ORC Sightlines

July 2005

Holistic Approach to Thorny Safety Problem

For years companies have provided employees with specially designed workstations and briefings on how to avoid repetitive stress injuries, but ergonomics continues to pose the single largest occupational safety and health challenge in many workplaces. The reason, as members of ORC’s Western Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) group learned at last month’s meeting, is that equipment and one-time training are insufficient to root out the underlying causes of the problem. Chevron shared with co-members the holistic system that has drastically reduced the number of repetitive stress injuries for office workers in one of its business units. This comprehensive program includes six elements:

Risk Assessment and Initial Awareness

Every employee undergoes an online ergonomic risk assessment at hire and annually thereafter or whenever there is a significant change to the workstation.

Training

Every year, employees take a computer-based training module on office safety. Supervisors receive in-depth training on the repetitive stress injury prevention program and their responsibilities.

Prevention

Preventive measures include ergonomic equipment, supervisory coaching, and software that prompts the employee to take a “micropause” or a break and demonstrates helpful stretching exercises.

Behavior Based Safety (BBS)

Employees are trained to observe behaviors that might cause injuries. Qualified Workstation Evaluators perform full workstation evaluations, adjust equipment, and make recommendations for behavior and equipment changes.

Early Reporting and Rapid Response

Employees are encouraged to identify and report any discomfort early, and a variety of professionals—clinical screeners, fitness instructors, a massage therapist, workstation evaluators—are on tap to take immediate action before full-blown injuries develop.

Metrics and Process Evaluation

Root cause analysis is performed on incidents and the process is reviewed annually.

The program’s success depends on employees taking ownership of their own behavior and supervisors modeling and reinforcing proper behavior. As with any change initiative, to make it work HR processes and work practices must be aligned with the program to assign accountability, provide necessary resources, assess and reward desirable performance, and so forth.

The Western OSH Group is a network of professionals ranging from OSH executives to medical and legal specialists from major, innovative companies based or operating in the western United States. For more information, contact Judith Freyman at +1-916-784-9202.

EU Still Pursues Aggressive Labor Agenda

Despite uncertain prospects for the European Union’s draft Constitution, the EU employment agenda continues to attract high-level political and business attention for three reasons. Firstly, the poor employment and labor market performance of many EU Member States has prompted urgent calls for reform. At the EU level, specific labor market objectives have been agreed on for each country, but the timetable will be missed for achieving overarching employment targets (for example, increasing female and older worker employment). Secondly, Europe’s poor show in job creation and other areas of the economy has prompted considerable debate on the real impact of Europe’s regulatory environment and whether the fault lies with the EU for imposing unproductive burdens on business or with national governments for refusing to undertake necessary actions. Thirdly, despite this debate, the EU still has an eye on future labor market regulation and at the start of 2005 publishedan expansiveSocial Agenda. While some of the European Commission’s proposed initiatives, such as improving worker mobility within the EU, will be welcomed by employers, others may be less well received (for example, introducing optional transnational collective bargaining between “social partners,” i.e., worker representatives and employers). 

The role of Europe’s social partners is well entrenched in some EU countries and is a key difference between the US’s labor relations system and that of the UK and continental Europe. Despite falling union membership across the private sector in all EU member states, union engagement in social dialogue at various levels—in both companies and society as a whole—has actually been enhanced by the EU legislative process. The social dialogue was given legislative force in the EU during the mid-1980s, resulting in an additional law-making channel for workplace issues. In the view of some, later laws such as the European Works Council Directive have further strengthened the voice of labor. Currently, the EU social partners are considering possible amendment of the existing European Works Council Directive and have developed their own work program.

The ten new countries that joined the EU in 2004 generally have lower rates of union membership, further reinforcing the trend towards non-union channels for social dialogue rather than collective bargaining. Some believe that there is no alternative to engaging the social partners in this way and that their acceptance of developments within the EU has to be secured. Others, however, argue that the social partners’ increasing lack of legitimacy now demands a different approach.

ORC Worldwide facilitates a European industrial relations network (ISLAF) which provides information and analysis of EU developments and peer exchange between companies. For more information about the network and ORC’s support to clients in this area, please contact Fiona Webster on +44 (0)20 7591 5609.

ORC Resources

EU Employment Law Workshop, September 13, London

Managing a European workforce has become increasingly complex with the continuing changes in European Union employment legislation. To help HR managers navigate the ever-changing EU landscape, ORC is offering a one-day workshop on Tuesday, September 13, covering EU law on information and consultation; anti-discrimination especially religion and belief, age, and sexual orientation; and protection of employee data. ORC’s experienced consultants will address:

Cost for each participant is £450 (plus VAT). For more information, contact Fiona Webster on +44 (0)20 7591 5609 or Deirdre Golden on +44 (0)20 7591 5600, or visit our UK Web Site.

Chinese Labor and HR Symposium, September 27-29, Beijing

ORC Worldwide and Fordham University will sponsor China: The Emerging Economic Giant, a symposium on labor relations and human resources, on September 27-29. This three-day event designed for industrial relations and HR professionals, will offer the most current information on how to deal with employment issues in China. Participants will have the opportunity to share experiences and perspectives and engage in thoughtful dialogue with English-speaking Chinese business leaders, government officials, and experts in Chinese labor relations and HR.

Guest speakers include Justin Yifu Lin, Director/Professor of the China Center for Economic Research in Peking University; Professor John Zhang Yang, Associate Dean for BiMBA; Chinese government officials; and representatives from multinational corporations.

For more information, contact Tom Connors at +1-212-852-0352.

Fall Networks Meeting Calendar

ORC posts a continuously updated calendar of network meetings. Some network may invite prospective members to attend a meeting as a guest. Follow the links for appropriate contact information.

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