Occupational Risk

7 Pages 1681 Words

Occupational Risk

Thesis
Whatever the profession, or trade, one may be involved in, a person deserves the right to a safe workplace, and the right to know about the dangers they may encounter during the course their work. These dangers includes, but are not limited to, providing information regarding faulty tools, irregular working conditions, malfunctioning equipment, hazardous chemicals, or everyday precautionary methods that must be taken in order to guarantee safety. In the same sense, workers should have the right to refuse unsafe work, or work in unsafe conditions. Workers should also be granted the right to participate in decisions that affect workplace health and safety. Finally, training courses should be held in order to educate employees on the dangers of the workplace, and so they may receive instructions on how to handle hazardous situations, or materials, properly.
Right to a Safe Workplace
What is the right to a safe workplace? This is merely being provided working conditions that are free of recognizable hazards. Working in unsafe conditions threatens a person’s survival, and ability to provide for themselves and their family. Without the right to a safe workplace, “all other rights lose their significance.”
Right to know, Right to Refuse Unsafe Conditions
The right to know, and to refuse unsafe working conditions, is different from the right to a safe workplace. The right to know is actually a compilation of several rights that extend from duties of the employer. The duties are as follows:
“1) the duty to reveal information already possessed, 2) the duty to communicate information about hazards through labeling, written communication, and training programs, 3) the duty to seek out existing information from the scientific literature and other sources, and 4)the duty to produce new information relevant to employee health.”
In order for an employee to refuse work they believe to be haza...