Workplace safety

Workplace safety is a process that seeks to eliminate or reduce risks

of injury or illness to employees. The chief aim of workplace safety is
to protect an organization's most valuable asset—its people.
Workplace safety is achieved through a variety of methods, including
policies, procedures and specific hazard control techniques.

Policies and procedures are devised and integrated into the

organization's overall management and administrative processes. They
usually involve specific job task procedures established for working
with or around equipment, hazardous environments or other forms of
high-hazard conditions. Safety procedures and policies include
accountability requirements to ensure that prescribed practices are
followed.

Safety professionals apply a well-recognized hierarchy of measures to

eliminate or control specific workplace hazards. The measures are
applied as part of an orderly decision-making process, as follows:

Substitution. Can the existing process, material or equipment be

replaced with a less hazardous process, material or equipment?
Isolation. Can barriers or limits be placed between people and the
hazard? This could be physical barriers, time separation or distance.
Ventilation. Can the potential hazardous airborne substances be
ventilated through dilution or capture?
Administrative controls. Can the hazards be effectively mitigated
through specialized operating practices? Examples include restricting
access to certain high-hazard areas to authorized personnel only,
adjusting work schedules or adopting preventive maintenance
programs to address potential equipment breakdown.
Personal protective equipment. If the preceding methods are not
sufficient or feasible, can personal protective equipment be provided
(e.g., safety glasses, gloves, hard hats, hearing protection, safety
footwear, respirators)?

Workplace security
The chief aim of workplace security is to protect employees from
internal and external security risks. Workplace security has gained
much attention in the last several years due to an increase in
workplace violence, the necessity of background investigations of
prospective and current employees, Internet- and technology-based
security needs, threats of terrorism, and increased legal liability to
organizations for not taking reasonable measures to safeguard the
workplace due to security threats.

Workplace security risks vary depending on an organization's

business, its location and its hours of operation. A fundamental
element of any workplace security initiative is a security risk
assessment. Risks need to be properly identified to establish
appropriate methods, either procedural or physical barriers and
systems.

The scope of workplace security has continued to expand. Depending

on the nature of the business and related security risks, organizations
may need to address the following:

Establishing a formal security function.

Establishing computer, e-mail, and Internet policies and procedures.
Including non-compete agreements and other types of clauses in
employment contracts for the protection of proprietary information
and intellectual property.
Developing crisis management and contingency plans.
Establishing theft and fraud prevention procedures.
Developing workplace violence prevention procedures.
Installing premises security systems.
Developing restricted-access policies and key-control procedures.

Facets of Safety and Security

Safety and Security has a number of facets common to all areas of HR

practice but applied in specific ways in the context of the functional
area. These facets are listed below:

Careers in safety and security.

Communication in safety and security.
Effective practices in safety and security.
Global safety and security.
Legal and regulatory issues in safety and security.
Safety and security metrics.
Outsourcing in safety and security.
Technology in safety and security.
Careers
The human resource professional is becoming increasingly responsible
for workplace safety and security matters such as safety program
development, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
compliance, policies and procedures for protecting trade secrets, the
risk of violence in the workplace and general workplace access. HR
professionals should at least understand basic information, concepts
and techniques involved in workplace safety and security.

Workplace safety professionals and workplace security professionals

may have similar or distinct roles and responsibilities in the
workplace.

Communication
The overall effectiveness of workplace safety and security measures
will depend on an organization's ability to effectively communicate
safety and security goals and objectives, as well as the applicable
policies, practices and processes.

A strategy needs to be devised and implemented in a manner that

supports the goals and objectives. Steps would include:

First, identify the most important communications involving workplace

safety and security issues, and establish a baseline for later
comparison.
Next, establish goals and objectives to enable implementation and
monitoring of carefully targeted measures.
Finally, follow-up is critical. Outcome data must be obtained to
determine if the communication plan has worked and if it continues to
have a positive impact.

An effective safety and security communication strategy also

identifies the intended audience, the tools to be used, a timeline and a
budget. Tools may include the following: internal memos, internal e-
mails, intranet postings, webinars, virtual meetings or training, review
of new safety and security policies in department meetings or training.

Here are a few basic questions that should be addressed in a safety

and security communication plan for a targeted audience:
How do these policies and procedures affect my safety and security in
the workplace?
What are my employer's expectations for my involvement in safety and
security programs?
What are my job requirements as they relate to safety and security?
What regulations apply to my job?

Effective practices
Workplace safety and security is effective only when programs,
policies and procedures achieve their stated objectives—to prevent
harm to people, property and the environment. Best practices vary
depending on the scope of the specific safety and security measures.

Building a world-class safety and security program takes time,

dedication and commitment. Safety and security programs have many
effective practices in common. Organizations should have a written
safety and security program that addresses operation-specific hazards
and security threats. Management must be visibly supportive and
involved, and employees must actively provide feedback and
contribute toward policy formation and implementation. Operation-
specific hazard mitigation and control measures must be customized
for the work site.

Premises security measures, key control, workplace violence

prevention, weapons policies and data security measures will vary
from organization to organization. OSHA regulations and specific
safety policy requirements differ depending on the applicability of
certain standards (e.g., hazard communication, machine safeguarding,
control of hazardous energy, personal protective equipment).

Effective programs are characterized by:

A supportive organizational culture with strong top-management

support. Without strong support from the top, the safety and security
program will have limited effectiveness.
Goals and objectives linked to the organization's strategic plan.
Measurement systems (scorecards and other metrics) that tie program
successes to business performance measures.
Clearly assigned responsibility and accountability for safety and
security.
Vertical integration of all procedures from the front line to the top
executives.
Effective training, education and development processes to ensure
transfer of new knowledge, skills and abilities to the workplace.
Hazard mitigation and control, as well as security risk identification,
elimination and control methods throughout the organization. These
methods are based on sound technical analysis, with interventions
structured to properly control or eliminate risks and hazards on a site-
specific basis.
Integration of global threats and safety exposures into safety and
security measures.
Built-in compliance.
Constant monitoring for improvement, regardless of past success.
The expectation that safety and security are a way of life, not just an
add-on or something done simply for the sake of compliance.

Safety practices

Safety programs are considered "effective" if, for example, proactive

measures for hazard mitigation and control exist and there have been
very few, if any, employee injuries. In other organizations, "effective"
may be expressed as a 50 percent reduction in the previous year's
injury rate. For still others, the emphasis may be more on leading
indicators such as near-miss responses, safety perception survey data,
and safety and security program participation rates. See What Are
the Elements of an Effective Safety and Health Plan?

Security practices

Effective workplace security programs may be measured by virtue of

how well prevention practices are adequately executed (e.g.,
background checks completed, bag checks completed, security
incident log outcomes, number of security breaches).

Global safety and security

An organization's safety and security policies, procedures and
practices may need to be developed, revised and implemented as a
consequence of its presence in a foreign country. Understanding and
following a host country's relevant laws and regulations and
establishing the organization's own safety and security measures are
essential.
Compliance with the U.S. safety regulations will not be adequate or
even appropriate when operating in other countries, which have their
own labor and safety regulations. OSHA itself has recognized the need
for global consistency in, for example, chemical labeling and
classification and has adopted the United Nations Globally
Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals.

Understanding various global risks is necessary to formulate

appropriate safety and security policies. Threats of terrorism against
certain country nationals in particular countries are a fact of life in
doing business globally, for example. Accordingly, safety and security
measures may include policies regarding travel during
national/international unrest, as well as special compensation
arrangements, such as hazard pay.

Geographic, cultural and technological factors also pose challenges in

developing safety and security plans that integrate a variety of
jurisdictional imperatives and cultural norms.

Legal and regulatory issues

Workplace safety and security is affected by a diverse body of legal
and regulatory requirements.

Safety

Legislation affecting safety in the workplace includes

the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970. This key legislation
ushered in a significant body of regulations designed to protect the
health and safety of every American worker and placed the primary
responsibility for health and safety on the employer. Key OSHA
standards include the following:

Bloodborne Pathogens and Needlestick Prevention

Hazard Communication

Occupational Noise Exposure

Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act

For comprehensive coverage of OSHA law and regulations, see the

U.S. Department of Labor's Employment Law Guide: Occupational
Safety and Health.
Other laws and regulations affecting safety include the following:

Title VIII of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (Whistle-blower

protections)

Titles I and V of the Americans with Disabilities Act

Cardiac Arrest Survival Act of 2000

Security

In addition to the OSH Act and Sarbanes-Oxley Act, workplace security

raises a wide variety of legal issues involving constitutional and
common law protections as well as federal and state statutes. Laws
implicating workplace monitoring, surveillance and searches include,
for example:

Individual privacy rights.

Fair Credit Reporting Act.

National Labor Relations Act.

Federal and state wire-tapping laws.

Metrics
Human resource professionals must establish meaningful safety and
security metrics to determine how safety and security programs and
practices contribute to the business. Relevant metrics may include the
following:

Injury and illness rates.

Workers' compensation costs per employee.
Workers' compensation incidence rates.
Workers' compensation severity rate.
Safety and security team initiatives completion rate.
At-risk behavior reduction.
Observation of safety behavior.
Compliance trainings.
Near-miss responses.
Safety and security committee activities.
Six sigma.
Trend analysis.
Continuous improvement in the workplace safety and security function
can be achieved only when safety and security systems are measured
and connected to established goals. Metrics can demonstrate that
security risk reduction, accident prevention and associated
investments are having a positive impact on the
business. See Developing Effective Safety Management Programs.

Outsourcing
Outsourcing can be a cost-effective alternative when businesses
cannot afford or do not have the option to hire specific talent to
address workplace safety and security. Once a need is identified,
determine whether the organization's budget and culture will allow for
outsourcing. Commitment from the outsourcing firm to the
organization's goals (such as quality of service and responsiveness) is
critical to a successful relationship.

Technology
Human resource professionals use various forms of technology to
manage information that flows through the human resource and
related functions—including safety and security. Human Resource
Information Systems (HRIS) provide a means to sort employee
information so it can be readily used for record keeping, reporting and
business decision-making. A wide variety of systems with differing
levels of functionality are available.

Workplace safety and security can benefit tremendously from

technology by facilitating acquisition and analysis of injury and illness
data, injury costs per employee, training documentation and
management, performance management, electronic communications,
digital access key login information, security camera data
management, and identity theft protection, among other benefits.

Specific Practices

Certain safety and security practices particularly concern HR

professionals in almost any industry or sector.

Business continuity and recovery, and emergency response

Business continuity and recovery and emergency response are
important elements of a safety and security program. Developing,
implementing and managing these policies and procedures satisfy the
goals of mitigating harm to people, property and the environment.
These programs also establish methods to aid the organization in
returning to pre-event operational status—a critical goal in reducing
the impact to the business. See Managing Through Emergency and
Disaster.

Substance abuse prevention is an essential element of an effective

workplace safety and security program. Properly implemented
preventive programs—including drug and alcohol testing—protect the
business from liability. However, these programs require a specific
structure and implementation strategy and must be carefully planned
and executed to avoid legal landmines. Policies and procedures must
be established consistent with federal and state law. An employer will
need to determine which of the various testing procedures it will
deploy as part of the program.

Monitoring, surveillance and searches

Monitoring, surveillance and searches have always been a source of
tension between employers and employees, particularly when
employees are represented by a union. Individual privacy issues versus
the employer's interest in maintaining a safe and secure workplace
often involve intense conflict.

Monitoring, surveillance and searches are permissible provided the

employer follows applicable federal and state laws. Private employers'
random searches of an employee's personal property, such as purses,
lunch boxes, briefcases and coats, are generally permissible with
advance notice. Electronic data monitoring, surveillance and searches
typically require an employer to adopt policies limiting employees'
expectation of privacy and providing for notice.

Monitoring, surveillance and searches also serve to safeguard

sensitive information and to combat identity theft, as well as theft or
sabotage of confidential information and protected intellectual
property.

Risk management
Risk management is a broadly used term. It means different things to
different people from different industries. Fundamentally, risk
management is the process of assessing exposures to loss within an
operation and determining how best to eliminate, manage or otherwise
reduce the risk of an adverse event from having a negative impact on
the business. Risk reduction is achieved through policies and
procedures, or through contractual transfer of the risk to a third party,
typically an insurance company. Risk elimination is achieved through
avoidance.

Human resource risk management, and its effect on workplace safety

and security, means that evaluating strategic, operational, and
employee- and compliance-related risks is a comprehensive process
and involves determining how best to manage the identified risks and
their potential impact and devising strategies to control exposures.
Some of the key risk management concerns that HR professionals
typically address, in addition to the basic safety and security risks, are
those relating to identify theft and security breaches, Sarbanes-Oxley
compliance, and information technology vulnerabilities. See Top 5
Risk Management Articles for 2016.

Specific risk issues faced by HR professionals responsible for

workplace safety and security include communicable disease
prevention (including risks associated with pandemic flu),
environmental health, terrorism and violence. Each of these specific
risk issues present many challenges to HR professionals.

Concerning communicable diseases, organizations need to balance an

employee's privacy rights with the employer's responsibility to provide
a safe and healthy workplace. This is not an easy task. See Managing
Through Flu and Other Epidemics in the Workplace.

Environmental health hazards vary by organization. Common

environmental exposures include those relating to smoking, indoor air
quality and toxic substances used in the operation.

Terrorism is a global issue. In light of the increasing risk of terrorism,

HR professionals need to address travel policies and known threats
such as war and local unrest in countries where their organizations do
business. See Manage Business Travel Risks with Five Easy Steps.

Violence in the workplace has been associated with the cost of doing
business. The growing homicide rate is a real concern: Homicide is the
third most common cause of on-the-job death for men; it is the leading
cause of on-the-job death for women. An effective workplace safety
and security program must contain policies, procedures and strategies
for reducing and eliminating risks and workplace violence. From
background checks to premises security, the employer has a
tremendous responsibility and obligation to develop procedures for
preventing violence. See All Employers Need a Workplace Violence
Plan and Defuse Workplace Violence.