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Workplace safety and harassment
In today’s fast paced and diverse working environment, workplace safety has become
one of the most important aspects when evaluating a company. Not only does being safe in a
company effect the employees, but it also impacts the overall reputation of the company itself
and their ability to keep their employees safe. According to the textbook it mentions that “Well-
designed and effectively managed safety programs can result in reduced accidents and associated
costs. Further, a variety of safety problems often decline as a result of management efforts that
emphasize a safe work environment” (Valentine et al., 2020) This paragraph basically talks
about how a well-structured working environment reduces the stress on employees as they feel
safer. Incorporating good measures of workspace safety and security not only reduces the stress
of the employees, but it also reduces staff turnover which is good for the company.
One of the most concerning issues regarding this would be whether if workplace safety
effects the stress levels of the employees and how their productivity level would fluctuate. In an
article written by Wang, he states that “Job stress mainly can be caused by the individual,
organization, and external environment.” (Wang et al, 2018) This article explains that how stress
in a workplace is mainly effected by external environments. When an employee feels physically
safe in a workplace, they could work much more productive when compared to employees that
are not. In an article written by Yaris, she states that “These physical demands may result in
physiological and psychological costs to the employee such as fatigue, stress, and anxiety.”
(Yaris et al, 2018) This article very much supports my theory on how psychological stress on
physical wellbeing effects the output of an employee. As a result of bad performance, the
primary subject to be affected would be the employee themselves. They would be seemed as a
anomaly to the company therefore they might have the risk of getting fired. Furthermore, the
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secondary subject that would be affected would be the company itself. When the employee is not
being productive or slacking behind, the company itself would get slowed down therefore
resulting in a decrease in production which leads to a decrease of sales. Furthermore, when an
employee don’t feel safe in a company, the word could get around fast therefore the reputation of
the company would be at stake. As a result of bad reputation, the companies would loose
customers and ultimately result in a decrease in sales.
Another issues which is being discussed is that companies are ignoring simple safety
measures to reduce costs. In the minds of companies, to increase their overall profit, they have to
reduce a lot of expenditures. However, a lot of companies are cutting cost on areas which should
not be, and in this example it would be safety measures. According to an article titled ‘national
COSH reveals 'Dirty Dozen' unsafe employers for 2023’ they said that, “The rate of U.S.
workplace fatalities from sudden trauma is on the rise, and so is the rate of workplace injuries
and illnesses.” (National, 2023) In this article, it talks about the companies which has recently
reduce costs to ignore safety protocols. When working in a space which requires operating a lot
of large machines, frequent checkups are required which would cost a fee for the companies.
Therefore, by reducing the frequency of these checkups, it saves the company a lot of money
which theoretically means that they could have a larger amount of profit. However, not only is
this not ethical, but it puts the lives of the employees in danger and completely ignores the
wellbeing of the employees. There are also a lot of legal concerns with this issue, the occupation
safety and health administration states that “The law requires employers to provide their
employees with working conditions that are free of known dangers” (U.S Department Of Labor,
2023). However, a lot of companies go around this law as there are a lot of loop holes. In this
sentence alone there could be a loop hole as it mentions “known dangers”, companies could
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explain that the machine which cause the accidents was not a known danger and could simply be
an accident. In the same article it talks about how Amazon has recently been experiencing severe
accidents regarding employee safety. It states that “Multiple deaths at Amazon warehouses in
2022, and citations at seven locations for work practices that “cause serious injuries” (National,
2023). This case study is a great example of major companies being unethical and ignoring
simple safety protocols. Amazon also does a good job of hiding this under the medias, as it
would be hard to know about this without doing the proper research.
Another issue with workplace safety is the psychological harassment between employee
and employees. One of the key objectives for employees is to compete with their co-workers in
order to get to a better position. In the process of this, there could be a lot of unethical procedures
which happens throughout the process. In an article by Xiaocun Shu, it states that “thus become
more willing to implement such behaviors. In particular, when some colleagues obtain managers’
rewards by implementing unethical pro-organizational behaviors” (Shu, 2015) In this article it
talks about how in a very competitive working environment, co-workers are more tend to be
aggressive with each other as both of them wants to be promoted. When doing so, unethical
procedures might happen, such as intentionally trying to sabotage each other’s work. When this
happens, the relationship between the co-workers would be completely ruined which then leads
to a lack of trust. Ultimately this would lead to a decrease in productively and both of their
position might be at risk. Furthermore, this also negatively impacts the company, as when the
company has to get rid of their employees the rate of turnover would increase. In this article it
also mentions that “Enterprises in China are experiencing a tough time when transition and
upgrading are needed. Most of them are under high operating pressure, thus situations of
violating moral standard for economic interests are very common, and largely corrupt the social
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morals” (Shu, 2015). Events like this happens when employees are experiencing high pressure
typically from higher ups. Therefore, one of the solutions for this could be that the higher ups
reducing the amount of pressure put into individual employees. One of the ways that a company
could implement, is to introduce more group projects which creates a better bond within co-
workers. In an article by Felix Kipkosgei, he states “Knowledge sharing is the most important
knowledge management process . In fact, Witherspoon et al. identified knowledge sharing as a
building block necessary for organizational success and is often adopted as a survival strategy”
(Kipkosgei, 2020). It is very much proven that when employees work together and share
knowledge, the workload would be much easier as they could use their unique skill set and help
each other. As a result of this, they would increase productivity which would be a better indicator
to show the boss that they are ready to get promoted. Another solution with co-worker
harassment would be to create clear boundaries and rules when interacting with each other.
Companies could create policies like clear reporting rules when a co-worker is harassing them. It
is always beneficial to report an individual before the event could escalate further.
When it comes to workplace safety and harassment, it is also important to listen to what
the Bible says about it. In Matthew 22:37-39 it states “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.
And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Bible, NIV) This verse
talks about how we should always be loving with each other as the Lord has done the same. As
Christians we always have to remind ourselves that in order to praise and honor Him, we have to
talk and act according to His words. As Christ has done the same for us, we also have to do the
same for others even in times where it is competitive and stressful. In Mathew 5:12 it says that
“Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they
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persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Bible, NIV) This verse keeps us reminded that
our ultimate destination is heaven and to not focus on the things on earth.
In conclusion, as companies grow and become more diverse, unsafe work environments
and harassments would also naturally increase. However, this is not a valid excuse for companies
to oversee these issues and ignore them. Ignoring these issues might have short term benefits
however they would suffer from long term issues. Not only is workplace safety crucial to the
employees but it also effects the overall reputation of the company. Being in a safe and secured
company really highlights the companies values as a whole, and shows that they truly care about
their employees.
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References
American Bible Society. (1986). The holy bible: Containing the old and new testaments
translated out of the original tongues and withLthe former translations diligently compared &
revised.
Kipkosgei, F., Son, S. Y., & Kang, S. (2020). Coworker Trust and Knowledge Sharing among
Public Sector Employees in Kenya. International Journal of Environmental Research and
Public Health/International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(6), 2009.
https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17062009
National COSH reveals 'Dirty Dozen' unsafe employers for 2023. (2023, April 27). Industrial
Safety. https://www.ishn.com/articles/113692-national-cosh-reveals-dirty-dozen-unsafe-
employers-for-2023#:~:text=Amazon%2C%20Tesla%2C%20FedEx%2C%20Class%20I
%20Railroads%20among,communities%20at%20risk%20due%20to%20unsafe%20practices
Shu, X. (2015). Contagion Effect of Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior among Members
within Organization. Metallurgical and Mining Industry, 235.
https://www.metaljournal.com.ua/assets/MMI_2014_6/MMI_2015_5/031Xiaocun-Shu.pdf
U.S department of labor. (2023). Worker’s Rights. Workers Right.
https://www.osha.gov/sites/default/files/publications/osha3021.pdf
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Valentine, S., Meglich, P., Mathis, R., & Jackson, J. (2019). Human resource management.
Cengage. https://ebooks.cenreader.com/#!/reader/e8293980-43b0-434a-8a0a-f0ede5365d3a/
page/4366066460a00da5267d1a247c7e1604
Wang, D., Wang, X., & Xia, N. (2018). How safety-related stress affects workers’ safety
behavior: The moderating role of Psychological capital.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753517310366?
casa_token=GcQE3fOtiV4AAAAA:iXAY4SeADxa-
_dODbQXC8SLWzB4GgG7p0p4P075hAocC9DBG9eVUZAVumhGkRQbhpNjem947zoY
Yaris, C., Ditchburn, G., Curtis, G., & Brook, L. (n.d.). Combining physical and psychosocial
safety: A comprehensive workplace safety model.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925753520303465?casa_token=N-
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IRy8t2wTIP7reQGC6iosSj78eDVOLEG0cFUSNbqnVItMJMWRTrNitJy0mP-Qvp7WI
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