Workplace Hazards Essay ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

This Workplace Hazards Essay example is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic, please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.

Workplace hazards are the possible causes of physical or mental problems for people working in any particular place. They range from exposure to hazardous chemicals, excessively loud noise, psychological stress, and workplace violence or discrimination. Workplace hazards cause large numbers of deaths and injuries every year. It is estimated that some two million people die from workplacecaused hazards annually, and another 160 million become subject to a disease stemming from their work. Since prevention of accidents and risk generally comes at the initial expense of lowered productivity, employers have a strong disincentive to provide safety systems. Consequently, workers with less power or representation are generally more at risk from workplace hazards. Women, migrants, and temporary workers are some of the groups most likely to be put at risk of workplace hazards.

The nature and severity of workplace hazards varies depending on the type of work, the regulations in force in the geographic area in which the work takes place, the state of new scientific understanding, and the industry concerned. New forms of occupation and working activity, based more on sedentary work with computers, has brought about the risk of repetitive strain injuries, for example. Previously, hazards would be more likely to be working with dangerous machinery or with chemicals or other materials that lead to negative health outcomes. Some industrial activities, such as mining or deep-sea fishing, are inherently dangerous and even more so when proper regulations of activities are not enforced and policed.

In February 2005, 203 miners were killed in an explosion in China, part of the approximately 6,000 people killed in that industry annually, most of whom worked in poorly-regulated private sector mines. In addition to the possibility of accidents and explosions, miners also face the problem of inhaling dangerous substances leading to disease. Exposure to coal dust, for example, can lead to the lung disease pneumoconiosis, which has claimed thousands of lives and destroyed the health of thousands more. The period between exposure and development of the disease can be around 10 years, which means that it has been very difficult to demonstrate causal links and therefore obtain either better safety equipment or compensation. Figures from the United Kingdom reveal that identification of new cases of the disease continues to run at nearly 1,200 per year, despite the closure of much of the country’s coal mining industry.

Other forms of hazard include bloodborne pathogens, HIVIAIDS, exposure to toxic animal droppings, and deliberate attack by terrorists. The extent to which people may be protected from these hazards depends on national-level legislation and the ability and will to enforce those laws, together with the willingness of state governments to enforce international-level safety standards, for example those promoted by the International Labor Organization (ILO). As understanding of mental health develops, so too has the understanding of what workplace conditions can cause mental health problems. Forcing this to happen requires lengthy and often difficult attempts to bring civil or criminal actions against employers who may have much more power to withstand such attempts.

Workers, especially those in vulnerable situations, are often unwilling or scarcely capable of participating in such cases. However, when precedents are set, then it is much more possible for subsequent cases to be prosecuted, when employers may prefer to settle out of court rather than fight a losing battle. Since the majority of the world’s population either depends on agriculture or else lives and works in poor urban conditions, it is considered important by many that international rights-based organizations focus on those hazards which are broadly applicable rather than focusing too much on those which are more contentious and expensive to implement.

Bibliography:

“Chinese Mine Explosion Kills 203,” BBC News (February 15, 2005);
Health and Safety Executive, “Coalworkers’ Pneumoconiosis and Silicosis, Chronic Bronchitis and Emphysema,” www.hse.gov.uk;
New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, nycosh.org.