Health and Safety Measures in Industries for

Employee Welfare

In today’s days of heavy industrialization and modernization Employees are

considered as an assets rather than just labour/worker. For an organization
growth is the reflection of the employees and teams it has. So it becomes very
important to contribute to the wellbeing and betterment of their life in and
outside the organization, Hence the Term Labour welfare / employee welfare
came into existence which refers to the facilities provided to the employee for
betterment of their life. In other words, safety is a shared responsibility. Your
employer provides a safe environment Government has also intervened into it
by making in practice the factory Act, 1948 which has some compulsory
provisions related to health and safety of the employees in the factories. In this
report we will also see some points and elements of safety and health programs
for addressing OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) for the employee in the
Industries.

 First Aid and Emergency training.

 Safety Measures and Precautions form the Hazards
 Health Awareness Campaign
 Insurance and benefits

First Aid and Emergency Training.

First aid refers to the immediate care or support provided to the person who is
victim of any accident or who is ill until he/she gets full required medical care.
First aid cannot be put in practice individually it is an organizational approach
involvement of people and other supporting infrastructure is also required.
Organization should take necessary steps to install the First Aid kits in various
accessible areas also the clear information regarding the location of the First
Aid kit should be passed on. Organization should also conduct the basic First
Aid Training and CPR Training and also conduct the mock drills on how to
react and handle the situation during the emergency. Clearly visible emergency
Contact numbers should be mentioned at multiple location in the work
premises. Emergency Siren and communication system should be installed for
mass communication during emergency.
For the case of Fire Emergency training to act during fire and steps to be taken
should be informed to the workers by awareness programs. Also Mock Fire
drills should be conducted at regular intervals. Fire extinguishers should be
made available at multiple locations. There must be at least one emergency
gathering area in the factory. Even though your plant probably has a medical
department to handle medical emergencies, you and your fellow employees
should be trained in first aid and CPR (cardio-pulmonary resuscitation)
techniques. For natural emergencies, preplanning is essential. As an example, in
earthquake zones, equipment and materials must be stored in a way that will
prevent their movement during a quake. You should be informed of necessary
procedures for protection during earthquakes, tornadoes, or any other weather
related emergencies.

Safety Measures and Precautions

Industrial safety is defined as the Operation of an organization in a way
protecting its employees by minimum risk, accidents and hazards.
Industrial safety involves many issues and topics that affects safety of a
personnel and integrity of a machine or an equipment depending on the type of
the industry.
The majority industrial accidents or injuries are the result of unsafe acts.
However every unsafe act does not result in an accident or injury, In fact
according to the experts and experienced professionals about 300 unsafe acts
occur before a single injury or accident. The problem is that you never know if
that first, single unsafe act or the 300th repetition of it will result in an accident.
When you get into the habit of repeating an unsafe act, it can be a very difficult
habit to break.
Providing training in safe work habits is the responsibility of the employer,
however, it is also your responsibility to perform your job as you were trained
to do so. It also equally important for your employer to provide you with the
knowledge you need to be able to recognize, understand, and report unsafe acts
in order to help prevent accidents.
Before moving to how to eliminate the unsafe working conditions, it is
important first to identify them, Inspecting the workplace on a daily, weekly,
and monthly basis is necessary to identify unsafe conditions. It shows the
company’s interest in the welfare of its workers.

There are various type of safety to be taken care of in an industry where unsafe
acts can results in massive accident or injury due to hazards. You must
constantly be aware of the physical surroundings in your facility. A hazard is a
potential to cause injury or a level of threat to life, health, property and
environment. By recognizing and understanding the hazards around you in the
plant, accidents can be prevented. The following some main types of hazards:
1. Process & Production Hazards
2. Fire Hazards
3. Electrical Hazards
4. Material Hazards
5. Building and Structural Hazards
6. Chemical and Radiation Hazards
7. Environmental Hazards
Safety form this hazards is the shared responsibility of the employee as well as
the employer and both should jointly work for the best safe working
environment.

Health Awareness Campaign

The Workplaces should be healthy for All Age group of people campaign
promoting the importance of sustainable work — that is, safe and healthy
working conditions from the start to the end of a person’s life should be
promoted and implemented. Considering today’s scenario workforce ageing and
retirement ages rising is becoming ever more important, therefore working
conditions should be safe, healthy and fair. This will enable people to work for
longer and retire in good health with better experience of life. However, by
introducing measures to ensure that work is sustainable, enterprises and
organisations can minimize negative effects by increasing the productivity,
making work safer and healthier for everyone.
Organization should come out with such campaigns which will encourage the
workforce to go towards the healthy practices which will be beneficial for their
personal as well as organizational conducts.
Practice and awareness campaign related to hazards, handling of the hazards,
campaigns for handling and dealing with the fire emergencies, campaigns for
prevention of the deadly diseases. Such type of campaigns should be regularly
conducted for employees for the motivated approach to the better life and
practices.
The activities at the individual enterprise level are more practical and varied
compared to the national level. Generally, such activities are designed by the
health and safety department or by a specially constituted task force or person
set up by management. Some activities are contests among employees or among
different departments for lowest accident frequency rate, good housekeeping
and accident-free work, safety posters, safety slogans, safety suggestions and so
on, exhibitions, skits, dramas, one-act plays, songs, training programmes and
seminars, lectures, screening of films, practical demonstrations, organizing of
emergency drills, holding of functions, and so on. Experts from outside the
enterprise should also be invited as guest speakers for better encouragement.
Some of the common campaigns and approaches which have contributed to the
effectiveness of performance at the enterprise level may be summarized as
follows:

 The dramatizations and plays staged by employees of some enterprises have

been of good professional quality and offer effective entertainment,
communicating accident case histories with lessons to be learnt. Such plays
 have been video recorded for telecasting on state and national television
networks, thereby increasing their impact.
 A number of large organization in public and private sectors, have their own
residential colonies and schools for the benefit of their employees. Many of
these organization have designed activities including contests to involve
families and students in safety and health campaigns; this has had a positive
impact on the motivation of the employees. Even undertakings not having
their own residential colony or school have used this approach to involve the
families and school-age children of their employees with similar success.
 In the wake of the Bhopal disaster, many enterprises engaged in manufacture,
storage or use of hazardous chemicals and having potential for major
accidents have developed activities to create awareness of OSH in nearby
communities. They invite members of these communities to visit their plants
for exhibitions or functions during the Campaign. They also invite
government authorities as guests of honour. This approach has been useful in
to ensure quick and effective response to chemical emergencies at the local
level.
 Activities involving practical demonstrations of important safety-oriented
resources such as the use of firefighting methods and personal protective
equipment, the holding of emergency drills and the conducting of tailor-made
in-plant training courses and seminars on specific needs have proved
successful in creating enthusiasm and a supportive environment within
enterprises.
The approaches listed are best suitable for occupational safety and health
campaigns at the organizational level.
Insurance and Benefits
Most employers with 50 or more employees are required to offer health care
plans, and individuals are required to have coverage. Health care exchanges
have been set up for employees who aren't covered by employers or who elect
to seek coverage outside their employer plans. Some employer resists to opt for
the insurance but ultimately going for the insurance Is in the benefit of both the
employee as well as the employer, the feeling of loyalty is developed in the
employee by such type of actions and secondly Insurance can save huge amount
of money for an organization during time of any large deadly accident. Accident
costs a lot to an organization, costs are Direct as well as indirect. Direct costs
involves Equipment loss, Medical loss, Life Loss etc. and indirect costs
involves Delays, business failure, poor customer relations etc.
This model shows the Accident cost Iceberg, the cost of the insurance is much
more less in comparison to the costs in case of accidents for an uninsured
organization.

Insurance Costs
Covering Injury, ill
£1 health, damage

Uninsured Costs
£8-36 Product and material damage.
Plant & building damage
Legal costs
Expenditure on emergency
supplies.
Clearing site
Production delays
Overtime working and
temporary labour
Investigation time.
Supervisor’s time diverted
Clerical effort.
Fines
Loss of expertise/experience

Elements of Safety & Health Programs for Healthier and Safer Workplace
1. Management Leadership
a) Actions to be taken by management are as
below:
Communicate the commitment towards
safety and Health programs by developing
the written safety and health policy
statement signed and circulated by the top
Management to all the workers, unions,
contractors, suppliers, vendors, customers
etc.
b) Define goals, programs and expectation of
the safety and health programs by
establishing realistic, attainable and
measurable goals that demonstrate progress
toward improving safety and health
c) Allocate Sufficient resources, integrate safety and health into planning
and budgeting of an organization.
Allocate sufficient time to the employees for the participation into such
programs
d) Expect Performance Define and communicate responsibilities and
authorities for accountability, Set an example for workers by following
the same procedures

2. Worker Participation
a) Encourage workers to report safety and
health concerns
b) Establish a process to report injuries,
near misses and other safety and health
concerns
c) Empower workers to temporarily
suspend work they feel is unsafe
d) Encourage participation in the program
e) Provide positive reinforcement to
workers who participate
f) Maintain an open-door policy, inviting
workers to speak to managers about
safety and health
g) Involve workers in all aspects of the
program
h) Developing a program, Reporting hazards and developing solutions
i) Analyzing hazards, Defining safe work practices
j) Conducting site inspections
k) Participating in incident/near-miss investigations
l) Serving as trainers and Developing and evaluating training programs
m) Give workers access to safety and health information
n) Remove barriers to participation Ensure workers from all levels of the
organization can participate regardless of skill level, education, or
language also Ensure policies and programs do not discourage worker
participation

3. Hazard Identification and Assesment

a) Collect existing information about
workplace hazards organize and review
information to determine what types of
hazards are present and workers exposed
b) Use check list to perform Routine inspections of workflow, equipment,
materials and talk to workers
c) Conduct Incident Investigations, Develop a plan and procedure to begin
investigation immediately after an incident or near miss.
d) Conduct root cause analysis and investigate with a team.
e) Identify hazards associated with emergency and non-routine situations
Assess foreseeable emergency scenarios or non-routine tasks
f) Conduct “table top” exercises to help you plan and test your response
plan and procedures
g) Characterize the nature of identified hazards, determine the controls to be
implemented and prioritize the hazards for control and Evaluate each
hazard by considering the severity of potential outcomes, the likelihood
that an event will occur and the number of workers exposed
h) Prioritize hazards so that the greatest risks are addressed first
i) Use interim control measures to protect workers until more permanent
solutions can be implemented

4. Hazard Prevention and Control

a) Review literature, OSHA standards,
NIOSH publications, etc. for potential
control measures
b) Get input from workers, safety
consultants, or investigate other
workplaces with similar hazards
c) Select controls using the hierarchy of
controls Use a combination when no
single method fully protects the
worker
d) Develop and update a hazard control
plan
e) List hazards in order of priority, assign
responsibility to a person(s), establish a target completion date also Plan
how to track progress and verification of implementation
f) Select controls for emergency and non-routine operations develop
procedures to control hazards during these situations. Assign
responsibility for implementing the plan and conduct emergency drills.
g) Implement selected controls in the workplace Implement controls starting
with highest priority, however, regardless of priority employers must
protect workers from recognized serious hazards
h) Conduct regular inspections of controls, confirm that work practices are
being followed.
5. Hazard Prevention and Control
a) Provide training to all managers,
supervisors and workers as well as
contractors and temporary workers on:
safety policies and procedures, program
functions, emergencies, injury illness
reporting, and their rights under the
OSH Act also Ensure the training is
provided in a language and literacy
level that all workers can understand
b) Train workers on specific roles and
responsibilities in the safety and health
program Instruct workers with specific
roles within the safety and health
program on how they should carry out those responsibilities
c) Provide opportunities for workers to ask questions and offer feedback
during training
d) Train managers and works on techniques for identifying hazards; such
as job hazard analysis also Have them demonstrate they can recognize
hazards and understand why controls are in place
e) Provide training on new tasks and new assignments.

6. Program Evaluation and Improvement

a) Verify the core elements of the program
are fully met and key processes are in
place and implemented
b) Verify injuries are being reported,
inspections are conducted, progress is
being tracked in controlling identified
hazards to ensure control measures are
effective and data collected to monitor
the programs performance.
c) Proactively seek input from managers,
workers, supervisors and other
stakeholders on how you can improve the
program
d) Determine whether changes in
equipment, facilities, material, personnel or work practices trigger any
need for changes in the program
7. Multi- Employer Work Sites
a) Provide a copy of the safety and health
policy to all contractors
b) Before beginning on-site work, clarify
each employer’s responsibilities and
obligations, such as;
• Providing training
• Selecting, providing and
maintaining PPE
• Recording and reporting any
injuries or illnesses
• Procedures for communication
between host employer and all
contractors
c) Encourage employees to raise safety concerns
d) Identify and remove any obstacles to their participation in a program or
reporting
e) Contractors perform pre-job hazard assessments of the work they will
perform Exchange data on metrics tracks and use this data to evaluate the
program’s effectiveness
f) All contractors should participate in these evaluations
g) Sharing the results of the evaluations with contractors, subcontractors and
temporary staffing agencies who can then inform the affected workers of
the results