Managing Workplace Health & Safety

Question 1

What is the importance of WHS?

Answer 1

• Healthy and safe work environments both desirable and cost-effective
• WHS pervades all aspects of HRM
• Costs of workplace accidents and disease major factor in strategic focus

Question 2

What is WHS?

Answer 2

• WHS refers to ‘the protection and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social wellbeing of worker in all occupations’

Question 3

What is the strategic approach to WHS?

Answer 3

• Adopt strategic interventions and use these as evidence of their contributions to business productivity and profitability
• Focus on the common causes and trends of site accidents and injuries
• Develop appropriate preventative work systems or more effective administrative and rehabilitation programs
• i.e. proactive approach

Question 4

What are key WHS issues?

Answer 4

• Accidents
• Stress
• Psychological contract breach
• Abusive Supervision
• Family-Work conflict
• Workplace Bullying

Question 5

What are the predictors of WHS accidents?

Answer 5

• Risk-seeking, impatience, carelessness
• Optimism bias
• Substance abuse
• Safety climate
• Poor training of safety procedures

Question 6

How can WHS accidents be mitigated?

Answer 6

• Comprehensive safety polciies
• Training
• Equipment, protective elements, ergonomics
• Supervision
• Ongoing analysis of accidents and injuries, risk management

Question 7

What is stress?

Answer 7

• No agreed definition

- Eustress (benefits) vs distress (costs)

Question 8

What are the symptoms and reactions of stress?

Answer 8

• Symptoms: fatigue, exhaustion, physical or emotional breakdown
• Reactions: Reaction or Withdrawl

Question 9

What is conversation of resources theory?

Answer 9

stressors as resource depleting - loss spiral (harder and harder to recover from resource lost - burnout being the ultimate end)

Question 10

What is the important theory concerning stress?

Answer 10

Conversation of resources theory

Question 11

What are the outcomes of psychological contract breach?

Answer 11

• Emotional exhaustion
• Employee turnover, intention or actual
• Age important variable - younger more susceptible to emotional exhaustion when contract breached

Question 12

How can stress be mitigated?

Answer 12

• Leadership - commitment to stress prevention
• Employee assistance programs
• Felt-fairness
• Reduce work overload and role conflict
• Training managers to diagnose and identify stress
• Supportive supervision
• Increase employee voice:
• Wellness programs

Question 13

What are the mechanisms for employee voice?

Answer 13

• Climate surveys

- Employee grievances

Question 14

What are wellness programs?

Answer 14

• Excercise

- Mindfulness

Question 15

What is abusive supervision?

Answer 15

Subordinates perceptions of the extent to which supervisors engage in the sustained display of hostile verbal and nonverbal behaviours, excluding physical contact

Question 16

Categorically what are the consequences of abusive supervision?

Answer 16

• Work related

* Non Work

Question 17

What are the work related consequences of abusive supervision?

Answer 17

• Poor perofrmance
• Reducing helping behaviours
• Aggression at work
• Poor work attitudes (low commitment/satisfaction)
• Stress and somatic symptoms
• Silence

Question 18

What are the non-work related consequences of abusive supervision?

Answer 18

• Substance abuse
• Insomnia
• Familial issues

Question 19

What are the elements of family-work conflict?

Answer 19

• Conservation of Resources Theory (Hobfoll, 1989)
• Work to family conflict e.g. obsessive passion
• family to work conflict e.g. problems at home

Question 20

What are the elements of conservation of resources theory?

Answer 20

• Resources conservation (withdrawal) vs resource investment (proactivity) as responses to stress
• Resource loss spiral: anxiety - physical symptoms - lower performance - promotion prospects lost
• Resource investment: exercise etc

Question 21

What are the potential spill over effects of family-work conflict?

Answer 21

reduced task, memberhips, and organisation citizenship behaviours

Question 22

What is workplace bullying?

Answer 22

• A chronic form of stress at work and refers to the repeated systematic exposure of negative acts targeted toward an individual or small group of people who are unable to defend themselves

Question 23

What is the definition of bullying?

Answer 23

Bullying is ‘the repeated less favrouable treatment of a person by another or others in the workplace, which may be considered unreasonable and inappropriate in the workplace’

Question 24

What effects can workplace bullying have on organisations?

Answer 24

• Cause significant financial damage to organisations
  
  • Compensation
  • Counselling
  • Litigation
  • Long term abseentism
  • Low performance

Question 25

How can workplace bullying be mitigated?

Answer 25

• Leadership
• Senior managers and leaders need to be strongly committed to creating and enacting policies and practices that protect employee well-being
• Following up with corrective action when necessary
• Promote perceptions of psychological safety
• Encourage open communication
• HR departments need to be committed to mitigating bullying