TABLE OF CONTENTS Occupational health and safety is relevant to all branches of industry, business and commerce and includes traditional industries, information technology companies, the National Health Service, care homes, schools, universities, leisure facilities and offices.
The purpose of this unit is to introduce the foundations on which appropriate health and safety systems may be built. Occupational health and safety affects all aspects of work and may simply require a trained competent manager in a low hazard organization. In a high hazard manufacturing plant, many different specialists, such as engineers (electrical, mechanical and civil), lawyers, medical doctors and nurses, trainers, work planners and supervisors, may be required to assist the professional health and safety practitioner in ensuring that there are satisfactory health and safety standards within the organization.
There are many obstacles to the achievement of good standards. The pressure of production or performance targets, financial constraints and the complexity of the organization are typical examples of such obstacles. However, there are some powerful incentives for organizations to strive for high health and safety standards. These incentives are moral, legal and economic.
Corporate responsibility, a term used extensively in the 21st Century world of work, covers a wide range of issues. It includes the effects that an organization's business has on the environment, human rights and third world poverty. Health and safety in the workplace is an important Corporate responsibility issue.
Corporate responsibility has various definitions. However, broadly speaking it covers the ways in which organizations manage their core business to...
