Hr Interventions in the Arena of Safety & Health
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HR interventions in the arena of Safety & Health
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An unknown author once said, "Prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent". Prevention is better than cure is something that we hear often. So why do we stress on safety & health? As a HR Manager why should we practice the ethics of care? How does it benefit the organization? But most of all that do I do to ensure safety & health? Organizations in all the industries have reached a certain stage where technology is available to everyone and the stage is even to compete. The unique value now comes from the employees employed. So in order to have high productivity and the best from the employees, an organization should have engaged members working for its goals. This could only happen if the employees feel safe and secure in their workplace. Occupational hazards plague their minds with fear and thus reducing their productivity. Accidents at workplace cause immense suffering and loss. The economic cost involved is also high. In this scenario it becomes necessary for organizations to foster an environment of safety and care for the employees in their own vested interests. Corrie Pitzer “People don’t care what you know until they know you care”.
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Figure 1: Relationship between Health and Wealth
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The recent turmoil in the economic scenario and scandals of business giants has led to the question of business ethics and their eventual impact on the lives of people and their families. It has become a moral imperative for organizations to provide a safe and secure environment for the employees to work in. More than that, companies have realized the economic impact of the lack of safety standards. Court cases, settlements and compensations are on the rise. They are now coming forward to set up practices that would ensure safety and health of their employees. Governments in many countries have stipulated laws that require organizations to have certain safety measurements that would help provide the
HR interventions in the arena of Safety & Health
2
An unknown author once said, "Prepare and prevent, don’t repair and repent". Prevention is better than cure is something that we hear often. So why do we stress on safety & health? As a HR Manager why should we practice the ethics of care? How does it benefit the organization? But most of all that do I do to ensure safety & health? Organizations in all the industries have reached a certain stage where technology is available to everyone and the stage is even to compete. The unique value now comes from the employees employed. So in order to have high productivity and the best from the employees, an organization should have engaged members working for its goals. This could only happen if the employees feel safe and secure in their workplace. Occupational hazards plague their minds with fear and thus reducing their productivity. Accidents at workplace cause immense suffering and loss. The economic cost involved is also high. In this scenario it becomes necessary for organizations to foster an environment of safety and care for the employees in their own vested interests. Corrie Pitzer “People don’t care what you know until they know you care”.
3
Figure 1: Relationship between Health and Wealth
1
The recent turmoil in the economic scenario and scandals of business giants has led to the question of business ethics and their eventual impact on the lives of people and their families. It has become a moral imperative for organizations to provide a safe and secure environment for the employees to work in. More than that, companies have realized the economic impact of the lack of safety standards. Court cases, settlements and compensations are on the rise. They are now coming forward to set up practices that would ensure safety and health of their employees. Governments in many countries have stipulated laws that require organizations to have certain safety measurements that would help provide the
References: • The newspaper clipping was designed based on - Kono V. Dentsu Inc. 1707 Hanrei Jiho 87 (March 24, 2000) Supreme Court (Quoted from Blanpain et al 2007: 529) • Global Strategy on Occupational Safety and Health: Conclusions adopted by the International Labour Conference at its 91st Session, 2003. International Labour Office 8 10 Bobby Banerjee (2011) gives another similar example of the indigenous people of the Peruvian and Equadorian Amazon forests