Introduction
The management of the health, risks, and the occupational hazards form a crucial component of the organizational operations depending on the nature of the business. Every organization has systems to minimize the rates of adverse events and disasters within the company premises. It is the obligation of the human resources management to ensure that the systems are in place to observe precautions and hence prevent disastrous events which could cause injuries or lead to the loss of human lives. The activities and the functions of any organizations determine the precautionary measures employed to eradicate or minimize the probability of disasters within the organizations. The products and the services that the companies deal with have a significant influence on the risk mitigation measures employed. The human resource management recognizes the vital role that the appropriate skills play in the reduction of risks and disasters and hence mobilizes the necessary competencies to ensure that the organization can prevent any potential risk (Drabek and McEntire, 2003, p. 103). The initial role of the human resources is to identify the possible sources of risks in the organization and then consolidate and mobilize the best available skills necessary to create systems to manage prevention measures.
Work Place Risk Management
The sources of risks in an organization are identified based on the activities of such companies. For example, the prevention measures in a manufacturing plant are different from a service organization such as finance or the academic institutions. In the case of a manufacturing facility, the human resource managers consider the range of equipment and machinery used to assess the possible sources of the risk or accidents. Stock-taking of the equipment is related to any potential risk it poses to the individual workers or the entire plant. The workforce is then instructed on the risk prevention measures to observe and the ethics to adhere in a deliberate action aimed at minimizing all the possible incidents under the particular context. Whereas the negligence of the individual workers is one of the leading causes of adverse events in the organization cannot be ruled out the creation of efficient systems is paramount in ensuring incident –free working environments (Kivas and Spens, 2009, p. 515). An effective analysis of the functions in the organizations enables the human resource managers to categorize the possible sources of the risks regarding their potential.
Team Work and Workplace Safety
The creations of teams that are efficient in prevention of the risks in the working environments ensure that there is coordination of the activities in the entire operations in different departments. There are transparent monitoring systems and the functions are assessed at every level to identify the possible causes of the risks. During the surveillance and mitigation, the team members are encouraged. One of the major activities is the categorization of the possible sources of uncertainty regarding the size and areas that have a higher potential to cause accidents than others are identified. The precaution measures are then observed based on the magnitude of the possible risk so that the resources and the personnel are allocated depending on the specific parameters of each situation. The assembling of the available skills to handle the potential dangers must adhere to the uniqueness of the situation (Hopkins, 2005, p. 236). Despite the many measures put in place to minimize the adversity with the organizations, the human resource management should ensure that the frontline workers work within the legally stipulated time limits to avoid fatigue which cause undesirable, fatal and severe events in the work premises.
The human resource management must encourage a culture that minimizes risks in the performance of all activities in the organization. The individuals in the different teams are always encouraged to be on the lookout for the possible cause of the disasters. It is important to mention that one of the principal causes of adverse events within the organizations is the laxity in the management. In that regard the management fails to acknowledge that risks are liable to occur, which require practical precautionary measures to prevent or manage. Further, the organizations need to develop training programs for teams operating in different departments depending on the nature of an organization. Training as a team enables collaboration and improved efficiency in the activities focused towards improving workplace safety, particularly pertaining to the environment that different teams operate.
The failure of the organizational management to mobilize the necessary skills to control the mitigation measures is a major factor in the emergence of the adverse events and disasters. Another major failure by the directorate is the mismatch of the skills so that the competent workforce is not allocated the proper positions that could have maximum effect on the risk prevention (Quinlan, Bohle, and Lamm, 2010, p. 128). There is a lack of proper utilization of competencies within the organization. The workforce could also play a crucial role in reducing adverse events in the group. Some employees are not keen on their obligations which imply that negligence by the employees constitutes a major component of the causes of risk in the organization. Even when the workers observe the necessary measures a failure to service the equipment and work tools could also be one of the leading causes of the disasters in the organizations (Hopkins, 2005, p. 238). Situations, where the machines are not serviced or repaired in time, lead to disasters of varying proportions.
According to Reason, 2000, p.769) there are many channels and avenues, which offer the predisposing factors for disasters. The dangers within the workplaces are informed by situations that look insignificant at first, which explain why no factors should be overlooked in designing of the strategic measures to prevent disasters and other adverse events. For example, it is vital that the practical situations should not be allowed to deteriorate and ensure the operation standards maintain some level of functional threshold. For example, the industrial machines in the production plants should be thoroughly inspected and serviced to ensure that they remain in good working order. Such measures ensure that the machines are in top conditions, which is vital in the mitigation of adverse events in the workplace (Quinlan, 2014, p. 546). Such equipment provides that there are no unexpected eventualities in the workplace.
Technology and Workplace Safety
Technology also plays a major role in preventing adverse incidents in the working place. The use of the old technologies could trigger events that could lead to massive losses and even probably to the loss of human lives. For example, the failure to update software and other technological data could trigger systems malfunctions that cause unexpected adverse incidents. The organizational policies and cultures are crucial as it addresses the question of the values that the stakeholders in the organization subscribe and are significant in the prevention of disasters. Some companies introduce working cultures that advocate for strict observance of practices that consider prevention against adverse events as a priority (Smit, and Wandel, 2006, p.287). The practices are inculcated in the company's culture ensure that employees observe precautionary measures in all the working practices to minimize risk at every level.
It is important to mention that an adverse risk at the workplace could be triggered by factors that appear trivial at the beginning. For this reason, it is important to pay attention to the monitor details such positioning and inspection of the office furniture as a light fall could get into the contact with electrical appliances and hence occasion power interferences, which lead to destructions, electrocution and the loss of human life. Paying attention to details such as the texture of the floor to avoid falls that could occasion other adverse events is also significant (Van Aalst, Cannon, and Burton, 2008, p.178). The prevention of the incident and the accidents in the working place cannot be attributed to a single source but rather a combination of planning and activities.
The products that the organizations deal with are also major determinants or the risk factors within the working environment. For example, the existence of petroleum products calls for careful handling as they are highly explosive and could cause massive destructions and loss of human lives. An example of such an incident is the Texas City BP refinery disasters. Other plants that handle hazardous materials should also create measures by the employment of professionals skilled in the handling of the materials (Quinlan, Bohle, and Lamm, 2010, p. 42). Other companies deal with radioactive materials that emit harmful rays and require careful handling procedures. The nature of the materials in the work place determines the pre-caution measures that organizations adopt mitigation measures against adverse effects that could cause financial losses and the loss of human life (Hopkins, 2005, p. 237). The handling equipment and the appropriate gears constitute the measures for the handling. However it’s apparent some organizations lack the skilled personnel to handle such materials.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the contribution of the front-line workers in the adverse events and disasters cannot be entirely ignored. However, the overall positioning of the organizations to cope with disasters in the workplace has a huge bearing on the occurrence of such events. The failure of the human resources departments to put in appropriate systems is an obvious factor. The application of the old technologies in the monitoring of the systems implies that the faulty equipment and the machines cannot be detected which could occasion the disasters. The culture within the organizations is paramount as it determines the attitudes that the workers and the entire teams have towards disaster prevention measures. The cultures within the organizations learn the values that the human resources attach to disaster prevention and management.
The psychological aspect of the precaution measures is crucial as it ensures that the workforce is conscious about the critical role of disaster prevention. The failure to mobilize the necessary skills in the workforce to tackle adverse events in the business has been blamed for some f the major failures around the globe. Some of the organizations have no retraining programs of the workers for capacity building on disaster prevention matters. The consequence is that the possibility of the disasters cannot be detected before they occur. Related to the lack of skills is the wrong maintenance of the working equipment so that they are in dangerous working conditions which are predisposing factors for disasters in the workplace. Overall, the creation of efficient systems in the workplace ensures a culture of disaster preparedness and protection so that even when they happen, they have minimum adverse effects on the workers and the people in the surroundings.
References list
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