HRM107 Study Guide - Final Guide: Hans Selye, Safe Work Australia, Work Accident
4 Jun 2018
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Week 12: Chapter 11
Workplace Health and Safety & Employee Wellbeing
The establishment and maintenance of a healthy and safe work environment for all employees and
all occupations is not only desirable and required by Australian law, but also a cost-effective means
of supplementing more traditional HR activities. WHS issues pervade almost all aspects of HR
functions: job design; quality of work life programs; recruitment, selection, training and
development; performance management; and remuneration systems.
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Direct and indirect WHS costs include sick leave, medical costs and rising insurance premiums,
replacement salaries, equipment downtime, and effects on teamwork and morale. The range of
human and community costs include physical and emotional suffering. The range of potential work
hazards:
• Physical factors: noise, vibration, excessive heat/cold, ultraviolet exposure
• Chemical agents: poisons, toxins, corrosive substances
• Other hazardous substances: lead, mercury, asbestos, coal, oil, dust
• Workplace organisation: loading and manual handling procedures; speed, repetition, training
• Stress: due to constant organisational change can lead to worker responses such as drug or
alcohol use
• Violence, physical or psychological harm from colleagues: social pressures
WHS and strategic HRM
Using data (financial costs, accidents, absenteeism and compensation stats) and specific WHS
performance benchmarks (HRIMS), HR specialists can adopt strategic interventions and use these as
evidence of their contributions to business productivity and profitability.
Perspectives of WHS in Aus
The change from OHS to WHS signifies the broadening of concerns in hazardous working conditions
and increased risks associated with new manufacturing and mining industries, in particular to the
use of child labour.
• WHS and the medical model: due to negative effects of the Industrial Revolution, medical
professions search for ways to prevent growing organisational and human costs.
• Occupational epidemiology: explores the frequency of the occurrence of phenomena of
interest in health care, and relates measures of their frequency to their determination.
Occupational epidemiologists use mass scientific studies to determine casual relationships
between work behaviours and occupational accidents and diseases.
• Industrial psychology: this includes investigations of work-related psychosocial hazards. Rather
than merely relating these symptoms to the physical nature of the work, industrial psychology
takes the view that they may be partly caused by individual psychological reactions to
stressful, boring or repetitive work processes.
• Industrial sociology: suggest that such aspects as the lack of worker control in their work
processes, 'production imperatives' and associated reward systems are significant contributors
to WHS accidents and disease.
• Ergonomics and occupational hygiene: aim to eliminate risks and improve productivity by
modifying the physical arrangements and conditions of the workplace. While ergonomics
focus on the physical features of the work environment, occupational hygiene is more
concerned with the identification and assessment of workplace hazards and the
implementation of appropriate medical mechanisms.
• The legal profession and WHS: increasingly concerned lawyers and insurance agents in the
settlement of workers' compensation claims. The court becomes mediators or arbitrators
between the differing perspectives of WHS 'experts', often at great cost to both employers
and employees.
• Union approaches: criticised for payment trade-offs rather than serious involvement in the
prevention of accidents and diseases, or the rehabilitation of injured workers.
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WHS has become highly complex and involves a diverse group of specialists, each with different
perspectives, interests and objectives. With the other functions and processes in HRM, WHS will
encompass employees' physical capabilities and general health status, previous exposures to
substances or stress factors.
WHS law in Aus
Australian industry has been subject to a wide range of Acts and statutes concerning specific
occupational risks and hazards. Common law has been an additional avenue for injured workers to
pursue claims. National WHS legislation will rationalise the current federal and state laws in Australia
accompanied by model WHS regulations and codes of conduct.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
The establishment and maintenance of a healthy and safe work environment for all employees and all occupations is not only desirable and required by australian law, but also a cost-effective means of supplementing more traditional hr activities. Whs issues pervade almost all aspects of hr functions: job design; quality of work life programs; recruitment, selection, training and development; performance management; and remuneration systems. Direct and indirect whs costs include sick leave, medical costs and rising insurance premiums, replacement salaries, equipment downtime, and effects on teamwork and morale. The range of human and community costs include physical and emotional suffering. Stress: due to constant organisational change can lead to worker responses such as drug or alcohol use: violence, physical or psychological harm from colleagues: social pressures. Using data (financial costs, accidents, absenteeism and compensation stats) and specific whs performance benchmarks (hrims), hr specialists can adopt strategic interventions and use these as evidence of their contributions to business productivity and profitability.
