UNIT V

EMPLOYEE SAFETY/ HEALTH AND INTERNATIONAL HUMAN

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

TOPIC 1. Basics of Ethics and Fair Treatment at work

Ethics refers to the principles of conduct governing an individual or a group, and
specifically to the standards you use to decide what your conduct should be. Ethical
decisions are always characterized by two things. First, they always involve
normative judgments. A normative judgment implies that something is good or bad,
right or wrong, better or worse. You are wearing a skirt and blouse is non-normative
statement; that a great outfit is a normative one.

Ethical decisions also involve morality, which is society accepted standard of

behavior. Moral standards differ from other standards in several ways. They address
behaviors of serious consequence to society well-being, such as murder, lying and
slander. They cannot be established or changed by decisions of authoritative bodies
like legislatures, and they should override self-interest. Many people believe that
moral judgments are never situational. They argue that something is morally right (or
wrong) in one situation is right (or wrong) in another. Moral judgments tend to
trigger strong emotions. Violating moral standards may make individuals feel
ashamed or remorseful.

It would simplify things if it was always clear which decisions were ethical and
which were not. Unfortunately, it is not. If the decision makes the person feel
ashamed or remorseful, or involves a matter of serious consequence such as murder,
then chances are it probably unethical. On the other hand, in some countries, bribery
may be so ingrained that their citizens don’t view it as wrong. True, everyone is
doing it is no excuse. However, the fact that a society doesn’t view bribery as wrong
may suggest that the person offering a bribe there may not be doing something
wrong, at least in terms of his or her frame of reference.

Ethics and the Law:

Furthermore, the law is not the best guide about what is ethical, because something
may be legal but not right, and something may be right but not legal. You can make a
decision that involves ethics (such as firing an employee) based on what is legal.
However, that mean the decision will be ethical. Firing a 38-year-old employee with
20 years tenure without notice or cause may be unethical, but it is still legal, for
instance. Patrick , vice president for business practices at United Technologies Corp.
(and a former trial lawyer), put it this way: Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal. We
were all raised with essentially the same values. Ethics means making decisions that
represent what you stand for, not just what the laws are. Sometimes behavior is legal
and unethical. For example, one hue producer and processor recently had to respond
to a federal indictment charging it with smuggling illegal immigrants from Mexico to
cut factory costs.

Ethics, Fair Treatment, and Justice:

Managing human resources often requires making decisions in which fairness plays a
big role. You hire one candidate and reject another, promote one and demote another
pay one more and one less, and settle ones grievances while rejecting another. How
employees react to these decisions depends, to a large extent, on whether they think
the decisions and the processes that led up to them were fair.

Fairness is an integral part of what most people think of as justice. A company that
is just is, among other things, equitable, fair, impartial, and unbiased in the ways it
does things. With respect to employee relations, experts generally define
organizational justice in terms of its three components distributive justice, procedural
justice, and interpersonal or interactive justice. Distributive justice refers to the
fairness and justice of the decisions result (for instance, did I get an equitable pay
raise?) Procedural justice refers to the fairness of the process (for instance, is the
process my company uses to allocate merit raises fair?) Interactional or interpersonal
justice refers to the manner in which managers conduct their interpersonal dealings
with employees and in particular to the degree to which they treat employees with
dignity as opposed to abuse or disrespect 

Companies where fairness and justice prevail also tend to be ethical companies. One
study focused on how employees reacted to fair treatment. It concluded that to the
extent that survey respondents believed that employees were treated fairly [they]
reported less unethical behavior in their organizations. They also reported that
employees in their organizations were more in the area of ethical issues [and] more
likely to ask for ethical advice. Similarly, Hiring, performance evaluation, discipline,
and terminations can be ethical issues because they all involve honesty, fairness and
the dignity of the individual. In practice, fair treatment reflects concrete actions such
as employees are trusted, employees are treated with respect and employees are
treated fairly. Most employees associate fairness with ethical behavior.

Workplace unfairness can be blatant. Some supervisors are workplace bullies yelling
at or ridiculing subordinates, humiliating them, and sometime even making threats.
The employer should, of course, always prohibit such behavior, and many firms do
have anti-harassment policies. For example, at the Oregon Department of
Transportation It is the policy of the department that all employees, customers,
contractors and visitors to the work site are entitled to a positive, respectful and
productive work environment, free behavior, actions, [and] language not constituting
workplace harassment. Not surprisingly, employees of abusive supervisors are more
likely to quit their jobs, and to report lower job and life satisfaction and higher stress
if they remain in those jobs.

Some of the things that motivate managers to be fair may (or may not) be surprise.
For one thing, the old saying the squeaky wheel gets the grease seems to be true.
One study investigated the extent to which assertiveness on the subordinates part
influenced the fairness with which with which the persons supervisor treated his or
her. Did supervisors treat pushier employees more fairly? Yes, they did: Individuals
who communicated assertively were likely to be treated fairly by the decision maker.
Studies also suggest that large organizations have to work particularly hard to set up
procedures that make the workplace seem fair to employees.

TOPIC 2:- Measures and policies for employees safety at

work.
The safety and health policy must: be appropriate to the hazards and risks of the
organisation's work activities and include a commitment to protect, so far as is
reasonably practicable, its employees and others, such as contractors and members of
the public, from safety and health risks associated with its activities.

A safety and health management system means the part of the Organization’s
management system which covers:

 The health and safety work organization and policy in a company

 The planning process for accident and ill health prevention
 The line management responsibilities and
  The practices, procedures and resources for developing and implementing,
reviewing and maintaining the occupational safety and health policy.

The system should cover the entire gambit of an employer's occupational health and
safety organization. The key elements of a successful safety and health management
system are:
1. Policy and commitment
The workplace should prepare an occupational safety and health policy programme
as part of the preparation of the Safety Statement required by Section 20 of the
Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005. Effective safety and health policies
should set a clear direction for the organization to follow. They will contribute to all
aspects of business performance as part of a demonstrable commitment to continuous
improvement. Responsibilities to people and the working environment will be met in
a way that fulfills the spirit and letter of the law. Cost-effective approaches to
preserving and developing human and physical resources will reduce financial losses
and liabilities. In a wider context, stakeholders' expectations, whether they are
shareholders, employees or their representatives, customers or society at large, can be
met.
2. Planning
The workplace should formulate a plan to fulfill its safety and health policy as set out
in the Safety Statement. An effective management structure and arrangements should
be put in place for delivering the policy. Safety and health objectives and targets
should be set for all managers and employees.
3. Implementation and operation
For effective implementation, organizations should develop the capabilities and
support mechanisms necessary to achieve the safety and health policy, objectives and
targets. All staff should be motivated and empowered to work safely and to protect
their long-term health, not simply to avoid accidents. These arrangements should be:

 underpinned by effective staff involvement and participation through

appropriate consultation, the use of the safety committee where it exists and
the safety representation system and,
 sustained by effective communication and the promotion of competence,
which allows all employees and their representatives to make a responsible and
informed contribution to the safety and health effort.
There should be a planned and systematic approach to implementing the safety and
health policy through an effective safety and health management system. The aim is
to minimize risks. Risk Assessment methods should be used to determine priorities
and set objectives for eliminating hazards and reducing risks. Wherever possible,
risks should be eliminated through the selection and design of facilities, equipment
and processes. If risks cannot be eliminated, they should be minimized by the use of
physical controls and safe systems of work or, as a last resort, through the provision
of PPE. Performance standards should be established and used for measuring
achievement. Specific actions to promote a positive safety and health culture should
be identified. There should be a shared common understanding of the organization’s
vision, values and beliefs on health and safety. The visible and active leadership of
senior managers fosters a positive safety and health culture.
4. Measuring performance
The organization should measure, monitor and evaluate safety and health
performance. Performance can be measured against agreed standards to reveal when
and where improvement is needed. Active self-monitoring reveals how effectively
the safety and health management system is functioning. Self-monitoring looks at
both hardware (premises, plant and substances) and software (people, procedures and
systems, including individual behavior and performance). If controls fail, reactive
monitoring should find out why they failed, by investigating the accidents, ill health
or incidents, which could have caused harm or loss. The objectives of active and
reactive monitoring are:

 to determine the immediate causes of substandard performance

 to identify any underlying causes and implications for the design and operation
of the safety and health management system.

5. Auditing and reviewing performance

The organization should review and improve its safety and health management
system continuously, so that its overall safety and health performance improves
constantly. The organization can learn from relevant experience and apply the
lessons. There should be a systematic review of performance based on data from
monitoring and from independent audits of the whole safety and health management
system. These form the basis of complying with the organization’s responsibilities
under the 2005 Act and other statutory provisions. There should be a strong
commitment to continuous improvement involving the development of policies,
systems and techniques of risk control. Performance should be assessed by:

 Internal reference to key performance indicators

  External comparison with the performance of business competitors and best
practice in the organization’s employment sector.

Many companies now report on how well they have performed on worker safety and
health in their annual reports and how they have fulfilled their responsibilities with
regard to preparing and implementing their Safety Statements. In addition, employers
have greater responsibilities under Section 80 of the 2005 Act on ‘Liability of
Directors and Officers of Undertakings’ that requires them to be in a position to
prove they have pro-actively managed the safety and health of their workers. Data
from this ‘Auditing and reviewing performance’ process should be used for these
purposes. 
What issues should a review of the safety and health management system cover?
An organization should carry out an initial review of the safety and health
management system, and follow this up with periodic reviews. The initial review
should compare existing safety and health practice with:

 the requirements of safety and health legislation

 the provisions set out in the organization’s Safety Statement
 safety and health guidance in the organization
 existing authoritative and published safety and health guidance
 best practice in the organization’s employment sector

The following checklist may be used for the review

 Is the Safety Statement clear and concise so that it can be read and understood
by those who may be at risk?
 Is the Safety Statement available at the workplace to which it relates and are
workers given relevant extracts where they are at specific risk?
 Is the overall safety and health policy of the organization and the internal
structure for implementing it adequate, e.g. are responsibilities of named
persons clearly outlined?
 Does the Safety Statement contain a systematic identification of hazards and an
assessment of risks for the workplace(s) it covers? 
 Are Risk Assessments being carried out on a regular basis as risks change and
are the necessary improvements made to keep the safety and health
management system up to date?
  Are the necessary safety control measures required for a safe workplace
identified and implemented, e.g. the provision of safe access and egress, good
housekeeping, clear passageways and internal traffic control?
 Are written safe procedures for those operations that require them available,
e.g. for routine processing and ancillary activities, handling and using
chemicals, preventive maintenance, plant and equipment breakdown
maintenance, accident and ill-health investigations, emergency planning,
assessment of personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements?
 Are procedures available for monitoring the implementation of safety systems
and control measures, e.g. are safety audits being carried out?
 Is safety and health training being carried out and does the training give
adequate information to workers on risks they might be exposed to?
 Is the impact of this training and the level of understanding of the information
assessed by anyone?
 Do safety consultation, employee participation and representation procedures
exist and are these procedures effective, e.g. is there good co-operation
between employer, managers and employees on safety and health issues at the
workplace? Is there a safety committee in existence and if so does it comply
with the 2005 Act requirements? Are safety committee meetings constructive
with meeting reports and follow-up action lists? Is the safety representative or
representatives involved at every stage of the safety consultation process?

A Safety Statement should have a safety and health policy incorporated into it.

What is this policy?
A safety and health policy is a written document which recognizes that safety and
health is an integral part of the organization’s business performance. It is a statement
by the organization of its intentions and approach in relation to its overall safety and
health performance and provides a framework for action, and for the setting of its
safety and health objectives and targets. The safety and health policy must:

 be appropriate to the hazards and risks of the organization’s work activities and
include a commitment to protect, so far as is reasonably practicable, its
employees and others, such as contractors and members of the public, from
safety and health risks associated with its activities.
 include a commitment to comply with relevant safety and health legislation,
Codes of Practice and guidelines, as a minimum.
 Provide a framework for measuring performance and ensuring continuous
improvement by setting, auditing and reviewing safety and health objectives
and targets.
  Be documented, understood, implemented and maintained at all levels of the
organization.
 Clearly place the management of safety and health as a prime responsibility of
line management from the most senior executive level to first-line supervisory
level.
 Cover employee safety and health consultation, safety committee meetings
where they exist, worker participation and safety representation and includes a
commitment to provide appropriate resources to implement the policy.
 Provide for employee co-operation and compliance with safety rules and
procedures.

Organizations achieving high standards of safety and health develop policies that
recognize the:

 contribution that safety and health can make to business performance by

preserving and developing human and physical resources, by reducing costs
and liabilities, and by expressing corporate responsibility.
 Need for leaders to develop appropriate organizational structures and a culture
that supports risk control and secures the full participation of all members of
the organization.
 Requirement to resource and plan policy implementation adequately.
 Necessity of approaching injury, ill health and loss prevention by
systematically identifying hazards, assessing and controlling risks.
 Need for the organization to develop an understanding of risks and risk control
and to be responsive to internal and external change.
 Requirement to scrutinize and review performance to learn from experience.
 Connection between qualities, the environment, safety and health, and good
management practice.

What critical safety and health issues should be addressed, and allocated

adequate resources, in the safety and health policy?
Critical safety and health issues, which should be addressed and allocated resources,
in the safety and health policy, include the:

 design, provision and maintenance of a safe place of work for all employees
 design, provision and maintenance of safe means of access to and egress from
each part of the workplace
 design, provision and maintenance of any article, plant, equipment or
machinery for use at work in a safe manner, provision of systems of work that
 are planned, organized, performed, maintained or revised,  so as to be safe,
particularly for safety critical process operations or services
 performance of ongoing hazard identification and Risk Assessments, and
compliance with the general principles of prevention as set out in the
legislation
 provision and maintenance of welfare facilities and PPE
 preparation of emergency plans and the provision of first-aid training
 reporting of accidents and dangerous occurrences to the Authority and their
investigation
 provision and dissemination of safety and health information, instruction,
training and supervision as required
 operation of safety and health consultation, employee participation and safety
representation programmes
 review and keeping up-to-date the safety and health policy in order to prevent
adverse effects on the safety and health of employees from changing processes,
procedures and conditions in the workplace
 appointment of people responsible for keeping safety and health control
systems in place and making them aware of their responsibilities
 establishment of monitoring arrangements, including safety and health
inspections and audits, which should be used by the employer to ensure
ongoing compliance with legal duties, responsibilities and controls
 development of in-house safety and health competence
 employment of external safety and health experts as required
 use of standards, Codes of Practice, guidelines or industry practices
 co-operation required from employees and disciplinary procedures for non-
compliance.

However, this list is not exhaustive and the critical safety and health issues that could
be covered by the policy will depend on the risks in the organization. If the above
issues are adequately covered elsewhere in the Safety Statement or in the safety and
health management system, they might need only to be referred to in the safety and
health policy. Backup documentation may also be referred to in the policy.
What are the responsibilities of management regarding the implementation of
safety and health in the organization?
Responsibility for safety and health management ultimately rests with the employer.
This responsibility is normally delegated to executive directors, senior managers, line
managers, supervisors and employees. Each person’s authority and duties should be
clearly defined, documented and communicated to them.  The organizational and
reporting structure for implementing these duties should be illustrated in an in-house
organizational chart. In addition each director on the organization’s board needs to
accept their responsibilities in providing safety and health commitment and
leadership by:

 ensuring that each members’ actions and decisions at board level always
reinforce the message in the organization’s Safety Statement
 Preventing a mismatch between individual board members attitudes, behavior
or decisions and the organization’s Safety Statement so as not to undermine
workers belief in maintaining good safety and health standards.

Accidents, ill health and incidents are seldom random events. They generally arise
from failures of control and involve multiple contributory elements. The immediate
cause may be a human or technical failure, but such events usually arise from
organizational failings, which are the responsibility of management. Successful
safety and health management systems aim to utilize the strengths of managers and
other employees. The organization needs to understand how human factors affect
safety and health performance. Senior executive directors or other senior
management controlling body members and executive senior managers are primarily
responsible for safety and health management in the organization. These people need
to ensure that all their decisions reflect their safety and health intentions, as
articulated in the Safety Statement, which should cover:

 the appointment of someone at senior management level with executive

responsibility, accountability and authority for the development,
implementation, periodic review and evaluation of their safety and health
management system
 The safety and health ramifications of investment in new plant, premises,
processes or products. For example such changes could introduce:
 New materials - are they toxic or flammable, do they pose new risks to
employees, neighbors or the public and how will any new risks be controlled?
 New work practices - what are the new risks and are managers and
supervisors competent to induct workers in the new practices?
 New people - do they need safety and health training and are they sufficiently
competent to do the job safely?
 only engaging contractors to do new or ongoing projects that reinforce rather
than damage the organization’s safety and health policies
 recognizing their continuing responsibility for safety and health even when
work is contracted out
  providing their customers with the necessary safety and health precautions
when supplying them with articles, substances or services
 Being aware that although safety and health responsibilities can and should be
delegated, legal responsibility for safety and health still rests with the
employer.

 
Senior manager’s responsibilities include:

 preparing safety and health policies and consulting employees, including the 
safety committee where it exists, and the safety representative, as appropriate
 devising safety and health strategies for key high risks
 setting safety and health objectives and targets for employees
 devising plans to implement the safety and health policy
 ensuring that appropriate organizational structures are in place
 identifying and allocating resources for safety and health
 ensuring that the safety and health policy is effectively implemented and
checking whether objectives and targets have been met
 reviewing the effectiveness of the safety and health management system
 implementing any necessary improvements derived from carrying out Risk
Assessments
 giving all personnel the authority necessary to carry out individual safety and
health responsibilities
 devising appropriate arrangements whereby employees are held accountable
for discharging their responsibilities
 establishing clear and unambiguous reporting relationships 
 devising job descriptions that include safety and health responsibilities
 incorporating safety and health performance in the appraisal system where
personal appraisal systems exist
 developing safety and health cultures in project teams and team working
situations.

How can an organization control safety and health aspects of contractors’ work?

Although organizations routinely contract out either all or parts of their work
activities, they may still retain some of the legal responsibility for health and safety,
particularly if they directly control how this work is done. For this reason, the
organization should establish and maintain procedures for controlling the safety and
health aspects of contractor work. These should include:
  Pre-planning for medium or long-term contracts. This will involve carrying out
a full safety and health pre-qualification procedure; for short-term contracts,
safety and health aspects should be suitably checked by questionnaire or
review
 ensuring the contractor has prepared Risk Assessments and an up-to-date
Safety Statement, which are specific for the project to be undertaken
 defining responsibility for and setting up communication links between
appropriate levels of the organization and the contractor before work starts and
throughout the contract
 who is responsible for developing and providing site safety rules and method
statements
 providing safety and health training and induction of contractor personnel,
where necessary, before work begins
 monitoring safety and health aspects of contractor activities on site
 establishing procedures for communication of accidents and incidents
involving the contractor‘s personnel

Additionally, it is also necessary for organizations to check the ability of contractors

where they work close to, or in collaboration with, direct employees or with other
contractor's employees. Such arrangements should cover the:

 Recruitment and placement procedures that ensure employees (including

managers) have the necessary physical and mental abilities to do their jobs or
can acquire them through training and experience. This may require individual
fitness assessments by medical examination and tests of physical fitness or
aptitudes and abilities where work-associated risks require it
 systems to identify safety and health training needs arising from recruitment,
changes in staff, plant, substances, technology, processes or working practices
 training documentation as appropriate to suit the size and activity of the
organization
 refresher training to maintain or enhance competence, to include where
necessary contractors‘ employees, self-employed people or temporary workers
who are working in the organization
 communication systems and resources made available to ensure work is co-
ordinated safely and the risk of accidents are minimized 
 arrangements to ensure competent cover for staff absences, especially for staff
with critical safety and health responsibilities
 general health promotion and surveillance schemes that contribute to the
maintenance of general health and fitness; this may include assessments of
 fitness for work, rehabilitation, job adaptation following injury or ill-health, or
a policy on testing employees for drugs or alcohol abuse

Effective safety and health management includes effective emergency

planning. What should this cover?
The organization should establish and maintain procedures to respond to accidents
and emergency situations, and to prevent and minimize the safety and health impacts
associated with them. This is required by Section 11 of the Safety, Health and
Welfare at Work Act 2005. Emergency planning should cover:

 the development of emergency plans

 the testing and rehearsing of these plans and related equipment, including fire
fighting equipment and fire alarms
 training personnel on what to do in the event of an emergency, particularly
those people who have to carry out duties (e.g. fire-fighting teams, first- aiders)
 advising people working or living near the installation about what they should
do in the event of an emergency
 Familiarizing the emergency services with the facilities at the organization so
that they know what to expect in the event of an emergency.

The emergency plan itself should include:

 details on the installation, availability and testing of suitable warning and

alarm systems
 details of emergency scenarios that might occur, including the means for
dealing with these scenarios
 the emergency procedures in the organization, including the responsibilities of
key personnel, procedures for fire-fighting and evacuation of all personnel on
site and first-aid requirements
 details of emergency services (e.g. fire brigade, ambulance services, spill
clean-up services) and the contact arrangements for these services
 internal and external communications plans
 training plans and testing for effectiveness
 Details on the availability of emergency rescue equipment and its maintenance
log.

The organization should periodically test, review and revise its emergency
preparedness and response procedures where necessary, in particular after the
occurrence of accidents or emergency situations. The emergency plan should dovetail
with the Safety Statement as required by Section 20 of the 2005 Act. Major accident
hazard sites covered by the EU COMAH Regulations, need to have emergency plans
in place to cover major accidents involving chemicals. Details of what is required are
covered at control of major accident hazards his website.
What key questions should an employer ask her/himself to determine the
adequacy of safety and health management in the organization?
The following are some key questions for employers to assist in determining the
adequacy of their safety and health management in the organization:

 Does your executive board of directors or senior management team ensure all
their decisions reflect the safety and health intentions in your Safety
Statement?
 Does your executive board of directors or senior management team recognize
the need to involve all staff in issues that affect their safety and health?
 Do your directors and senior managers provide daily safety and health
leadership in the organization?
 Do you have an agreed safety and health policy? Is it written into your Safety
Statement?
 Have you allocated responsibilities for safety and health to specific people -
are they clear on what they have to do and are they held accountable?
 Is safety and health always considered before any new work is started or work
equipment is bought?
 Did you consult and involve your staff and your safety representatives
effectively?
 Have you identified the hazards and assessed the risks to your own staff, to
others and to the public in the workplaces you control?
 Do you set standards for the premises, plant, substances, procedures and
people you control or the products you produce? Are these standards in place
and the risks effectively controlled?
 Do you have an emergency plan to deal with serious or imminent danger, e.g.
fires, process deviations, gas leaks, the effects of poor weather, floods etc.?
 Does your staff have sufficient information about the risks they are exposed to
and the preventive measures they must take?
 Do you have the right levels of safety and health expertise? Are your
employees properly trained and do they attend the training provided by you?
 Do you need specialist safety and health advice from outside and if so have
you arranged to obtain it?
 Does all your staff accept their responsibilities under safety and health law?
How can the safety and health management system be monitored?
It should be a line-management responsibility to monitor safety and health
performance against predetermined plans and standards. Monitoring reinforces
management’s commitment to safety and health objectives in general and helps to
develop a positive safety and health culture by rewarding positive work done to
control risk. Two types of monitoring are required:

1. Active Systems that monitor the design, development, installation and

operation of management arrangements, safety systems and workplace
precautions.
2. Reactive Systems that monitor accidents, ill health, incidents and other
evidence of deficient safety and health performance.

1. Active monitoring
Every organization should collect information to investigate the causes of
substandard performance or conditions adequately. Documented procedures for
carrying out these activities on a regular basis for key operations should be
established and maintained. The monitoring system should include:

 identification of the appropriate data to be collected and accuracy of the results

required
 monitoring of the achievement of specific plans, set performances criteria and
objectives
 installation of the requisite monitoring equipment and assessment of its
accuracy and reliability
 calibration and regular maintenance of this equipment together with
documented records of both the procedures involved and the results obtained
 analysis and records of the monitoring data collected and documented actions
to be taken when results breach performance criteria
 evaluation of all the data as part of the safety and health management review
 Documented procedures for reviewing the monitoring and safety and health
implications of forthcoming changes to work systems.

Techniques that should be used for active measurement of the safety and health
management system include:

 systematic inspections of workplace processes or services to monitor specific

objectives, e.g. weekly, monthly or quarterly reports
  systematic review of the organization’s Risk Assessments to determine
whether they are functioning as intended or need to be updated, and are the
necessary improvements being implemented
 plant or machinery inspections, e.g. statutory plant inspections and certification
 environmental sampling for dusts, chemical fumes, noise or biological agents
 Analysis of safety and health management system records.

2. Reactive monitoring
A system of internal reporting of all accidents (which includes ill health cases) and
incidents of non-compliance with the safety and health management system should
be set up so that the experience gained may be used to improve the management
system. The organization should encourage an open and positive approach to
reporting and follow-up and should also put in place a system of ensuring that
reporting requirements are met.
The organization should establish procedures for investigating accidents and
incidents to  identify their causes, including possible deficiencies in the safety and
health management system. Those responsible for investigating accidents, and
incidents should be identified and the investigation should include plans for
corrective action, which incorporate measures for:

 restoring compliance as quickly as possible

 preventing recurrence
 evaluating and mitigating any adverse safety and health effects
 reviewing the Risk Assessments to which the accident relates
 Assessing the effects of the proposed remedial measures.

These techniques are explained in more detail in Appendix D of the Authority’s

Guidance Work place safety and Health Management.

Should the management of safety and health be audited in addition to monitoring

performance?
Monitoring provides the information to let the organization review activities and
decide how to improve performance. Auditing and performance review are the final
steps in the safety and health management control cycle. They constitute the
‘feedback loop’ that enables an organization to reinforce, maintain and develop its
ability to reduce risks to the fullest extent and to ensure the continued effectiveness of
its safety and health management system. Audits, by the organization’s own staff or
by external bodies, complement monitoring activities by looking to see if the safety
and health management systems are actually achieving the right results. Combine the
results from measuring performance with information from audits to improve the
organization’s overall approach to safety and health management. 
The organisation should establish and maintain a programme and procedures for
periodic safety and health management system audits to be carried out. This enables a
critical appraisal of all the elements of the safety and health management system to
be made. Auditing is the structured process of collecting independent information on
the efficiency, effectiveness and reliability of the total safety and health management
system and drawing up plans for corrective action. These audits should be carried out
in addition to routine monitoring, inspection and surveillance of the safety and health
management system. The purpose of these audits is to ensure the continued
suitability, adequacy and effectiveness of the safety and health management system.
The audit process should ensure that the necessary information is collected to allow
management to carry out this evaluation adequately.
The organisation should establish and maintain audit records consistent with the
safety and health management system records. Their retention times should be
established and must comply with legal requirements.
Further information on setting up and operating a safety and health management
system audit is given in Appendix E of the Authority's Workplace Safety and Health
Management.

What should be contained in the system audit protocols and procedures?

The protocols and procedures for the audit on the health and safety management
system should include the following:

 the allocation of resources to the process

 personnel requirements, including that of the audit team, i.e. competence
required for auditors (auditors should have the appropriate training and skills
so that they can assess physical, human and other factors and the use of
procedures as well as documents or records - wherever possible, auditors
should be independent of the activity being audited and include support from a
wider range of specialists if necessary)
 the methodologies for conducting and documenting the audits, which may
include checklists, questionnaires, interviews, measurement and direct
observation
 the procedures for reporting audit findings to those responsible to facilitate
timely corrective action and improvement
  a system for auditing and tracking the implementation of audit
recommendations to include addressing the possible need for changes to safety
and health policy, objectives and other elements of the safety and health
management system.

What key questions should an employer ask her/himself when measuring,

reviewing and auditing their safety and health performance?
The key questions that an employer should ask when measuring, reviewing and
auditing their safety and health performance are:

 Do you know how well you perform in safety and health?

 Are your executive board, your directors and senior management team kept
informed of your safety and health performance and do you report on this
performance in your annual report?
 How do you know if you are meeting your own objectives and standards for
safety and health?  Are your controls for risks good enough?
 How do you know you are complying with the safety and health laws that
affect your business?
 Do your accident or incident investigations get to all the underlying causes - or
do they stop when you find the first person that has made a mistake?
 Do you have accurate records of injuries, ill health, bullying complaints and
accidental loss?
 Do you report on safety and health failures to your board and your directors?
 How do you learn from your mistakes and your successes?
 Do you carry out safety and health audits at least annually? If you do, what
action do you take on audit findings?
 Do the audits involve staff at all levels? Do you involve your safety
representative and safety committee, where it exists, in the audits?
 When did you last review your Safety Statement and your safety and health
performance?
 Does your executive board of Directors or senior management team review
your safety and health performance and ensure safety and health risk
management systems are in place and remain effective?
 Has your executive board and your Directors or senior management team
appointed someone at Director level to ensure safety and health risk
management issues are properly addressed and is this person competent to do
so?
How does the employer train staff to ensure they have the skills,
knowledge and attitudes to make them competent in the safety and health
aspects of their work?
Under Section 10 of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act 2005, employers
must provide their employees with the instruction and training necessary to ensure
their safety and health. There are specific training obligations for employees involved
in the safety consultation and safety representation processes. Safety and health
training must form part of the training of all people who work at the workplace.
Training helps people acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes to make them
competent in the safety and health aspects of their work. It includes formal off-the-
job training, instruction to individuals and groups, and on-the-job coaching and
counseling. However, training is not a substitute for proper risk control, for example
to compensate for poorly designed plant or inadequate workstations. The key to
effective training is to understand job requirements and individual abilities.
In order to train staff to ensure they obtain the necessary skills, knowledge and
attitudes to make them competent in the safety and health aspects of their work, it is
important to identify appropriate training objectives and methods by first identifying
the training needs. Training needs may be organizational, job-related and individual:
1. Organizational needs: Everyone in the organisation should know about the
organization’s Safety Statement and the philosophy underlying it and the structure
and systems for delivering the policy. Employees should also know which parts of
the systems are relevant to them, to understand the major risks in the organization’s
activities and how they are controlled. 
2. Job-related needs: This fall into two main types - management needs and non-
management needs.
Management needs include:

 leadership skills
 communication skills
 techniques of safety and health management
 training, instruction, coaching and problem - solving skills relevant to safety
and health
 understanding of the risks in a manager's area of responsibility
 knowledge of relevant legislation and appropriate methods of control,
including risk assessment
 knowledge of the organization’s planning, measuring, reviewing and auditing
arrangements
  awareness of the financial and economic benefits of good safety and health
performance.

 
Non-management needs include:

 an overview of safety and health principles

 detailed knowledge of the safety and health arrangements relevant to an
individual‘s job
 communication and problem-solving skills to encourage effective participation
in safety and health activities.

 
3. Individual needs: Individual needs are generally identified through performance
appraisal. They may also arise because an individual has not absorbed formal job
training or information provided as part of their induction. Training needs vary over
time, and assessments should cover:

 induction of new starters, including part-time and temporary workers

 maintaining or updating the performance of established employees, especially
if they may be involved in critical emergency procedures
 job changes, promotion or when someone has to deputies
 introduction of new equipment or technology
 follow-up action after an incident investigation.

How does an organisation ensure it has access to sufficient safety and

health knowledge, skills and/or experience to identify and manage safety
and health risks effectively?
Organizations should ensure they have access to sufficient safety and health
knowledge, skills or experience to identify and manage safety and health risks
effectively, and to set appropriate objectives by:

 training managers to a sufficient level of competence to be able to manage

their activities safely and keep up to date with developments in safety and
health
 employing appropriate safety and health professionals as part of the
management team to advise the organisation on relevant safety and health
matters
  acquiring the necessary skills and advice from external providers as required.

Whichever method or combination of these methods is chosen by an organisation it

does not relieve the employer and the management of the organisation from their
legal responsibilities to ensure a safe workplace.

What is the role of the safety and health advisor?

Safety and health advisers should have the status and competence to advise
management and employees with authority and independence. By virtue of the
definition of ‘competent person’ under the 2005 Act, they must possess sufficient
training, experience and knowledge appropriate to the work to be done. They should
be capable of advising on:

 formulating and developing safety and health policies, not just for existing
activities but also with respect to new acquisitions or processes
 promoting a positive safety and health culture in the organisation and securing
the effective implementation of safety and health policy
 planning for safety and health, including the setting of realistic short and long
term objectives, deciding priorities and establishing adequate systems and
performance standards
 day-to-day implementation and monitoring of policy and plans, including
accident and incident investigation, reporting and analysis
 reviewing performance and auditing the whole safety and health management
system.

To do this properly, safety and health advisers should:

 be properly trained by reputable organizations or be individuals who are

suitably qualified; having membership of recognized professional safety and
health bodies such as IOSH or BOHS and having a qualification to at least
Diploma level in a recognized third-level safety and health course will offer
routes for demonstrating competence
 maintain adequate information systems on topics including safety and health
law, safety and health management and technical advances
 demonstrate the ability to interpret the law in the context of the organisation
 be involved in establishing organizational arrangements, systems and risk -
control standards relating to hardware and human performance, by advising
line management on matters such as legal and technical standards
  establish and maintain procedures for reporting, investigating, recording and
analyzing accidents and incidents
 establish and maintain procedures, including monitoring and other means such
as review and auditing, to ensure that senior managers get a true picture of how
well safety and health is being managed (where a benchmarking role may be
especially valuable)
 present their advice independently and effectively

What information should be covered in accident and incident reports?

Key information to be covered in accident, ill-health and incident reports include:

1. The event:

 Details of any injured person, including age, sex, experience, training, etc.
 A description of the circumstances, including the place, time of day and
conditions.

Details of the event, including:

 any actions which led directly to the event

 the direct causes of any injuries, ill-health or other loss
 the immediate causes of the event
 the underlying causes, e.g. failures in workplace precautions, risk control
systems or management arrangements
 Details of the outcomes, including in particular:

 the nature of the outcome for example, injuries or ill-health to employees or

members of the public; damage to property; process disruptions; emissions
to the environment; creation of hazards
 the severity of the harm caused, including injuries, ill-health and losses
 the immediate management response to the situation and its adequacy, i.e.
Was it dealt with promptly?
Were continuing risks dealt with promptly and adequately? Was the first-aid
response adequate?
Were emergency procedures followed?
 whether the event was preventable and if so how.

2. The potential consequences:

  What was the worst that could have happened?
 What prevented the worst from happening?
 How often could such an event occur (the ‘Recurrence Potential’)?
 What was the worst injury or damage, which could have resulted (the ‘Severity
Potential’)?
 How many people could the event have affected (the 'Population Potential')?

3. Recommendations:

 Prioritized actions with responsibilities and targets for completion

 Whether the risk assessments need to be reviewed and the safety statement
updated.

4. Learning from and communicating results from investigations:

The organisation, having learnt from its investigations, should:

 identify root causes in the safety and health and general management of the
organisation
 communicate findings and recommendations to all relevant parties
 include relevant findings and recommendations from investigations in the
continuing safety and health review process.

5. Cautions in using accident and ill health data:

Accident and ill health data are important, as they are a direct indicator of safety and
health performance. However, some cautions relating to their use are:

 most organizations have too few injury accidents or cases of work-related ill
health to distinguish real trends from random effects.
 if more work is done by the same number of people in the same time, increased
workload alone may account for an increase in accident rates.
 the length of absence from work attributed to injury or work-related ill health
may be influenced by factors other than the severity of injury or occupational
ill health. Such factors can include poor morale, monotonous work, stressful
working conditions, poor management / employee relations and local advice or
traditions.
 Accidents are often under-reported, and occasionally over-reported. Levels of
reporting can change. They can improve as a result of increased workforce
awareness and better reporting and recording systems.
  a time delay can occur between safety and health management system failures
and harmful effects. Moreover, many occupational diseases have long latent
periods. Management should not wait for harm to occur before judging
whether safety and health management systems are working.

TOPIC 3:- Basic Principles Governing International Human

Resource Management and the role of Culture.
Culture means shared beliefs, values, norms, and moral by the people.
Organisational culture means a pervasive underlying set of beliefs, assumptions,
values, shared feelings and perceptions, which influence the behaviour of people in
the organization. The same distinguishes one organization from another.

IHRM can be defined as set of activities aimed managing organizational human

resources at international level to achieve organizational objectives and achieve
competitive advantage over competitors at national and international level. IHRM
includes typical HRM functions such as recruitment, selection, training and
development, performance appraisal and dismissal done at international level and
additional activities such as global skills management, expatriate management and so
on.

 Home country employees: Employees belonging to home country of the firm

where the corporate head quarter is situated.
 Host country employees: Employees belonging to the nation in which the
subsidiary is situated.
 Third country employees: These are the employees who are not from home
country/host country but are employed at subsidiary or corporate head quarters. As an
example a American MNC which has a subsidiary at India may employ a French
person as the CEO to the subsidiary. The Frenchman employed is a third
country employee.

Basic Principles Governing International Human Resource Management

1. Cultural Factors

Culture means shared beliefs, values, norms, and moral by the people. Organisational
culture means a pervasive underlying set of beliefs, assumptions, values, shared
feelings and perceptions, which influence the behaviour of people in the organization.
The same distinguishes one organization from another.
Similarly, at macro level too, wide ranging cultural differences exist across the
nations/countries. For example, the eastern culture widely varies from the western
one. Just to quote, the incentive plans in Asia (Japan) tend to focus on the work
group, while in the west the more usual prescription is still to focus on individual
worker incentives’.

The research work of Geert Hofstede’ undertaken into IBM using the responses of
managers from 66 different countries produced some interesting evidences on
cultural differences. In his study Hofstede found that societies differ on four primary
dimensions which he called: power distance (PDI), uncertainty avoidance (UAI),
individuality (INV) and masculinity (MASC).

A brief discussion of these follows

(I) Power Distance (PDI)

By power distance Hofstede means the extent to which members of a society accept
that power in institutions and organizations is and should be distributed equally.
Accordingly, the distance between the government and the governed is narrower in
democratic societies like India than in dictatorial ones like Philippines. This means,
Hofstede concludes, the workers in India will have far more chances of influencing
decisions of the government than would the workers in Philippines. According to
him, the same applies to organizations also.

(II) Uncertainty Avoidance (UAI)

In simple terms, uncertainty avoidance means the creation of set of rules and
structures to eliminate ambiguity in organizations and support those beliefs that are
promising for certainty and conformity. Differences abound among countries from
this point of view also For example, while at work place, the Indians, Germans and
the French feel a much greater need for rules and regulations than do the Swedes and
the British. The attitude of uncertainty avoidance is much frowned on in high PDI
countries like Philippines and Germany.

(III) Individualism (INV)

In simple terms, individualism means the degree of preference of individuals

expected to look after themselves and their immediate families. Just reverse is
collectivist. From this stand point, USA and Britain score high on the individual
 index and Indonesia and Pakistan score low. What these mean is the preference for
living and working in individual and collectivist ways respectively.

(IV) Masculinity (MASC)

By masculinity, Hofstede means the extent to which the society values assertiveness
(masculinity) and caring (femininity). In simple terms, masculinity pertains to those
societies in which social gender roles are clearly distinct, that is, men are supposed to
be assertive tough and focused on material success. Femininity pertains to societies in
which women are supposed to be more modest, tender and caring for the quality of
life.

As per this index, Japan and Australia ranked high in masculinity, while Denmark
and Sweden ranked low. It is also important to note that in Japan, the most masculine
country, women seem to retain their feminine values. However, in Sweden, the least
masculine country as per the index, feminine values applies also to men.

2. Economic Conditions

Like cultural differences, there abound economic differences among

nations/countries. Differences n economic conditions or systems cause inter-country
differences in HR practices. For example, in case of a country with free enterprise
systems, the need for efficiency tends to favour HR practices and policies that
encourage productivity, efficient workers, etc. On the other side, when one moves
along the scale toward more socialist systems, HR practices tend to shift toward
different direction like preventing unemployment. It may do so even at the expense of
sacrificing efficiency.

3. Labour Cost Factors

HR practices are also influenced by differences in labour costs existed in different

countries. If the labour cost is high, it can require more focus on labour efficiency
which, in turn, can influence HR practice to shift toward improving labour
performance. Labour may get remuneration as per performance i.e., pay-for-
performance.

Evidences are available to mention the inter-country differences in labour costs.

Labour cost is quite more in U.K. than in India, for example. Wide gaps in hours
worked also exist among the countries which also need to be considered while
studying HR practices in a particular country.
 Intra-country differences in hours worked exist across organizations. For example, in
India, there is 5 days week (work) in the central government departments, while its 6
days week in the state government departments. This affects HR practices such as
vacations between the two types of organizations in the same country.

4. Labour Relations Factors

Labour relations or industrial relations i.e., relationship between employees,

employers and the government that vary from country to country and have an
enormous bearing on affecting HR practices. For instance, in Germany,
codetermination is the rule. Here, the employees enjoy legal right to have their voice
in the matters of their company.

On the other hand, in India and many countries, the State has its role to play in the
relations between employees and employers. In India, for instance! HR policies on
most matters such as compensation (wages/salary) and retirement benefits are set by
the government. The government does so by enactment of the various Acts such as
the Minimum

Wages Act, 1948, The Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972, the Payment of Bonus Act,
1965, etc. The HR policies are determined accordingly. As seen above, wide inter-
country differences in culture, economic systems, labour costs, and industrial
relations systems affect HR practices. Hence, HR managers need to consider these
impacts and evolve HR practices for business operations conducted globally. The
subsequent section deals with the same.

ROLE OF CULTURE IN IHRM

1. Recruitment And Selection
2. Training And Development Programs
3. Performance appraisal
4. Compensation and Benefits
5. Industrial Relations. Etc.