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Introduction
A work environment is an important consideration in any occupation, regardless of a person’s profession or qualification. Workers of all kinds exist in a collective space, each fulfilling their own tasks and ensuring that a company can continue its operation smoothly. Therefore, it is absolutely crucial to consider occupational safety in the workplace, both in structure and operation. Workers face danger on a daily basis, ranging from possible physical injury to biological and chemical contamination (Montano, 2014). To ensure that every employee can fulfill their job without bodily harm, injury, or lasting side effects, the organization needs to utilize specialists in the field of safety.
This theoretical scenario focuses on assuming and fulfilling the role of such a specialist, namely a safety manager. The workplace under examination for this exercise is an amazon facility with the continued operation of many people. Such facilities exist to transport, organize, sort, and ship goods to clients and fulfill many other important duties. However, the warehouse facilities of Amazon have come under scrutiny in recent years as unsuitable for their workers and lacking in many standards. The purpose of this work lies in examining the potential safety hazards present at such a job and presenting a comprehensive plan of removing them. First, the paper will identify some of the potential safety hazards, and then it will establish a plan to counteract the problems and secure a safer workplace. For the purposes of examination, hazards leading to back injuries and biological hazards, in particular, will be the focus of this paper.
Potential Ergonomic Hazards
Amazon is the largest online marketplace and delivery service in the world, expanding its reach well over the place of its foundation, the United States of America. With the spread and growth of the company, it adjusted and changed the methods of operation, spanning many warehouses and transportation facilities to support its operation. Taking into account the sheer scope of Amazon, it is easier to understand why the company employs so many workers responsible for all kinds of tasks. The present conversation, however, will mostly center on warehouse workers and the occupational safety concerns surrounding them. Starting with a basic work summary, Amazon facility employees are responsible for scanning, arranging, and sorting the products for automatic robots to pick up. This work includes lifting and placing items on special racks for transportation and the following scanning. Due to the nature of this work, as well as the tight surveillance put on all employees, physical strain and overworking have become an inevitable part of the Amazon process.
Anonymous employees noted that their day-to-day work is micro-managed to an obscene degree, requiring them to forego rest or any possible safety considerations in the name of meeting the quotas (Evans, 2020). The need to do many hours of heavy lifting without rest or support is what has lead to many cases of back injuries, including chronic, incurable conditions in many cases (Evans, 2020). Additionally, the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to the dangers workers experience due to the essential nature of their job. As reported by personal accounts, the worker facilities have a limited number of entrances (Matsakis, 2020). Every employee constantly interacts with turnstiles near the entrance without the corresponding protective measures (Matsakis, 2020). This lack of protective or preventative measures means that contamination from bodily fluids is highly probable. Both the daily working conditions and the lack of safety protections in regards to the recent pandemic put the health, safety, and wellbeing of workers at risk. In order to eliminate the issues, the facility needs comprehensive and organization-wide change.
Plan to Prevent Future Injuries and Limit Exposure
First, employees who have to deal with heavy packages daily need better support and more security. The establishment of frequent rest can be beneficial, as it would reduce the strain on one’s back from continued heavyweight lifting. Additionally, some organizational changes are in order as well, in an effort to reduce the number of products that need to be lifted. The inclusion of specific tech for lifting heavier items and other forms of machine assistance are a viable solution to the problem, one that would reduce the exposure of workers to heavy lifting (Occupational and environmental health 2017). Alternatively, the company could change the ways in which its items are packed onto racks so that they no longer require lifting to place. The use of conveyor belts or other floor-based movements could also prove viable.
In regards to exposure to bodily fluids, better and up to date protection policies need to be established to protect the workplace. The amount of entrance points needs expansion, as not to aggregate all the possible exposure in few locations. Furthermore, the amount of turnstiles has to increase as well, for similar purposes. In regards to prevention, the facility requires regular sterilization and cleaning efforts with a system to monitor the state of entrance points and the time until the next cleaning. Additional measures to prevent the spread of disease are also necessary, such as requiring staff to wear protective equipment and restricting the amount of possible physical contact.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is worth noting that the considerations of safety and occupational health are extremely important in the current day and age. With the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, it becomes increasingly apparent just how crucial it can be to have protections in place, especially if a large number of people are working together. Many businesses have closed down or had to operate at a limited capacity because the ability to securely manage people in larger numbers while also guaranteeing their wellbeing is nigh impossible. Therefore, it is a moral and legal responsibility of big corporations to do everything in their power to minimize risks and establish all the relevant protections. The state of emergency caused by COVID-19 has practically alerted every person on the planet to the important safety holds and the extent to which one can secure it. The consideration can be extended to every kind of possible harm, physical strain, mental problems, stress, injury, even death. In today’s world, any workplace should have an obligation before itself, its workers, and the government to be held accountable for the treatment of its workers.
References
Occupational and environmental health. (2017). Oxford Scholarship Online. Web.
Montano, D. (2014). Chemical and biological Work-related risks across occupations in Europe: A review. Journal of Occupational Medicine and Toxicology, 9(1), 28. Web.
Evans, W. (2020). Ruthless quotas at Amazon Are Maiming Employees. The Atlantic. Web.
Matsakis, L. (2020). 9 Amazon Workers describe the Daily risks they face in the pandemic. Wired. Web.
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