Sunday, May 26, 2013

Workplace Accidents: Do You Really Have the Right to Complain?

It is funny how when you were young, you never really considered why the oldies are always so cautious when they see you running everywhere. This often happens when you are playing with friends. They are afraid you would hurt yourself. If you were a girl, having bruises is not acceptable. Bruises do not look good on girls and a girl should always be prim and proper. Now if you were a boy, they would not want people to mistake you for a bully or a troublemaker. Only cute and smart boys make mama proud. You would think; playing is fun so who cares about being bruised?

Nevertheless, time and experience help you see things differently. Injuries are no longer acceptable especially if they happened while you are out and having fun. Now that you are older, you realize how mild and serious injuries hurt your budget. If you do not have the necessary insurance, you will use up all your savings too. In addition, physical injuries affect your school, work performance or both. This would mean that you have to exert more effort to get back on track. You might need to stop studying or working too. Now that you are older, you avoid injuries as much as you can. In fact, you are more cautious than you think.

However, it is a different story when injury occurs at work. On the job, you and your employer should make sure injuries do not happen. They train you on how to use the machines and equipment properly. You should also follow workplace policies and standards for health and safety. The company is responsible for any untoward incidents that happen to you while you are doing your job. However, you are also personally liable if these untoward incidents happen because of your own wrongdoing. In cases where you and your company are both at fault, you should not shoulder the consequences all by yourself. You have the right to complain.

If injuries happen and the company does not have all the necessary precautions such as OSHA posters, then the law states that they should pay for fines or penalties. In fact, for not having the right posters in the right places alone, the penalty reaches to a maximum of $7,000. You may even sue them for damages as well. Millions of people suffer from injuries in the workplace yearly. There are those who are lucky enough to survive. However, thousands of them suffer severe physical injuries and others die.

Companies can avoid workplace accidents if only they follow labor law requirements when it comes to posters like OSHA. These Federal labor law posters are free. The labor law posters should be in your work premises. If you think your company is not complying with any of these OSHA poster requirements then you can always ask your company to comply. You can even ask OSHA to have a site inspection in your company if you think there are hazards that can lead to workplace accidents. Voice out your concerns before it is too late. Your work is important but your life matters more.  

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Resisting Workplace Discrimination Proactively


Common people face many issues daily. People have their own stories of strife and sorrows. Conflicts arise anywhere you go. Humanity is challenged physically, emotionally, mentally, socially and even spiritually. How do you cope? How do you respond to the different challenges of life?

For normal people, there are many ways to cope. They have their family background, educational attainment and even work experience to back them up. They have also developed connections with different people who can support them during these challenging times. However, what happens if you do not belong to what the majority calls “normal”? How do you cope if your views, gender and religious preferences are not socially acceptable? Do you deal with issues as other people do? Would you simply look down and look away?

Growing up with people telling you that you are not good enough or that you do not fit can be disabling. You can lose the trust and confidence in yourself. Words need not be true for them to hurt or disable you. However, how do you truly live unless you celebrate the unique life you are given? Unless you celebrate yourself, it will be difficult to convince others to celebrate you.

One of the greatest challenges that people face daily is discrimination. It can happen even at work where people go through qualification processes to become part of the company. If people discriminate you at work, are you still capable of looking down and looking away? Would you simply give up your job and just look for ways of earning income somewhere else? Is it right to give in to the pressure and give up? What happens to your career goals and sources of income? What kind of future is waiting for you? How long do you leave all these at the mercy of other people?

There is no better time to resist discrimination than today. You can effectively resist discrimination by fighting your battles smartly. You have to know that the law is on your side. The state recognizes your value not just as an individual but also as a productive member of society. The law protects your unique individuality and therefore, provides various precepts to allow you to live normally like everyone else. The law protects your rights to life, freedom, and pursuit of happiness. If your job provides you with all these things then why give them up?

Act now and demand that the EEO or Equal Employment Opportunity labor law posters be in your workplace. Management should post them in areas where you and everybody else can read them. Help yourself resist the discrimination by keeping the law within sight. Let other people know that the law protects your rights. Their non-observance of these rights is punishable by law.
If you have problems getting employed because of issues about your sex, age, race, religion and other preferences then you should check out your rights in the EEO poster too. Be the first to know them. Embrace your uniqueness, fight for your rights, and celebrate your life today.

Monday, May 13, 2013

Interesting Facts about It’s the Law Posters

Every single day about 13 people in the United States suffer from fatal injuries due to work-related cases. Translated to annual figures this means that there are close to 5000 workers yearly die on the job. In addition, studies show that 4 million people experience light to serious injuries at work. This leaves some workers permanently disabled. This explains why millions of families continue to face financial challenges despite the government’s efforts to increase job availability in the country.

The state and federal government know these numbers. In fact, they have statistics that show who, why and how these untoward incidents happen at work. Injuries and fatalities commonly happen to workers employed by construction companies. Construction-related fatalities are normally due to fall, electrocution, or hit by an object. The state and federal government are very strict when it comes to posting the OSHA Job Safety and Health: it’s the Law poster due to these statistics. Study shows that those, who comply with the requirements of the labor law poster, have lower cases of injuries and fatalities compared to those who violate them.

Companies who violate the requirements set by OSHA posters and other labor law posters receive citations and pay fines. However, here are a few interesting facts to remember to avoid violating the law: 
  • These posters are free. You do not need to buy them. You can download them online and reproduce them. Therefore, you have no excuse not to have one.
  • The size of the poster and the print or font size should match. If you opt for a larger poster, then the print size should increase as well. An 8 ½ inches x 14 inches poster should have a font size of 10 for the body and 36 for the heading or caption. 
  •  You may need several posters in one establishment. If you have several activities performed in the same workplace, then you have to place a separate poster in different places where these activities happen. This ensures that all employees in your company or workplace get to read these posters daily.
  • The law requires you to have these posters in your workplace even if your workers are always out in the field. If your employees are sales representatives, field coordinators or they offer sanitary services to other companies, you will have to make this poster available to places where your employees report daily.
When it comes to dealing with your employees:
  • You have to take their complaints and grievances seriously.
  • They can ask OSHA to inspect the workplace with or without your permission.
  • You must show OSHA citations to them and post the same in the workplace.
  • You will have to correct whatever OSHA citations have enumerated.
  • You should give copies of medical records to them, which pertain to workplace hazards.

Nevertheless, OSHA can help you to avoid citations and fines. They offer free consultation services so you can avoid further workplace issues and OSHA violations. In the end, prevention is always better than cure and knowing all these facts can protect you. Studies show the effectiveness of these labor law posters when it comes to lessening workplace injuries and fatalities. There are statistics to back them up as well.

Click http://www.postersolution.com/federal-only-labor-law-posters/ for more information of federal, state & OSHA labor law.

Monday, May 06, 2013

Be a Better Manager with Right Posters in Right Places



It is more challenging to become a better manager these days compared to any generation. Seniority is no longer the only basis for getting promoted. Education alone cannot be your ticket to success as well. The executives you know may not always recommend you. However, experience and performance are the main reasons why some managers get promoted faster than their colleagues. Therefore, to be on top of your league means you have to perform better all the time.

Managers are pressured to do well and to deliver more than what is expected of them. Unfortunately, as a manager you are no longer assessed based on your individual performance. Your team or your department is under the microscope. Your team’s inefficiency is on your scorecard. You have to deal with your men’s inefficiency before the higher-ups deal with you.

However, spending your time dealing with unnecessary issues in the workplace caused by your people will not help you improve your own scorecard. First, you have to check how your daily life goes as their manager. How do you spend your time at work? How do you manage your own time?

  • What are you busy dealing with?
  • What are you busy managing?
  • Are you spending more time improving performance?
  • Are you all too focused managing inefficiency instead?

There is no point spending hours in front of your computer reminding your team of what or what not to do in the workplace. It is also a waste of time if all you do is issue memos to people who violate workplace policies and procedures. It is definitely unacceptable to spend hours meeting with the executive group trying to defend your team or your man who violated certain these policies and procedures. This is true especially if such violations translate into federal or state law violations which can harm company’s reputation and finances.

One of the fastest and most effective ways to deal with inefficiency in the workplace is to make sure your employees are aware of what the company expects of them. Having the labor law posters in place is one of the best management strategies you can adopt. It is easier to practice what you preach if the preaching happens continuously. These posters preach to your team even when you are no longer in the office. They remind employees what to do even if the boss is not around. You can also create well-designed posters to express company policies and procedures. Find ways to make these posters engaging and not boring. Make sure these useful and visual reminders are in places where employees frequent.

Finally, a better manager should also learn to reward people who follow these policies and procedures at all cost. Motivate your people to do what is right by rewarding them. They may be paid to do things right the first time but we all know some people do not have the same mindset. However, with a reward system people learn to love doing what is right because they know it is not left unnoticed. As your people do the right things then you can spend your time and energy setting goals and achieving them. You can reach higher grounds if you focus on going up instead of simply avoiding the fall.  

To find more information of federal, state & OSHA labor law, please click here.