Employee Well-being and Health and Safety at Work (H&S)

Introduction

In this learning blog entry, I am going to present key concepts, theories and models from Chapter 16: Managing Workplace Safety and Health, from the eight edition (2016) of Managing Human Resources by Gómez-Mejía, Balkin and Cardy. I am going to summarize the key concepts from this chapter including Workplace safety and the Law, Managing Contemporary safety, health and behavioral issues, and introduce different safety and health programs. I will also present two cases “ Exhausted’ Merrill Lynch intern died from epileptic fit in shower after he ’pulled three all-nighters at bank where employees compete to work the longest hours” and “Do corporate wellness programs really work?” continuing with two other articles related to this topic.(Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, .)

Workplace Safety and The Law

Workplace safety laws and regulations can vary in different countries. But for example focusing on the Chapter 16 by Gomez-Mejia, Balkin and Cardy, in US, there are two sets of workplace safety laws:

Workers’ compensation
1. It’s an employer-funded insurance system that operates at the state level in US
The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA)
1. It’s a federal law that mandates safety standards in the workplace.

Workers’ compensation includes of total disability losses, survivor, medical expense, and rehabilitation benefits- planned to guarantee effective and reasonable medical care to employees who get injured on the job, as well as income for them and their children or survivors. This also encourages employers to invest in workplace safety by requiring higher insurance premiums from employers with numerous workplace accidents and injuries.(Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 530-531.)

The benefits of workers compensations are considerable, however there are always costs and it’s directly affected by accidents. The Premiums can increase dramatically or stay high for a long time as a result of a single injury. The workers compensation system can also be prone to fraud by both employers and employees. For example, not insuring the employees, avoiding the cost of paying workers’ compensation premiums, under reporting payrolls that the premiums are based are violations from the employers side. Employee fraud in different forms can also occur. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 531-532.)

OSHA requires employers to provide a safe and healthy work environment and to keep records of occupational injuries and illnesses. It enforces the employers to obey with specific occupational safety and health standards that are observed by a system of inspections, citations, fines and criminal penalties. For example, Hazard Communication Standard is one OSHA standard, that gives employees the right to know about any dangerous chemicals or materials in the workplace. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 532-534.)

Managing Contemporary Safety, Health and Behavioral Issues

The most significant safety, health and behavioral issues from employers can be for example:

violence in the workplace
cumulative trauma disorders
fetal protection
Hearing Impairment
Fetal protection, hazardous chemicals and genetic testing.

In prevention, monitoring, observing and providing support are crucial. Also, in all these areas the line managers and supervisors need to manage with variety of practical, legal and ethical questions that often is very important for keeping the balance of individual rights, like privacy rights, inside the company’s requirements. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 538-545.)

Haz-Map can be an online decision support system for recognizing and preventing diseases caused by chemical and biological agents in the workplace. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 545.)

Safety and Health programs

A safe working environment should be created by planning according to safety programs, it cannot be taken self-evidently. In well-planned inclusive safety programs, management involves employees. However, it should start from the highest level within the company so that managers and supervisors at all levels should be alleged with demonstrating safety awareness and responsible for the training and maintaining it. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 545.)

Employee assistance programs also known as EAPs, are designed to help employees cope with physical, mental or emotional problems that are affecting their job performance negatively. These can include depression, anxiety, social problems or stress, that can lead to burnout. Wellness programs are preventive efforts designed to help employees identify their possible health risks and give tools to act before they become problems. (Gómez-Mejía. Balkin & Cardy 2016, 545-549.)

CASE 5A: “Exhausted’ Merrill Lynch intern died from epileptic fit in shower after he ’pulled three all-nighters at bank where employees compete to work the longest hours”

This article was published by Emma Thomas, 22nd of October in 2013, on Daily Mail. In the Article she explains a case where a young, 21-year-old intern died of an epileptic fit that may have been triggered by fatigue after working ’exceptional’ hours at a top investment bank. As was heard form an inquest. (Thomas 2013.)

A week from completing a desired placement at Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s London offices, his body was found in the shower at his accommodation. An inquest at Poplar Coroner’s Court heard that he was taking medication for epilepsy, but did not tell about it to anyone at the bank. However, he did not complained about his working hours or feeling unwell,only when he started to send emails to his parents sometimes at 5am or 6am – that he had worked through the night, they thought that he might not get enough sleep. (Thomas 2013.)

The intern’s Mr development officer at Merrill Lynch described, that it was not only because of the workload, but also due to peer pressure and competition between ambitious employees to work longer hours than each other.(Thomas 2013.)

This case sparked calls to mend the culture of punishingly long hours in the City of London after it emerged he had worked through the night several times in the days leading up to his death, and prompted Bank of America Merrill Lynch to launch a review.(Thomas 2013.)

Bob Elfring, the co-head of corporate and investment banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, said in the court that, while he did not think a ’clocking system’ should be put in place, it might be possible to introduce a way of analyzing the cards used by staff to swipe into a building to see if someone was repeatedly working long hours.(Thomas 2013.)

”He also said a global review had been launched, looking at issues including staffing and working hours at several levels, and said so far around 200 people have been interviewed.
’This is a very, very serious effort” (Thomas 2013).
Bob Elfring

CASE 5B: “Do corporate wellness programs really work?”

This article was published by Briana Morgaine, June 28, 2018 on LivePlan. In the article Morgaine explains how she among others lives a healthy lifestyle and cares about the health. Meaning that the idea of corporate wellness programs is incredibly appealing in the labor markets for them.(Morgaine 2018.)

She argues that in the 21st century, workplaces that merely ask employees to punch a clock just aren’t cutting it. The employees want a workplace with a strong company culture but also a workplace that works with them as individuals, prioritizing the employee care. The employees want to feel that the company have a vested interest in their health and well being.(Morgaine 2018.)

This way a company can also profit. Because the business owners get healthy employees, decreasing the sick leaves, and employees who likely will stay with a company long time and give it their all.(Morgaine 2018.)

A wellness program can include of example:

Giving employees discounts on their monthly health insurance premiums
Cash rewards
Providing discounted or free gym memberships
Offering healthier food options at work
Access to smoking cessation and weight-management programs

It is also important that the employees know that these kind of wellness programs exist for it to be efficient. And by using information like using institute policies, re-framing wellness initiatives and by creating specific programs the companies can make the wellness programs even more beneficent and tailored for their needs. (Morgaine 2018.)

Article: “Workplace Safety: Culture, Plans and Actions”

This article was published by Jay Smith, 1st of September, 2018 on OHS (Occupational Health & Safety) online.

”The main goal of a safety program is to prevent workplace deaths and injuries, as well as the serious consequences that these events can cause for workers, their families, and employers. Organizations with a strong safety culture that have established comprehensive safety programs, effectively act on them, and monitor their progress are the winners when it comes to workplace safety”(OHS 2018).

When reviewing the workplace Safety, the employers and employees need to consider aspects like:

Culture
Plans and actions, for example electrical safety program, hazard assessment, hazard prevention, hazard mitigation, electrical safety training,
Going beyond Compliance

Considering these it is clear that safety should come first. Overall the workplace safety can be accomplished through culture, plans, and actions. However, even with these factors it will only reach its full potential if there is effective leadership and employee engagement to support these processes. (OHS 2018.)

Article: ”9 Avoidable Workplace Health and Safety Hazards”

This article was published by Josh Spiro, May 14th, 2010 on Inc. In the article he tells about the most common and avoidable safety hazards in the workplace. All the workplace health and safety hazards can be costly, even to lives on the bottom line, but often they are preventable if you take the right safety measures and precautions.(Spiro 2010.)

Some of the common workplace health and safety hazards include: communicable disease, transportation accidents, workplace violence, slipping and falling, toxic events, particularly chemical and gas exposure, getting struck by objects, electrocution or explosion, repetitive motion and ergonomic injuries, and hearing loss.(Spiro 2010.)

Although some hazards are less likely to happen in some work spaces than others, it’s important to assess which hazards are most damaging to your business and your employees.(Spiro 2010.)

References

Cover photo source URL: https://www.choiceone.com.au/employers/workplace-health-and-safety/ Accessed: 4 March 2020.

Gomez-Mejia, L.R., Balkin, D.B. and Cardy, R.L. 2016. Managing Human Resources. Global Edition 8/E.

Morgaine, B. 28 June 2018. Live Plan. Do Corporate wellness programs really work? URL: https://www.liveplan.com/blog/does-corporate-wellness-work-the-surprising-truth-about-employee-wellness-programs/ Accessed: 4 March 2020.

Smith, J. 1 September 2020. OHS. Workplace Safety: Culture, Plans and Actions. URL: https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2018/09/01/Workplace-Safety-Culture-Plans-and-Actions.aspx?Page=1

Spiro, J. 14 May 2010. Inc. 9 Avoidable Workplace Health and Safety Hazards. URL: https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/9-avoidable-workplace-health-safety-hazards.html Accessed: 4 March 2020.

Thomas, E. 22 November 2013. Daily Mail. Exhausted’ Merrill Lynch intern died from epileptic fit in shower after he ’pulled three all-nighters at bank where employees compete to work the longest hours. URL: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2511911/Moritz-Erhardt-exhausted-Merrill-Lynch-intern-died-epileptic-fit.html#ixzz4RTj2xoP1 Accessed: 4 March 2020