Analyzing Health and Safety Issues

Health and Safety Issues Safety and health regulation breaches are criminal offenses in a number of jurisdictions, and may cause prosecution of the organization, employee, or executive by relevant enforcement authorities in safety and health; the guilty individual may be fined or may even suffer imprisonment. Violations incur fines based on jurisdiction; for instance, a violation of safety and health regulations in the United Kingdom can result in a fine amounting to about 20,000 pounds.

Conscious and intentional violation of regulations, or serious negligence in performing one's legal duties, which endangers lives, may result in imprisonment or unlimited fines. The term "violation" denotes any conscious deviation from regulations, rules, procedures, and instructions put in place for effective and safe maintenance and operation of equipment or plant. Rule breaches may be unintentional, intentional, or accidental (Vinodkumar & Bhasi, 2010; Edwards, 2000).

Health and safety managers' initiatives The foremost consideration when handling workers not showing compliance with safety and health precautions is determining whether: 1) The company possesses a disciplinary policy; 2) This policy mentions the ramifications of non-adherence to its safety rules; 3) The worker knows of the policy and has signed it; 4) There are safety procedures in place, known to all in the organization; 5) The employee was told of these safety requirements when performing specific activities; and 6) Suitable protective gear has been given to workers, and they are trained with regard to how it must be used (Marsh et al., 2010).

The above six considerations are vital, prior to taking disciplinary action; the absence of any one factor implies that management failed to adequately train, instruct, and offer safety equipment and information to workers. Another consideration is: examining the context wherein violation or regulations has occurred, to ensure that one is fair to the worker in question. One question to raise here is: Are safety rules enforced in the organization consistently. This involves constant enforcement, together with consistent employee treatment.

Furthermore, decision-makers review multiple mitigating factors, such as service duration, immediate apology, employee's commitment to alter his/her behavior, past disciplinary record, and risk of possible worker injury due to the safety breach. They also examine aggravating factors, such as, potential/actual injury to workers or other people in the organization, lack of remorse or admission, short service, and history/past record of such infractions.

The above considerations are imperative, since imposing discipline is not a simple task, especially in unionized settings where arbitral review is required for disciplinary decisions, and the application of a number of indirect legal considerations is necessary when deciding the time and kind of disciplinary action to be taken (Edwards, 2000; Sinclair, Martin & Sears, 2010). If every consideration mentioned above is met and non-compliance persists, the management ought to send verbal warnings (based on seriousness of the infraction) that have to be documented. Continued non-compliance leads to an official written warning.

One must remember that, if anything goes wrong, the top-level organizational management is always held liable. Hence, safety and health managers must display diligent and continuous safety standards enforcement. When all else fails, the management might have to think about terminating the rule-breaker's employment. However, companies are advised to first seek legal advice prior to terminating a worker's employment. It is imperative for organizations to maintain proper records of safety breaches and any warnings (verbal or written) provided to employees (Sinclair et al., 2010).

Conclusion The extent of discipline is the final significant aspect that decision makers must consider. Suitable penalty for any infraction should be reviewed every time from the point-of-view of progressive discipline. In other words, as discipline is intended for correction, rather than as punishment, organizations impose increasingly significant penalties, with repeat occurrences earning penalties that are more serious. The lone permitted exception might be in case of a safety breach with major potential consequences.

In case of one-time breaches, such as in matters like lockout, or in driving infractions wherein public as well as worker safety might be in.