¶ … Saldaria, M. A. & Herrero, S. G. (2012, Annual). The impact of occupational hazard information on employee health and safety: An analysis by professional sectors in Spain. International Electronic Journal of Health Education, 15, 83-87.
Major Thesis
Emphasizing that more than 6,000 workers die each day around the world due to work-related health and safety conditions, the authors cite the need for improvement in occupational conditions to make companies safer places to work. In support of these findings, Saldaria and Herrero provide an exhaustive review of the relevant secondary literature together with their original analysis of health and safety threats by occupational category. Based on their analysis, Saldaria and Herrero found that among the occupations analyzed, agriculture, truck driving and mining were among the most dangerous and intractable to prevention measures. Industry, construction, delivery drivers, health care personnel, teachers and administrative were ranked the next highest in descending order.
The authors conclude that the organizational culture must be changed to make worker health and safety and ongoing top priority. In addition, Saldaria and Herrero found that general information as well as position-specific educational initiative are needed to improve worker understanding of the dangers that are inherent...
As Saldaria and Herroro emphasize, "One of the most dangerous situations generating the most hazards involves ignorance and misinformation, as they aggravate the risk factors which may exist in the workplace" (2012, p. 87). Not only must organizations provide their workers with this position-specific information, they must ensure they receive it in a form they can readily internalize in order to influence their day-to-day work behaviors. In sum, providing workers with the general and position-specific information they need to remain safe and healthy in their workplace represents an essential component of risk management today.
3. Utility (How useful is the article to the HR discipline? How might it be applied to the HR environment?
The exhaustive review of the secondary literature concerning the antecedents of health and safety-related issues in the workplace at the global level provided by the authors makes this an especially useful analysis for HR practitioners in general and those in companies that are faced with serious health and safety threats. The authors' recommendations concerning how best to address these threats by using position-specific educational initiatives are highly timely and relevant, and the guidance they provide concerning the need to embrace worker health and safety as part of the organizational culture…
