“Injured” By Xin Yuan
Workplace safety and health are very important to someone that is injured. This is because this will show that the company’ workplace safety is unsafe for employers to work in. Thus bringing down the reputation of the company. This also results in the loss of income and be unable to financially help the family for the ones supporting the family. Injured people will also need more money to pay for their medical bills, which may affect families with lower income. This may also bring more stress to other members of the family as they will need to work long hours or find more jobs to pay for the medical bills and support the family. Hence the company will need to improve workplace safety in the company so that lesser people get injured, and also make it a safer place to work in. Workers will also feel safer working in the company.
Reflections
I understand from the Workplace Safety and Health act that it aims to cultivate good safety habits in every individual to engender a strong safety culture in the workplace. There are also higher penalties enforced on those who have committed an offense. Thus this will set as a reminder to employers and employees to take safety precaution during work so they can avoid unnecessary injuries. This is because one worker being injured can lead to many problems. This ranges from the company needing to settle his or her compensation fees and medical bills and also to work on how to further improve workplace safety. This will also affect the manpower in the company, as it makes the work less efficient, resulting in the company needing to find other workers to take over.Hence it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that the workplace is a safe environment to work in.
Refinements Applied
The Workplace Safety and Health (WSH) law helps to reduce the chances of accidents from occurring at the workplace by asking stakeholders to take the resonably practical measures at the workplace. When accidents do occur, it might lead to the worker being injured, having permanent disability or even worse death. Having a permanent disability will lead to the worker not being able to work and not able to be as efficient as before. Hence the worker will then lose a job, due to an accident that happened during work. Hence both the employer and employees should follow the WSH law to reduce the chances of workers getting injured and the loss of manpower.
Losing a job, can mean a lot to the workers, as they will need to support the family, pay for the medical fees and also to support themselves. With the WSH Act, the Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA) will compensate the family. This amount of compensation fee can also be used to recieve better medical treatment, so that the injured will be able to recover faster and get back to work. So we should follow the WSH law and create a safer environment for everyone to work in.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
We can take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents, by doing regular inspection to ensure that the facilities and equipment are in good condition and are safe for people to use. According to the WSH Act, an inspection should be carried out at least once every three years, when an accident occurredd or when there is a new work process. Before anyone starts work, the employer needs to ensure that all the risk are being identified and there should be solutions to all these risks. This is to done to reduce the chances of these accidents from occurring, thus ensuring the workers that they are working in a safe environment. Employees can also attend courses so that they will be more informed on the personal protection equipment they can use to keep themselves safe.
How to improve?
Companies would need to do risk assessment once in a while or after accidents, to prevent more accidents from occurring. Regular checks on machinery and equipment would also need to be done to make sure that it is not faulty or dangerous and it is safe to use .
“Family Members” By Janice
As a family member, I will be worried about my family’s safety when they are working and do not hope that they get injured while working as they will not be able to do things that they can do previously and will affect their daily lives like not able to brush their teeth. The family source of income is also affected as no one in the family is able to work and the family is going to have emotional trauma. Family members will also have a hard time explaining to their young children about what happened to their injured family. Bigger responsibility is also passed down to the oldest family member example like the wife or the oldest child.
Reflections
I realized that accidents can cause a lot of damage to both emotional and also the way of living. When accidents happen, it will cause trauma to both the victim and the victim’s family as a family member suddenly have a serious injury or even dead. When these type of accidents happen, family members loses trust in these type of work environment and jobs which also causes decrease in manpower in this industry. The family members might even fall into depression and feel helpless as their family member is injured/died which will result in not able to lead a normal life and affect both there physical and mental health, worst case scenario it might lead to suicide. After the accident, the victim will not be able to work and might lead to financial problem. I think that the victim’s family will be very stressed as the responsibility will be passed down to another family member and that he or she will be the one that have to earn money and take care of the victim which is very stressful. The children will be also affected as their family breadwinner is not able to work and it might cause the children to not be able to continue with their studies.
Refinements Applied
When the employee is injured and not able to support the family, the family do need to to get worried as the Ministry of Manpower have a act called Work Injury Compensation Act (WICA). Which allows employees to make claims for work-related injuries or diseases. So this amount of money can put to many use like medical cost and buying daily products. Thus helping the family to cope with daily needs as the breadwinner is not able to work.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
As family members, we cannot always be there to look after the breadwinner so, we can only encourage him to always look out of hazards and when he identify one, he must report to his manager. So those hazards could be removed and it will be a safe environment to work in.
How to improve?
Next time I will try to remind he or she to look around their surroundings when they are working to prevent such accidents from happening. And also encourage them to participate in safety workshop so as to let them be more careful and aware of their working environment and to allow them to know the consequences of not being careful and not following the regulations in the workplace.
“Ministry of Manpower” By Caryl
As the Ministry of Manpower, workplace safety and health is very important for me as when a worker gets injured when working, problems will arise. Loss of productivity will occur because of the loss of a skilled worker who contributes to the economy. Thus, a disruption of manpower supply will occur as accidents will discourage youths from taking up that trade or profession. There will then be considerations for the cost of rescue, investigating, emergency response and hospital resources. There will be loss of prestige, global ranking and public confidence and lastly, this will be a hindrance to foreign investors.
Reflections
I realized that accidents can cause a lot of distress to the injured’s family and also to many other parties. Not only that, this may traumatize other workers which might slow down the level of productivity during work hours. This will also not only affect the injured physically but also mentally. Later when dealing with the problem, it would also be costly as the government would have to take into consideration a lot of different factors when solving it.
Refinements Applied
The Ministry of Manpower can ensure that all construction workers are required to attend and pass the Safety Orientation Course for Construction Industry (CSOC) to ensure they are trained in work safety before starting work. Over 50 safety-related courses are in place to address sector-specific needs. We have also mandated the requirement for companies to have a registered workplace safety and health officer (WSHO) where the project sum is $10 million or more, and in factories where there are 100 or more workers.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
The government should ensure that both the employees and employers are familiar with the policy of the guidelines of WSH by making it compulsory for each and every individual to attend classes conducted by professionals to lessen the number of injuries and casualties within the workplace. Example, before operating any heavy equipment, the workers would have to follow a set of guidelines to ensure that nothing goes wrong and that there is no signs of danger. Hence, with guidelines in place that the company is suppose to adhere, it make the job of the inspector easier as he or she will be able to spot the mistakes. The government can also educate the public on the guidelines of WSH by uploading it to social media platforms to share with them the importance of workplace safety and health, to further reduce the number of injuries and casualties within the workplace.
How to improve?
Improvements can be made to ensure that work place is safer. This includes applying more stringent tests when checking equipment and also the safety of the environment.
“Employers” By Jensine
As an employer, workplace safety and health are important and we have the responsibility to ensure a safe environment for workers to work in. The highest level of safety should be practiced in any company. With every worker practice safety rules and regulations, the number of accidents will be reduced. If safety is not practiced, the number of accidents will be increased, work productivity will be reduced. Major injuries will allow workers to be unable to continue to work and have to compensate the injured and the family members and the family will lose the income. Company sales and production will be greatly impacted. If sued, the company image will be affected and people might not want to continue to work in the same company.
Reflections
I realized that accidents can cause the downfall of the company in terms of the company’s image, profits, productivity, and funds. Firstly, due to low productivity, stocks producing will be reduced. The quality and quantity of work will be greatly affected. With workers being injured, they will not be able to work for a short period or long period. If the workplace is in construction sites, the expected finish time will be pushed back and in a short period find other workers to replace. Secondly, the injured workers will be in great pressure, as they are scared to lose their jobs, in great stress that the injury might cause lifetime impacts on them and their family. Having to worry if they can claim work injury compensation fees from the company to pay for their fees like hospital bills and worry whether the claims will be enough to provide his or her family. Safety in the workplace environment is everyone’s responsibility, worse comes to worst, the individual might be blamed for not looking out for their safety. Thus, as employers, everyone’s safety is our priority. We should be stricter in our rules and regulations to reduce the number of hazards and accidents in our workplaces. Platforms should also be set up to allow people to feedback on the hazards identified and immediate actions have to be taken.
“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.”
-Marcus Tullius Cicero
Refinements Applied
As an employer, workplace safety and health are important for me. Firstly, when our workers are injured, work productivity will be affected. It affects the number of stocks produced and a high quality of work will not be produced. Workers will also be afraid to continue working because they might think that the same thing that happened to another worker will also happen on themselves. The workers will get distracted from work and being an employer myself will also be responsible for my fellow workers’ injury. When the working location is in a construction site, the expected finish time will be delayed, accidents should be reduced and seen as an important issue and priority issue.
Secondly, Injured workers will be afraid of whether if they can claim work injury compensation fees for hospital bills and money to provide for their family. As an employer, we should compensate them enough so that they will be able to afford all the fees and put meals on the table for their family.
Lastly, as employers, we have the responsibility to form the RM team and conduct risk assessments for our workplace every 3 years so that the risk of injury and hazards will be reduced. A safe working environment for all, safety is everyone’s responsibility and priority. Workers in the worst-case scenario are sometimes blamed for causing injury to themselves but in any case, we should still be responsible for injuries caused as they are our workers, our responsibility. Thus, reducing the number of accidents is also important to us. We may be fined up to $50,000 for Corporate Body and fined 2 times the amount if it is to happen again. The worst-case scenario possible would be when injured workers and their families are to sue the company, we would lose a lot of profit and other companies’ trust in us because of our inability to take good care of our workers and lose our company’s image.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
We can take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents by firstly following all the rules and regulations of the workplace and be safe. Safety is the number one priority wherever we are. Secondly, as employers, we should appoint a risk management team to conduct a risk management implementation plan to reduce the risk of hazards in the workplace for every 3 years to ensure safety for all. Reporting hazards are one of the ways everyone can contribute to workplace safety. RM Teams and teams that are responsible to handle hazards should be on standby every time a hazard is identified and solve the problem immediately. Lastly, when hazards are identified and the area is blocked off to handle the hazard, we should respect the work boundary and do not break off the blocked area and horseplay around.
How to improve?
To improve the safety of everyone at workplaces, any injuries or exposed dangerous hazards should be reported, stricter safety rules and regulations should be implemented to ensure everyone’s safety. More regular checks on the equipment should also be done. Bizsafe implementation of a risk management program should be stricter in order to create a safer and healthier environment for everyone to work in. Using Search engines is also useful for searching for articles on previous accidents and study how it is being handled. We should learn to put ourselves in the shoes of the victims and families and being thoughtful and understanding. Sending workers to courses that enhance their knowledge of workplace safety is another way to raise awareness of safety in workplaces.
“Employees” By Kelly
As an employee of a company workplace safety and health is very important. Of course everyone would like to make sure that they are safe at work. If the workplace is not safe then nobody would want to work there as we would not want to get ourselves injured. In the case where we get injured we do not know if we can still work in the company if we got injured badly. Also we would not know how much the company would compensate us for the cost of surgery or would give us paid leave to recover. In the case that I lose the job and not get any compensation how can I continue to support my family? Therefore workplace safety and and health. If it is not safe then no one wound want to continue working there as we have to live in fear and be very careful everyday at work.
Reflections
I have realised that workplace accidents can affect the victim and their families life badly. In which it could mean the loss of job, disability or even death for the injured employee. If the employee can’t work anymore it means that his family have lost their sole breadwinner which means they lost their main source of income to support their everyday lives and they have to take care of the injured and also take on a job to support the family instead. It can also cause emotional trauma for the whole family as who wouldn’t be scared if it was them to suffer from the accident instead? At the same time the other employees of the company would not want to work for them anymore if the workplace is not actually safe. Nobody would want to live in fear of getting in an accident. When the employees are not sure if the workplace is safe anymore they would leave the company resulting in the decrease of workers working.
‘Precaution is better than cure’
~Edward Coke
Refinements Applied
Workplace safety and health is very important for all employees. If one of my colleagues get into an accident when working, everyone else would be affected emotionally since no one else wants to get hurt too. Not only that employees would also not be sure if the place is still safe to work in and they do not want to end up getting injured too. The employee who got injured may suffer in pain being disabled or even end up dying. The injured worker would be affected emotionally and physically. The worker will not be able to work as efficiently as before and result his work to be less effective. This might make him have his contract terminated as no one wants a worker with low effectiveness working in the company. With no job now, the injured will not have enough for his expenses as he need to support his family and at the same time use it on his medical fees.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
Under the WSH act, all employees have a duty to keep their workplace and colleagues safe . We can make a more proactive stance by following all procedures at your workplace to not endanger anyone. As an employee you should not tamper with safety devices or perform willful or reckless acts. Instead you should report unsafe work conditions, behaviors and workplace incidents (regardless of whether an injury has taken place) and provide suggestions to improve safety and health at work. Employers should remove risks to maintain a safe work environment, develop emergency plans and provide employees with all the safety equipment.
Reflection
I have realized that workplace safety is very important as it can cost lives since accidents can happen anytime. Sometimes it could have been prevented, but employees may not have noticed or cared. It can also be because they did not do the simplest thing which is using safety equipment or it may not have been provided for them. I believe that everyone has a part to play in preventing accidents. A good example would be the WSH act as it reminds everyone that they should comply with the safety regulations if not they will be fined or jailed.
How to improve?
The company can conduct regular inspections to make sure that all facilities are safe for everyone. Before starting work all staff can also check for any possible hazards and remove them. Also training for staff can be provided so that they would know how to be safe or make sure they are in a safe environment. Personally, i can improve by researching more articles on workplace injuries so i can understand more about the aftermath of the incidents not only that, there are also lots of useful information.
“Students” By Karis
As a student, workplace safety and health is important as i do not want myself to get injured. If i were to get myself injured i might not be able to study properly to get the job that i like. I might have to take on a job that i have no interest in. Being injured will affect how efficient i am during work. I might also slow down the company’s process.
Reflections
I realized that accidents can cause injuries that might make me not as efficient as before or not able to work. This will affect my financial state and my family. It will also affect me emotionally and mentally. It will affect my grades in school. My company’s image will suffer also as people will think that their environment is not safe for people to work at. Accidents can also cause trauma to those who got hurt. It might make them emotionally unstable.
Refinements Applied
Workplace safety and health is very important for students, as if students get injured, it will affect their grades. If the injury is very serious that they have to be hospitalized, it will cause them to miss out The grades that they get will determine the type of school that they will be enrolling in. The environment that they study in plays a big role in the type of future that they will have. Their family will also be emotionally affected as they will be worried about their conditions and injuries. They might get injured during work as they are too upset on their child’s well being that they do not pay attention to their surroundings.
How can we take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents?
We can take a more proactive stance towards preventing accidents by being more alert of our surroundings. If we see others that are not in a safe environment, we can warn them or help them out to prevent accidents from happening. As a student, we can alert our fellow classmates of unsafe activities/actions done in school. This will ensure the safety of others around them. In addition, we should also follow the rules of the WSH act. This can minimize the accidents that might happen in the future.
How to improve?
Next time i can try to research more to gather more information with better explanations and examples. In addition, i can try to explain more on the consequences of an incident. I will also try to keep a look out for things that might cause harm to others and myself. I will also be responsible for my own safety.
JKJCXK 