HRM textbook

CHAPTER 16 EMPLOYEE SAFETY AND HEALTH 549
FIGURE 16-7 Employee Safety
Responsibilities Checklist
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Employee Safety Responsibilities Checklist
Know what constitutes a safety hazard.
Be constantly on the lookout for safety hazards.
Correct or report safety hazards immediately.
Know and use safe work procedures.
Avoid unsafe acts.
Keep the work area clean and uncluttered.
Report accidents, injuries, illnesses, exposures to
hazardous substances, and near misses immediately.
Report acts and conditions that don t seem right even if
you aren t sure if they re hazards.
Cooperate with internal inspections and job hazard
analyses.
Follow company safety rules.
Look for ways to make the job safer.
Participate actively in safety training.
Treat safety as one of your most important job
responsibilities.
began designing its new robot-based plant in Springfield, Ohio, management chose
to involve employees in designing the new facility. 93
Management appointed joint labor management safety teams for each department.
These worked with project engineers to start designing safeguards for the robot equipment.
The company even sent one safety team to Japan to watch the robot machines
in action, and to identify items that the safety teams needed to address. Back in Ohio, this
team worked with employees to identify possible hazards and to develop new devices
(such as color-coded locks) to protect the employees. 94
Once they are committed to the idea of safety, a checklist such as the one shown
in Figure 16-7 can provide employees with a useful reminder.
Reducing Unsafe Acts by Conducting Safety
and Health Audits and Inspections
Reducing unsafe acts is no substitute for eliminating hazards. Managers should therefore
routinely inspect for problems using safety audit/checklists (as in Figures 16-6 and 16-7)
as aids.Also, investigate all accidents and near misses. Set up employee safety committees
to evaluate safety adequacy, conduct and monitor safety audits, and suggest ways
for improving safety. 95 Managers expedite safety audits by using personal digital
assistants (PDAs). 96 For example, Process and Performance Measurement (PPM) is a
Windows application for designing and completing safety audit questionnaires. To use
this application, the manager gives the safety audit a name, enters the audit questions,
and lists possible answers. Typical questions for a fire extinguisher audit might include,
Are fire extinguishers clearly identified and accessible? and Are only approved fire
extinguishers used in the workplace? 97 The supervisor or employee then uses his or her
PDA to record the audit and transmit it to the firms safety office.
With respect to safety and health, evidence-based management means identifying
crucial metrics and then monitoring them. Metrics might include, for instance, the
percent conformance to safety critical behaviors and processes, the level of exposure
present in the workplace as measured through valid samples, and the rate of adverse
outcomes such as injury rates. 98
SAFETY AWARENESS PROGRAMS Employers also use safety awareness
programs to improve employee safety behavior. A safety awareness program enables
behavior-based safety
Identifying the worker behaviors that
contribute to accidents and then training
workers to avoid these behaviors.
safety awareness program
Program that enables trained supervisors
to orient new workers arriving at a job site
regarding common safety hazards and simple
prevention methods.