WHAT IS WORK ENVIRONMENT

Work environment means the milieus

around a person. It is the social and professional environment in which a person is supposed to interact with a number of people.

It is not important that an office would always be called your work place. It can be your home environment where you use to work for all the time where you are supposed to interact with your

WORK ENVIRONMENT
A comfortable work environment should

concentrate in terms of ambience, recreational facilities, climate control, cleanliness and fixtures. The interiors have been specially designed to ensure a healthy work environment both psychologically and physiologically. The colors should be bright and attractive to create a positive impact on the employees.

WORK ENVIRONMENT
people who are happy within their

working environment will work far more effectively and happily than those who are uncomfortable. certain aspects have to be considered for the employees to work more effectively.

Noise
Noise leads to increased levels of

stress. Noise is normally caused by loud machines and so when buying any new plant or machinery remember to check the noise emission levels. The remedies are usually quite simple i.e. providing your employees with hearing protection, rotating the staff who work close to noisy machinery to decrease their exposure times, and clearly marking any 'high noise' areas

Ventilation
Fresh air is one of the most

important elements of a working environment for several reasons: respiration the removal of excess heat the dilution of various airborne impurities (dust, fumes, tobacco smoke, body odour) Adequate ventilation can be provided by simply allowing windows

Temperature
The minimum temperature for

sedentary work is 16 degrees Celsius (about 60 degrees Farenheit) work involving physical effort the minimum should be 13 degree celsius (about 55 degrees Farenheit). Where extreme temperatures apply i.e. work involving furnaces or freezing compartments, employees should be provided with the correct clothing and extra work pauses to allow recovery.

Lighting
The various reasons why lighting is

important in the workplace are: to illuminate potential hazards to prevent eye strain There are various other considerations such as, there should be no glare, and there should be no sudden contrast in levels of lighting. All light fittings should be kept clean and ideally the ceiling should be light coloured to reflect the light.

Stress
Stress is becoming a more and more

important issue in the world of work it can be caused by many factors the nature of work the pace of working payment systems repetition and monotony shift work the behavior of other employees Although different employees will react differently to different situations so it is difficult to prevent stress occurring.

SAFETY AND HEALTH

SAFETY
Safety in simple terms means

freedom from the occurrence or risk of injury or loss. Protection of a persons physical health Industrial safety or employee safety refers to the protection of workers from the danger of industrial accidents.

NEED FOR SAFETY

HEALTH AND

Promote and maintain the highest

degree of physical, social and mental well being of workers. Improve productivity and quality of work. Reduce accidents, injuries, absenteeism and labor turnover. Protect workers against any health hazards arising out of work or conditions in which it is carried on.

HEALTH AND SAFETY RESPONSIBILITY

HR UNIT Co-ordinates health and safety programs Develops safety reporting system Offers accident investigation expertise Provides technical expertise on accident prevention Trains managers to recognize and handle difficult employee situation MANAGER Monitors heath and safety of employees daily Train employee to be safety conscious Investigates accidents Observe health and safety behavior of employees Follow safety provisions and security procedures and recommend changes as needed

TYPES OF ACCIDENT

NEED FOR SAFETY

COST SAVING INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY MORAL & LEGAL GROUNDS

COST SAVING
Two types of cost are incurred by the

management when an accident occurs *Direct cost(compensation payable if the accident is fatal). *Medical expenses for treating the patient if the accident is non-fatal. Indirect cost are three to four times higher than the Direct cost.

INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY
Safety plants are efficient plants. Safety promotes productivity. Employees in safe plants can devote

more time on improving the quality and quantity of their output and spend less time worrying about their safety and well being.

MORAL
Safety is important on humane

grounds too. Managers must undertake accident prevention measures. An employee is both a Worker in the factory and Bread winner for his family. Monetary compensations are given to employees who meet accidents but

IS MONETARY COMPENSATION A SUBSTITUTE FOR THE PERSON?????

LEGAL
There are laws covering occupational

health and safety. Penalties for non-compliance have become quite severe. Responsibility extends to the safety and health of the surrounding community too.

SAFETY PROGRAMME
Safety program deals with the prevention of accidents and with minimizing the resulting loss and damage to person and property. Five basic principles must govern the safety program of an organization, they are

FIVE PRINCIPLES
Industrial accidents result from a

multiplicity of factors, but these have to be to their root cause, which are usually faults in the management system like
Poor leadership from the top Inadequate supervision Insufficient attention to the design of safety into the system and Poor training facilities

FIVE PRINCIPLES
The most important function is to

identify potential hazard, provide effective safety facilities and equipment and to take prompt remedial action. This is possible only
Effective system for reporting all accidents causing damage or injury Adequate accident records and statistics Systematic procedures for carrying out safety checks,inspections and investigations Methods of ensuring that safety equipments is maintained and used

FIVE PRINCIPLES
The safety policies of the

organisation by the top management and it must be continuously involved in monitoring safety performance. The management and the supervision must be made fully accountable for safety performance in the working areas they control.

FIVE PRINCIPLES
All employees should be given

thorough training in safe methods of work and they should receive continuing education and guidance on eliminating safety hazards and prevention of accidents.

SAFETY PROGRAM PROCESS

STRATEGIC CHOICES
The first step in a safety program is

for management to make decisions regarding safety of their workers. Many of the decisions are based on strategic choices available to the organizations, some of the strategic choices are
Level of protection the organization will provide for employees. Some organizations for financial reasons prefer minimum level of protection ,while others choose maximum.

 Managers can decide whether a safety program will be formal or informal. Formal program will have written regulation,informal regulations are enforced through peer pressure. Managers can also be proactive or reactive in developing procedures. Proactive managers will improve the safety measures prior to the need & reactive managers fix safety problems after they occur. Managers can decide to use the safety of workers as a marketing tool for the organisation.

SAFETY POLICY
The second step in a safety program is

to have a safety policy. Policy specifies the companies goals and designates the responsibilities and authority for their achievement. Safety policy must contain a declaration of the organization, the four fundamental points that a policy should contain

 The safety of employees and the public is of paramount importance Safety will take precedence over expedience. Every effort will be made to involve all managers, supervisors, and employees in the development and implementation of safety procedures. Safety legislation will be compiled according to the law.

ORGANISATION FOR SAFETY

The third step in a safety program. Companies constitute safety

committees which are composed of employees from across the organization. The committee take the responsibility of reviewing safety procedures making recommendations for eliminating health hazards, investigating

 Many companies employ safety

specialist to design and handle the day to day activities of the safety program. Responsibility of employee safety devolves on the HR department.

PROGRAM EVALUATION
The sixth step in safety program. Several methods exist for gauging

the effectiveness of safety program, broadly they can be classified as

Systematic organic

ORGANIC MEASURE
Three techniques are used to

measure organic safety effectiveness

Safety inspection Safety audit comparison

 Safety inspection Inspectors are given

specifics to follow. After inspection a report of the finding is made to the management. Safety audit It is an in-depth analysis of facilities, management & employee attitude towards safety, managerial effectiveness in maintaining safety. overall performance in controlling the operations safety is the audits quest, rather than simply determining existing safety oversights.

 Comparison The purpose here is to

compare the experience of a plant or industry with that of another which is comparible.