Safety and Health

Importance of Safety

Safety and accident prevention concerns managers for several reasons, one of which is
the staggering number of workplace accidents. When we talk of safety we immediately think of
accident which is the result of an unexpected happening. Accidents are production problems.
The time lost due to accidents could be tremendous it may cripple the entire organization and
may mean the closure of the business. Accidents can be minimized, if not entirely eliminated
through study and training. The result of accidents varies from temporary disability which may
last only a few days or weeks to either partial, complete, or permanent disability or even death
of the victim.

While the first concern of management is to safeguard the health and safety of its
employees, not much can be done if the latter fail to help themselves. A man may have been
given a pair of safety goggles for use while grinding metal but if he does not wear them while at
work, he may lose his eyesight just the same. Management may punish him for not following
company rules and regulations and that’s all that could be done, but safety and accident
preventions are still management’s responsibility.

The give us the basic lesson in safety management to develop in the employee the
proper working attitude to make himself a healthy and safe worker through the employee
induction and training program and good supervision.

Pre-Employment Physical and Medical Examination

Most companies require a pre-employment physical examination for employees, for a
number of reasons, namely:

1. To guide management in the proper placement of the employee according to his

physical ability.
2. To avoid hiring of a person who is suffering from some illness or ailment which may
endanger his life and those of his fellow workers.
3. To avoid the hiring of a person who may have been indulging in bad habits such as drug
addiction, heavy drinking, etc., and may not possess the proper attitude for work.
4. To determine the physical and mental fitness of person to work in the company.

First Aid Treatment

The Labor Code of the Philippines requires all employers regardless of the number of
employees, whether operating for profit or not to provide first aid facilities for its employees.

Policy on Health and Safety

The constitution mandates that it is the duty of the government to safeguard the worker’s
social and economic well-being as well as his physical safety and health. To implement this, the
Labor Code provides in Article 166 as follows:
 The State shall promote and develop a tax-exempt employees’ compensation program
hereby employees and their dependents, in the event of work-connected disability or death,
may promptly secure adequate income benefit, and medical related benefits.

Health and Medical Services

Keeping the employees in good health is beneficial to both the employees and the
company. The health and medical services usually provided to employees are those that the
latter are likely to neglect, those not adequately provided for by the community, or those which
are too expensive for the employees to secure to secure without help from the firm.

Treatment in company clinics is free, but when a case requires hospitalization, the
arrangements governing payment of expenses vary from firm to firm. Some companies pay all
the medical expenses of their employees but others have theses shared by their employees,
either through direct payments to the hospital or through an insurance plan. Other employers
limit their responsibility to what the Philippine Medical Care Act of 1969, better known as
Medicare, provides for under certain schedules, for the payment of surgical and hospitalization
expenses of employees. These are in addition to the sick leave benefits that the company or the
SSS provides.

The basic requirements of the Labor Code and the Occupational Safety and Health
Standard for medical and dental services as well as the employment of physicians and nurses
would depend upon the number of employees of the company.

Medicine and Facilities

Industrial and business establishments are required to provide medical and dental
services in their respective establishments as provided for in Articles 156 to 161 of the Labor
Code. Every employer must keep in his workplace, a stock of first aid medicines, equipment and
facilities as may be prescribed by the Department of Labor and Employment.

Occupational Health Program

A comprehensive program of the government on health, safety and social welfare

for employees is embodied in book four of the Labor Code. It is a further strengthen by
the OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS promulgated as mandated
by the Labor Code.

The Bureau of Working Conditions of the Department of Labor for Employment

has prepared the following program on Occupational Health Program as a model for
companies to follow.

1. This occupational health program is provided by the management to deal

constructively with the health employees I relation to their work.

2. Objectives:

a. To facilitate the placement and insure the suitability of individuals according to

their physical capacity, mental ability and emotional make-up in work which
 they can perform with an acceptable degree of efficiency and without
endangering their own health and safety that of their own health and safety
and that their co-workers;
b. To protect employees against health hazards in their work environment;
c. To assure adequate medical care and rehabilitation of the occupationally ill
and injured;
d. To encourage personal health maintenance.
e. To provide information, guidance, service on population control.

3. Activities:

a. Maintenance of health work environment.

b. Health Examination
1. Placement
2. Periodic
3. Special
c. Diagnosis and treatment of both occupational and non-occupational injuries
and diseases.
d. Immunization programs
e. Medical records
f. Health education and counseling
g. Nutrition Programs
h. Mental Health activities
i. Family planning program
j. Physical fitness program

The Occupational Safety and Health Center

Realizing the urgency of upgrading the capability of the government to eliminate

or reduce work-related injuries, illnesses and death in the workplace, President Aquino
signed Executive Order No. 307 on November 4, 1987 which established the
Occupational Safety and Health Center in The Employees’ Compensation Commission.
The commission undertakes continuing studies on occupational health and safety. It
serves as the clearing house of information on innovative methods and approaches in
dealing with health and safety problems and occasionally conducts training programs on
the subject. To monitor the working environment, the OHSC does field and laboratory
experiments and conducts medical exams of workers expose to hazardous substances.
It sets standards specifications of personal protective and other safety devices and
assists other government entities in the formulation of policies and standards on
occupational safety and health. It is the center where one can secure technical
guidelines for the prevention of occupational diseases and accidents.
CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

As mentioned earlier, accidents result from definite causes – they don’t just happen.
Two main causes of accidents are unsafe act and unsafe conditions. In accident
prevention, we must identify the cause of the accident and not the result. Each
individual accident must be evaluated to determine the cause in order to prevent and
avoid its repetition.

All accidents are either directly or indirectly caused, attributable to human failings, or
due to the design of the tool, equipment, machine and plant in their manufacture and
construction, or to some omission or oversight. Man is human and is likely to commit
mistakes or errors in judgment or action in performing his job. His physical,
psychological and mental conditions, his state of health, his reflexes which are not
always in excellent condition, his knowledge and training which may be inadequate, his
enthusiasm or overzealousness to accomplish his job – all these are factors that may
cause accidents.

MOST COMMON CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

1. Poor housekeeping
2. Defective equipment and tools
3. Unauthorized use of machines and equipment
4. Inadequately guarded machines
5. Improper lighting any ventilation
6. Improper mental attitude on the job
7. Unsafe wearing apparel
8. Using unsafe tools and equipment
9. Improper planning of work
10. Disobeying regulations or procedures
11. Operating machines at unsafe speed
12. Failure to use suitable protective equipment
13. Operating machines without necessary training
14. Inattention while operating machines or while at work
15. Not in proper physical or mental condition while at work
16. Improper placement of workers

MEANS TO PROMOTE INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

The International Labor Organization has classified the various means generally taken
to promote industrial safety as follows:

1. By regulations, i.e., mandatory prescriptions concerning such matters as

general working conditions, the design, construction, maintenance, inspection,
 testing, and operation of industrial equipment, the duties of employers and
workers, training, medical supervision, first aid, and medical examinations.
2. By standardization, i.e., the laying down of official, semi-official or unofficial
standards concerning, for example, the safe construction of certain types of
industrial equipment, safe and hygienic practices, or personal protective devices.
3. By inspection, i.e., the enforcement of mandatory regulations.
4. By technical research i.e., including such matters as investigations of the
properties and characteristics of harmful material, the study of machine guards,
the testing o respiratory masks, the investigation of methods of preventing gas
and dust explosions, or the search for the most suitable materials an designs for
hoisting ropes and other hoisting equipment.
5. By medical research, including in particular investigation of the psychological
and pathological effects of environmental and technological factors and the
physical circumstances conducive to accidents.
6. Psychological research, i.e., investigation of the psychological patterns
conducive to accidents
7. Statistical research, to ascertain what kinds of accidents occur, in what
numbers, to what types of people, to what operations, and from what causes.
8. By education, involving the teaching of safety as a subject of engineering
colleges, trade schools, or apprenticeship courses.
9. By training, i.e., the practical instruction of workers, especially the new ones, I
safety matters.
10. By persuasion, i.e., the employment of various methods of publicity and appeal
to develop “Safety-mindedness”.
11. By insurance, i.e., the provision of financial incentives to promote accident
prevention in the form for instance of reductions of premiums payable by
factories where safety measures of a high standard are taken.
12. By safety measures within the individual undertaking.

BRIEF BACKGROUND OF EMPLOYEES’ COMPENSATION LAW

A survey of legislation on the protection of employees against the hazards

of industrial accidents or illness contracted in employment shows that despite
great difficulties encountered in pursuing such legislations, gains have been
achieved. A major victory in the field of labor legislation was won by labor with
the approval and promulgation by President Ferdinand E. Marcos of the Labor
Code Which covers the health, safety and social welfare benefits of employees.
With the promulgation by Minister of Labor Blas F. Ople of the Occupational
Safety and Health Standards, establishing specific standards on health and
safety, workers are now well protected.

The first legislation providing compensation and medical treatment in case

of injuries or death while at work was Act No. 1874, which was enacted on June
19, 1908 and known as the Employer’s Liability Act. Before the passage of this
legislation, compensating an employee injured in line of duty depended merely
upon the benevolence of employer.

The first law however, was found to be inadequate. A more

comprehensive law, Act No. 3428, The Workmen’s Compensation Act was
approved on December 10, 1927. This law provided for the payment of
compensation to employees for personal injuries or death or illness contracted in
the performance of their duties. This granted the employee the right to claim
compensation from his employer when he suffered a personal injury for an
accident arising out of or in the course of his employment or contracted any
illness directly caused or aggravated by such employment or the results of the
nature of the employment. This law was Amended by Act No. 3812 on December
8, 1930.

Commonwealth Act No. 104, which was passed by Congress on October

29, 1936, provided for the protection of workers in mines, quarries, metallurgical
operations and other industrial enterprises against the danger of injury and
sickness.

Republic Act 889, which approved on June 19, 1953 created the
Workmen’s Compensation Fund to finance the administration of the Workmen’s
Compensation Act and for the rehabilitation of crippled men in industry. It also
required all employers to register with the Workmen’s Compensation
Commission.

A government employee who gets killed or dies of injuries received or

suffers sickness in line of duty is compensated by Republic Act No. 1232 which
was approved on June 7, 1955.

Occupational Safety and Health Standards

The Labor Code requires the Ministry of Labor and Employment to

promulgate the Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSAHS) for the
purpose of eliminating or reducing occupational safety and health hazard in all
workplaces and to institute new, and update existing programs to ensure safe
and healthy working conditions in all places of employment.

The OSAHS was amended in August 1989 in responsible to the increasing

number and types of occupational hazards brought about by the continuing
introduction of new technology in the country.

The objective of the Occupational Safety and Health Standards is “to protect
every workingman against the dangers of injury, sickness or death through safe
and healthful working conditions, thereby assuring the conservation of valuable
manpower resources and the prevention of loss or damage to lives and
properties, consistent with national development goals with the State’s
commitment for the total development of every worker as a complex human
being”.

The OSAHS covers all areas of occupational safety and health although the rules
have provided for the development of new standards that may be worked out
later as OSAHS is developmental.

Special Features of Coverage

1. Training the personnel on safety and health.

2. Participation of employees in safety and health activities.
3. Duties of employers
4. Duties of workers
5. Employment of a safety man or safety engineer
6. Organization of safety committees
7. Notification and keeping of records of accidents and occupational illnesses
8. Measuring safety performance: How to compute frequency and severity rates
9. Specific standards covering different machines, equipment, devices, and
materials
10. Authority of local governments

LEGAL PROVISIONS IN INDUSTRIAL SAFETY

Some basic principles in industrial safety have been recognized in business

and industry. Some of these are:

1. Safety is the legal and moral obligation of the employer. the labor code
provides that the employer who fails or neglects to provide adequate
protection and safety devices as prescribed in the occupational safety and
health standards shall be subject to the penalty imposed by article 200 of
the labor code.

2. Cooperation in the safety program is the mutual obligation of each

individual employee including the labor unions and the employer. While
accident prevention is the legal and moral responsibility of the employer,
each individual employee has an obligation to cooperate with the
employer in carrying out its safety program. The occupational safety and
health standards has specifically stated as its purpose in the promulgation
of the standards.

3. The state is also obligated to the society to supervise the protection of the
workingman against the dangers of injury, sickness, or death through its
laws, rules and regulations. For this purpose, the employee’s
 compensation commission has been established and the state insurance
fund is now maintained to assure the payment of compensation to
employees who meet accidents or illness in connection with their
employment. This fund is fully supported through the assessed
contributions of employers. The workers do not pay anything to the fund.

The occupational safety and health standards was promulgated by the minister of
labor of employment in order to provide rules and regulation in the enforcement of
safety in industrial plants as mandated by the labor code.

Safety Department

Safety is a line function. The safety officer, however, is a staff man who usually
reports to the personnel manager or the plant manager. His function are:
1. Safety education
2. Investigating Accidents
3. Analyzing the causes of accidents
4. Preparing accident statistics and reports

The safety officers must get the cooperation of the supervisor and the workers.
He may achieve the aims of his safety program effectively through educational
activities, conferences with safety committees and supervisors. He may work out
devices that will reach every employee such as posters, propaganda, contest,
etc.

Safety Committee

The Standards requires the participation of employers and employees in safety

by the organizations of safety committees in the company. The OSAHs requires
that for each size of company, based on the number of employees, a specific
type of Safety Committee be organized.

Cost of Accident

Accident are either direct or indirect. Indirect cost represents the “plus cost” of
doing business and a burden to society and sufferings to the victims and their
families as well as to society.

Direct cost it is compensation of the injured employee, now borne by the Social
Security System and the G.S.I.S. Hospitalization and medical care expenses of
the employee. Loss of earnings of the employee.

Indirect cost it is also known as hidden cost, are additional company expenses
which are not part of the company’s contribution to the State Insurance Fund.
These cost which may even be much greater than the direct costs.
Employees’ Compensation and State Insurance Fund

The labor code provides for employment compensation as a tax exempt

compensation program whereby employees and their dependents in the event of
work-connected injury, sickness, disability or death, may promptly secure
adequate income, medical or related benefits and rehabilitation services.

The State Insurance Fund has been established for the finding of the
Employees’ Compensation Program. Only the employer is required to remit
monthly contributions to the fund for his employees. The employees do not pay
any contribution to the said Fund. The Government guarantees the benefits
prescribed under this Program and accepts general responsibility for the
solvency of the State Insurance Fund.

The Employees’ Compensation Commission are:

a. The Social Security System for the private sector

b. The Government Services Insurance System for the public sector

Training of Personnel in Occupational Safety and Health

This requires that a number of supervisors or technical personnel,

depending on the total number of employees in the company as well as the
occupational hazards existing in the company, be trained and undergo an
occupational safety and health training course by the Bureau. The Bureau is
required to conduct continuing programs to increase the supply and competence
of personnel qualified to carry out the provisions of the Standards.

Safety Organization of the Philippines (SOPI)

The Safety Organization of the Philippines (SOPI) is an association of

men and women engaged in the field of safety in industry. It is a civic, non-profit,
no-political, and non-sectarian sector organization. The organization is the
exponent of the safety consciousness and accident prevention among the
people. It has been most active in conducting safety training, conferences, and
seminars in industry which is accredited by the Bureau of Working Conditions of
the Department of Labor and Employment.