HRM textbook

CHAPTER 16 EMPLOYEE SAFETY AND HEALTH 565
INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP ACTIVITIES
1. Working individually or in groups, answer the question,
Is there such a thing as an accident-prone person?
Develop your answer using examples of actual people
you know who seemed to be accident prone on some
endeavor.
2. Working individually or in groups, compile a list of the
factors at work or in school that create dysfunctional
stress for you. What methods do you use for dealing
with the stress?
3. The HRCI Test Specifications Appendix (pages 633 640)
lists the knowledge someone studying for the HRCI
certification exam needs to have in each area of human
resource management (such as in Strategic Management,
Workforce Planning, and Human Resource
Development). In groups of four to five students, do
four things: (1) review that appendix now; (2) identify
the material in this chapter that relates to the required
knowledge the appendix lists; (3) write four multiplechoice
exam questions on this material that you believe
would be suitable for inclusion in the HRCI exam;
and (4) if time permits, have someone from your team
post your team s questions in front of the class, so the
students in other teams can take each others exam
questions.
4. A safety journal presented some information about
what happens when OSHA refers criminal complaints
about willful violations of OSHA standards to the U.S.
Department of Justice (DOJ). In one 20-year period,
OSHA referred 119 fatal cases allegedly involving willful
violations of OSHA to the DOJ for criminal prosecution.
The DOJ declined to pursue 57% of them, and
some were dropped for other reasons. Of the remaining
51 cases, the DOJ settled 63% with pretrial settlements
involving no prison time. So, counting acquittals, of the
119 cases OSHA referred to the DOJ, only 9 resulted in
prison time for at least one of the defendants. The
Department of Justice is a disgrace, charged the
founder of an organization for family members of
workers killed on the job. One possible explanation for
this low conviction rate is that the crime in cases like
these is generally a misdemeanor, not a felony, and the
DOJ generally tries to focus its attention on felony cases.
Given this information, what implications do you think
this has for how employers and their managers should
manage their safety programs, and why do you take that
position?
5. A 315-foot-tall, 2-million-pound crane collapsed on
a construction site in East Toledo, Ohio, killing four
ironworkers. Do you think catastrophic failures
like this are avoidable? If so, what steps would you
suggest the general contractor take to avoid a disaster
like this?
EXPERIENTIAL EXERCISE
How Safe Is My University?
Purpose: The purpose of this exercise is to give you practice
in identifying unsafe conditions.
Required Understanding: You should be familiar with
material covered in this chapter, particularly that on
unsafe conditions and that in Figures 16-5 (page 541), 16-6
(pages 542 544), and 16-8 (pages 566 569).
How to Set Up the Exercise/Instructions:
Divide the class into groups of four. Assume that each group
is a safety committee retained by your college s or university s
safety engineer to identify and report on any possible unsafe
conditions in and around the school building. Each group
will spend about 45 minutes in and around the building you
are now in for the purpose of identifying and listing possible
unsafe conditions. (Make use of the checklists in Figures 16-5,
16-6, and 16-8.)
Return to the class in about 45 minutes. A spokesperson
for each group should list on the board the unsafe conditions
you have identified. How many were there? Do you think
these also violate OSHA standards? How would you go
about checking?