By Dr. Nakimuli Mariam (PhD)

Kampala: The concern for health and safety is legitimate in every context of human enterprise. Staff’s safety needs to be guaranteed, the working equipment available should be properly maintained and installation for nonexistent ones done according to the health and safety policies and procedures in curbing safety hazards.

Employee health and safety programs should be a major priority for management because they save lives, increase productivity, and reduce costs. These health and safety programs should stress employee involvement, continued monitoring, and an overall wellness component (Anthony et al., 2007). Work safety requires that safe working conditions should not create a significant risk of people being rendered unfit to perform their work. Health and safety at work is therefore aimed at creating conditions, capabilities, and habits that enable the worker and his/her organization to carry out their work efficiently and in a way that avoids events which could cause them harm (Garcia-Herrero et al., 2012).

Safe working conditions affect the habits of workers, which in turn impacts efficiency. This implies that employees working in a safe condition are likely to perform in a way that will not cause them harm.

The role of Employees in ensuring their Safety by comparing two types of models on safety, Robens (1972) offers a challenge to the traditional approach to safety in the workplace, known as the ‘careless worker’ model. In this model, employers assumed that most of the accidents were due to the employee’s failure to take safety seriously, or failing to protect themselves. In his report, he recognized that the ‘careless worker’ model does not explain occupational ill-health caused by toxic substances, noise and badly designed and unsafe systems of work.

A new approach to occupational health and safety, the ‘shared responsibility’ model assumes that the best way to reduce levels of occupational accidents and disease relies on the cooperation of both employers and employees (Bratton & Gold, 1999). To maintain a safe and healthy workplace, workers and supervisors must be taught to keep a health and safety mindset. Such mindedness does not always accompany the acquisition of skills or knowledge on equipment operation. Most people learn how to drive an automobile, for example, with relatively little difficulty. An attitude of maturity is, however, necessary (Siegel, 1962).

Though employers are required to design and maintain safe and healthy systems of work, the concomitant duty of the employee is to behave in a manner that safeguards his or her health and that of his/her co-workers (Bratton & Gold, 1999).

Research conducted at The Research Centre Design and Technology of the Saxion University of Journal of Education and Practice on “Safety at work” concluded that personal safety, a safe environment and safe behaviour were important components that employers need to ensure their availability within their organizations.

According to this research, enforcing safety by adjusting the environment people have to work in and detecting risks at work so that workers can avoid dangerous situations is key (Ynze Houten (ed)., 2012).

Employees have a responsibility to take all reasonable and necessary precautions to ensure their health and safety, and that of anyone else who may be affected by their work or activities. They are required to use all materials, equipment, devices and clothing that are provided by the employer (Canadian Labour Code, 2015).

The Role of Administration in Health and Safety Legislation Early research by psychologists and sociologists examined individual dispositions and social causes utilizing disciplinary frameworks in developing concepts and theoretical insights into occupational Health and Safety (Dawson & Zanko, 2011). The findings were enhanced by the results of workplace surveys by industrial relations specialists that drew attention to the importance of legislation and innovative non-regulatory as well as regulatory strategies (Nichols et al., 2007).

The concern for health and safety has been there in history. Early researchers were concerned about theoretical insights into employee health and safety.

Surveys which were done later focused on the importance of legislation. In technical questions about workplace health and safety, there is the social element. That is, for example, the power relations in production: who tells whom to do what and how fast. After all, a machine does not go faster by itself; someone designed the machinery, organized the work, and designed the job (Sass, 1986).

This implies that ‘health and safety is not simply a technical issue such as supplying hard hats and goggles or ensuring adequate ventilation, because it raises the question of economic costs and power relations’ This is true of all institutions.

A review conducted by the Health and Safety Commission (HSC) under health and safety regulation in 1994 revealed that people were confused about the differences between; Guidance, Approved Codes of Practices and Regulations.

The commission went ahead to provide a way out of this confusion. The results included what health and safety law requires. The Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974, sets out the duties which employers have towards employees and members of the public, and also the duties of employers to themselves and each other.

Legislation applies to employers and employees. The legislation at the national level is supposed to be made part of domestic law by employers (HSE, 2003/2008).

The act clarifies and enhances the responsibilities of employers, the self-employed, employees and other stakeholders with safety and health at work.

It also provides a range of enforcement measures that may be applied and specifies penalties that may be applied for breaches of occupational safety and health laws (Safety, Health, and Welfare at Work Act of 2005, accessed, 2015).

Many states have passed the ‘right to know’ legislation that guarantees individual workers the right to know of hazardous substances in the workplace and requires employers to inform employees of the same (Anthony et al., 2007).

There are state and federal laws to protect the welfare of the worker. The major one is the Occupational and Safety Health Act (OSHA), which became effective in 1971, whose purpose is “to assure” as far as possible, every working woman and man in the nation safe and healthy working conditions, and to preserve our human resources.”

To accomplish this, there are provisions for safety and health standards, research, information, and education and training in occupational safety and health (De Reamer, 1980). Institutions may comprehensively cover such things as record keeping, inspection, health and safety audits, compliance, and enforcement of safety standards.

Authored by:

Dr. Nakimuli Mariam (PhD)
ADMINISTRATOR OFFICE OF THE NATIONAL CHAIRMAN -NRM