Types of Welfare Services: Individual and Group

Employee welfare can be divided into two categories, namely:

(1) Statutory, and

(2) Voluntary

1. Statutory:

The government has passed a number of legislations in order to set minimum stan­dards of safety and welfare for the employees at their workplace. Provisions have been made for the welfare facilities such as washing, storing, first-aid appliances, hours of work, sanitation, etc.

2. Voluntary:

The employers voluntarily have provided welfare amenities to the employees besides the statutory facilities. They are more concerned with the welfare of their employees. Organizations such as Godrej and L & T provide adequate transport and similar other facilities to their employ­ees. Facilities for recreation, medical treatment, free meals or subsidized meals, schooling facilities for children, and sports and games are provided by many organizations.

Organizations have given opportunities to work with flexible working schedules. It helps to meet business commitments while at the same time supporting one’s personal life needs. Organizations also provide medi-claim insurance coverage to employees for expenses relating to hospitalization due to illness, disease, and injury. Harassment policies are also made to protect harassment of any kind to employees.

The voluntary welfare facilities may also classify into those provided within and outside the factory premises.

(i) Welfare and amenities within the factory premises.

(ii) Welfare and facilities outside the factory premises.

Welfare and amenities within the factory premises include:

(i) provision for latrine and urinals

(ii) wash­ing and bathing

(iii) creches

(iv) rest shelters and canteens

(v) arrangement of drinking water

(vi) arrangement for prevention of fatigue

(vii) administrative arrangement within the plant to look after welfare

(viii) uniforms and protective clothing

(ix) shift allowance.

Welfare and amenities outside the factory premises include:

(i) maternity benefit

(ii) social insurance

(iii) benevolent fund

(iv) medical facilities

(v) education facilities

(vi) housing facilities

(vii) recre­ational facilities

(viii) holiday/leave and travel facilities

(ix) workers’ cooperatives

(x) other programme for the welfare of women, youth, and children

(xi) transport to and from the place of work.

Types of Employee Welfare Services:

1. Safety Services:

Prevention of accidents is an objective which requires on explanation. The costs of accidents are enormous in suffering to the injured, in reduction or loss of earnings, in disabilities and incapacities which afflict those involved and in compensation, insurance and legal costs, in lost time, filling in reports and attending to enquiries, and in spoilage of materials, equipment and tools to management.

Accidents are the consequence of two basic factors: technical and human. Technical factors include all engineering deficiencies, related to plant, tools material and general work environment.

Thus, for example, improper lighting, inadequate ventilation, poor machine guarding and careless housekeeping are some hazards which may cause accidents. Human factors include all unsafe acts on the part of employees. An unsafe act is usually the result of carelessness.

Young and new employees, because of their difficulty in adjusting to the work situation and to life in general, also have many more accidents than do old and nature workers. The Phenomenon of Accident Proneness.

Some persons believe wrongly in the theory that certain individuals are accident prone, that is, they have some personality trait as opposed to some characteristic of the environment which predisposes them to have more accidents than others in work condition where the risk of hazards is equal to all.

Components of a Safety Service:

Among the many components of a safety service the following have proved effective when applied in combination:

Maintenance of the workplace and work equipment Employer must have:

1. Buildings and work equipment kept in good repair;
2. Space for safe movement and access, for example to machinery;
3. Safe glazing, if necessary, for example painted, toughened or thick, which is marked to make it easy to see;
4. Good drainage in wet processes;
5. Weather protection for outdoor workplaces, if practical;
6. Outdoor routes kept safe during icy conditions, for example salted/sanded and swept.

Floors and Traffic Routes:

Employer must have:

1. Floors, corridors and stairs free of obstructions, for example trailing cables;
2. Surfaces that are not slippery;
3. Well-lit outside areas – this will also help security;
4. Safe passages for pedestrians and vehicle the best approach is to keep vehicles and pedestrians apart using separate routes;
5. Level, even surfaces without holes or broken boards;
6. Handrails on stairs and ramps where necessary;
7. Safe doors, for example vision panels in swing doors, and safety devices on power doors.

Transparent and translucent doors, gates, walls and windows

Windows, transparent or translucent surfaces in walls, partitions, doors and gates should, where necessary to protect health and safety, be made of safety material or protected against breakage. Employer must mark these surfaces clearly if there is a danger that people might collide with them.

Windows and Safe Cleaning:

1. Employer must have windows that can be cleaned safely.
2. Open able windows should open safely so that people cannot fall out or bump into them.

Escalators and Moving Walkways:

Escalators and moving walkways should work safely, be equipped with any necessary safety devices and fitted with one or more emergency stop controls which are easily identifiable and accessible.

Appointment of Safety Officer:

In big organizations, the appointment of a safety officer to head the safety department is a must. In small organisations, the personnel manager may look after the functions of this department.

The head of the safety department, who is usually a staff man, is granted power to inspect the plant for unsafe condition, to promote sound safety practices (through posters and safety campaigns), to make safety rules, and to report violations to the plant manager.

Support by Line Management:

The head of the safety department, whether enjoying a staff or a functional position, by himself, cannot make a plan safe. His appointment lulls line management into assuming that all its safety problems have been solved.

Elimination of Hazards:

Although complete elimination of all hazards is virtually an impossibility but following steps can be taken to help reduce them:

Job Safety Analysis:

All job procedures and practices should be analysed by an expert to discover hazards, he should then suggest changes in their motion patterns, sequence and the like.

Placement:

A poorly placed employee is more apt to incur injury than a properly placed employee. Employees should be placed on jobs only after carefully estimating and considering the job requirements with those which the individual apparently possesses.

Personal Protective Equipment:

Endless variety of personal safety equipment is available nowadays which can be used to prevent injuries

Safeguarding Machinery:

Guards must be securely fixed to all power-driven machinery.

Materials Handling:

Though often ignored, the careless handling of heavy and inflammable materials is an important source of several injuries and fire.

Hand Tools:

Minor injuries often result from improperly using a good tool or using a poorly designed tool. Therefore, close supervision and instruction should be given to the employees on the proper tool to use the proper use of the tool.

Safety Training, Education and Publicity:

Safety training is concerned with developing safety skills, whereas safety education is concerned with increasing contest programmes, safety campaigns, suggestion awards, and various audio-visual aids can be considered as different forms of employee education.

Safety Inspection:

An inspection by a trained individual or a committee to detect evidence of possible safety hazards (such as poor lighting, slippery floors, unguarded machines, faulty electrical installations, poor work methods and disregard of safety rules) is a very effective device to promote safety.

2. Health Services:

The prevention of accident constitutes only on segment of the function of employee maintenance. Another equally important segment is the employee’s general health, both physical and mental. There are two aspects of industrial health services

1. Preventive
2. Curative, the former consists of:
3. Pre-employment and periodic medical examination,
4. Removal or reduction of health hazards to the maximum extent possible,
5. Surveillance over certain classes of workers such as women, young persons and persons exposed to special risks.
6. Counselling Services:

An employee very often comes across problems which have emotional content. For example, he may be nearing retirement and feeling insecure or he may be getting promotion and feeling hesitant to shoulder increased responsibility or he may be worried due to some family problem.