Employee Safety Research

RUNNING HEAD: Managing Employee Safety Research

Managing Employee Safety Research

University of Phoenix

Introduction

The business ethics of each company is governed by the leadership and the purpose of the company. One aim of business ethics is to determine the fundamental purposes of a company and to work within the federal, state and local laws of the government. Consequently if a company’s shareholders require the company to maximize wealth then the business ethics could be seen as unethical for a company to consider the interests and rights of anyone else especially the rights of employees.

The human resource department needs to understand clearly the business ethics and apply the ethics of the company consistently with all employees along with the federal, state and local laws. This is especially important related the Occupational Safety and Health Administration Act (OSHA) of 1970. Therefore, companies today need to blend the purpose of the company with business ethics that embrace the OSHA guidelines. This paper outlines how different companies practiced significantly unique approaches to the company purpose of wealth maximization, profit and OSHA.

Role of Human Resources in Managing Employee Safety Risks

The human resources department plays the unique role of being a partner with the business, a consultant and advocate to each individual within the business. A good HR professional is able to maintain equal credibility with both sides of the employment equation. As a good influence the human resources department has the important role to advocate and create within the employees a safety culture where the employees can be trained and informed about the obligation they have as employees and the responsibility that the employer has in order to provide a safe workplace. When the company applies the standards regulations on safety, at the same time the company reduces accidents and illness within its workers, this can provide an important work environment for both parties. (HR Management Magazine, 2007)

OSHA has the resources to help businesses to stay strong and competitive while protecting employees. Companies are responsible for taking care of its employees safety, because by protecting its employees the company creates a good workplace environment plus the company can also avoid future problems by observing the standards regulations on health and safety administration, this is how the human resource’s mission, vision and tactical plans should align with and support the attainment of this direction, besides offering the programs it also can maintain productivity and credibility with its employees. Providing a workplace environment compliant with regulatory laws all starts when a company resolves to do better. This is the first key step: “A change in attitude.”

A good example regarding above, is a company located in Fort Collins, Colorado. Odell Brewing Company has 27 employees and years ago this company decided to work with OSHA's on-site consultants at Colorado State University and after seeing the benefits and results working with OSHA, Odell applied and was accepted into a Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program, called "SHARP." As a SHARP participant, Odell earned an exemption from programmed OSHA inspections while working with that program. Odell's lost time rate used to be three times higher than the national average for its industry. Today, as a result of working with OSHA's free On-site Consultation Program, Odell's rate and the number of illnesses and injuries is...zero!” (Odell 2008)

Another clear example to support the above is Milliken and Company, this is a major textile and chemical manufacturer, that has attributed many positive outcomes to its participation in VPP. “Every one of its worksites across the United States, averaging around 300 employees, has achieved VPP status. With leadership from the top of the company and active participation by everyone to reduce injuries on the job, M&C has realized a 68 percent reduction in its total case incidence rate. With this reduction, its workers' compensation costs have fallen more than 55 percent!” (Milliken & Co, 2006).

Companies has been discovered that by offering a safe and healthful workplace for its employees this can also improve its productivity, and when those companies understand the importance of safety while working at the same time they improve their efficiency.

After learning about the benefits of OSHA an important highlight is that: “Owners of successful companies understand that when employees operate under a comprehensive safety and health management system, incidents of injury and illness go down, insurance costs go down, and workers' compensation payments go down. At the same time, employee morale goes up, productivity goes up, competitiveness goes up, and profits go up.”

Company Synopses

Odell Brewing Company

Doug Odell's passion for crafting beer started in his kitchen in Seattle. After the demand for his home-brew grew, Doug along with his wife Wynne searched for a good location to take Doug's passion commercial. They moved to Fort Collins to be closer to Doug's sister, Corkie, who quickly joined forces with them in opening the brewery in 1989. After brewing and kegging his beer, Doug would deliver it, pick up empties, and make sales calls out of his old mustard-colored Datsun pickup. The original brewery was located in an old grain elevator built in 1915 and was the second microbrewery to open in the state of Colorado. This brewery employed four floor levels to gravity-feed its beer from a 15-barrel brew kettle into open fermentation tanks, through cellaring and into draft kegs, the only package then offered.

During the first five years, the popularity of Odell's hand-crafted ales caught on. In fact, it became so popular that a larger facility was needed to handle the increasing demand. Thus a whole new brewery, with the current 50-barrel brew-house, was built in 1994. After a 6 year commitment to an all-draft product, the brewery began bottling beers in 1996. A 10,500 square foot addition was needed to accommodate the addition of the new Krones bottling line. In 1997, the 5-barrel pilot system (one tenth the size of our commercial brewing vessels) was