Question

Description

There are many challenges organizations face in regards to the health and safety of their employees. Some are harder to prevent, control, and remedy. Many of these challenges impede employee performance and put employees are risk. Examples include substance abuse, job-related stress, repetitive strain injuries, workplace toxins, workplace smoking, viral pandemics, and violence at work.
For this assignment, you will identify and describe a major health issue, its impact on employers and employees, and two options for reducing the impacts of the issue on the employers and employees.

Rationale

This assignment will help you understand in more detail a specific major health issue employers and employees face.
This assignment supports meeting the following course learning outcome:

7. Recommend organizational health and safety practices.

Directions

Select a major health-related issue that impedes employee performance and puts employees at risk. Examples include substance abuse, job-related stress, repetitive strain injuries, workplace toxins, workplace smoking, viral pandemics, and violence at work.

Describe the major health issue you have selected (4-5 sentences).

Describe the impact of the major health issue on the employer (3-4 sentences).

Describe the impact of the major health issue on the employee (3-4 sentences).

Identify and describe two options for how employers and employees can be proactive in reducing the impact of the major health issue on the organization (4-5 sentences).

Answer 1

Workplace smoking is one of the major issues at th workplace that not only impedes th employee performance, but also affects the fellow workers' health adversely. It also affects the reputation of the company as a place to work in the business freternity, if workplace smoking is allowed there.Smoking is a proven and leading cause of cancer, cardiovascular diseases and other health problems. Besides smoker,Its impact is also severe on the people who come in contact with the smoke. Thus, allowing smoking at workplace has serious consequences.

Employer, even if it does not promote smoking, can be affected badly by the act of smoking.Since smoking is known cause of cancer and cardiovascular ailments, it negatively affects the productivity of the smoker, besides casting same effect on coworkers, though not to that extent. It leads to loss of productivity due to illness, higher absenteeism, medical leaves and higher insurance premium to be paid. It leads to a bad work culture and frequent disagreements between the smokers and others who don't like it. It may also leads to lawsuits, penalties and bad social score of the organisation.

For employee, it can be seen in form of deteriorating health that might translate into a major disease at any time. The employee's social acceptance and likability at workplace is severely impacted. Smoking might also lead to stress at workplace, not only due to adverse heath and low producivity, but also die to family and social problems that come with habit of amoking.

Employer can curb the habit of smoking by establishing smoking zones for the employees, thereby protecting who don't lke it. Other effort can be done by providing professional medical assistance to help the person  quit smoking in gradual manner. The anti smoking policy at workplace might help the employees to refrain from smoking, by which they can gradually leave it one their own. Another way is to make the smokering a costly habit, by making the smokers pay their entire insurance premium on their own, if they don't quit it.