Occupational Safety and Health 6 th Edition Lecture Notes

1. Occupational Safety and Health6th EditionLecture Notes By: Dr. David Goetsch

2. Chapter Five Safety, Health, and Competition in the Global Marketplace

3. Competitiveness Defined Competitiveness is the ability to succeed and prosper in the local, regional, national, and global marketplace. The most competitive companies are those that consistently outperform their competitors in the key areas of: Quality Productivity Response time Service Cost Image

4. Productivity Defined Productivity is a measure of output in goods and services compared to input of resources needed to produce or deliver them. Part of productivity is the concept of value added, which is measured as the difference between what it costs a company to produce a product and the competitive market price of that product.

5. Quality Defined Quality is a measure of the extent to which a product meets or exceeds customer expectations. It goes hand-in-hand with productivity. Quality without productivity results in costs that are too high to be competitive. Productivity without quality results in an unacceptable product.

6. Safety and Health Contributions to Competitiveness • Safety and health contribute to competitiveness in the following ways: • By helping companies attract and keep the best people • By allowing employees to focus on peak performance without being distracted by concerns for their safety and health • By freeing money that can be reinvested in technology updates • By protecting the corporate image.

7. Workplace Accident Statistics The impetus for passing the Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSH Act, was that workplace accidents were causing an average of 14,000 deaths every year in the United States. Each year, 2.5 million workers were disabled in workplace accidents, and approximately 300,000 new cases of occupational diseases were reported annually.