Health and safety in work place is an important factor for both the management and the employees. Health and safety issues can bring harm and pain to the employee and their families on the other hand with frequent absentees the work force efficiency decreases creating loss for the company. Thus to create a win-win situation, health and safety at work place must be given high importance. According to Armstrong (2012), “Health and safety policies and programmes are concerned with protecting employees – and other people affected by what the company produces and does – against the hazards arising from their employment or their links with the company. (Armstrong, 2012, p. 440)”
In the context of Nepal, the health and safety check is done by the Ministry of Labour. There are inspectors who do routine health and safety checks in the factories.
According to the Labour Rules, 2015 (1993), Nepal, one of the authority given to Factory Inspector has been mentioned as “To enter into any Enterprise or Factory within the jurisdiction of the Labour office and inspect and examine the building, land, plant, machine, use of raw materials, finished and semi-finished goods and arrangements relating to health and safety and to issue order to Proprietor, in case it is required to correct in that respect. (Nepal, 1993, p. 23)”
But due to lack of governmental strictness and a lot of organization running without proper registration many go without proper checks. “There is no systematic labour inspection system. Consequently, the safety and health provisions at the workplace are enforced by the Factory Inspectors but their number is very low (only 11) in comparison to the number of establishments in the country. As a result the number and manner of inspection at establishments has been extremely inadequate. (Gautam & Prasain, 2011, p. 26)”
Thus we can conclude that health and safety in workplace is vital not only to limit pain, suffering and loss to both employee and employee alike but it is dictated by the law and internationally accepted.
Conducting health and safety audits is necessary because without it there are higher chances of accidents and even fatality. People living with disability their whole lives from accidents in workplace brings not only difficulty to the family but the organization having to pay a huge amount of money.
“The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that more than 2.78 million people lose their lives as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases and approximately 374 million accidents occur on the job annually around the world. In Ne-pal alone, approximately 20,000 workers suffer from accidents at the workplace and 200 people lose their lives each year. (Howard & Basnyat, 2017)”
It is relatively easy to deduce from the figures as presented above the dire need for proper safety and health audits in Nepal. The audit is important as it contributes the following.
1. Prevention of Accidents: Health and safety standards are created to reduce the risk of casualty and fatality due to accidents in a workplace setting. It is important to conduct health and safety audits to understand that the standards are maintained since maintaining standards help in preventing accidents not only to the employee but even to the environment and other people living in the vicinity along with the consumers of the product. For example a fireman will not go into a burning building without his safety gear and so this gear is very important to the safety of his life. Thus safety and health audits will check to see if the gear that they are using is functioning or not.
2. Safeguards Organization: “The existence of a robust health and safety auditing programme should also provide a degree of mitigation in the event of a corporate manslaughter case, providing the organisation has acted on the findings and recommendations in a timely manner. Toll, H. (2009)” In case of fatal accidents a completed health and safety audit can help in defending the organization against lawful actions.
3. Improve standards: The audit will help point out gaps in the legal standards and will paint a clear picture of what needs to be improved. It will also show if mandatory legal compliances are being followed or not. “The process can either establish a baseline on which to build, or provide a measure of improvement since the last audit, or a benchmark with other sites or external organisations. Toll, H. (2009)” The improvement of standards will help identify weaknesses and improve prevent measures reducing the risk of incidents in future.
Health and safety audits are vital to ascertain if the standards are maintained and functioning well to prevent accidents. It also motivates organization to continuously work with safety issues in mind even with their busy work preventing unnecessary risks and saving lives.
References
Armstrong, M. (2012). ARMSTRONG’S HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (12 Ed ed.). Kogan Page.
Gautam, R. P., & Prasain, J. (2011). Current Situation of Occupational Safety and Health in Nepal. Kathmandu: General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT).
Howard, R., & Basnyat, A. (2017, December 3). Working safe. myRepublica , p. 1 para.
Nepal, G. o. (1993, November 8). Labour Rules, 2050 (1993). Ministry of Labour, Employment & Social Security . Nepal, 3, Nepal: Law Comission. Retrieved from dol.gov.np/site/cms/12
Health and safety in work place is an important factor for both the management and the employees. Health and safety issues can bring harm and pain to the employee and their families on the other hand with frequent absentees the work force efficiency decreases creating loss for the company. Thus to create a win-win situation, health and safety at work place must be given high importance. According to Armstrong (2012), “Health and safety policies and programmes are concerned with protecting employees – and other people affected by what the company produces and does – against the hazards arising from their employment or their links with the company. (Armstrong, 2012, p. 440)”
In the context of Nepal, the health and safety check is done by the Ministry of Labour. There are inspectors who do routine health and safety checks in the factories.
According to the Labour Rules, 2015 (1993), Nepal, one of the authority given to Factory Inspector has been mentioned as “To enter into any Enterprise or Factory within the jurisdiction of the Labour office and inspect and examine the building, land, plant, machine, use of raw materials, finished and semi-finished goods and arrangements relating to health and safety and to issue order to Proprietor, in case it is required to correct in that respect. (Nepal, 1993, p. 23)”
But due to lack of governmental strictness and a lot of organization running without proper registration many go without proper checks. “There is no systematic labour inspection system. Consequently, the safety and health provisions at the workplace are enforced by the Factory Inspectors but their number is very low (only 11) in comparison to the number of establishments in the country. As a result the number and manner of inspection at establishments has been extremely inadequate. (Gautam & Prasain, 2011, p. 26)”
Thus we can conclude that health and safety in workplace is vital not only to limit pain, suffering and loss to both employee and employee alike but it is dictated by the law and internationally accepted.
Conducting health and safety audits is necessary because without it there are higher chances of accidents and even fatality. People living with disability their whole lives from accidents in workplace brings not only difficulty to the family but the organization having to pay a huge amount of money.
“The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that more than 2.78 million people lose their lives as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases and approximately 374 million accidents occur on the job annually around the world. In Ne-pal alone, approximately 20,000 workers suffer from accidents at the workplace and 200 people lose their lives each year. (Howard & Basnyat, 2017)”
It is relatively easy to deduce from the figures as presented above the dire need for proper safety and health audits in Nepal. The audit is important as it contributes the following.
1. Prevention of Accidents: Health and safety standards are created to reduce the risk of casualty and fatality due to accidents in a workplace setting. It is important to conduct health and safety audits to understand that the standards are maintained since maintaining standards help in preventing accidents not only to the employee but even to the environment and other people living in the vicinity along with the consumers of the product. For example a fireman will not go into a burning building without his safety gear and so this gear is very important to the safety of his life. Thus safety and health audits will check to see if the gear that they are using is functioning or not.
2. Safeguards Organization: “The existence of a robust health and safety auditing programme should also provide a degree of mitigation in the event of a corporate manslaughter case, providing the organisation has acted on the findings and recommendations in a timely manner. Toll, H. (2009)” In case of fatal accidents a completed health and safety audit can help in defending the organization against lawful actions.
3. Improve standards: The audit will help point out gaps in the legal standards and will paint a clear picture of what needs to be improved. It will also show if mandatory legal compliances are being followed or not. “The process can either establish a baseline on which to build, or provide a measure of improvement since the last audit, or a benchmark with other sites or external organisations. Toll, H. (2009)” The improvement of standards will help identify weaknesses and improve prevent measures reducing the risk of incidents in future.
Health and safety audits are vital to ascertain if the standards are maintained and functioning well to prevent accidents. It also motivates organization to continuously work with safety issues in mind even with their busy work preventing unnecessary risks and saving lives.
References
Armstrong, M. (2012). ARMSTRONG’S HANDBOOK OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (12 Ed ed.). Kogan Page.
Gautam, R. P., & Prasain, J. (2011). Current Situation of Occupational Safety and Health in Nepal. Kathmandu: General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions (GEFONT).
Howard, R., & Basnyat, A. (2017, December 3). Working safe. myRepublica , p. 1 para.
Nepal, G. o. (1993, November 8). Labour Rules, 2050 (1993). Ministry of Labour, Employment & Social Security . Nepal, 3, Nepal: Law Comission. Retrieved from dol.gov.np/site/cms/12
Toll, H. (2009). Positional sense. The Safety & Health Practitioner, 27(1), 38-40,4. Retrieved from search.proquest.com/docview/200988...