UGC NET/JRF EXAM, June-2020 Labour and Social Welfare

Indirect and hidden costs of accidents:
Accidents have also less obvious, indirect costs that are usually uninsured. These include the various disruptions to normal work procedures, such as when employees stop to help the injured employee or even a drop in production that cause inconsistencies with delievery.
Indirect costs include:
•  time cost from work by injured employee(s);
• loss in earning power;
• economic loss to injured worker's family;
• lost time by fellow employees;
• loss of efficiency due to break-up of crew;
• time lost in supervision;
• cost of breaking in a new worker;
• damage to tools and equipment;
• loss of time in replacing damaged equipment;
• spoiled work;
• loss of production;
• spoilage due to fire, water, chemicals, explosives, etc;
• failure to fill orders; and
• overhead cost (while work was disrupted).

The following are some examples of hidden costs:

• Production loss/worker distraction
• Training costs/replacement of worker
• Loss of skill/efficiency-slowed production
• Paperwork
• Administrative time
• Loss of morale
• Legal issues
• Medical expenses
• Wages
• Equipment.

National Safety Council (NSC) was set up by the Ministry of Labour, Government of India (GOI) on 4th March, 1966 to generate, develop and sustain a voluntary movement on Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) at the national level.

It is an apex nonprofit making, tripartite body, registered under the Societies Registration Act 1860 and the Bombay Public Trust Act 1950. To fulfill its objective NSC carries out various activities.

These include organising and conducting specialised training courses, conferences, seminars & workshops; conducting consultancy studies such as safety audits, hazard evaluation & risk assessment; designing and developing HSE promotional materials & publications;

facilitating organisations in celebrating various campaigns e.g. Safety Day; Fire Service Week, World Environment Day. A computerised Management Information Service has been setup for collection, retrieval and dissemination of information on HSE aspects.

Workers' Participation in Management Scheme of 1975: On 30th October, 1975, the Government announced a scheme for workers participation in industry, as part of its 20- point economic programme. This scheme had to be adopted with the initiative or the management.

They had to evolve patterns (of workers' participation) suitable to their units. The scheme provided for shop councils at the shop/departmental levels and joint councils at the enterprise level. The main features or this scheme are:

(i) in every enterprise employing 500 or more workmen the enterprise should constitute one or more shop councils for each department, and one joint council for the whole unit;

(ii) the shop councils should consist of an equal number of representatives of employers (nominated by the management) and employees who shall be from among the workers working in the unit/department concerned.

Shop Councils: The decisions of the shop council are to be taken on the basis of consensus rather than by voting and decisions that are taken have to be implemented within one month. The tenure of the shop councils is for a period of two years.

And it should meet at least once a month. The chairman of the shop council should be a nominee of the management and a vice chairman should be elected from amongst workers.

The main functions of the shop councils are to improve production, productivity and efficiency; to study problems of absenteeism, low productivity and recommend measures to reduce them; to look after safety measures and other physical working conditions, welfare and health conditions of the shop/ department and to ensure flow of two-way communication between management and workers especially with regard to matters or meeting production targets and matters relating to production figures and schedules.

Joint Councils: The tenure of the joint councils is for two years. The chief executive of the unit will become its chairman. A vice chairman will be nominated by the worker members of the councils.

The secretary will be appointed by the joint council (JC) who will be responsible for discharging its functions. The JC will meet once in 4 months. The decisions of the JC are also by the process of consensus. And they shall be implemented within one month.

The function of this council are to fix productivity norms for men and machines for the unit; to resolve matters which are unresolved by the shop councils; to see that the production targets are achieved to make optimum use of raw materials and quality of finished product; and to look after the general health and safety measure of the unit as a whole.

Turner and Hodge (1970) proposed four areas of concern in the study of professionalism.
They are:
1. Degree of Substantive Theory and Technique: A profession should have abstract principles, which should be organized into theory, a set of theories or at least a complex web of theoretical orientations. Knowledge of a profession is passed on to the next generations through these theories. Techniques for recurrent application of these fundamental principles should be developed. There should be a correlation between theory and techniques.

2. Degree of Monopoly: The profession should claim a monopoly over the set of activities in which it offers services. The bid for recognition may take the form of claim to exclusive possession of knowledge and associated techniques, or at least to their greatly superior application.

The justification is commonly advanced on grounds like possession of esoteric knowledge and high skill, the performance of tasks of high social values, the image of community service and dedication. Though it is extremely unlikely that any group will be able to enforce complete monopoly over the full range of activities to which it lays claim.

3. Degree of External Recognition: Public recognition is a critical aspect of any profession. But public recognition is a multifacteted phenomenon. There are several possible publics to whom members of an occupation may address themselves.

They may be clients, co-workers outside the professional groups, other occupational associations (which may be complementary or competitive), government bodies taking direct legislative and/or administrative part in the regulation of occupational activities, educational and training institutes and other individuals, groups and organizations, which may be internally differentiated with respect to knowledge, opinion and interests concerning a given occupation.

4. Degree of Organization: Two general approaches to the organization of professions and professionalizing occupations have been developed. (1) Formal Organization Approach (2) Community Approach.

Formal Organization Approach: In this approach, the emphasis is on:
(a) Organizational mechanism techniques. and
(b) The enumeration, registration and licensing of competent professionals.
(c) Codification of Standards of practice and conduct.