OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH MANAGEMENT

Occupational safety and health is an area concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include fostering a safe and healthy work environment. OSH may also protect co-workers, family members, employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the workplace environment.

Occupational safety and health can be important for moral, legal, and financial reasons. All organisations have a duty of care to ensure that employees and any other person who may be affected by the companies undertaking remain safe at all times. Moral obligations would involve the protection of employee's lives and health. Legal reasons for OSH practices relate to the preventative, punitive and compensatory effects of laws that protect worker's safety and health. OSH can also reduce employee injury and illness related costs, including medical care, sick leave and disability benefit costs. OSH may involve interactions among many subject areas, including occupational medicine, occupational hygiene,  industrial engineering, chemistry, health physics, industrial and organizational psychology, ergonomics and occupational health psychology.

The main focus in occupational health is on three different objectives: (i) the maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and working capacity; (ii) the improvement of working environment and work to become conducive to safety and health and (iii) development of work organizations and working cultures in a direction which supports health and safety at work and in doing so also promotes a positive social climate and smooth operation and may enhance productivity of the undertakings. The concept of working culture is intended in this context to mean a reflection of the essential value systems adopted by the undertaking concerned. Such a culture is reflected in practice in the managerial systems, personnel policy, principles for participation, training policies and quality management of the undertaking."

                                                

            Physical hazards are a common source of injuries in many industries. They are perhaps unavoidable in many industries such as construction and mining, but over time people have developed safety methods and procedures to manage the risks of physical danger in the workplace. Employment of children may pose special problems. Falls are a common cause of occupational injuries and fatalities, especially in construction, extraction, transportation, healthcare, and building cleaning and maintenance.

An engineering workshop specialising in the fabrication and welding of components has to follow the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work regulations 1992. It is an employers duty to provide ‘all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work which him against one or more risks to his health and safety’. In a fabrication and welding workshop an employer would be required to provide face and eye protection, safety footwear, overalls and other necessary PPE.

Many machines involve moving parts, sharp edges, hot surfaces and other hazards with the potential to crush, burn, cut, shear. Various safety measures exist to minimize these hazards, including lockout-tag out procedures for machine maintenance and  roll over protection systems for vehicles. According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, machine-related injuries were responsible for 64,170 cases that required days away from work in 2008. More than a quarter of these cases required more than 31 days spent away from work. That same year, machines were the primary or secondary source of over 600 work-related fatalities. Machines are also often involved indirectly in worker deaths and injuries, such as in cases in which a worker slips and falls, possibly upon a sharp or pointed object. The transportation sector bears many risks for the health of commercial drivers, too, for example from vibration, long periods of sitting, work stress and exhaustion. These problems occur in Europe but in other parts of the world the situation is even worse. More drivers die in accidents due to security defects in vehicles. Long waiting times at borders cause that drivers are away from home and family much longer and even increase the risk of HIV infections.

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT.

HR is a product of the human relations movement of the early 20th century, when researchers began documenting ways of creating business value through the strategic management of the workforce. The function was initially dominated by transactional work, such as payroll and benefits administration, but due to globalization, company consolidation, technological advancement, and further research, HR now focuses on strategic initiatives like mergers and acquisitions, talent management, planning, industrial and labour relations, and diversity and inclusion.

In start-up companies, HR's duties may be performed by trained professionals. In larger companies, an entire functional group is typically dedicated to the discipline, with staff specializing in various HR tasks and functional leadership engaging in strategic decision making across the business. To train practitioners for the profession, institutions of higher education, professional associations, and companies themselves have created programs of study dedicated explicitly to the duties of the function. Academic and practitioner organizations likewise seek to engage and further the field of HR, as evidenced by several field-specific publications.

In the current global work environment, all global companies are focused on retaining the talent and knowledge held by the workforce. All companies are focused on lowering the employee turnover and preserving knowledge. New hiring not only entails a high cost but also increases the risk of the newcomer not being able to replace the person who was working in that position before. HR departments also strive to offer benefits that will appeal to workers, thus reducing the risk of losing knowledge.

In practice, HR is responsible for employee experience during the entire employment lifecycle. It is first charged with attracting the right employees through employer branding. It then must select the right employees through the recruitment process. HR then on boards new hires and oversees their training and development during their tenure with the organization. HR assesses talent through use of performance appraisals and then rewards them accordingly. In fulfilment of the latter, HR may sometimes administer payroll and employee benefits, although such activities are more and more being outsourced, with HR playing a more strategic role. Finally, HR is involved in employee terminations - including resignations, performance-related dismissals, and redundancies.

There are half a million HR practitioners in the United States and thousands more worldwide. The Chief HR Officer is the highest ranking HR executive in most companies and typically reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and works with the Board of Directors on CEO succession. Within companies, HR positions generally fall into one of two categories: generalist and specialist. Generalists support employees directly with their questions, grievances, and projects. They "may handle all aspects of human resources work, and thus require an extensive range of knowledge. The responsibilities of human resources generalists can vary widely, depending on their employer's needs. Specialists, conversely, work in a specific HR function. Some practitioners will spend an entire career as either a generalist or a specialist while others will obtain experiences from each and choose a path later. Being an HR manager consistently ranks as one of the best jobs, with a ranking by CNN Money in 2006 and a 20 ranking by the same organization in 2009, due to its pay, personal satisfaction, job security, future growth, and benefit to society.

DISADVANTAGE OF SMOKING HABIT

DISADVANTAGE OF SMOKING HABIT

Smoking is the inhalation of the smoke of burning tobacco encased in cigarettes, pipes, and cigars. Casual smoking is the act of smoking only occasionally, usually in a social situation or to relieve stress. A smoking habit is a physical addiction to tobacco products. Many health experts now regard habitual smoking as a psychological addiction, too, and one with serious health consequences. Smoking is a practice in which a substance, most commonly tobacco, is burned and the smoke is tasted or inhaled. This is primarily practised as a route of administration for recreational drug use, as combustion releases the active substances in drugs such as nicotine and makes them available for absorption through the lungs. It can also be done as a part of rituals, to induce trances and spiritual enlightenment.

The most common method of smoking today is through cigarettes, primarily industrially manufactured but also hand-rolled from loose tobacco and rolling paper. Other smoking implements include pipes, cigars, bidis, hookahs, vaporizers, and bongs.  It has been suggested that smoking-related disease kills one half of all long term smokers but these diseases may also be contracted by non-smokers. A 2007 report states that, each year, about 4.9 million people worldwide die as a result of smoking. Smoking is one of the most common forms of recreational drug use. Tobacco smoking is today by far the most popular form of smoking and is practiced by over one billion people in the majority of all human societies. Less common drugs for smoking include cannabis and opium. Some of the substances are classified as hard narcotics like heroin, but the use of these is very limited as they are often not commercially available.

            Scientists and doctors know so much more about the effects of smoking today than ever before. They know smoking causes immediate effects on the smoker's body. It constricts the airways of the lungs. It increases the smoker's heart rate. It elevates the smoker's blood pressure. The carbon monoxide in tobacco smoke deprives the tissues of the smoker's body of much-needed oxygen. All of these are dangerous short-term effects. There are more serious long-term effects as well. Smoked tobacco in the forms of cigarettes, pipes, and cigars causes lung cancers, emphysema, and other respiratory diseases. In fact, smoking causes ninety per cent of all lung cancer cases. Twenty per cent of heavy smokers get the chronic lung disease called emphysema, which causes the narrowing, and clogging of the airway passages in the lungs. This disease is seldom seen in non-smoker’s. Smokers are also at least four times more likely to develop oral and laryngeal cancer than non-smokers.

Smoking contributes to heart disease. It increases the risk of stroke by nearly 40% among men and 60% among women. Smoking is an addiction. Tobacco smoke contains nicotine, a drug that is addictive and can make it very hard, but not impossible, to quit. More than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. each year are from smoking-related illnesses. Smoking greatly increases your risks for lung cancer and many other cancers. Smoking harms not just the smoker, but also family members, co-workers and others who breathe the smoker's cigarette smoke, called second hand smoke. Among infants to 18 months of age, second hand smoke is associated with as many as 300,000 cases of bronchitis and pneumonia each year. Second hand smoke from a parent's cigarette increases a child's chances for middle ear problems, causes coughing and wheezing, and worsens asthma conditions. If both parents smoke, a teenager is more than twice as likely to smoke as a young person whose parents are both non-smokers. In households where only one parent smokes, young people are also more likely to start smoking. Pregnant women who smoke are more likely to deliver babies whose weights are too low for the baby's good health.

                                                                                                        

Advantage of Social Networking

ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING

A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations) and a set of the dyadic ties between these actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for analysing the structure of whole social entities as well as a variety of theories explaining the patterns observed in these structures. The study of these structures uses social network analysis to identify local and global patterns, locate influential entities, and examine network dynamics. Social networks and the analysis of them is an inherently interdisciplinary academic field which emerged from social psychology, sociology, statistic, and graph theory. Georg Simmer authored early structural theories in sociology emphasizing the dynamics of triads and "web of group affiliations." Jacob Moreno is credited with developing the first seismogram in the 1930s to study interpersonal relationships. These approaches were mathematically formalized in the 1950s and theories and methods of social networks became pervasive in the social and behavioural sciences by the 1980s. Social network analysis is now one of the major paradigms in contemporary sociology, and is also employed in a number of other social and formal sciences. Together with other complex networks, it forms part of the nascent field of network science.

The social network is a theoretical construct useful in the social sciences to study relationships between individuals, groups, organizations, or even entire societies (social units, see differentiation). The term is used to describe a social structure determined by such interactions. The ties through which any given social unit connects represent the convergence of the various social contacts of that unit. This theoretical approach is, necessarily, relational. An axiom of the social network approach to understanding social interaction is that social phenomena should be primarily conceived and investigated through the properties of relations between and within units, instead of the properties of these units themselves. Thus, one common criticism of social network theory is that individual agency is often ignored although this may not be the case in practice (see agent-based modeling). Precisely because many different types of relations, singular or in combination, form these network configurations, network analytics are useful to a broad range of research enterprises. In social science, these fields of study include, but are not limited to anthropology, biology, , economics, geography, science, organizational studies, social psychology, sociology, and sociolinguistics.

Furthermore, social networking can provide opportunities for new relationships as well as strengthening existing relationships, whether your kids’ friends are close to home or across the world. It’s important to be vigilant when your kids are getting involved in online social networking, but it’s also good to encourage positive relationships through various avenues, including the Internet. Kids can gain social confidence from interacting with other people online, which may help them feel more secure in new situations, such as going to college, joining a sports team, and meeting new friends. Keeping in touch with family members that live far away can become much easier through the use of online social networking. By sharing updates, photos, videos, and messages, family members can stay connected even if the live across the country or the world.

Social networking platforms may allow organizations to improve communication and productivity by disseminating information among different groups of employees in a more efficient manner. While it is not meant to be all-inclusive, the list below outlines some of the possible advantages and disadvantages of social media use by workplaces. Facilitates open communication, leading to enhanced information discovery and delivery. Social networking can allows employees to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions and share links. Its also provides an opportunity to widen business contacts. Its can targets a wide audience, making it a useful and effective recruitment tool. Its also may be improves business reputation and client base with minimal use of advertising. The expands market research, can implements marketing campaigns, delivers communications and directs interested people to specific web sites.

We found out that a lot of people use blogs and social networking website, even parents and celebrities. We found out that Xanga is the most popular blog among youngsters while Facebook is the most popular social networking website. We found out that the mutual reasons why youngsters like to use blogs and social networking websites are they can share their opinions and daily lives with others, they can exchange information, they can communicate and interact with people through these websites. We also found out that parents care about internet safety and whether their children are indulge in using blogs or social networks most when their children use blogs and social networking website.

KEPENTINGAN BERSENAM DALAM KEHIDUPAN SEHARIAN

KEPENTINGAN SENAMAN DALAM KEHIDUPAN SEHARIAN

Senaman ialah pergerakan badan yang dilakukan secara berulang-kali secara terancang dan berstruktur bertujuan untuk meningkatkan atau mengekalkan satu atau lebih komponen kecergasan fizikal. Senaman juga melibatkan penggunaan dan pengeluaran tenaga yang banyak. Tidak cukup dengan aktiviti harian, hujung minggu atau ada waktu terluang, anda pasti ringankan badan untuk melakukan senaman. Tetapi kini, sejak anda dihambat oleh kesibukan kerja di pejabat, kuliah, mahupun masalah peribadi, entah kenapa anda seperti malas dan kurang berminat untuk meneruskan riadah tersebut. Jangan risau, anda tetap boleh mengekalkan amalan senaman walaupun sudah lama tidak melakukannya. Ikuti tip-tip berikut untuk meningkatkan kembali semangat serta usaha anda dan seterusnya bagi mendapatkan bentuk badan yang menawan juga untuk kesihatan tubuh badan.

Banyak kelebihan yang bakal diperolehi oleh kita sekiranya kita kerap melakukan aktiviti senaman. Antaranya ialah, dapat mencegah diri kita dari sebarang penyakit yang boleh membahayakan diri kita. Aktiviti senaman hendaklah dilakukan sekurang-kurangnya tiga kali dalam seminggu. Terdapat beberapa fakta yang menyatakan bahawa dengan melakukan aktiviti senaman dapat mengurangkan penyakit. Antara penyakit yang boleh dibendung melalui aktiviti senaman ialah dapat mencegah sakit belakang. Senaman dapat menguatkan tulang belakang dan otot perut, memperbaiki postur atau posisi tubuh dan sekaligus dapat mencegah sakit belakang.

Pada masa ini, kita dapat lihat ramai di kalangan rakyat Malaysia yang mengalami masalah obesiti. Melalui aktiviti senaman juga dapat mengatasi masalah obesiti. Senaman berterusan dan pada masa yang sama, mengamalkan diet seimbang dapat membnatu mengawal masalah berat badan yang berlebihan. Obesiti dapat meningkatkan risiko mendpat pelbagai penyakit seperti diabetes, penyakit jantung dan batu karang. Senaman juga dapat mengurangkan risiko penyakit kanser. Kajian perubatan mengesahkan bahawa tahap kecergasan yang rendah akan meningkatkan risiko mendapat sesetengah penyakit yang berkaitan dengan kanser. Bersenam secara konsisten juga mapu meningkatkan perasaan menghargai diri sendiri dan menjadikan diri lebih positif dan tenang.

Senaman juga dapat menguatkan tulang. Senaman sederhana secara tetap dapat menguatkan tulang dengan cara meningkatkan kandungan mineral, sekali gus dapat mengurangkan risiko mendapat osteoporosis dalam jangka masa panjang. Osteoporosis akan menyebabkan tulang menjadi haus dan lama-kelamaan akan rapuh serta mudah patah. Aktiviti senaman juga dapat mengurangkan risiko penyakit jantung. Senaman dapat membantu mencegah obesiti, kolesterol tinggi dan tekanan darah tinggi. Bagi sesetengah wanita pula, melalui senaman dapat mengurangkan kesakitan semasa kedatangan haid. Senaman juga dapat menggalakkan tidur lena apabila keletihan akibat aktiviti fizikal menyebabkan badan dan mindaa lebih mudah untuk tidur.

Bersenam dalam jangka masa panjang akan meningkatkan kecekapan kebanyakan organ dalam tubuh manusia. Antaranya ialah dapat meningkatkan pengakiran darah ke kulit membuatkan perawakan kelihatan lebih sihat dan menarik. Ia juga dapat memperbaiki kecekapan paru-paru mengambil oksigen dari udara. Selain itu, jantung yang lebih cekap dapat meningkatkan pengaliran darah ke seluruh tubuh badan kita. Sendi yang kuat dapat mengurangkan kesakitan dan ketegangan apabila umur meningkat.kekuatan dan kecekapan menggunakan otot semasa melakukan aktiviti senaman membolehkan otot bekerja untuk tempoh yang lebih lama.

Namun tidak ramai individu yang gemar untuk melakukan aktiviti senaman. Mereka sering memberi seribu satu alasan untuk melakukan senaman. Hal ini demikian kerana, kebanyakan individu sibuk dengan aktiviti seharian tanpa memikirkan betapa pentingnya untuk menjaga kesihatan dengan sebaiknya. Bersenam sebagai gaya hidup akan menjadiakan kehidupan lebih aktif dan lebih penting ialah menikmati kehidupan sihat dan jangka hayat yang lebih panjang.

Antara contoh aktiviti senaman yang boleh diamalkan adalah berlari, berjoging, berjalan, berenang, lompat tali dan berbasikal. Jumlah minima aktiviti fizikal yang perlu dilakukan untuk mendapat faedah kesihatan yang dikehendaki ialah dengan melakukan aktivtit yang sederhana kuatnya atau intensiit, sekurang-kurangnya 30 minit untuk setiap sesi, untuk 3 hingga 5 hari seminggu. Senaman hendaklah dilakukan secara perlahan lahan dan intensitinya ditingkatkan beransur-ansur. Secara kesimpulannya, banyak aktiviti senaman banyak memberi manfaat dan faedah kepada kehidupan seharian kita.