Increasing Productivity And Profit Through Health And Safety

In all workplaces the health and safety of employees is closely linked with the company's profitability. Human resource strategies for improving the health and safety of people in the workplace do not necessarily cost money - in fact they usually save money. A practical book based on the authors' combined consultancy experience, Increasing

Workplace accidents and errors cost organizations hundreds of billions of dollars each year, and the injured workers and their families endure considerable financial and emotional suffering. It's obvious that increasing employee health and safety pays. The accumulating evidence shows that investing in occupational health and safety results in improved financial and social responsibility performance. There are extensive country differences and wide occupational differences in the incidence of accidents and errors. The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that every year there are 2.2 million fatal and 270 million non-fatal accidents or occupational diseases worldwide. Occupational Health and Safety looks at the research into what causes accidents and errors in the workplace. In line with other titles in the series, Occupational Health and Safety emphasizes the psychological and behavioral aspects of risk in organizations. It highlights how organizations differ in their health and safety performance, with case studies throughout and best practices. Key elements focus on: employee selection and training, fostering employee understanding, participation and engagement in health and safety matters, developing a health and safety culture at organizational and group/work unit levels, communicating and reinforcing safe workplace practices and bench-marking one's organization against the industry leaders. The contributors to this volume come from various countries, reflecting unique interest and knowledge in particular areas.

Work related musculoskeletal disorders (WRMSDs) are the leading cause of worker impairment, disability, compensation costs and loss of productivity in industrialized countries. The aging of the workforce and the increased diffusion of physically demanding jobs contribute to the widespread concern about musculoskeletal disorders. The effective prevention of work related musculoskeletal disorders needs a multidisciplinary approach, drawing together experience from backgrounds in engineering, mechanics, physiology, occupational medicine and psychology; all considered in the context of ergonomics. This book is a collection of lectures on both back and upper limb musculoskeletal disorders presented at an International Course sponsored by the Nordic Institute for Advanced Training in Occupational Health (NIVA), and the University of Bologna in September 1999. The lectures were given by renowned international researchers on the subject and therefore the book provides a comprehensive overview of all critical issues related to musculoskeletal disorders at work. The book forms an update to the latest research in the field and will interest a wide range of professionals and researchers in ergonomics as well as in the fields from which the material is drawn. The book covers the main topics addressed in dealing with occupational ergonomics including: " occupational biomechanics * physiology * epidemiology * psychosocial issues * medical diagnosis and management * ergonomic solutions

Undertaking economic evaluations of occupational health and safety interventions can be difficult for a number of reasons. This is reflected by the significant lack of evidence on their cost-effectiveness. Particular challenges include: complex labour legislation, differences in the perception of health risks associated with work experiences amongst workplace parties and policy makers, costs and consequences being borne by different stakeholders in the system, conflicting incentives and priorities between the multiple stakeholders, lack of consensus about what ought to count as a benefit or cost of intervening or not intervening, multiple providers of indemnity and medical care coverage, and industry-specific human resources practices that make it difficult to identify all work-related illnesses and injuries. Advancement of the application of economic evaluation methods in this literature is further hindered by the fact that most methods books are designed for use in a clinical setting and cannot be easily applied to the workplaces. In the face of such barriers, it is not surprising that few studies of occupational health and safety interventions contain an economic evaluation. This book aims to lay the foundations for a systematic methodology of economic evaluation of workplace interventions, by identifying the main barriers to research of high quality and practical relevance, and proposing a research strategy to overcome them. Context chapters provide a wealth of background material ranging from a presentation of the broad conceptualization of work and health, to suggestions for strategies in confronting the dearth of data often experienced by occupational health and safety researchers. The institutional and regulatory approaches in different international jurisdictions are covered in one of the context chapters. Specific topic chapters delve into the principles and application of economic evaluation methods relevant to workplaces and system level interventions. Study design, type of analysis, costs, consequences, uncertainty, and equity are all covered, providing guidance on meeting many analytical and decision-making challenges. The final chapter synthesizes the summaries, conclusions, challenges and recommendations from across the book, presenting the synthesis as a reference case.

Adopting a strategic approach to risk management can maximize competitiveness and profitability. Total Safety and Productivity approaches offer managers a set of methods and tools to apply a Total Safety Management (TSM) philosophy to achieve this. The capability to anticipate, assess and plan for risks associated with future operations is a critical success factor, for enterprises of all types and sizes. The ability to risk assess actual operations with an easy to apply, resilient methodology can offer significant benefits in terms of the capacity to improve safety and performance. This book describes approaches that can be used alone or jointly to improve safety management in any organization. The methods are based on academic best practice and have been developed by leading experts, but are presented here in a practical way for application in industry by non-experts. The book outlines a professional approach to risk and safety management, which requires goal setting, planning and the measurement of performance, and encourages a safety management system that is woven holistically into the fabric of an organization so that it becomes part of the culture, the way people do their jobs, and helps ensure that issues are correctly prioritized and managed as they emerge. This book is essential reading for professionals, at both expert and non-expert level, who are interested in applying the TSM philosophy within their organization.

Increasing Occupational Health and Safety in Workplaces argues for greater reporting of workplace accidents and injuries. It also incorporates stress as a factor in rates of accidents and injuries, and suggests ways in which workplace safety cultures can be fostered and improved. This book will be an invaluable tool for students of management, especially those with an interest in small businesses. p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 10.0px Arial}

The 5th edition of this market-leading text continues to take a humanist approach, (work should satisfy human needs equally with organisational goals), and goes beyond the risk-management model of physical safety to take into account the larger perspective of human health needs, including psychological and social needs. Our author team which includes industry experts, academics and trainers provides insight into the most recent legislation. Covers core and elective units of competency from the current qualifications: ' BSB41412 Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety and ' BSB51312 Diploma of Work Health and Safety