14 – Workplace Safety and Health

Introduction

“Someone dies as a result of an industrial accident every twenty seconds of every working minute of every hour around the world.”

Managers are concerned about workplace safety and accident prevention, partly because of the rising frequency of workplace deaths and accidents. Managers who fail to ensure a safe working environment may face significant fines and, perhaps, criminal charges. Managers must, therefore, guarantee a work environment that safeguards employees from physical hazards, unhealthy circumstances, and harmful behaviours by other employees in their self-interest. Supervisors are crucial in ensuring the safety of workers. Workers must acquire a sense of safety by following the regulations. Law enforcement authorities must take all necessary means to bring violators to justice and inflict heavy fines to force a dramatic shift in the mindset of managers who disregard safety concerns.

14.1 Workplace Safety and Health

Organizations are required to offer a safe and healthy working environment for their employees. “health” refers to a condition of complete physical, mental, and emotional well-being. The term “safety” refers to the safeguarding of a person’s physical well-being. The primary goal of health and safety rules is to ensure that individuals and the workplace interact safely. Poor working conditions hurt employee performance. It may be difficult for employees to focus on their tasks. Working longer hours would be too taxing for them. Their health could be jeopardised. Accidents and injuries may occur in large numbers, resulting in a significant financial loss for the organisation. The percentages of absence and turnover may increase. It may be difficult to acquire and keep skilled labour for a company with a bad safety record. The overall quality of the work could deteriorate as a result. Because of safety violations, poor equipment design, or outright negligence, many deaths, injuries, and illnesses occur.

The majority of experts think that avoidable equipment design flaws were to blame for the Union Carbide tragedy in Bhopal in 1984, which claimed over 4,000 lives. According to figures from the Union Labour Ministry, Maharashtra and Gujarat have the most dangerous workplaces, with over 25,000 and 13,000 accidents, respectively. Jute mills, lead battery manufacturers, chemical units, textile mills, match and fireworks sector, particularly in Sivakasi, the automotive industry, sugar crushing units, mining, heavy construction, wheat mills, and other industries are among the worst offenders.

14.2 Workplace Measures to Promote Employee Health

In an industrial setting, the employee’s well-being (both physical and mental).”

• Physical Fitness
• Mental Illness

Workplace health promotion can be broadly described as avoiding disease or premature death by implementing behavioural and organisational changes. Prevention, rather than treatment or cure, is the goal of health promotion. As a result, the company’s health programme is centred on reducing and preventing preventable risk factors like smoking, obesity, high cholesterol, stress, hypertension, and a lack of physical fitness, which are responsible for the majority of major diseases. Promoting health awareness is a difficult task. It necessitates ongoing education, a coordinated campaign, and true top-level backing. Before creating the programme, the corporation must assess the demands and resources of both the people and the organisation. Setting goals, devising a plan, allocating resources, implementing the plan, and evaluating the plan are the five steps of the planning process. The main health promotion activities could include things like:

1. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle
2. Eating sensibly
3. Physical fitness and exercise
4. Quitting smoking
5. Stress management
6. Self-protection from working dangers.

The initial effort and expenditure necessary to implement such health promotion programmes may be substantial. Still, the long-term benefits are significant: improved employee health leads to better work attitudes, higher morale, job satisfaction, lower absenteeism, and lower turnover.

14.3 Workplace Safety for Employees

Effective safety programmes an organization’s primary goal is to prevent work-related injuries and accidents. A well-run factory will ensure that no physical dangers exist, such as (i) slipping and falling hazards, (ii) collision and obstruction hazards, (iii) equipment hazards, (iv) fire hazards, and (v) hazards from chemicals.

1. Hazards of Slipping, Tripping, or Falling on the Floor: When people slip, they fall. Highly polished surfaces, water, soap, oil accumulation on the floor, and broken or loose floor coverings contribute to a slick surface.
2. Obstruction and collision hazards: When factory layout and space management are poor, furniture and equipment are improperly placed, resulting in employee collisions with equipment and machinery, tables, chairs, and other items. Furthermore, overpopulation and a limited area for movement cause employees to collide by mistake.
3. Equipment hazards: Unsecured moving parts, wiring, switches, cards, metal equipment edges, and other items frequently cause injuries to employees working in these environments. Waste paper baskets, lobbies, plumbing fixtures, and tiny snail carts are additional annoyances for employees. All of these should be avoided.
4. Falling Object Hazards: When filing cabinets, lockers, and shelves are not correctly situated, they might fall on employees and cause injuries. Additionally, when stored items, such as paper stands, are placed on work tables, they may fall on personnel.
5. Fire Risks: Where there is a lot of documentation, and no precautions are taken, the chances of an accident are very high. The lack of suitable smoking disposal facilities, safety cans for combustible items, and fire escapes and exits are all factors that contribute to fire mishaps.

14.4 Occupational Health and Safety

The Factories Act of 1948 in India established certain rules for working conditions to ensure a safe working environment. These rules include cleanliness, waste and effluent disposal, ventilation and temperature, dust and fumes, artificial humidification, overcrowding, lighting, drinking water, latrines, urinals, and spittoons.

Compensation for Workers: The Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923 was enacted to cover the possibility of a worker’s incapacity or death due to an employment injury or occupational disease mentioned in the Act and caused solely by the employer. The Act covers employees who make less than $500 per month. The employee’s dependents are entitled to compensation in the event of the employee’s death.

Organizations now provide numerous medical services, such as hospital, clinical, and dispensary facilities, to employees and their family members.

The Employees State Insurance Act of 1948 applies to all enterprises and institutions that use electricity and employ 20 or more people. Employees who work in these businesses and earn less than $1,000 monthly are eligible for benefits under the Act. The following are some of the benefits provided by this Act:

1. Sickness Benefit: Under this reward, insured employees are eligible for a cash benefit for up to 56 days per year.
2. Maternity Reward: Insured female employees are entitled to 12 weeks of maternity leave (six weeks before delivery and six weeks following delivery) and a monetary benefit of 75 paise per day or twice the amount of sickness benefit, whichever is higher.
3. Disablement Payment: Under this heading, insured personnel who are temporarily or permanently (partial or total) disabled as a result of work-related injuries or diseases are eligible for a monetary benefit.
4. Dependant’s Benefit: If an insured person dies due to an employment accident, his dependents, who are entitled to compensation under the Act, are entitled to periodic payments known as the dependant’s benefit.
5. Medical Benefit: If the benefit is extended to his family, this benefit will be granted to the insured employee or a family member. This benefit is delivered in one of three ways: (a) outpatient treatment or attendance at a hospital, dispensary, clinic, or other institution; (b) visits to the insured person’s home; or (c) inpatient treatment at a hospital or other institution.

14.4.1 Safety in the Workplace

Industrial health is critical to:

1. Promote and maintain the highest level of physical, social, and mental well-being among employees.
2. Increase work productivity and quality.
3. Lower the number of accidents, injuries, absenteeism, and employee turnover.
4. Protect workers from any health risks that may arise from their work or the conditions in which they work.

Health-Related Legal Provisions

The Factories Act of 1948 (Sections 11 to 20) emphasises the following preventive measures:

1. Cleanliness (11): Every factory must be kept clean and effluvia-free. Dirt must be eliminated daily. To prevent dirt collection, benches, stairwells, hallways, and the workroom floor must be cleaned daily. Disinfecting fluid should be used to clean the workroom flooring at least once a week. Walls, partitions, ceilings, doors, windows, and other surfaces should be painted or varnished regularly.
2. Wastes (12): Waste and effluents must be disposed of and treated efficiently.
3. Ventilation and Temperature (13): Natural ventilation is required in every factory workroom to allow fresh air movement. The temperature in the room should be kept at a comfortable level for the personnel. The walls and roofs should be made of such materials and designed to keep the temperature low. Whitewashing, spraying, and insulating the factory premises by screening outside walls, windows, and roofs can help to keep the temperature down.
4. Dust and Fumes (14): Effective measures must be taken to prevent or reduce dust and fume inhalation and accumulation. Exhaust equipment should be used close to the source of dust and fumes.
5. Artificial Humidification (15): State government standards shall be implemented in cotton textile and cigarette manufacturing enterprises that use artificial humidification. The water used for artificial humidification must be adequately filtered.
6. Overcrowding (16): There should be no overcrowding in the factory. Every worker should have at least 14.2 cubic metres of space.
7. Lighting (17): The factory must have adequate and appropriate lighting. Both natural and artificially glazed windows and skylights used to illuminate the workroom must be kept clean. Provisions should be in place to prevent glare and the creation of shadows in the work area.
8. Safe Drinking Water (18): The factory shall offer safe drinking water at appropriate locations. All such points are prominently labelled ‘drinking water’ in a language most workers understand. Every such location should be at least 6 metres away from urinals, lavatories, spittoons, open drains, and other such items. When a factory employs more than 250 people, special procedures must ensure that cool drinking water is available during the hot summer.
9. Latrines and Urinals (19): The toilets and urinals are (a) kept separate for male and female workers, (b) have enough enclosed space, (c) are conveniently located and accessible to all workers, (d) are adequately lit and ventilated, (e) are kept clean at all times, and (f) are adequately maintained by using sweepers.
10. Spittoons (20): A sufficient number of spittoons should be provided in convenient locations throughout each factory and kept clean and sanitary.

14.4.2 Effective Safety Management in the Workplace

Effective safety management considers the types of safety issues, incidents, personnel, and technology in the workplace. The involvement of humans in safety-related issues should be investigated as well. If we try to develop machines without considering employee behaviour, our efforts to improve safety will fail. The following measures are included in a comprehensive approach to safety:

1. Safety Policy: Every factory must develop and implement a safety policy. The goal of such a strategy should be to eliminate or reduce occupational accidents and injuries.
2. Top Management Support: Top management must strongly support the safety policy. 12. Top management should be committed to safety. They are actively involved in safety activities regularly, and safety matters are given top priority in business meetings and production scheduling. The company safety officer is given a high rank and status, and safety training is included in new worker training.
3. Safety Committee: To encourage employee safety awareness, safety committees could be formed under the chairmanship of a safety officer. Workers and supervisors from diverse departments and levels should be represented on the committee, which must meet regularly to assess safety procedures and make recommendations for changes that may help prevent future incidents.
4. Safety Discipline Motivation: Safety regulations must be rigorously followed. Violations should not be permitted under any circumstances. Workers’ safety has been proven to be greatly improved by frequent reinforcement of the requirement for safe behaviour and feedback on good safety practices. Employees who have an excellent safety record could be given incentives and certificates. Safety contests with incentives for safe work behaviour could be established to encourage employee participation and motivation.
5. Safety Engineering: Proper engineering practices could reduce workplace accidents. To avoid accidents, machinery is fenced, an appropriate distance between machines, parts, and equipment is provided, material handling equipment is used, safety measures are installed, and machine maintenance is performed, among other things.
6. Communication and Safety Training: Safety training can also help to reduce accidents. It’s beneficial for recruits. They could be given training on safe practices, procedures, material handling, first aid, and fire prevention, among other things. Posters, newsletters, exhibits, slogans, and signage could all be utilised to raise employee safety awareness. Safety films and videotapes are another approach to communicating safety concepts.
7. Accident Research and Investigation: When an accident occurs, it should be thoroughly investigated as soon as possible to determine the exact cause (lousy lighting, insufficient ventilation, damp floor, etc.). Such an early investigation is required to confirm that the circumstances around the accident have not altered considerably. Photographs and videotapes could be employed to get a clearer glimpse of the actual scene. The wounded employee or manager should be interviewed next to determine what happened.
8. Safety Effort Evaluation: Organizations should regularly undertake safety audits to monitor and evaluate their safety efforts. Statistics on accidents and injuries should be compared to historical accident patterns regularly to detect any significant changes. This analysis should be used to track how far safety management has progressed.
9. Governmental Assistance: In 1966, the Government of India established the National Safety Council to support safety-related programmes. This council’s main responsibility is to raise safety awareness and implement safety programmes at the plant level. National Safety Day is commemorated every year on the anniversary of the council’s founding. Industrial units get national safety awards for maintaining accident-free workplaces.

Legal Requirements for Safety (Sec. 24 to 40)

The following safety provisions are highlighted in the Factories Act of 1948:

1. Machinery Fencing (21): All harmful parts of machines must be securely fenced in every factory.
2. Work on or near Moving Machinery (22): Specially trained workers in tight clothing should be assigned to inspect and lubricate moving machines. Without sufficient protection, such a worker should not be allowed to handle the belts of moving equipment, and women and small children should not be allowed to use such unsafe machinery.
3. Employment of Young People (23): No young person should be allowed to operate dangerous devices unless adequately informed of the risks and safeguards that must be taken. He should be given adequate training ahead of time and allowed to use such machinery under the supervision of an experienced supervisor.
4. Striking gear and power-cutting devices (24): Suitable striking gear must be utilised to move drive belts in every factory. It is necessary to take precautions to prevent the belt from crawling back onto the fast pulleys. Driving belts must not be permitted to rest or ride on a rotating shaft when not in use. Every room must have adequate mechanisms for shutting down the electricity in an emergency. When a factory provides a device that can accidentally shift from the “off” to “on” position to cut off the power, precautions must be made to lock it in a secure position to prevent the transmission equipment or any other machines to which the device is installed from being accidentally started.
5. Self-Acting Machines (25): If a person is likely to pass through the space over which it operates, no traversing part of a self-acting machine in any factory, and no material carried thereon, shall be allowed to run on its outward or inward traverse within an 18-inch distance from any fixed structure that is not a part of the machine.
6. New Machinery Casing (26): All power-driven machinery erected after 1-4-1949 must be encased or otherwise well-secured to eliminate danger to industrial workers.
7. Employment of Women and Children Near Cotton Openers (27): When a cotton opener operates, no woman or kid should be engaged in any portion of the factory to press cotton. Women and children may be employed in the section of the room where the cotton opener’s feed-end is stored if it is isolated from the delivery end by a partition reaching the roof or to such height as the factory inspector may indicate in writing.
8. Hoists and Lifts (28): Hoists and lifts in every factory must have a good mechanical structure, sound material, and sufficient strength, and enclosures with gates must appropriately cover them. It must be thoroughly examined by a professional expert every six months. Every hoist or lift must display the maximum safe working load. Carrying a higher load on that hoist or lift is not permitted.
9. Lifting Machines, Chains, and Ropes (29): Every factory’s lifting machines, tackles, chains, and ropes should be of good construction, sound material, and capable of carrying the required loads.
10. Revolving Machinery (30): A sign indicating the machine’s maximum working speed must be posted near every area where grinding work is done. Every revolving vessel, pulley, basket, flywheel, and disc must have a safe working peripheral speed, and steps must be taken to ensure that the safe working speed is not exceeded.
11. Pressure Plant (31): If factory operations are performed at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure, suitable precautions must be taken to ensure that the safe working pressure is not exceeded.
12. Floors, Stairs, and Means of Access (32): All doors, steps, stairs, tunnels, and gangways must be soundly constructed and in good repair, free of impediments that could cause people to slip. Handrails must be provided where necessary. Safe access to the workplace should be provided and maintained as much as practicable.
13. Pits, Sumps, and Floor Openings (33): Every pit, tank, sump, fixed vessel, opening in the ground, or floor that poses a threat must be properly covered or securely fenced.
14. Heavy Lifting, Carrying, or Moving Loads (34): No person must be employed in any factory to lift, carry, or move any load that is so heavy that it may cause him injury.
15. Eye Protection (35): Workers should be provided with effective screens or appropriate goggles when inspecting a manufacturing process that poses a risk of eye injury. No person shall be permitted to enter any chamber, tank, vat, pit, or other confined place where any gas, fume, vapour, or dust is likely to be in a harmful amount. A person can only access such a location if it has a large enough manhole or other efficient means of egress. Only when appropriate precautions have been taken to remove harmful gases may a person be allowed to enter such a facility. Breathing apparatus, reviving apparatus, straps, and ropes should all be kept on hand in an emergency. A sufficient number of people in the factory must be taught the usage of all such equipment and the process for resuming breathing.
16. Precautions for Portable Electrical Light (36A): No portable electric light or other electric device with more than 25 volts may be used inside any chamber, tank, vat, pit, flue, or other confined space. No lamp or light other than a flame-proof lamp or light shall be permitted to be used inside the factory if any flammable gas, fume, or dust is anticipated to be present in such chamber, tank, vat, pipe flue, or any other confined place.
17. If any dust, gas, fume, or vapour is likely to burst on ignition during the manufacturing process, precautionary measures should be taken to: I enclose any plant or machinery utilised in the process; and (ii) remove or prevent the accumulation of such dust, gas, fume, or vapour. (iii) contain all potential ignition sources. Steps should also be taken to limit the explosion’s spread and impact. When such explosive things must be opened, the gas or vapour flow must be halted using a stop valve, the atmospheric pressure must be reduced using all practical means, and the loosened or removed parts must be appropriately placed. If necessary, weld or solder vessels containing explosive materials only after eliminating fumes, vapour, and other contaminants.
18. Fire Precautions (38): All reasonable precautions should be taken to prevent a fire from spreading inside the factory. Safe escape routes should be available in the event of a fire. The exit routes should be labelled in a language that is easy to understand. In the event of a fire, audible warning signals should be provided. Fire extinguishing equipment should also be provided. Workers should be familiar with fire escape routes and have received proper training in the method to be followed in the event of a fire. The chief safety inspector may prescribe other measures to guarantee worker safety. The Inspector may issue a directive to a factory manager requiring him to provide information about defective items, conduct safety drills, and report back to him on the findings (39).
19. Building and Machinery Safety (40): When a building or piece of machinery poses a risk to employees, it must not be used until it has been appropriately repaired or rectified. During this time, the Inspector may ban the use of a building or machine. He may, in writing, request that the owner make specific repairs before a certain date (40 A).
20. Officers of Safety (40 B): Every factory employing 1000 workers must have a safety officer. He should (i) develop and implement a safety policy, (ii) study the causes of injuries and the situations that contribute to accidents, (iii) organise safety education, training, and publicity at various levels, and (iv) operate as a technician, planner, organiser, and stimulator of safety.