return- to- work programs all reduce when Employers / companies stay safe and healthy in the work environment.
It would also cause economic losses for the country, therefore, reducing the rate of accidents could potentially save the country billions annually (Hayes et al, 1998). It is important for companies to create safe workplace to build the positive workers’ perceptions of safety on their jobs (Hayes et al, 1998). According to the research, less accidents tend to occur if employees perceive their jobs safe; and higher accident rate if they do not (Harrell, 1990). Since KI has decentralized the management process, it may not have a clear view of the working environment and conditions for the workers among the subsidiaries. KI also may not know the workers’ perceptions on the work safety. It is critical for KI’s management to conduct series of measurement on the workers’ perceptions of workplace safety first and embrace new provisions of workplace safety into the company code. In order to so, the management may need to understand how the workers feel and think based on the results. In additional, KI may require compliance and commitment from its subcontractors for the new workplace safety practice, which would benefit both the MNCs and
Rehrig Pacific Company has been in business since 1913. Over 100 years in business, family owned and operated since then. Now on its 5 generation of owners. Rehrig Pacific has been in business since before the creation of OSHA and the OSH act of 1970. For years Rehrig worked and produced products and did their best to provide a safe workplace for their employees as they saw as extended family. There were many things done in the past that would not be okay to do in today’s safety world. Safety guards on machines were not used, at many times taken off to increase productivity and efficiency. Employees would climb on top of equipment was part of
Accident in the workplace is largely caused by lack of management control. Nowadays, people often think about ‘safety is expensive’. But then, try an accident. What price should be tag? It is must not be forgotten that there are pros and cons to this situation. A single unsafe act, condition and environment may or may not cause an accident by themselves. However the unsafe of an individuals’ act or condition could still be caused by lack of management. Therefore, management’s responsibility for controlling the unsafe acts of employees exists briefly because of these unsafe acts occurs in the course of employment that management creates and then directs.
During the nineteenth and early twentieth century if a worker was a victim of workplace accident there was no compensation or requirement of the employer to support rehabilitation. Employers were not responsible for injured workers or accidents that happened in the workplace. The main legal doctrine of Assumption of Risk governed workplace hazards, which required workers to assume and accept all the risks affiliated with their occupation (Share, 2012). In the 1900 's many diseases and injuries resulted due to unsafe or hazardous working condition. "The Royal Commission on the Relations of Labour and Capital reported in 1889 that many workers were being hurt on the job and condemned the state of working conditions in several industries" (CPHA, 2012). However, the federal government at the time did not act on the results of the commission report. In 1914, the province of Ontario introduced legislation where, "workers would be eligible for guaranteed no-fault benefits from a system that was wholly funded by employers. In exchange, employers were freed from legal liability" (CPHA, 2012). This was the first time the idea came up that injured employees should be compensated no matter who was at fault for the accident. This was the sign of the beginnings of change, but perspectives on health and safety still held employees responsible and accountable for all injuries and
Accidents occur in the workplace but in secret. These most of the time lead to physical and mental injuries that might affect the worker way of living for the rest of their lives. It is estimated that more than 337 million workers get injured in their place of work or in the course of work every year leading to work-related diseases causing about 2.3 million deaths per year (United States Department of Labor, n.d.).