Occupational Health and Safety Essay

SCENARIO: Hydrazine is an inorganic compound which is dangerously unstable and
carcinogenic. It is probably toxic as well, but some chronic exposure parameters are uncertain at
this time. Hydrazine is used in preparing polymer foams, rocket fuels, fighter aircraft fuels, and in
the reaction that rapidly inflates vehicle air bags.
You are asked to carry out a risk assessment in two parts: Occupational Health and Safety Essay

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(1) An explosion scenario at the facility
which addresses the short term exposure of nearby residents to hydrazine in their water supply for a
limited period of time; and

(2) Chronic exposure of nearby residents through the water supply on
an on-going basis as a result of leakage from the plant. Years later, a risk assessment of various
chemicals in the food and water is being performed. Provide the assessment for the combined risk
using the excel sheet (3). Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Part 1: Resident carcinogen scenario following explosion at the plant resulting in hydrazine
contamination of the aquifer used for drinking water
Hydrazine dissipates in air within hours, but it can reach the water supply and is thought to remain
there for up to 40 days, presenting a risk for persons drinking well-water containing hydrazine.
The initial (highest) concentration in water at day 1 is 600μg/L, with the concentration reaching
undetectable limits by day 40. Assume constant rate-of-dissipation, so calculate the exposure
assessment as a mean concentration of 300μg/L for the full 40-day exposure. Also assume
contact rate of 2L/d, body weight of 70kg, absorbance and relative retention of 1.0. Show all work
including units.
(a) Given that an explosion has taken place, calculate the expected lifetime incremental risk of
death from cancer per person exposed as specified above for these 40 days.
(b) Given that an explosion has taken place, calculate the hypothetical number of additional
deaths from cancer due to this cause among 50,000 residents exposed through drinking water. Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Part 2: Resident carcinogen scenario from continued low-level hydrazine contamination of
the aquifer used for drinking water through leakage. Assume that the continuous leakage of
hydrazine into the ground water from the plant for 12 years results in a constant
concentration in the aquifer of 10.0 µg/L.
(a) What would be the lifetime risk of cancer death for the residents from this exposure
scenario, assuming the parameters
(b) How many people would die from this exposure if the population were 50,000?
(c) Advise this population about how to reduce their intake to acceptable levels if the risk was
147 times more than the de minimis level (note: There is more than a single answer – only
provide one).
Part 3: Years later, soil and water samples are taken and a combined risk assessment is
performed for various chemicals (Note: bioconcentration factor provided in excel sheet to
convert soil values to food values). Using the given excel sheet, answer the following questions:
(a) What is the combined HI and cancer risk to the community from these new chemicals?
(b) Removing the most hazardous combined carcinogenic compounds first, list the chemicals
need to be removed to bring the values to acceptable values?
(c) Removing the most hazardous non-carcinogenic chemicals first, which ones need to be
removed to bring the values to acceptable values? Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Occupational safety and health (OSH) is a management technique which aims at protecting the safety, health and welfare of the working class people. The first session of the ILO (Indian Labour Organization) and the WHO (World Health Organization) held in the year 1990, laid the outlines for OSH management stating that it aims at promoting and maintaining the highest degree of social, mental and physical well-being of the employees in all occupations. It also aims at the prevention of employees leaving their workplace due to health concerns. The main aim of the OSH is the smoothening of the process of adaption of each man to his job (Michaels D., 2010).
The theories of OSH are based on the assumption that it is the duty of every organization to ensure that its employees and all other people associated with it remain safe and healthy under all circumstances (Quinlan, M. Bohle, P. & Lamm F., 2010). It is in fact the moral obligation of the organization to protect each employee’s life from any health issues or safety concerns. This paper would investigate in detail the challenges faced by an occupational safety and health professional while applying the theories of OSH. Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Identifying the specific OSH leadership behaviors that can build or erode trust within the workplace
It has been researched and reported that effective leadership is the key to efficient management of OSH in any organization (Stranks J. W., 2006). The leaders play a pivotal role in the proper incorporation of OSH culture in an organization. They key responsibilities of a leader includes –
1. Establishing an efficient and effective governance technique to monitor the OSH management in an organization. It is the responsibility of the leader to develop strategies and policies along with establishing goals and indentifying targets for OSH process (Michaels D., 2010). It is the duty of the leader to ensure that health and safety of the employees is always given priority over every other concern in the day-to-day activities.
2. The leader is completely responsible for the establishment of a positive attitude of employees and management towards the OSH schemes along with encouraging a positive, safe and healthy culture in the organization. The leader is accountable to provide and set good examples for other employees by practicing goods OSH policies in their own day-to-day attitude. Encouraging each individual to take proactive participation in promoting the healthy and safety of the organization is the duty of the leader (Tooma, M., 2012). To ensure that all employees have access to the safety tools and also the necessary training required to execute them.
Thus, the leader is the key to success of the OSH program. The leader is the one who can build or erode trust amongst the employees of the organization. It is thus very critical to identify what OSH leadership behaviors that can have a positive or a negative effect on its employees. It has been researches that leadership in OSH management has different aspects and the leadership style in any organization has a huge effect on the safety and health of its employees (Dunn, C. E. 2012). Occupational Health and Safety Essay

The Leadership Behaviors that Build Trust
Some leaders adopt the transformational leadership behaviors. This type of leadership aims at maintaining a positive atmosphere at the workplace. It promotes the employees to adopt the change happening in the organization and be a part of change themselves. A few OSH leadership behaviors that help in building trust within a workplace include-:
– Proactive engagement with the staff and showing keen interest to know about their safety and health concerns (Hubbard G., 2008). Visiting the employees work stations, giving impromptu sessions on the importance of their health and safety and assuring them about the organization’s OSH policy. Occupational Health and Safety Essay
– Taking personal responsibility about the health and safety of each employee and to assure them that you care about them. This helps the employees feel a sense of belongingness and job security, which enables them to trust the organization (Dunn, C. E. 2012). Leading by example is the best way to promote active participation of each employee towards making the workplace healthier and safer.
– Consulting the employees about how their health and safety concerns can be addressed is the best way of building employee trust. The active participation of workers helps in establishing a healthy culture of dialogue (Hubbard G., 2008). Thus, the workers are encouraged to take active part in the decision making process regarding their health and safety. Thus, developing a culture of trust and accountability. Occupational Health and Safety Essay

The Leadership Behaviors that Erode Trust
Some leaders do not understand the importance of employee welfare, safety and health. For them OSH is a liability and an extra responsibility. They do not think about employee health and safety unless something actually turns up. Such leadership behaviors completely erode trust between the management and the employees.
Passive leadership or passive involvement in understanding the health and care needs of the employees is one of the worst behaviors of OSH leadership. It gives the employees an impression that the management does not care about their welfare and hence increase the turnover rates and greater employee dissatisfaction (Dunn, C. E. 2012).
– Taking action only after incident has taken place. It is the responsibility of the leader to equip the employees with essential safety and health training in case of emergency. But, some leaders do not think this is necessary and only take action when the disaster has taken place. This leads to no trust amongst the employees and the management and thus degradation in the overall quality of workplace environment (Hubbard G., 2008). Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Various Approaches to Management
Taylor (1911) and the problem solving/scientific approach
In The Principles of Scientific Management, Federick Taylor states that for any particular job there is way to structure the job in the most optimal manner in order to obtain the maximum performance from the employee. He developed to basic principles to guide the leaders in structuring the jobs. The first principle was the job simplification, which referred to the deconstruction or breaking down the goals of the job into simple components. According to Taylor, each job is made of tiny components and breaking down the job to these tiny components would help maximizing the output. The second principle was that of job specialization. Once the individual components of job are identified the employees are selected according to the requirements of each of these specific tasks. Thus, each employee is focused on producing a specific set of results and hence gives maximum output (Leigh JP et al, 2004).
Application in current scenario The scientific management focuses only on factors like compensation and pay to motivate the employees to perform better. Scientific management does not support creativity, innovation and adaptability (Marcin JP et al, 2004). Thus, scientific management principles are obsolete in today’s workplace environment where intrinsic motivational factors like health and safety are of extreme importance the employees.
Fayol (1949) and the Administrative Approach
According to the Fayol theory of administration, by focusing on the managerial practices the organization can increase efficiency by reducing mistrust and misunderstanding between the employees and the management (Miller TR et al, 2004). His administrative approach to management advocates that the managers should adopt a flexible approach to management which could be applied at home or in office or any anywhere, he believed in planning, organizing and forecasting. Occupational Health and Safety Essay
Application in current scenario Fayol’s administrative theory still finds applicability and feasibility in the modern day workplace because it advocates communication as a necessary tool to successful management. Since, in OSH a two way communication between the employees and the managers is extremely important the Fayol theory is still relevant and applicable (Marcin JP et al, 2004).

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Mayo (1946) and the Behavioral Approach
According to Mayo’s behavioral approach, an employee who works on his own feels loneliness and lower jab satisfaction than an employee who works in groups and teams. A good and healthy relationship amongst employees and co-workers is the key retaining factor for the organization. According to the theory, employees cannot be treated as individuals they need to be a part of the group to be properly assessed. The mangers should pay attention to needs of the groups and not to each employee individually (Miller TR et al, 2004). Occupational Health and Safety Essay
Application in current scenario The Mayo’s behavioral approach does not find much acceptability in the modern organizations as it focuses on the needs of the teams and does not cater to the needs of an organization. The OSH is based on promoting the health and safety of each employee and hence Mayo’s theory finds no applicability here (Leigh JP et al, 2004).
Demming (1982) and the Systematic Approach
According to Demming’s system approach, quality is the utmost priority. Quality is why the employees would want to produce; quality is the joy of working. The basic principle of the Demming’s systems approach includes the joy of working, the innovation and the co-operation between the management and the employees. According to Demming, teamwork incorporates knowledge, the designing and the redesigning of a product (Leigh JP et al, 2004). To improve the working and the quality is everybody’s responsibility. It is the responsibility of the leaders to determine the detailed specifications of each job and the goals of each employee. It also says that employees should be treated as humans with a certain capacity and should not push out of their limits. Occupational Health and Safety Essay
Applicability in current scenario Since, the Demming’s System Approach is largely based on improving, innovating and caring for the employees, it is till now one of the most highly regarded and widely practiced approach of management (Marcin JP et al, 2004).
Characteristics of a Generation Y workforce and how can these affect safety management? How can the OSH Manager effectively retain Generation Y workers?
The Generation Y workforce refers to people born between the year 1976 and the year 1991. The Generation Y is known as the credit generations and is the most highly educated generation with the most available purchasing power. In a workplace, the Generation Y employee is always contemplating the good and bad of each issue (Tooma, M., 2012). For the Generation Y employee, the need to happy and secure overpowers the need to get high compensation. The Generation Y employee is constantly looking for improvement in skills and is always eager to understand where he fits into the bigger scheme of things. Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Safety Management and Generation Y
The Generation Y is very eager to be trained in safety management skills and techniques. It is always eager to embrace change. But, the Generation Y workforce cares the most about its health, safety and overall welfare. If the OSH management does not involve the Generation Y in its decision making process regarding safety and health or if it makes them feel unwanted and uncared for, then they will find an employer who cares (Davis L et al, 2009). Thus, if the leaders in safety management show any unfavorable behavior or authoritarian style leadership with Generation Y, then the organization would witness a high turn-over rate.

How an OSH Manager Effectively Retain Generation Y Employee
– Making a dialogue with the Generation Y employee in order to make him the process of decision making is the best way to win his trust. Once the Generation Y workforce feels that organization cares about his needs and values his opinion, the employee would embrace any responsibility you give him and work hard to attain maximum result (Tooma, M., 2012).
– The Generation Y employee is concerned about his welfare and it is the utmost priority to feel healthy and secure. Thus, the OSH professional need to promote a culture and safety and health amongst the employees so that each one can contribute to build a better workplace environment.
– The best way to retain the Generation Y employee is to increase the communication and interaction with employee and provide him with safety and health management training, as he always eager to learn (Tooma, M., 2012). Occupational Health and Safety Essay

Conclusion
The goal of the OSH programs is to provide the people who are working or employed with a safe and healthy workplace atmosphere. The scope of the OSH programs also include any other people who might be affected by the work-environment of any particular organization including the co-workers, employers, family members or even the customers (Stranks J. W., 2006). Thus, it is extremely critical for all organizations to understand the importance of proper OSH management to retain their employees and attain maximum performance output from each employee.

Examine changes introduced to reform or restructure the U.S. health care delivery system. In a
1,000 word paper, discuss action taken for reform and restructuring and the role of the nurse
within this changing environment.
Include the following:
Outline a current or emerging health care law or federal regulation introduced to reform or
restructure some aspect of the health care delivery system. Describe the effect of this on nursing
practice and the nurse’s role and responsibility. Occupational Health and Safety Essay
Discuss how quality measures and pay for performance affect patient outcomes. Explain how
these affect nursing practice and describe the expectations and responsibilities of the nursing
role in these situations.
Discuss professional nursing leadership and management roles that have arisen and how they
are important in responding to emerging trends and in the promotion of patient safety and quality
care in diverse health care settings.
Research emerging trends. Predict two ways in which the practice of nursing and nursing roles
will grow or transform within the next five years to respond to upcoming trends or predicted
issues in health care. Occupational Health and Safety Essay