Occupational Health and Safety

This article discusses the importance of maintaining health and safety at the workplace and the implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Act of 2017. It covers the identification of controls, employee rights, recommendations, incident recurrence and more.

Running head: OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 1
Occupational Health and Safety

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 2
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Hazard........................................................................................................................................3
Identification of controls............................................................................................................4
Employee Rights........................................................................................................................4
Recommendations......................................................................................................................4
Incident Recurrence...................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 3
Introduction
Off late, there have been steps and measures undertaken by workplaces and
appropriate regulatory bodies for the purpose of ensuring health and safety at the workplace. I
have experienced in my workplace recently an incident which has raised innumerable
questions regarding health and safety of all the staff of the organization. The hazard was a
fire incident as a result of short circuit to which employees responded by means of fire-
fighting. The company where I am employed is a business which is entrusted with carrying
out activities related to the delivery of courier to the appropriate recipients. My role is that of
a Human Resource executive which implies the ensuring of the employees to be in
compliance with the policies relating to workplace conduct (Loeppke, et al., 2015).
Hazard
The hazardous incident occurred at my workplace implies the electrical short-circuit
which caused fire to spread to a certain extent. It is one of the physical hazards which can
occur at various kinds of workplaces if the necessary measures and steps are not undertaken.
However, the fire was doused since the staff was well aware of the fire fighting techniques to
be used for extinguishing fire (Tompa, et al., 2016). Such fire fighting techniques were learnt
by them during the various fire drills previously conducted within the premises of the
company. Additionally, no major damage took place except the defacing of the wall as a
result of fire. Even after the fire, employees were still motivated to get back to work. Such a
factor was possible as a result of various counseling sessions they had undergone on a
priority basis. There were also no major financial losses incurred as far as compensation is
concerned (Shea, De Cieri, Donohue, Cooper & Sheehan, 2016).

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 4
Identification of controls
The controls and measures determined and utilized in order to tackle the incident
include the responsiveness of the staff in a timely manner to address the situation there by
undertaking the necessary measures to douse the fire as far as prevention of its further
spreading is concerned. The fire emergency service was also contacted in case the fire
spreads beyond control. As a result, it arrived in a timely manner to provide the appropriate
assistance with regard to the extinguishment of fire (Higginbottom & Liamputtong, 2015).
The engineers were called in order to examine the extent of technical damage. In their report,
the engineers concluded that minor refurbishment is required with regard to the installation of
the electrical circuit as far as its overhauling is concerned. It implies that the electrical circuit
must be assembled and planted in such a manner so that short circuits like this does not takes
place as inferred from the report of engineers.
Employee Rights
The major rights of employee violated in the scenario based on my understanding
include safety at workplace as far as right to life is concerned, breach of duty on part of the
employer as far as due diligence is concerned and the negligence on part of employer (Holt &
Allen, 2015).
Recommendations
It is hereby suggested that fire alarms must be installed in order to tackle such
situations in a timely manner as it would notify the organizational staff immediately.
Appropriate measures must be undertaken by the management of the organization in order to
prevent the occurrence of fire in the future. Additionally, it is also recommended that the
regulations relating to health and safety at the workplace must be strictly adhered to by the
employers. I would be in the interest of the safety of employee as far as the Canadian

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 5
province of Alberta is concerned. It is imperative that such measures are taken into
consideration in order to prevent similar kinds of incidents to a certain extent. The regulations
related to health and safety has to be strictly adhered to by the employers as far as the
avoidance of occupational hazards is concerned. It would help in the welfare of employees to
a large extent with regard to the ensuring of their safety and security at the workplace. I have
also observed that in order to ensure that such incidents do not occur in the future, the
Occupational Health and Safety Act of 2017 must be strictly implemented.
Incident Recurrence
The implementation of appropriate control systems would to a great extent result in
the reduction of the number of such incidents. The employer has to play an important role
with reference to the health and safety of employees at the workplace as far as their welfare is
concerned. Additionally, it is projected that the outcome of such implementation would lead
to safer work environment for the employees (Lay, et al., 2016). Furthermore, it would also
lead to the employees to be well-equipped in order to tackle similar situations so that less
number of losses is incurred in comparison to the incident witnessed by me.
Conclusion
It has been observed by me that it is extremely important to maintain health and safety
at the workplace in terms of prevention of occupational hazards. As a result, it is imperative
that the implementation of Occupational Health and Safety Act of 2017 should be carried out
in a proper and appropriate manner by the appropriate regulatory bodies. I have also drawn
inferences with regard to the experience concerning the fire incident at my workplace at the
precautions which are needed to be undertaken so as to make sure that in the future, no such
grievous incidents take place. The recommendations as aforesaid have to be capitulated upon
in order to derive a comprehensive solution to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY 6
References
Higginbottom, G., & Liamputtong, P. (Eds.). (2015). Participatory qualitative research
methodologies in health. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Holt, A. S. J., & Allen, J. (2015). Principles of health and safety at work. Abingdon, England:
Routledge.
Lay, A. M., Saunders, R., Lifshen, M., Breslin, C., LaMontagne, A., Tompa, E., & Smith, P.
(2016). Individual, occupational, and workplace correlates of occupational health and
safety vulnerability in a sample of Canadian workers. American journal of industrial
medicine, 59(2), 119-128.
Loeppke, R. R., Hohn, T., Baase, C., Bunn, W. B., Burton, W. N., Eisenberg, B. S., ... &
Hymel, P. A. (2015). Integrating health and safety in the workplace: how closely
aligning health and safety strategies can yield measurable benefits. Journal of
occupational and environmental medicine, 57(5), 585-597.
Shea, T., De Cieri, H., Donohue, R., Cooper, B., & Sheehan, C. (2016). Leading indicators of
occupational health and safety: An employee and workplace level validation
study. Safety science, 85, 293-304.
Tompa, E., Kalcevich, C., Foley, M., McLeod, C., Hogg‐Johnson, S., Cullen, K., ... & Irvin,
E. (2016). A systematic literature review of the effectiveness of occupational health
and safety regulatory enforcement. American journal of industrial medicine, 59(11),
919-933.