Legal and Ethical Issues at Workplace Essay

IntroductionIn this paper, legal and estimable issues provide be discussed in connection with the current, previous and potential future habitability of the soundlyness and galosh of employees, which is currently an valuable issue was the state of each and every country. Estimated mortality, on with the injury shows that a number of companies in past and mortalate encountered several(prenominal) problems as salutary as in the near future, they will a resembling continue in the direction facing the types of ethical and legal issues. every last(predicate) kinds of approximations and expenses related to hiters wellness, along with resort and security that occurred in an organization depicts that sentry go issues were not a anteriority of the conjunction due to this the number of legal issues relating to costs and penalties lot be experienced by companies (Granger 2010).Understanding of Employee health & preventive IssuesIn the current competitive culture to the smoot h surgical process of the company, it is necessary to en true the asylum and security of its employees. wellness and resort includes an important part of do workplace culture. Safety pertains towards travel of back uping fleshly well being of the employee (Clarke and White 2002). Additionally, it also involves risk of accidents involved dueto the machinery, send away and diseases. Security issues towards defending facilities along with equipments from the unauthorized preliminary and also guarding employees at succession if they fuck off been on work. Generally responsibility of the employee health along with safety falls on supervisors or Human Resource completers of the company (Swanton 2005).All these laws and plans for health and safety sport been make by the politics. These rules and regulations made by the government shows that the director of personnel, organizations can help in the coordination of safety programs, resulting in employees aw atomic number 18 of health and safety plans and policies of the company and to conduct a formal safety training, etc. In addition to supervisors and departmental heads atomic number 18 responsible for providing a safe work environment (Employees health and safety responsibilities, 2013). Subsequently to a greater extent or less peculiar responsibilities have been decided by the government and organizations on the part of managers and supervisors which atomic number 18 as followsResponsibilities of ManagersObserve health and safety of employeesInstruct employees to be safety alertLook into accidentsClearly notify regarding safety policy to employees (Lefkowitz 2003)Responsibilities of supervisors/departmental headsOffer technical training concerning to forestalling of accidentsAlign health and safety programsTrain employees on treating facilities and equipmentsFormulation of safety reporting systemsAssertion of safe operative conditions (Hooker 2002)Within the framework of the organizations prese nt different costes to ensure the health and safety of its employees, but all of the approaches do not focus on the contribution of each of the design work and employee behavior to safety. Focus on both of these approaches is necessary to make this regulative approach towards the safety and efficacy (Cahn and Markie 1998). Many organizational and individual issues ar in the management of workers health and safety, which be as follows and should be managed ethically differentwise it can guide the organization in relation to the unlike legal issues.Workplace Issues Ethical and LegalPhysical Work SettingsThe physiologic position of the individual affects the performance of employees, and nearly of the factors that include temperature, noise, lighting, the size of the working area and the type of materials that make an impact on staff working with these factors (Granger 2010).Sick Building SyndromeThis is a situation in which employees are dandy health problems and anxiety be ca design of the time spent in the workplace. Some factors that can guide sick building recognize poor air quality, short(p) ventilation, inappropriate cleanliness, food smell and Adhesives, etc (Clarke and White 2002).ErgonomicsErgonomics is the synopsis of the physiological, psychological, and engineering design work prospects, letting factors much(prenominal) as fatigue, lighting, tools, equipment layout and em stead of checks. This is theboundary amid humans and machines. In such a situation, problems like back pain, eye strain and headaches appear because of the long working hours are spent (Clarke and White 2002).Engineering of Work Equipments and MaterialsAccidents happen apply in the organization can be excluded in this way, by the right placement of unsafe vehicles. Besides the construction of machinery and equipment also operates a key comp integritynt part in the safety of employees, as offering security guards and hide in the equipment, emergency stop pushing and other materials can help flash back accidents significantly (Clarke and White 2002). additive Trauma and Repetitive StressCumulative trauma disorders fall, when the muscles are constantly used to perform some tasks. This in turn causes equipment casualty to musculoskeletal and nervous system. Employees need to check the noble level of mental and physical accent and due to this kind of stress and trauma (Clarke and White 2002).Accident Rates and IndividualsIndividual access to a secure environment also helps to dive accidents. Its generally more than of a nuisance as stimulated due to careless approach staff than on the machines or the employers negligence. The positive attitude of organizations and employers to the work environment and other work outs can contribute to safety of employees, and not some other issues (Clarke and White 2002).Ethical ResponsibilityIndividual access to a secure environment also helps to dive accidents. Its generally more of a nuisance as stimulated due to careless approach staff than on the machines or the employers negligence. The positive attitude of organizations and employers to the work environment and other practices cancontribute to safety of employees, and not some other issues (Employee Health and Safety, 2013).Ethical TheoriesConsequentialist theory suggests that an act is goodly wrongfulness if it leads to the consequences of false or considered revileful by the vast majority of tribe in the community. Consequentialist theory requires paygrade of the actual cause of the law, which include the effects of direct and indirect alike. It also requires the use of some type of rules and evaluation criteria for determining whether the result is beneficial or harmful (Audi 1997).The theory is prescriptive because it is the use of evaluative criteria to guide whether individuals should lead or avoid the act. For the action at law of this theory, there should be a general agreement in ordination to the nature of the evaluation criteria. This theory also suggests that the moral philosophy of each faux pas must be rigd according to the peculiar(prenominal) circumstances without type to the legal or moral standard is absolute (Cahn and Markie 1998).Consequentialist approach and one that is utilitarian, which deals with the work on the basis of good winning or damage with the well-being or happiness as a result of the germane(predicate) assessment criteria. Consequentialist theory, however, suggests that the evaluative norms may be relevant to social or cultural factors.When the consequentialist theory is applied to this situation (employee health and safety) it suggests that the actions of the managers and employers can be unethical if they do not care slightly employees health and safety. From the consequentialist perspective, the ban consequences of the managers actions far outweighed the positive consequences of increasing their personal wealth (Hooker 2002).Deontological theories of moral philosophy to determine the acts that constitutes or may not be based on the birth which led to the duty. On the otherhand, deontological theories do not examine the outcomes of acts. Deontological ethics also postulates that adherence to the Duty set by the social traffic is a moral obligation (Audi 1997). In the approach to ethics is imperious developed by Kant, one of the maxims is to treat others as an end and neer as a means.Pluralistic intuitive approach to deontological ethics adoptive by Ross suggests the mankind of prima facie duties apply to all individuals disregardless of the specific nature of the affinity. These duties include fidelity, and compensation after causing damage, and non-injury to others. These general duties, however, do not preclude the creation of specific duties in a relationship by explicit or unstated agreement (Cahn and Markie 1998). In addition, the deontological theories do not clearly describe the hierarchy of duties when a conflict arises between obligations, although there is general agreement that the duty not to harm others takes priority over other duties.Applying deontological theories to this situation (employee health and safety) requires assessing the general and specific duties of the managers and employers arising from their relationships to the immobile and its stakeholders. The mangers have general duties for workers safety, accidental harms, and other health issues and to make reparations in the event if they are harmed because of the lack of safety measures (Hooker 2002).Virtue ethics postulates the existence of a fixed set of moral rules that an individual can use to determine the rightness of an action. A rectitude is a disposition to suffice in a good or appropriate way to a situation or event. From this perspective, virtue is timber trait. At the same time, virtue ethics has a normative dimension in which it describes the types of responses to situations that are moral or appropriate for all people (Audi 1997). In this theoretical approach, an action is right only if it is the action that an individual with a virtuous character would perform in the same situation.Applying virtue ethics to this situation leads to the mop up that the managers of a firm may be unethical because they did not stand in a manner expected of a virtuous person in the situation if any of the employees got hurt, injure etc. Although consequentialist theory, deontological theory, and virtue ethics have different approaches to assessing ethical behavior in an organization they aim at the same conclusions (Cahn and Markie 1998).The consequentialist theories view the outcome of the harm caused to employees as the life-sustaining factor determining the ethics of the behavior. The deontological theories examine the breach of laws under OSHA and implicit duties as the controlling factor determining the ethics of any accidental events in an organization. Virtue ethics propose that virtuous people would not have performed the acts of irresponsibility and carelessness. The behavior of the managers and employers is said to be unethical regardless of the ethical framework used for evaluating the events leading to the collapse of the firm (Employee Health and Safety 2013).Legal ResponsibilityNumerous laws are contrived to defend workers from illness and injury. Most prominent act in this regard is the occupational Safety and Health plaque that was created in 1970 within the U.S. department of task (Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2013). The official duty of this act is to make sure worker safety and health in the United States by working with employers and employees to demonstrate better working environments. (Employee Health and Safety 2013)The implementation of this act had helped in cutting workplace deaths by more than 60 shareage and occupational injury and illness rates by 40 percent. This act had explicated number of responsibilities for employers along with numerous rights of employees that can be used by an employee if he does not found organization concerned intimately his own health and safety (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2013). From the time of this acts implementation various organization and employers are charged for not maintain with their determined responsibilities.Employer Responsibilities under OSHAUnder this act pastime are the duties and responsibilities of employer towards their employees health and safetyMeet with general duty obligation to offer a workplace free from documented hazards that are inducing or are potential to induce death or serious physical harm to employees and follow with standards, rules and regulations issued under the act.Define yourself and your staff with mandatory OSHA standards and make copies useable to staff for reconsideration upon request.Continuous assessment of workplace conditions to ensure that they meet with appropriate standards.Minimize and reduce safety and h ealth endangerments.Ensure that employees have and use safe tools and equipments.Offer medical examinations whenever required by OSHA standards.These are some peculiar responsibilities of employers along with number of other responsibilities. (Employee Health and Safety 2013)Employee Rights under OSHAUnder OSHA rules, employees have a right to know about the hazards to which they may be exposed at work. In addition to this employees have a right to seek a safe workplace without care of punishment. The right is spelled out in section 11(c) of the act and all employees are covered except workers who are self employed and public employees in state and local government. This law also delineates that employers should not punish or discriminate against workers for exercising complaining and filing safety and health grievances.This tiny discussion of employee health and safety concerned act OSHA depicts that it is necessary to manoeuver and employers to adhere to their responsibilities and only they can be charged and directed in a number of other issues that would cause damage to its image as well (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2013).In addition to OSHA other acts efforts in this regard are Workers Compensation right (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2013). The law deals with all accidental injuries and occupational diseases and during the growing and compass work. This involves a disease or injury resulting from such injuries. In general, this law does not offer compensation for any of the following conditionsMental or nervous injury due to stressthither is a work-related condition that causes the employee to have a fear or nauseate of another individual race, color or national origin, religion, sex and age. disorder and suffering from the condition (Employee Health and Safety 2013).Under this law, the employer can be hurt worker litigation to bring about the incident cannot be injured worker litigation employer to injury. This tr ade-off of this law makes it possible to injured workers to receive immediate medical care, at no cost to the injured worker, without any thinking about who was at fault, the employer or the employee. In the complaisant law is the perception that the negligence must be demonstrated through litigation before any compensation is awarded (Occupational Safety and Health Administration 2013).RecommendationsOrganizations should work to improve the welfare of employees and, therefore, should be trouble-free. Terms of health, safety, and security are closely related to each other. Health was the general state of well being. This notonly allows for the physical well being selected, however, also along with his healthy mind and body. It is believed that every organization should take care of the physical parameters of the work in which its employees work otherwise it can lead to a number of ethical and legal issues. Due to the legal act one can confer that each and every organization should follow with their ethical responsibility towards employees health and safety as they are also a vital part of the country and society from which it also belongs.ConclusionIn the end, of the detailed discussion of ethical and legal issues in regard to employee health and safety we can conclude that organizations can avoid all these issues if they manage it with all-inclusive efforts from the time to employee hiring to his performance at workplace. If an organization abides with the established rules and regulations it will achieve immense success in the maintenance of employee health and safety. espousal of appropriate laws and acts along with appropriate implementation of essential programs can allow for an organization with effective approach to manage and handle employees health and safety.ReferencesAudi, R. (1997). virtuous knowledge and ethical character. New York Oxford University Press.Cahn, S. & Markie, P. (1998). Ethics History, theory, and contemporary issues. New York Oxford University Press.Hooker, B. (2002). example code, real world A rule-consequentialist theory of morality. New York Oxford University Press.Lefkowitz, J. (2003). Ethics and value in industrial organization psychology. Mahwah NJ Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Swanton, C. (2005). Virtue ethics A pluralistic view. Oxford OxfordUniversity Press.Hughes, Phil and Ferrett, Ed (2009) Introduction to Health and Safety at Work. taylor & francis 4 editionJane Clarke Alex White (2002) A guide to good employment practice in the community & voluntary sector. Dublin Combat Poverty Agency.Granger, Lisa (2010) outstrip Practices in Occupational Health, Safety, Workers Compensation and Claims Management for Employers Assisting Employers in Navigating The Road to set. Universal PublishersEmployee Health and Safety. (2013). Retrieved from http//www.wbcsdcement.org http//www.wbcsdcement.org/index.php/key-issues/health-and-safetyOccupational Safety and Health Administration. (2013). Retrieved from h ttp//www.osha.gov http//www.osha.gov/