1 / 14

Worker Safety

Worker Safety. Do workers have a right to a reasonably safe work environment? What does that right entail? What mechanisms are available to ensure that this right is protected?. Right to worker safety.

leanne
Download Presentation

Worker Safety

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Worker Safety • Do workers have a right to a reasonably safe work environment? • What does that right entail? • What mechanisms are available to ensure that this right is protected?

  2. Right to worker safety • OSHA: “right to safe and healthful working conditions… and workplaces that are free of known dangers.” http://www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3021.pdf

  3. Mechanisms to protect right to safety • In house compliance efforts • Moral Persuasion • Professional Codes • Union contracts • Regulatory agencies • Regulations • Oversight • Enforcement • Criminal law • Civil law

  4. In House Compliance • 4 Elements of Ethics Compliance • Element 1: Risk Assessment • Element 2: Corporate Culture • Element 3: Oversight by the Board and Senior Management • Element 4: The Ethics and Compliance Office

  5. Moral persuasion and professional codes • Moral persuasion • Moral persuasion can be used to build coalitions and provide pressure on both offending organizations and political bodies. • Professional codes • Professional organizations can use their educational and enforcement powers to motivate compliance with safety guidelines.

  6. Regulatory Agencies • OSHA • Cal OSHA • “California workers have the right to a safe workplace and a number of other more specific rights under the California Occupational Safety and Health Act.” http://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/WorkersRights.htm

  7. Legal Remedies • Criminal law • Corporations, and individuals within corporations, can be prosecuted under the criminal law for many safety violations. • Civil law • Organizations can be sued for injuries and illness caused by safety violations. • Administrative law • Regulations and enforcement available under OSHA and CalOSHA

  8. When Remedies Fail • Failure of internal compliance • Moral persuasion not backed up with enforcement • Professional codes weak, spotty enforcement

  9. When Remedies Fail • Regulatory agencies understaffed, insufficient penalties • Criminal enforcement spotty, weak penalties • Civil lawsuits not an option if one uses worker’s compensation system

  10. Union Contracts • Definitions of safety • Oversight • Safety Committees • Independent monitoring • Accompany OSHA inspectors • Member education • Enforcement mechanisms • Investigate complaints • File grievance

  11. Should we allow unions? • Utilitarianism • Social utility: • yes--better working conditions • no--higher cost of doing business. • Kant • Treating workers as ends in themselves • Moral rights • Rights that are asserted: • To association, to safety • To property

  12. Should we allow unions? • Virtue • Fairness, loyalty • Care • Seeing employees as members of community • Basic justice • Protection from arbitrary power, democracy, liberty of association

  13. National Labor Relations Act • Protects employee rights to • Form, join, decertify or assist a union • Bargain collectively through such a union • Refrain from joining a union • Team up with other employees to improve working conditions without a union

  14. NLRB • Forbids employers and unions from • Interfering with their employees’ right • to form, join or assist a union • to refrain from union activities • to team up with other workers informally to improve terms and conditions of work • https://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect

More Related