Questions & Answers: Health and Safety Requirements | Retail Class 11 - Commerce PDF Download

Q1: Definition of health.
Ans: As defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), health is a “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.

Q2: Definition of safety.
Ans: Safety is the state of being “safe”, the condition of being protected from harm or other non-desirable outcomes. Regular risk assessments should be conducted at retail stores to identify health and safety problems and initiate the necessary measures to eliminate or mitigate them as far as possible.

Q3: Health & Safety Measures.
Ans: Following are the factors to keep in mind while undertaking health and safety measures at a retail store:

• Abiding the law: A retailer has to show that he or she is following all the safety practices in his retail store.
• Risk assessments: A risk assessment examines the hazardous conditions at a workplace to identify risks and implement measures to prevent or reduce the risk.
• Safety readiness from expected perils: As per the Health and Safety legislation, it is required to follow health and safety rules.
• Ergonomics: It is the science of matching a retail store’s requirements to the retailer’s capabilities. For example, if a retailer hires a weak person to lift very heavy boxes for hours on end, there are more chances of risk injury to the employee due to poor ergonomics.
• Air quality: Without proper ventilation air starts to collect mold, fungus, bacteria or odours in a retail store. Law recommends installing machines that cycle fresh outdoor air and circulates it throughout the store.
• Visual inspection of premise: As per the law it is important to visually inspect the store premises to ensure no hazards are visible which include uneven flooring, spills and misplaced boxes.
• Crime: The retailer should install a surveillance camera in different parts of the store for safety purposes. Hiring a guard may also help monitor the store.
• Training: Employees of the retail store should be trained to tackle any situation inviting danger.
• Insurance: A retailer must get the retail store insured.

Q4: Ways to encourage colleagues to follow health and safety norms.
Ans: Following are the ways to encourage colleagues to follow the health and safety norms:

• Create a plan: An employer should identify hazards at the workplace and take steps to minimise them, develop a safety plan and tell all the colleagues to ensure their safety and what is expected from them.
• Workplace inspection: Colleagues get encouraged if equipment and tools are checked and workplace is inspected on a regular basis. They take safety practices seriously.
• Training: All employees should be trained properly and encouraged to follow proper health and safety practices.
• Supervision: Proper supervision is required to ensure that all colleagues perform their job properly and safely. They should understand that if they do not follow instructions they will not only endanger their safety but also be held liable for the incident which could have serious consequences.
• Informal communication: Meet the staff and colleagues regularly and encourage them to share health and safety ideas for improving safety at the workplace.
• Discharge health and safety responsibilities at workplace: The retailer should try to integrate health and safety with all work process at the work place and provide guidelines which define the health, safety and security measures as well as required action and responsibility for execution with the vision of an injury free organisation.