Topic Eight: Workplace Safety

Workplace Safety

No matter where you work, there is a responsibility of both employers and employees to make efforts to ensure everyone has a working environment free from hazard. Congress created the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in 1970 to minimize injuries and fatalities that happen in the workplace. Part of OSHA's along with the rest of the United States Department of Labor's requirements is that employees are aware of their rights as workers. These rights should be posted in every workplace somewhere that is easy to find. You can see the poster displayed for employees at Classic City High School below.

Another poster you may see in your workplace is the pink one above that explains worker's compensation available to those who are hurt on the job. If you ever hurt yourself anywhere you are employed, it is important to record what happened with your supervisor -- no matter how minor it may seem. Some employees hurt themselves on the job, but do not experience pain or discomfort until much later. This is why it is important to report injuries that seem minor at the time.

This week we would like you to consider the workplace you visit for your service learning placement with special attention to safety. Please complete the following tasks:

Task One: What are some of the potential hazards at your service learning placement? This may not be a simple question for some of you who do not work with dangerous machinery or lift heavy objects. This does not mean hazards do not exist. Think hard, and explain the ways that an employee may become injured on the job. Think long and short term. Your response should be a full paragraph.

Task Two: Review OSHA's Safety and Health Topics for a safety issue you might experience at your service learning placement. Once you have searched for a topic, you should have found a few articles relating to your search. Read one. Explain what you learned with 2-3 paragraphs. You might explain how what you learn pertains to you and the other people who share your workplace. If you cannot think of a topic, ask your friendly instructor for help.

Task Three:
I. Write a two paragraph blog post that discusses your experiences thus far at your service learning placement. Be sure to write using complete sentences, proper capitalization, and proper grammar. You may want to include some of the following in your journal

* what you've learned about the profession

* what you've learned about working with the people at your placement

* any positive experiences you've had

* any negative experiences you've had

* what you look forward to in the coming weeks

* a picture or visual

II. Give your post an appropriate title.

III. Be sure to proofread your work before publishing your post.

IV. Notify your adviser when you have published your service learning weekly journal blog post.

Service Learning Blog User Agreement

Using a weblog for our classwork will require some parameters for your safety and the quality of everyone's work. First, you should recognize that your work, as well as mine will be published for the entire on-line world to see. This will ultimately make us all responsible for better and more original output than ever before. By visiting other students' weblogs, you will be able to view all their work, and it will also make it easy for me to see who is not making an effort to submit work that is original.

Once you create your own weblog for this class, I will add it to the class blog roll so everyone's work can be accessed from this page. I encourage you to look at your peer's work for ideas or inspiration, but what you submit must be your own. Language Arts lends itself well to this format since you will be asked to respond to the literature and history we study with your own ideas and opinions. There are no right or wrong answers in a Language Arts class, so looking at other students' ideas can help you. It can also create problems if you choose to be lazy.

I will reserve the right to a conference about each of your posts if I find it necessary. During this conference, we may discuss how you can improve your work, or if your work is not original, I may ask you to start over.

Since this weblog will be part of your education at Classic City High School, any activity on your weblog should be considered school activity, even if it is done outside of school. You should feel free to create posts that are not school related, but you should also be sure to refrain from anything that could be considered inappropriate. This includes, but is not limited to: references to alcohol or drugs, violence, or gang activity, foul language, nudity, threats, etc.

THE USER AGREEMENT:

1. I agree to submit original work to my weblog. I realize I will have the opportunity to view my peer's work, and I will use this opportunity constructively. I understand that if my work does not appear to be original, I will be asked to adjust or re-do the assignment in question.

2. I agree to keep my weblog appropriate for Classic City High School. I understand that if innapropriate material were to appear on my weblog, be it from myself or an outside comment, I will be asked to remove it. Failure to do so will result in my weblog being removed from the class roll. I also understand that references to illegal or dangerous activities will be reported since it is the legal responsibility of my teacher.

To agree, post a comment to this message like this: I agree to Classic City High School's Service Learning Weblog User Agreement. I will not add your weblog to the class roll until I receive your message.