Unit VII Assignment. Major Safety and Health Issues in a Firm

Major Safety and Health Issues in a Firm
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation
Organizational safety
Employee health and safety is instrumental in any firm, an issue which has been of great concern in the workplace environment in different organizations (Ko, 2010). Health and safety is an integral part of a firm’s business performance. The implementation of policies regarding employee safety in the workplace is still a grey area in many firms. When a firm takes care of all the employee’s health concerns, the employees get motivated and can really work better and improve the firm’s output. Employees’ safety is one of the most fundamental platforms to enhance the performance of an organization. To achieve this objective, the Congress in America in 1970 founded the Organizational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to ensure safe working conditions for the employees working in the United States (Ko, 2010). In light of this, this paper, therefore, focuses on the policies of three major safety and health issues in a particular firm with respect to the five domains of OSHA.
One of the health and safety issues in a firm is chemical and gas exposure. It is the responsibility of every firm to protect its employees from exposure to harmful chemicals or gases failure to which the employees have a right to inform OSHA to demand the rights on their behalf. The first domain of OSHA is setting standards. The body achieves this domain by issuing the firm with a guideline showing how the employees should handle the harmful chemicals. Secondly, OSHA responds to appeals from workers whereby the workers can call OSHA directly or file a complaint on a health issue. The third domain of OSHA with regard to chemical exposure is providing data on the dangerous chemicals and their effects on the employees. It also issues hazard alerts to the employees to help them keep off from dangerous gases or chemicals. Moreover, OSHA provides training to employees about dangerous chemicals and how to handle them.
Workplace accidents are the second health issue in a firm. Injuries in a firm can be controlled effectively if the management works closely with OSHA. OSHA seeks to provide minimal standards under which every employee should operate on. By considering the level of each employee, the body comes up with regulations on which level of employees is suitable to work under certain conditions. Secondly, OSHA listens to appeals made by workers and act on them. It also ensures that the firm cannot punish such employees by any means such as demoting them because it is their right to air out their grievances to the firm (Ko, 2010). The body works in unison with the firm to ensure all safety matters pertaining to accidents in the firm such as when an employee gets injured by a tool while at work are fully dealt with. The third domain of OSHA is to publish information regarding the safety of the firm. This involves the list of the mos...