Workplace Health And Safety Program example essay topic

1.0 Federal Legislation Relating to the Privacy of Information 1.1 Introduction: Employers want to be sure their employees are doing a good job, but employees don't want their every move being watched. That's the essential conflict of workplace monitoring. New technologies make it possible for employers to monitor many aspects of their employees' jobs, especially on telephones, computer terminals, through electronic and voice mail, and when employees are using the Internet. Such monitoring is virtually unregulated. Therefore, unless company policy specifically states otherwise, your employer may listen, watch and read most of your workplace communications. 1.2 Phone monitoring In most cases your employer can listen to your phone calls whilst in the company.

For example, your employers may monitor calls with clients or customers for reasons of quality control. Not every business is aware of this requirement, so your calls might still be monitored without a warning. Federal law, which regulates phone calls with persons outside the state, does allow unannounced monitoring for business-related calls. An important exception is made for personal calls. Under federal case law, when an employer realizes the call is personal, your employer will immediately stop monitoring the call. 1.3 Computer monitoring If you use a computer terminal at our company, it may be your employer's window into your workspace.

There are several types of computer monitoring our company use: We use computer software that enables them to see what is on the screen or stored in your computer terminals and hard disks. We can monitor Internet usage such as web-surfing and electronic mail to make sure all web usage is work related. Employees involved in intensive word-processing and data entry jobs may be subject to keystroke monitoring. Our system tells the manager how many keystrokes per hour each employee is performing.

Since the company owns the computer network and the terminals, we are free to watch the monitors while you are working. 1.4 Privacy policy When we state a policy regarding any issue in the workplace, including privacy issues, that policy is legally binding. Policies can be communicated in various ways: through employee handbooks, via memos, and in union contracts. For example, if we clearly state that you will be notified when telephone monitoring takes place, we generally must honour that policy. There are usually exceptions for investigations of wrong-doing. If you are not already aware of our workplace privacy policies, it is a good idea to become informed, as you are now.

2.0 Occupational Health and Safety Legislation as it relates to the office environment 2.1 Purpose The purpose of the OHSL rule is to reduce the number of job-related fatalities, illnesses and injuries in our workplace. The rule will accomplish this by requiring our company to establish a workplace health and safety program to ensure compliance with OHSL standards, which has already been issued. 2.2 Who is covered Everyone working for the company is covered by the Act, through insurance. If anything untoward was to happen the company and employee are both covered.

This act applies to hazards covered by the General Duty Clause and by OHSL standards. All our workplace machinery and equipment operates within these standards so everyone is completely covered. 2.3 Basic obligations The company has basic obligations to follow by under the rule. The company has set up a health and safety program to manage workplace health and safety to reduce injuries, illnesses and fatalities by systematically achieving compliance with OHSL standards and the General Duty Clause. The program must be appropriate to conditions in the workplace, such as the hazards to which employees are exposed and the number of employees there. All machinery operating the newspapers and fluids such as ink are all appropriately delt with to reduce or minimise any problems.

2.4 Programs core elements The program must have some core elements. These elements include: management leadership and employee participation, hazard identification and assessment, hazard prevention and control, information and training and evaluation of program effectiveness. Our company regards these elements as very important so at present all elements are being revised..