Question

You are the new HR Manger for a small manufacturing company of 200 employees. The new CEO is trying to save costs and really sees no value in spending additional funds for occupational health and safety. This company is only a small extension of a large corporation out of the USA. The CEO has asked you to describe how occupational health and safety is linked to other human resource functions and how the company can save costs within occupational health and safety. In one page, fully explain what you will yell him.

Answer 1

The HR plays a very important role of administrating, facilitating and Championing the process of occupational health and safety.

The following HR functions are tied to the occupational health and safety,

a) Advisory function

The occupational Health and safety Act 1993, requires that the employer to maintain a work environment that is safe and does not pose any health hazards to the workers. It is the duty of HR to inform the CEO of the regulatory requirements, to avoid any legal issues.

b) Recruitment and selection

It is the role of HR to recruit and select candidates who are healthy(mentally and physically), aware and careful while doing work. Candidates who do not fall into the above said criteria may be careless in work place and harm themselves.

c) Job analysis and design

It is the process of describing the job and specifying the human requirements like skill, qualification etc. A proper analysis of the job will aid in selecting candidates with desirable qualities. for eg dexterity and stamina are very important consideration for manufacturing jobs. candidates who fit into the requirements will have a accident free work life.

d) Training and development

Training and development(T&D) is an exercise to improve the performance of the employees. In the T&D programme employees will be made aware of the occupational and health hazards that they will be facing day in and day out.Employees will be trained to avoid hazards and be aware while working. This will lead reduced accidents in the work place and the costly litigations that might arise.

e) Labor relations

This refers to the interaction of HR and the trade unions. Trade unions take care of the grievances of the employees. The trade unions have to be convinced by HR that the work space is safe or else the unions might go on a strike and hamper work.

f) Employee welfare

Above all the most important work of a HR is to look after the employee welfare. It is the onus of the HR to make sure that workers are safe and healthy.

Cutting costs for Occupational health and safety programme is not advised.Cutting the costs can increase chances of accidents in the work place. This will increase the cost in terms worker compensation, rehabilitation and legal issues ( due to not non compliance for safety features). Productivity will also decrease because of frequent accidents and low morale among employees.

However spending more on the Occupational health and safety programme will save a lot of resource, money and time for the organization. Better trained workers are an asset and investing on their safety can be a competitive advantage.