HRs Demand Labor Law Reforms for Occupational Hazards

By SiliconIndia | Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Bangalore: Occupational Hazards have been on the News for a while know. The HR Employees is more often the carrier of awful news when it comes to terminations, disciplinary actions or salary discussions. So to a common employee, the HR represents the face of the organization but employees don?t understand that. The HR manager simply execute the decisions taken by higher leaders and is not responsible for them. But employees have a misconception that HR plays a major role and is responsible for the changes.

The National HRD Network (NHRDN), after its board meeting earlier this week, condemned Dev's murder and said it plans to lobby with other industry bodies - the Employees Federation of India (EFI), Ficci and CII - to press the HRD ministry for safer working conditions in plants and factories. Awanish Kumar Dev, the HR manager at Maruti's Manesar plant, was brutally killed. Eight industry bodies, including the EFI, Assocham, CII and Ficci, closed ranks with the NHRDN in a joint statement issued on condemning Dev's killing. The NHRDN is also working on a handbook on a code of conduct on more responsible hiring, reports Economic Times.

It?s been a massive teror among HRs to work for organizations because of occupational hazards. These are the few examples that would horrify the readers. A sacked worker of a steel plant in Bolangir, Orissa, burnt his senior executive alive in his car, allied Nippon workers in Ghaziabad plant bludgeoned the HR with heavy equipment and workers at auto-parts manufacturer Pricol's Coimbatore plant beat its HR vice president to death with iron roads.

Hence, now the organization is trying to be more careful and is coming up with new ideas. The companies are conducting better background checks for all staffs even for contract workers. It's been found that when there is labor unrest, it is the local HR person who is directly in the line of fire. "Whatever the type of labor, whether contract or on the rolls, you should have past records of the workers, know their histories and then keep known criminals and anti-socials out. You should always know who is entering the industry; otherwise you are at a similar risk.

As strikes and agitations are erupting its high time for HR executives to do everything to protect themselves. Prince Augustin, national secretary of the NHRD Network and executive VP, said this is also the time for companies to up their industrial intelligence. "Employers will have to focus more on intelligence and on the ground-level activities in their factories," he added. The HR executives should also have good relationship with the union leaders so as to be well advanced to be cautioned before an attack takes place. It's important to work on that.

YS Guleria, VP (sales & marketing) for Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India, which has faced its share of workers' strife, said companies also need to create awareness about positive trade union activities among the workforce; work through joint committees on all important decision-making; and keep the channels of communication (between themselves and employees) open at all times.

Amit Nandkeolyar, assistant professor of organizational behavior at the Indian School for Business, Hyderabad, said: "Always be transparent about your actions. Give your workforce a reason for why you are doing certain things."