Whether you are a junior employee or a senior manager, few issues are as important as health and safety at work. It is a sad fact that, according to Occupational Safety and Health Administration statistics, 4,821 people died in workplace-related incidents in 2014.
Accidents at work take a toll not only on individuals and families but also on a business’s productivity. Illness and injuries to workers can have a drastic effect on a company’s output and significantly decrease productivity.
Health and Safety at Work Is the Law
Maintaining a secure and safe environment is not only an essential workplace issue, it is also the law. Under federal law, workers have the right to a safe workplace. All employers must have a business environment free of known safety and health hazards. If workers have any apprehensions about their working environments, they are legally allowed to speak out about them without fear of repercussions from their employer.
A capable safety manager must make health and safety at work a top priority. To successfully manage the work environment, he or she needs a deep understanding of the full spectrum of employee rights. For example, did you know that under OSHA law a worker can request training in a specific language or view workplace injury logs? They can even file a confidential complaint or request an OSHA inspection.
Employers also have a duty to provide their staff with proper safety gear and fully operational equipment. There are a bevy of worker rights and employer responsibilities that safety managers must understand and integrate into a corporation’s daily routine.
Resources are available to help safety managers ensure they are maintaining appropriate health and safety at work. For example, the OSHA offers free courses, videos and training materials. However, in order to make the most of all the available information, a good safety manager must know how to make the best use these resources.
Be Prepared With the Right Education
All of these policies and regulations can seem overwhelming, especially since, as a safety manager, your employees’ lives could depend on your ability to properly manage your duties.
Though it can seem daunting, there are some online MBA programs that provide safety managers with the essential knowledge they need to maximize their roles in any organization. Whether you already have work experience overseeing a company’s health and safety standards or you hope to be a future safety manager monitoring health and safety at work, these courses offer something for every experience and knowledge level.
One online MBA program offering courses of special interest to safety managers is at Southeastern Oklahoma State University. Coursework for the degree covers legal liability, regulatory compliance, ADA and Workers Compensation. The subject matter helps safety managers fully appreciate the legal aspects of their jobs. Furthermore, an online MBA program offers flexible scheduling that can benefit those who may normally have difficultly fitting university classes into their busy schedules.
Understanding work safety standards is important because nothing less than the health of your workers — and by extension, the health of your business — is at stake. Make the most of your career by doing all that you can to understand your social, corporate and legal responsibilities as a safety manager.
Learn more about the SOSU online MBA in Safety program.
Sources:
http://www.doi.gov/workerscompensation/responsibilites-for-satefy-managers
http://www.osha.gov/workers/index.html