Occupational Health and Safety Legislation

This article provides an overview of Occupational Health and Safety Legislation (OH&S) and its impact on employers and employees. It discusses the responsibilities of the government, employees, and employers in ensuring workplace safety. The article also highlights the positive effects of OH&S on employee retention, satisfaction, and productivity.

Running head: HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Part A.........................................................................................................................................2
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation..........................................................................2
Part B..........................................................................................................................................6
Work-Life Balance in the Workplace....................................................................................6
Part C........................................................................................................................................10
Labour- Management Relations...........................................................................................10

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Part A
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation
Introduction
Occupational Health and Safety Legislation (OH&S) is an important act that had been
introduced due to the outcry of the public against the rising death and injury rates in the
workplace (Ccohs.ca, 2019). This law was implemented by the government to make sure the
employers provide their subordinates and employees with suitable and proper working
conditions that ensure safety and protect the employees from any kind of danger. This law
introduced has three primary and basic strategies that are reduce illness and injuries, maintain
health standards and reduce death rates in the workplace. This law since then has ensured
safety and has had positive impacts of employer as well as the employee behavior.
Responsibilities of the Government
The responsibilities of the government are to enforce the OH&S. It is the duty of the
government to inspect whether the law has been enforced effectively. Any serious deaths or
injuries need to be investigated thoroughly to understand the causes of the accidents. The
government needs to promote education; research and effective training that will ensure
safety in the workplace and lastly need to resolve disputes that occur because of OH&S
(Evans, 2017).
Responsibilities and rights of the employees
The employees need to follow the necessary instructions and use equipments for that
are provided by the employer that will help in ensuring safety in the workplace. The
employee can report any hazardous and about missing equipment that can be dangerous for

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the environment so that there may be effective change that will ensure safety (Ccohs.ca,
2019).
Responsibilities of the employer
It is the duty of the employer to follow the rules and regulations and also ensure the
rules are followed that ensures safety. The employer should provide safe workplace and also
examine to meet the safety standards according to the act (Ccohs.ca, 2019). The employer
must maintain the records of injuries and death in the workplace and make necessary
changes. The employer should act upon the complaints made by employees about the
workplace and not discriminate employees (Ccohs.ca, 2019).
Effects of the OH&S on employer and employee
The increasing death rates were the major reason for countries to introduce the
Occupational Health & Safety Legislation to protect employees from accidents and provide
them with safe working conditions. This act had a very positive effect on the employees as it
had been seen that the death rates in organizations especially in factories reduced. This
promoted employee retention, satisfaction and motivation (Cooklin, 2017). According to
scholars, safe working condition paves way for enhanced employee performance (Raziq &
Maulabakhsh, 2015). This law has had positive impacts on the employees that have resulted
in the productivity of the organizations as well.
Employers after the implementation of this act have become more responsible in
terms of their working condition. This has benefited the employers immensely as this act has
enhanced the performance of the employees which has benefited them in terms of employee
production as well as retention (Ndjoulou, Desmarais & Pérusse, 2015). This has paved way

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for the positive reputation of their organizations which have been beneficial for them in the
market.
Conclusion
The OH&S is a necessary law that has been enforced and has become a part of the
jurisdiction which has made the workplace a better place and has helped in reducing
avoidable accidents which has been beneficial for the employees and the employers as this
has helped employees to work happily and has been more productive which has impacted the
organizations positively.

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Reference
Ccohs.ca. (2019). Rights and responsibilities. Retrieved from
https://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/legisl/responsi.html
Ccohs.ca. (2019). Start the conversation. Retrieved from
https://www.ccohs.ca/healthyworkplaces/
Cooklin, A., Joss, N., Husser, E., & Oldenburg, B. (2017). Integrated approaches to
occupational health and safety: A systematic review. American journal of health
promotion, 31(5), 401-412.
Evans, H. W. (2017). Corporate social responsibility (CSR): tailoring regulation and
government policy to the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises (Doctoral
dissertation).
Ndjoulou, F., Desmarais, L., & Pérusse, M. (2015). Employer Responsibility for
Occupational Health and Safety: Challenges, Issues and Approaches. Journal of
Management, 3(1), 1-8.
Raziq, A., & Maulabakhsh, R. (2015). Impact of working environment on job satisfaction.
Procedia Economics and Finance, 23, 717-725.

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Part B
Work-Life Balance in the Workplace
Work timings and schedules, holidays and leave policies are important which will
help employees to work efficiently and maintain a work-life balance that will encourage the
employees to work harder and also provide sufficient time for the employees to have leisure
time of their own that will pave way for positive mental health that will help in enhancing the
performance of the employees which will be beneficial for both the employees as well as the
organization (Zheng et al, 2015).
Employee handbook
Timings and extra shifts
 The employees have to work five days a week, Monday to Friday.
 The shift timing will be from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.
 Anybody working after the shift timing will be compensated and will be provided half
day whenever the employees would need one and no money will be deducted for this
half day.
Leaves
 Each month employees are entitled to use 2 casual leaves and 2 sick leaves.

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 Paid leaves will provided to employees only in selected situations which are the
following:
o Nursing someone in the house with serious illness.
o Maternity leaves
o Paternity leaves
o Essential jobs like bank jobs, parent- teacher meeting.
o Any employee who is completing their studies will be provided paid leaves to
attend exams.
o Any college or other certification work.
o During an employee’s marriage.
Holidays
 Company acknowledges the public holidays and provides the employees all the public
holidays.
 Holidays during emergency will be provided like any kind of natural calamities, strike
or any other emergencies.
 Employees are allowed to go on holidays during the holiday season and any holidays
or vacation taken should be informed beforehand. The first seven days of a holiday
will be paid and from the eighth day money will be deducted.
The employee handbook that has been provided is made keeping the employees in mind
so that they have proper work life balance which is essential in everyone’s life. The shift
timings that are provided in the handbook are developed so that the employees get enough
time to spend with their families and get adequate rest. It is important to reward employees
for the extra effort they put in thus the compensation has been provided to them. According

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to scholars, extra play motivates employees to provide fruitful production to the employees
which are beneficial for the organization (Woods, 2017). Paid leaves especially during
emergency situations shows how the organization puts importance on their employees and
also provides employees to maintain a balance between professional as well as personal life.
There are many times employees need holiday for their personal work and it is the duty of the
organization to understand other needs of the employees so that a healthy relationship is
maintained as well which also facilitates work life balance (Agha, Azmi & Irfan, 2017).
Every employee needs breaks from the monotonous life which they lead. The holiday
schemes and rules that are introduced in the handbook are made keeping in mind to promote
work life balance (Gallagher, 2015). Holidays provide employees with their own time and are
like a stress buster for them. This helps employees a work life balance which makes the
employees happy and ensure job satisfaction.
The rules and policies in the handbook ensure that the employees get enough rest so
that they are fit and healthy physically and mentally. This helps in employee retention,
employee satisfaction as well as performance which will help the employee as well as the
organization in which they work grow.

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Reference
Agha, K., Azmi, F. T., & Irfan, A. (2017). Work-life balance and job satisfaction: An
empirical study focusing on higher education teachers in Oman. International Journal
of Social Science and Humanity, 7(3), 164.
Gallagher, S. (2015). A mixed methods investigation of stress, compassion fatigue and
satisfaction, governed by self-care strategies, for integrative Irish psychotherapists:
this too shall pass (Doctoral dissertation, Dublin Business School).
Woods, D. D. (2017). Essential characteristics of resilience. In Resilience engineering (pp.
21-34). CRC Press.
Zheng, C., Molineux, J., Mirshekary, S., & Scarparo, S. (2015). Developing individual and
organisational work-life balance strategies to improve employee health and wellbeing.
Employee Relations, 37(3), 354-379

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Part C
Labour- Management Relations
The relationship between the labour or the employees and the management is
interdependent (Deszczyński, 2016). The relationship between the two needs to be positive
and healthy that will help and benefit everyone in the organization which is essential for
everyone. This part is a case study which will provide how to maintain positive relationship
between the employees or laborers and the management.
Brief overview of the case
An old employee named James has been working for CN Rail for the past 16 years.
He suggests that employees need to submit their applications for vacations by the 1st of April
every year and the vacation must be allocated to employees on the basis of the seniority level
of the employees. This statement was made by him as in June 10th James had submitted an
application for a vacation requested had been denied to him as a junior employee was already
granted an off on the very same day. This incident made James feel sad as he was not granted
leave though he applied before and thus he claimed that the forms that are filled are not
received on time.
Steps to be taken to resolve the situation or the matter
Organizations or companies should take certain steps regarding making rules regarding
leave applications. There are many employees who may apply for leaves on the same day
however they should be granted based on the exigency and who applied first. There should be
certain steps that will ensure leaves are granted in a fair manner.

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 If it is a planned leave then the employees should submit their applications one month
prior to the leave so that the company or the organization is aware about the leave and
the employees get the necessary leave without any problem.
 In the age of digitalization, the leave applications are usually dropped to the Human
Resource (HR) via email. The HR Manager should make a different email ID where
the employees only apply for leave applications so that it becomes easier for the HR
to see which employees applied for leaves in order to grant them so that all the
applications are received by them.
 Leaves need to be granted in terms of who applies first however in case of urgencies
and special cases the employees will be granted leave.
 Communication is a key factor in every organization (Huang, Yao & Duan, 2017).
Effective communication should be present between the employees and the
management so that if there are any other problems then the employees can approach
the management and the situation or the matter can be resolved.
In this case study, the Human Resource Manager should look into the matter and consider
the leave application of both the employees as both have submitted leave applications. The
organization should consider James because it was the fault of the HR where he or she did
not check the applications properly. In order to resolve this matter it is the duty of the HR to
consider this once and then make effective changes that will ensure these mistakes are not
made again.

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Reference
Deszczyński, B. (2016). The maturity of corporate relationship management. Gospodarka
Narodowa, 3(283), 73-104.
Huang, P., Yao, C., & Duan, Q. (2017). Effect of Learning Organization on Organizational
Communication and Organizational Creativity in High-Tech Industry. Eurasia
Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 13(12), 7723-7730.

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Part D
Managing Employee Separations
Employee separation is a very sensitive issue to every organization (Stea, Foss &
Christensen, 2015). Separation of employees can be of various reasons like an employee
leaving for a better opportunity or termination of an employee due to various reasons like
unethical behavior or poor performance. However, the separation is hard but requires
empathy, discretion and effective planning. This part will provide a termination script for an
employee of an organization for his or her poor performance.
In this part an employee is to be terminated because of the poor performance of the
employee in the organization that has made the management take this crucial decision for the
benefit of the organization. In order to terminate an employee there are several checklist that
the Human Resources have to make to ensure the departure of an employee smoothly as well
on a good term (Bidgoli, 2016). Thus a checklist has to be made in order to ensure that the
organization is clear in their part and does the necessary action.
Checklist
Employee: Date:
Department:
 Inform the employees about the termination personally and also via email or letter.
Personally the employees should have a detailed description of what did not go too
well which led to the termination.
 Notify this information of an employee to the payroll administrator and the network
administrator.

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 Maintain records of the details of the termination of the employee
 Collecting all the properties of the organization like keys, ID badges and many more.
 Discussion of the agreements the employees and the organization made during the
hiring of the employees.
 Provide letter to the employees about the benefits that he or she will be receiving after
the termination
 Remove the employee of the payroll
 Conduct an exit interview
 Provide with any certification or release letter
 Clear all the dues of the employee
A proper termination transcript is necessary that will help the managers to convey the
message effectively to the employee who is going to get terminated as there are several
barriers that may crop up. Often during such a situation emotions run high and it becomes
difficult for the managers to deliver crucial news like this to the employees and often may
change the decisions thus it is important to have a concrete transcript that will ensure the
managers effectively break the news to the employee who is going to get terminated
(Kaminski & Katoen, 2015).
Transcript
The managers need to use basic strategies that will help the managers.
 The managers need to inform about the termination as quickly as possible and clearly.
 The manager must point out the reason of their termination that will help the
employees to assess and work on the mistakes and enhance their performance for their
future.
 The managers also must help them deal with the negative news with compliments.

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 The managers must provide them with the logistics that has led to this decision.
 Employees may have various questions that need to be addressed and thus the
manager needs to clear all the doubts that the employee has.
This will help the manager to terminate the employees smoothly and be beneficial for
both the employees and the organization. This will help the employee leave with a positive
feeling and help in bring positive change and the termination of an employee with poor
performance will help the organization in making less mistakes and being more productive.

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Reference
Bidgoli, H. (2016). Integrating real life cases into a security system: Seven checklists for
managers. American Journal of Management, 16(4), 9.
Kaminski, B. L., & Katoen, J. P. (2015, August). On the hardness of almost–sure termination.
In International Symposium on Mathematical Foundations of Computer Science (pp.
307-318). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.
Stea, D., Foss, N. J., & Christensen, P. H. (2015). Physical separation in the workplace:
Separation cues, separation awareness, and employee motivation. European
Management Journal, 33(6), 462-471.

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Part E
Summary of Learning
Human Resource is one of the important divisions of an organization which helps
managing the employees which is detrimental for an organization as employees are one of the
most important resources of an organization that helps and determines the success of an
organization to some extent. An effective Human Resource management helps in various
ways like maintaining employee records, see to the needs of the employees which help the
employees in producing better performance and enhance their productivity (Marcolin,
Miroudot & Squicciarini, 2016). HR rules and regulations have a huge role to play in
motivating and retaining employees that helps the organization become successful.
According to scholars, effective HR policies help in enhancing and motivating employees to
put in extra work to gain recognition in the organization (Hassan, 2016). It has been seen that
there are many important decisions that are taken by the HR manager that helps the
organization immensely like hiring of employees, providing production and performance
report. The HR has a significant role to play which help in managing the employees and this
paves way for the positive and fruitful production which later paves way for the success of
the organization.
Human Resource management is an important aspect of an organization and every
organization needs this division as it deals with the main resources of the organization which
are the employees. The HRM makes sure that the working conditions of the employees are
positive and they are provided the necessities that will motivate them in order to provide
positive production. Effective HRM paves for the success of the organization.

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Reference
Hassan, S. (2016). Impact of HRM practices on employee’s performance. International
Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences,
6(1), 15-22.
Marcolin, L., Miroudot, S., & Squicciarini, M. (2016). Routine jobs, employment and
technological innovation in global value chains.