Management Accountability for Occupational Health and Safety

 

Sunderlal Surendran

Venkateshwara Open University

 

ABSTRACT:

An organizations’ improvement in its performance may be revealed by means of its increasing efforts towards the level of output and quality enhancement. If a company has to achieve their goals then efforts from the employees in performing the tasks also have to be attained. Under such circumstances, if an employee has to put in his maximum efforts for the benefit of the organization, then his responsibility to a very large extent depends on the safety level in the workplace provided to him. On the other hand management especially in the developing economies has yet to put in place safety and security regulations in the workplace. Needless to say, this has ensued in repeated accidents plus hazards, contributing to high expenses particularly in areas like hospital bills, hospitalized workers’ salaries as well as compensations. Such organizations also face the problems of bigger labor proceeds, absenteeism, stressed management-labor associations, operational incompetence, and eventually declining performance. Therefore to fulfill workers’ security needs and encourage them, ceteris paribus, management have to preserve efficient health plus safety program and be dedicated to its accomplishment in all consequences.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

Progress is such a force that it is not stoppable and is always transformative. Product break throughs, globalization plus new technologies, are all coming one on the heels of another at a vertiginous speed. Although modernization makes us very competent, more creative and more associated. Nevertheless, there is a price, and that price is a risk. And in order to mitigate this risk management must have proper health and safety regulations in place. Leaders are appointed in organizations so that they properly carry out the health and safety requirements.  So what kind of leadership should management follow in the area of health and safety at the workplace? Let us try to answer this.

 

LEADERSHIP:

In fact, leaders are not born, but they are made. Hence it is ever more acknowledged, nonetheless, that to facilitate to be an excellent leader, an individual should be experienced, knowledgeable, devoted, patient, and most significantly the ability to discuss and effort with others to attain goals. Good leadership is evolved through an incessant progression of self-study, training, education, and the buildup of appropriate experience¹.

 

Bounding in his book ‘The Image: Knowledge in Life and Society’, defined the common trans disciplinary hypothesis of understanding and human, social, as well as organizational conduct ². He declared that the foundation of a superior leadership is a strong personality and selfless commitment to an organization³.

 

From the viewpoint of workers, leadership comprises of the whole thing a leader does that influences the attainment of goals and the safety of workers as well as the organization⁴.

Belief is time and again a very important trait of leadership as faith is basic to all modes of organized human factions, whether in international organizations, government, the military, religion, business, or education ^{5 & 6}.

Leadership calls for a kind of accountability directed at attaining specific ends by using the accessible resources both material and human and assuring an adhesive and logical organization in the course depicted leadership as a procedure whereby an individual controls a grouping of individuals to attain a common objective ^{7, 8 & 9}. Bad leadership can ensue to occupational safety as well as health risks leading to accidents at workplaces.

 

According to Naylor “Effective leadership is a product of the heart and an effective leader must be visionary, passionate, creative, flexible, inspiring, innovative, courageous, imaginative, experimental, and initiates change” ¹⁰.

 

Accountability of Management on Occupational Health and Safety:

Management is responsible for the health and safety of the workers at the workplace. Health and safety management at the workplace has conventionally centered on safety matters as these are normally easier for organizations to recognize and handle¹. Nevertheless, a healthy place of work is — a secure workplace, a truth that highlights the significance of incorporating the efforts of an organization’s health plus safety². Moreover, while work-related health and safety administration has not formerly been considered as a means for businesses to capitalize on the productivity of their employees, it has turned out to be obvious that combining an organization’s health plus safety tasks can considerably perk up worker conditions and, of course, the own performance of the company.

 

In order to steer excellence in safety performance as well as the culture of an organization, it is the management who have to develop plus master accountability. Management must follow an approach which is methodological so as to assure, proactively plus reactively, that individuals are adjudged responsible for the imperative performance needed to succeed¹¹.

 

Now the question arises that whether management is only finally responsible for safety, or is it the liability of the workers who work? When there is an accident and a worker is injured then will the employee blame the employer or vice versa. Even though blames should not be an important part of the equation, but it often is and this is where leadership trait of management comes into play. They have to take the accountability of the accident and injury and see to it that there is no such event in the future thereby assuring the health and safety of the workers in the workplace.

 

To quote an example; Yogi Berra the baseball legend and philosopher once stressed the lunacy of finding fault with others when he quipped, "I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" Work atmosphere, procedures, organizational arrangements, tools, as well as behaviors all mingle to create exceptional outcomes. So who is responsible for all of this?

 

Managers Accountability at the Workplace:

A policy for health and safety at the workplace is without an iota of doubt a fundamental achievement necessary when constructing, bettering or preserving the level of good health and safety at work. Nevertheless, a strategy is not adequate and the most important aspect of ensuring that a strategy subsists is manager conduct. Hence manager accountability is the answer to structuring a health and safety background ¹² and ensuring that management and supervisor conduct never misses trail of the significance of occupational health and safety issues.

 

A system to appraise performance should take health and safety issues at workplace into account promises conformity of the policy of health and safety and helps in giving confidence to managers to emphasize on the aspects of health and safety in their everyday management practice. Responsibility should comprise all ranks from supervisors to principal executive officers. Management accountability ensures health and safety at workplace thereby good performance by the workers when they clearly define tasks and a suitable performance appraisal and reward arrangement is established¹¹.

 

Holistic Approach to Prevention and Promotion of Occupational Safety and Health:

With the intention of providing occupational health and safety a greater precedence within the company, it is useful for managers to shift their focus from trouble solving to practical conduct. The objective has to be not only to provide a workplace with safety and healthy working environs but as well going over and above the legal needs through encouraging health as well as healthy behavior. This kind of a holistic approach comprises of activity from managers in different parts. The most important proposal at the rear of this approach is to perform organizational, ecological and individual standards facilitating healthy options and motivating personal growth¹³.  

 

Work administration can, for instance, be enhanced by rendering the option of lifelong education within the job. Atmospheric measures need the manager to carry out gauges to create an excellent team ambiance and promote social support amid coworkers. If such measures have to be accepted in totality then it calls for participation from the employees. It is in the hands of the managers to enhance the involvement as well as acceptance of workers. They can achieve this by leading them via examples like taking part in a variety of health measures, motivating their workers to participate in health programs as well as provide resources to facilitate participation. It is necessary that management not only ensures a smooth execution of the measures but also further manifests active contribution to give confidence for their employees so that they also take part in the formation and execution of the program.

 

The continuous dedication from all areas is required to guarantee that holistic impediment and encouragement conceptions are unbeaten. Commitment on the part of management is critical in this development to steer clear of disagreements between the health promotion measures as well as other organizational management exercises¹².

 

Principles for Leaders to Base Their Accountability and Responsibility:

Leaders can sketch on three maxims to promote safety responsibility in their organization: context, direction, and tracking⁴.

 

Context is with regard to assisting the workers to comprehend their part in safety in the organization. The role of a management leader is to sculpt preferred behaviors and generate an atmosphere and culture in which workers can work safely. When working in such a culture, employees are safe beyond the regulations. When a worker is concerned about the exposure to a risky job then the management will have to intermit the job and speak to the employees about safety fears. The task of supervisors plus managers is to endorse good safety practices by rendering employees with the response, backing up people who impede work when threat increases and honoring individuals who do not take cutoffs that weaken safety. The context, in addition, builds responsibility by assisting people to comprehend how safety functioning benefits them.

 

Direction is regarding helping people build up clear objects that bind to the safety objectives of the organization furthermore permitting them (via resources and training) to attain those goals. Every manager, executive, and supervisor must have lucid and precise safety goals. Leading employees should be anticipated to stick on to rules and procedures as well as take part in instituted safety programs. To form responsibility, employee objectives and obligations should spotlight on the arrangements and activities that motor safety consequence, instead of on the results themselves (for instance the rate of injury). An exclusive spotlight on outcomes can direct to dysfunctional conducts, like when leaders dampen injury report or medical treatment. When individuals’ restricted responsibility for safety is the resulting gauge, it becomes more probable that these dysfunctional conducts will augment.

 

Tracking is to gauge performance alongside objectives via well-established, easy and efficient supervising processes and supporting arrangements. Tracking needs the management to guarantee the efficiency of the procedures and systems and utilize the data gathered to give success as well as guidance feedback. It is crucial to concentrate tracking on info instead of judgment. Metrics time and again has an important role to play in this (for instance, the percentage of workers who were trained in the required safety measures this year), however info regarding the conducts noticed or accounted as well is significant (for example what do the leaders see when they walk through the plant?).

 

With these three ideologies in position, management can uphold health and safety responsibility, bind regulation to clear safety objectives and make sure people comprehend their function in bringing down exposure and attaining the utmost safety results.

 

CONCLUSION:

At the rear of every organization which has a very strong health and safety culture is a worker who respects worker health and safety. The employer provides management the power to put worker health plus safety in front of other business values like the pace of production or working cost efficiencies. When employees observe their organization’s management putting health and safety foremost in their daily decisions — as a contrast to merely chatting about it and that’s precisely when the culture of health and safety takes root. And in general, the more substantial a company’s health and safety culture are, the superior its connected performance. A protected organization is a creative organization. A valuable OHS (Occupational Health and Safety) plan must reveal successful management leadership, the organization’s firm dedication to the program and an eagerness to perk up the occupational safety culture. Companies that have good safety plans in action will have leaders who will never permit imperfect outcome. Even as teamwork and agreement are very significant in getting worker buy-in to programs, eventually it is the leadership and dedication from management that makes the process. Good management in OSH and as a result of good workplace health and safety criterions in a company help distinguish the most excellent executing enterprises from the others¹⁴.

 

Companies demonstrating outstanding OSH leadership dedication can be distinguished by secured and healthier working situations, by workers who are convinced and capable in their occupation, by efficient OSH policies prepared and adopted by all employees and by individuals as well as teams acknowledged and honored for their accomplishment. Such healthy culture completely backed by all level management escorts to a constant OSH enhancement. Consequently, the company enjoys the following outcomes:

 

·     Decrease in absenteeism due to sickness

·     Greatly improved productivity

·     Reduce accidents at  the workplace

·     Fewer occupational diseases as well as health setbacks related tp work

·     Higher inspiration and

·     Higher turnover.

 

For small as well as medium-sized enterprises, specifically, an exceptional OSH arrangement and management can assist when seeking to locate new customers. Some large companies have also set high health and safety measures as well for their contractors plus subcontractors.

 

For instance, the management must take the responsibility to develop as well as apply safe work practices plus put it across to workers; supply suitable tools and protecting equipment. This will lead not only to a safe working environment but an assurance from the workers of productivity¹⁵.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       Bass, B., Bass, R. (2008). The Bass Handbook of Leadership: Theory, Research, and Managerial Application. New York: Simon and Schuster.

2.       Boulding, K. (1956). The Image :Knowledge in Life and Society. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.

3.       Jenkins, T. (2013). Reflections on Kenneth E. Boulding’s The Image: Glimpsing the Roots of Peace Education Pedagogy. Journal of Peace Education and Social Justice, 7(1), 27-37.

4.       Abbasialiya, A. (2010). The Concept of Leadership. Retrieved May 31^st, 2017, from http://expertscolumn.com/content/concept-leadership.

5.       Lamb, L. F., and McKee, K. B. (2004). Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Routledge.

6.       Ivancevich, J., Konopaske, R., and Matteson, M. (2007). Organization Behaviour and Management. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

7.       Ololube, N. P. (2013). Educational Management, Planning, and Supervision: Model for Effective Implementation. Owerri: Springfield Publishers.

8.       Northouse, G. (2007). Leadership Theory and Practice (3rd Ed.) Thousand Oak: Sage Publications.

9.       Rowe, W. G. (2007). Cases in Leadership. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

10.     Naylor, J. (1999). Management. Harlow, England: Prentice Hall.

11.     https://proactsafety.com/articles/accountability-a-dirty-word

12.     Petersen, D., Safety Policy, Leadership, and Culture, In Saari, J. (ed), Safety Policy and Leadership, ILO Encyclopedia of Occupational Health and Safety (4th edition, volume 2), 1998, pp 59.2-59.7.

13.     EU-OSHA – European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, `Workplace Health Promotion for Employers´, 2010a. Available at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/factsheets/93.

14.     European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, `Business aspects of OSH´, 2011. Available at: http://osha.europa.eu/ en/topics/business-aspects-of-osh/index_html

15.     European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. `Safe maintenance in practice´, 2010c. Available at: http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/reports/safe-maintenance-TEWE10003ENC

 

 

 

 

Accepted on 13.09.2017                © A&V Publications all right reserved