Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
Today, occupational safety and health in the workplace environment in Australia are crucial issues in terms of employer-employee relationships. At the moment, occupational safety and health in Australia are carefully regulated at all levels from state to federal and international ones. However, such a situation is relatively new because in the past occupational safety and health were unimportant and often employees became victims of hazards and injuries, which they suffered in their workplace environment. Nevertheless, today, the employer-employee relationships grow more and more responsible as employers grow conscious of the importance of being socially responsible in relation to their employees, while employees attempt to push on their employers through unions, public organizations and the government at all levels to increase occupational safety and health in the workplace environment. At this point, Australia has already made a considerable progress in the development of occupational safety and health legislation, which though emerged in response to objective factors which made occupational safety and health an essential component of the contemporary workplace environment in Australia.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
Increased risks and threats to health and safety of employees in the workplace environment
On analyzing the development of occupational safety and health in the workplace environment, it is worth mentioning the fact that, by the mid-20th century, Australia had underdeveloped occupational safety and health legislation, while employers often exploited employees putting them in extremely dangerous conditions, where employees had to work hard to earn for living. However, in the course of time, risks and threats to health and safety of employees grew stronger. Increasing complexity of work and workplace environment contributed to a consistent rise of risks and threats to employees in their workplace environment, while often the health of employees was at risk because of poor workplace safety. As the work of employees grew more and more complex, risks and threats to their safety and health grew respectively. In such a situation, the government and legislators could not stay aside of the considerable deterioration of conditions of work of Australian employees since they were exposed to numerous risks and the legislative protection of their health and safety was essential. Otherwise, the number of casualties and severe injuries would have grown substantially by the late 20th century (Horvat et al., 2003). Therefore, the government and legislators of Australia had launched policies and legal acts that aimed at the protection of employees’ occupational safety and health since the second half of the 20th century, especially in the 1980s, when risks to employees’ health and safety had become particularly high. Hence, increasing risks and threats to health and safety of employees became important factors that contributed to the development of occupational safety and health legislation and policies in Australia. Along with the growing complexity, such factors made the enhancement of occupational safety and health essential for the maintenance of normal and safe conditions of work for Australian employees.
Hazards in the workplace environment
Workplace hazards may differ depending on the particular industry. At this point, it is possible to refer to the case of the energy and water supply industry, where the risk of hazards is high and the high risk level is the result of the specificity of the industry, where hazardous materials are used and the environment which is accompanied by high risks. In this regard, one of the major risks associated with the workplace environment of the energy and water supply industry is the exposure of employees to hazardous chemicals. Hazardous chemicals are used in the energy generation, water treatment and supply, and other instances. At the same time, people exposed to the hazardous chemicals may suffer serious injuries and health problems or even die. In such a situation, they need special training to respond to emergency and to minimize the risk of the hazardous impact.
Furthermore, employees working in the energy and water supply industry often have to perform hazardous manual tasks, for instance, while transporting hazardous chemicals or performing technically complex tasks. The performance of hazardous manual tasks may lead to the development of dangerous effects and physical injuries of employees performing those tasks.
In this respect, other hazards that may occur in the energy and water supply industry and that are very frequent are slips, trips and falls. These hazards are the result of complex tasks that employees have to perform as well as the specificity of the workplace environment. Slips, falls and similar hazards can cause severe physical injuries of employees. This is why they should pay a lot of attention to their workplace safety.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
At the same time, employees working in the energy and water supply industry may face the similar hazards as employees working in other industries, such as bulling, fatigue, stress and violence. Such hazards may be quite frequent, taking into consideration the fact that employees work in the highly stressful environment and they cannot always relax and avoid the negative impact of stressors. As a result, their behavior can become aggressive and violent, while a long-run impact of stressors can trigger the development of depression in professionals working in the energy and water supply industry.
Furthermore, employees working in the energy and water supply industry are vulnerable to the regular hazardous exposures which may involve the development of chronic diseases provoked by the long-run impact of hazardous substances employees are exposed to. In such a situation, employees working in the energy and water supply industry just face higher risks of the development of various health problems and they cannot always prevent their development because the exposure to hazardous substances is a part of their regular job. As a result, they just can decrease their impact using the required standards and procedures to protect themselves from the impact of those substances.
In addition, employees working in the energy and water supply industry are vulnerable to the risk of the exposure to infectious diseases. For instance, water is one of the possible ways of spreading infectious disease. Employees of the energy and water supply industry treat the water that means that they may deal with the contaminated water before it is properly treated to make it safe. As a result, they may catch the infectious disease before the water treatment and such disease can cause serious health problems. In such a situation, employees should remember about such hazards and undertake measures to prevent them or, at least, to minimize the risk of catching infectious diseases.
Automation of the production process and risks to safety and health of employees
Furthermore, more recently, the automation of the production process decreased the possibility of interference of employees and prevention of damages and injuries in case of dangerous malfunctions of equipment. What is meant here is the fact that the automation of the production process naturally requires enhancement of occupational safety and health policies because employees could not physically prevent hazards and injuries effectively, if the production process is automated. Therefore, employers have to create safe workplace environment to prevent any risks and threats to health and safety of employees. By the end of the 20th century, technology has made an unparalleled progress, while today technologies keep progressing, increasing the automation of the production process and complexity of the work that naturally increases risks and threats to safety and health of employees. Hence, such changes are important factors contributing to the development of occupational safety and health in the workplace environment in Australia.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
Civil rights activism’s contribution to occupational safety
The rise of civil rights activism and growing pressure from the part of employees and unions in regard to the enhancement of workplace safety contributed to the development of occupational safety and health in the workplace environment. In fact, the development of occupational safety and health laws and policies was not the mere initiative or good will of the government, legislators and policy makers. Instead, they have started to implement occupational safety and health laws and develop policies aiming at the enhancement of occupational safety and health in the workplace environment in Australia under the growing public pressure. As the public grew aware of numerous risks Australian employees were exposed to in the workplace, the public had started to increase pressure on the government and legislators, while civil rights activists increased the pressure and facilitated the introduction of laws and norms that increased occupational safety and health in Australia.
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1984 and other legal regulations
In this regard, it is worth mentioning the introduction of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1984. The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1984 is the fundamental legal act regulating occupational safety and health in the workplace environment in Australia (Preece, 2011). This act regulates occupational safety and health issues related to the workplace environment in Australia. The introduction of the act laid the legal ground to the protection of employees from hazardous workplace environment and allowed employees to require employers to create safe and healthy workplace environment.
In addition to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1984, the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations were introduced in 1996 to enhance existing legislation and to create safer workplace environment (Waterman, 2007). Moreover, today, both acts are supported by codes of practice and guidance notes which regulate occupational safety and health in the workplace environment and provide detailed recommendations on the creations of safe conditions of work.
Occupational safety of employees at the international level
Today, occupational safety and health legislation needs further improvement and introduction of new regulations because of changing business and workplace environment. The growing cooperation of Australia and its integration into the global economy raised the problem of protection of Australian employees and employees working in Australian companies from the violation of their rights and their exposure to risks and threats that could affect their health and safety. As Australian companies operate internationally, they often move their production abroad, where occupational safety requirements and health regulations are low but the negligence of health and safety norms may expose to risks employees working in Australia, when they use parts assembled abroad, for instance, where companies neglect safety and health issues. Therefore, the international business raises the problem of the enhancement of occupational safety and health legislation in Australia.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
In addition, the integration of Australia into the global economy stimulated the emergence of multinational corporations operating in Australia and other countries that raised the problem of the protection of Australian employees working in such corporations, including those employees, who were transferred to other countries within their multinational corporations. Hence, Australian employees may face a risk of being transferred to a country, where their rights are neglected and where they have to work in dangerous and unsafe conditions. Australian legislation needs to regulate this issues and the development of the contemporary occupational safety and health legislation and policies is vulnerable to the impact of the international integration of Australian companies and integration of Australia into the world economy.
Occupational safety at the state level
At the state level, Australian employees could face the problem of saving costs on occupational safety and health because local companies attempted to maintain their competitive position saving costs on health and safety issues. Many Australian companies attempt to save costs on safety and health of their employees to increase their competitive position because the creation of safe and healthy workplace environment needs substantial funds (Paton, 2011). As smaller companies cannot afford competing with large multinational corporations, they have to save costs using all available means. In such a situation, the development of occupational safety and health legislation and policies is the direct response to such attempts to save costs on safety and health of employees.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper
Conclusion
Thus, taking into account all above mentioned, it is important to place emphasis on the fact that the development of occupational safety and health laws and policies in Australia was vulnerable to the impact of multiple factors. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the growing complexity of work, automation of production processes and growing risks and threats to safety and health of employees. In addition, the public pressure and civil rights activism along with the pressure of unions contributed to the enhancement of occupational safety and health legislation in Australia at all levels.Occupational Safety & Health In Australia Paper