Occupational Safety & Health

• The nature & extent of workplace safety and health problems

• The organization and functions of OSHA

• Accident behavior

• Safety programs

Causes of Workplace Deaths, 92-96 Average

TransportViolenceContactFallsExposureFiresOther

Health & Safety Problems

• Most dangerous occupations: construction, transportation, & agriculture

• Vehicle accidents & homicides most frequent source of deaths

• 35-75 million work days lost each year• 6 million injuries reported, cumulative

trauma reported most frequently

Cost of Unsafe Workplace

• Costs– $50 billion for deaths & injuries, same

for illnesses– $65 billion for alcoholism–Workers’ compensation, wages for time

lost, damage for equipment, catch-up overtime

Benefits of Safe Workplace

• Safe Workplace Benefits:

–more productivity,

–efficiency,

–reduced insurance and health costs

Workers’ Compensation

• State Laws: Employers pay into a fund to provide compensation for work related accidents & injuries– Benefits relate to injury– Premiums tied to accident rate– Benefits cover lost wages, medical bills,

& retraining costs– Courts allow stress & mental disorders

Case Law in Workers’ Comp.

• Texas, 1955: Bailey Vs American General Insurance Co. Can file claim for anxiety with no physical illness

• Oregon, 1980: James Vs American Accident. Allowed claim for stress due to conflicting work assignments

OSHA• Occupational Safety & Health

Administration -- establishes and enforces standards

• Occupational Safety& Health Review Commission -- hears appeals from employers, employees & unions

• NIOSH -- conducts research on occupational injuries, recommends new standards, develops educational programs

Requirement & Enforcement

• Issues standards covering environmental hazards

• Requires records of injuries & illnesses and filing of annual summary

• Inspectors have the right to enter workplaces– issue fines & criminal penalties– workers have right to walk off unsafe

jobs

Models of Behavior & Accidents

• Learning model

• Cognitive model

• Personality model

• Life stress model

• Biological model

Safety Programs

• Engineering Controls– Redesign of equipment, tools, machinery– Redesign of physical layout of work– Use of warning signals, lights, sounds

• Management Controls– Data collection & analysis– Safety committee & rules– Employee selection– Supervisory training

Measuring Unsafe Behavior

• Incidence rate: recorded injuries and illnesses per 100 workers

• Severity rate: Actual hours lost due to accident of illness

• Frequency rate: number of injuries & illness per million hours worked

Safety Management by Objectives

• Identify hazards through inspection of data

• Formulate program

• Set difficult, specific, but attainable goals

• Monitor results

• Provide incentives & feedback

• Evaluate the program

Supervisory Roles

• Responsible for reports on injuries, accidents, illnesses in a timely way

• Responsible for training workers

• Responsible for motivating and leading by example

Backwards & Forwards

• Summing up: Today’s session on workplace safety and health looked at some statistics and costs for fatal and non-fatal workplace injuries and illnesses. The government response to this has OSHA for record keeping and regulations. Finally, we explored models of accident behavior and both engineering and managerial approaches to safety.

• Looking ahead: Next time our focus is on employees assistance programs and wellness in the workplace