MHE510, Occupational Health and Safety, Mod 1 SLP - Essay Example

MHE 510 Mod SLP Occupational Health and Safety Occupational Health in Computer Processing OSHA requires a hazard assessment conducted in every company in each industry. The goal is to find risks before they happen and eliminate them. Things that should be looked closely at are potential falling objects, moving equipment, slippery surfaces, electrical hazards, and impact hazards as well as violence in the work place, and psychological reactions. This paper will deal with two of these, slippery surfaces or other issues calling a slip, trip, or fall and violence in the workplace.

In doing the OSHA assessment, the Director of Occupational Health and Safety would look for any and all things that might cause an employee to fall causing traumatic injuries, realizing that traumatic injuries often prevent the employee from working (Woods, 2005). The employee that cannot work because of an injury is a liability to himself as well as the organization so this is a needed prevention. There are many things, some of the surprising that might cause an employee to fall in an organization such as this one.

Some of those are wet or slippery floors, having things fall against the employee causing a fall, impediments such as cords and/or product in the walkway. Certainly preventing a fall from a slippery floor is not difficult if one knows the floor is slippery, however, this does not always occur. A slippery floor should either be corded off from the employees preventing them from walking on it or auto scrubbers should be used (Anonymous, 1987) Another possibility and one particularly liked by OSHA is the use of non -slip footwear.

This kind of footwear is being recommended for use in many kinds of companies where floors may become slippery. Other types of falls that cause injury are usually caused by the employee being hit and knocked down. This can cause crush injuries, traumatic falls, lacerations, bruising, sprains, and fractures. There should be a concerted effort not to stack too high, not to overload trolleys, and not to overload stack racks. Assuring that there are no cords or equipment left in walkways is also important.

Violence in the workplace has escalated over the last several years. It has become a major concern for OSHA. There are many types of violence that the employee may have to deal with including those from the outside which would include robbery and those from co-workers. OSHA has recommended that a zero tolerance policy be in place to prevent this from happening. This would need the commitment of upper management, a worksite analysis, safety and health training and record keeping and evaluation (osha, 2010).

The recommendations from the Director of Occupational Safety should include a clear policy on zero tolerance, the allowance of reports of suggested or workplace violence from employees without appraisal, encouraging prompt reporting from all employee and a comprehensive plan for security. In conclusion, there are many hazards in the workplace and these have increased with specialization and hi-tech equipment. This has led to the need for further assessment and addressing of issues earlier in an attempt to decrease the numbers of accidents that occur.

Protecting employees from injury is protecting the company from financial loss as well as loss of already trained and ready employees. ReferencesAnonymous, (1987). A proposed national strategy for the prevention of severe occupational traumatic injuries. Professional safety. 32(12).United States Department of Labor (2010). Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (2010). http://www.osha.gov/Publications/OSHA3148/osha3148.htm.Woods P. (2005) Step by step. Occupational Health and Safety. 74(9). 106.