If there is one thing that can hamper production in the workplace, it is a lack of emphasis on health and safety. In order to promote a productive environment filled with healthy employees free from safety hazards, more attention and resources should be devoted to ensuring the workplace does not place anyone at unnecessary risk.
Duty of Employers
Ensuring a safe environment falls in the lap of the employers. Employers have a legal obligation to guarantee a healthy workplace for all of the employees that are hired. This also goes for contractors, members of the general public and potential customers.
Whatever the size of the business, employers have a litany of responsibilities to make sure the environment is safe. From identifying actual or potential safety hazards to implementing measures that can be taken to reduce the risk of a potential adverse event, employers must fulfill all of these obligations.
Employers also act as reporters, because if diseases, accidents, injuries or dangerous occurrences take place as a result of an unsafe work area, records of these events have to be taken.
The Rights of Employees
Employees are entitled to have certain rights when they work, and it is mandated by law. The rights and responsibilities of employees contain rights for employees as well as their responsibility to operate in an appropriate manner. No matter what happens, none of these rights can be withdrawn by an employer. For more information on the importance of workplace dynamics and how to create a productive work environment, Robert Butchike has many valuable resources that can be used.
In terms of the rights that employees are entitled to, they are primarily concerned with interventions that seek after their own well-being. For example, employees have the right to report to their employer and potential safety risks and about their own health so that special accommodations can be made.
Employees also have the right to have any potential safety and health risks controlled as far as possible. If there is reasonable concern that something could affect one’s physical well-being, employees also have the right to leave the work area without discipline. This among many other rights are what the employee has access to when they work. However, there are also responsibilities to bear in mind.
Responsibilities as an employee entail taking care of your own safety and health and not to put others at risk. Any training provided by the organization should be attended and adherence to health and safety policies is required.
Also, if there is any pending health-related issues that could affect work performance, they should be reported well in advance so that work arrangements can be made.
Common Workplace Issues
There are common issues that any workplace can be subject to that should mitigated as much as possible. One primary concern is the work space in which all employees should have sufficient areas to work. Other potential safety issues that should be monitored is temperature, ventilation, fire safety and guidelines on manual handling. Experts in the industry such as Robert Butchike can serve as a valuable resource in this regard