Healthcare Rights: Balancing the Cost and Quality for Everyone

by Herman Bailey | Mar 9, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Introduction

The consequences of the lack of access to medical care for a large portion of the population have emphasized the debate on whether healthcare is a lifetime right or an entitlement. Majority of the European countries have had one form of insurance or another. Such programs stem from the desire to protect the citizen from wage losses due to sickness as well as equalize the access to proper healthcare. For every nation, the current budget on healthcare continues to increase and is still the largest portion of finances, yet the service continues to remain inaccessible in terms of quality as well as cost.

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Step 1: The Problem: The global economic downturn has renewed the interest in the affordability of healthcare. Majority of the nurses today are often faced with the question of healthcare as a right on the one hand, and the need for the patient to pay for the services they are receiving on the other. An example is a case of a young girl with a terminal illness, requiring chemotherapy treatment. However, the parents lack the insurance necessary to pay for such treatment. They have therefore devised a system where they wait until the last moment, bring in the girl when she is violently ill upon which she is admitted as an emergency care patient thus allowing her the care she needs.

Step 2: Collection of information: Doctors and nurse practitioners take an oath to protect and preserve life at all costs. This means they are obligated to care first for the life and secure the health of their patient before requiring any form of compensation. During an emergency, nurses cannot begin to ask patients about their mode of payment, patients entering the hospital are required and in fact expect to be treated in a manner that secures their health. Kennedy and Bartlett (2004) state that more than 80% of the legal cases presented in court against medical practitioners and institutions as well as scandals surrounding the same institutions have stemmed from the lack of or perceived lack of care which the patient is given as a right.
Krittanawong (2017) further highlights the global demand for equalized heath acre, where every individual can access high quality healthcare within their own country easily. Healthcare is considered the most basic of needs for any citizen. It therefore falls on the government in partnership with other institutions to make such healthcare available and accessible not just in terms of payment but also quality and distance to healthcare institutions. Ruiz-Casares *et al. *(2010) indicate that the market culture dictates that those who can afford should have the right to pay for and access higher quality services for their money. This class of individuals therefore defines and allows progress in the field of medicine. To be denied higher access to healthcare services that are of their class old would be inhumane and unfair in every aspect. Progress would then become limited, thus dooming the entire population to mediocre services.

Step 3: available alternatives: The United States government has attempted to reach equality by providing and subsidizing the insurance required to access healthcare. With such subsidies, it is assumed that citizens are able to afford and therefore gain access to the best healthcare that is available and suitable for their needs. On the other hand, it is important to consider the possibility of quality. When products are made free and equalized, then it is possible that compromise of such products may be compromised. Healthcare is not just provision of services, and prescription of drugs; there are many other aspects to healthcare. These include development of diagnosis techniques, ideal medication and even advances in technology that guarantees accuracy. Each of these aspects is to be treated as a form of service. For each service rendered in a free market, there must be equal payment which is defined by both availability and quality. Despite, the desire to preserve life, it is required that the same individuals must pay for the services they have received.
When we speak of healthcare as a privilege, we therefore focus on those who can afford to pay for higher quality services. The development process of each medical service is different and higher cost services which on the one hand promise accuracy as well as effectiveness are also costlier to develop and require unique expertise to apply. Because of their nature, they can therefore not be made available to everyone; it follows therefore that only those who can afford can access the services.

Step 4: selection of an alternative: Citizens cannot be able to enjoy the rights to liberty and property if they are not living. The pursuit of happiness itself is enshrined in the assumption that such person is living or enjoying some form of quality life as defined by their own health. It follows therefore that in every case presented in a hospital or an institution, healthcare should be addressed as basic right, and thus each patient given the best possible and most accurate care for their condition. Conclusion
In every case, healthcare should be treated as a right building on the oath taken to preserve life at all costs. However, it sis also important to note that this right is limited in nature. While the preservation of life is necessary and required, the process and techniques used to preserve and secure such life could be altered. This is what defines the aspect of privilege. Healthcare services in themselves have a value defined by the cost of production and application. When healthcare is made free and equal for all people, we are denying the existence of such value, yet at the same time incurring the cost which is not a sustainable system.

References

Kennedy, B., & Bartlett, R. (2014). *U.S. Patent No. 8,788,293*. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
Krittanawong, C. (2017). Healthcare in the 21st century. *European journal of internal medicine*, *38*, e17.
Ruiz-Casares, M., Rousseau, C., Derluyn, I., Watters, C., & Crépeau, F. (2010). Right and access to healthcare for undocumented children: addressing the gap between international conventions and disparate implementations in North America and Europe. *Social Science & Medicine*, *70*(2), 329-336.

Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.

Human Body Exhibition: Unethical Actions on Human Remains

by Herman Bailey | Mar 9, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Introduction

The exhibition websites for human bodies has its disclaimer of the unethical actions on how to acquire human bodies. Notably, bodies are not given at will as most visitors may think that they are Chinese citizen’s human remains or dwellers who were donated to the Chinese Bureau of police. Importantly, the premier is not in a position to proudly declare to the visitors that the bodies being viewed were acquired legally (Bodies the Exhibition, 2014). At the exhibition, full body corpses of human body organs, embryos, and fetuses are displayed. Markedly, the owners of the muscles and internal organs displayed may, however, have faced unfortunate circumstances to end up in the exhibition, since most of them are healthy and young. This means that they did not consent to be found at the exhibitions. For example, a woman who was pregnant would not have wished her unborn to be used as a unique specimen in the exhibitions.

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Undeniably, the Chinese powers say that their prisoners will always remain in the exhibition because the exhibitions do not account on the procedure for acquiring the bodies. Nonetheless, the premier claims that the Chinese partners gave them the authority to acquire the bodies since they cannot independently present their claims that the bodies came from the executed persons as they were incarcerated at the prisons in China (Bodies the exhibition, 2014). Markedly, the reading from the course talked about the importance of upholding the indigenous group dignity by handling the human remains with a lot of respect; nevertheless, this is not the case with the body exhibition. This essay will be a comparison of human remains is differently treated from the indigenous culture as well as the Chinese Culture.

Thesis: Even though the processes for human remains acquisition to the body exhibition remains questionable, majorly the exhibition is taking advantage of the Chinese authority lack of human dignity. Although the exhibition respects the cultural relativism in a similar manner the archeologist respected the indigenous culture, nevertheless, their unethical procedures of acquiring the human remains need to be revised or discouraged early enough in preventing the general degradation of human dignity. Importantly, these changes and considerations can be possible through the exhibition accounting for in a clear and open manner how the donated bodies were acquired at the exhibition entrance.

Indigenous Culture

Human remains conservation is habitually inconsistent with universal code. Notably, first nations individuals have specific spiritual and ethical treatment imperatives of the ancestral remains, and they frequently find that Western culture and heritage management methods of human remains are always disrespectful in regards to the cultural beliefs. Nonetheless, the primary problem is on the “universal code”, which is the order hegemony developed by the western world understanding. This issue has little connection of the thinking of the Aboriginals world, which is believed to have faced colonialism, where the European cultures forced them to leave their heritage practices. Most importantly, the universal code is a representation of the current professional coming in the picture of “rhetoric of benevolence” (Bradford, 2005). According to Nancy White and Brooke Collins-Gearing, the expert knowledge language of concern and care is employed in the appropriation of intellectual and cultural property from indigenous individuals in saving them as well as their heritage from perishing. Thus, this paternalistic approach was derived from colonialism and it is a minority of indigenous culture to protectors of non-indigenous culture that cloaks the misrepresentation and appropriation of cultural possessions as protection (Bradford, 2005).

On the other hand, cultural relativism is entirely accountable during instances of handling human remains in different cultures. In reference to Rachels (2005), cultural relativism is a concept that is used in challenging universal and objective moral truth. In this case, things that are termed as wrong and right are not dealt in a similar manner in different cultures. Indeed, every standard is bound to culture, instead of being judged on the basis of other criteria. For instance, for museum employees, and the professionals working on conservation and heritage, the guiding code for collection, ownership, treatment, and display of indigenous possessions are more problematic than they would have come up with a solution. Thus, under the protection guise, the relationship among the Europeans and the indigenes was masked, as it was the primary determinant of the unfair and appropriation indigenous heritage use without respecting other cultures (Pannell, 1994). As stated by Pannell, in other instances where sacred objects are returned by museums to their owners, nevertheless, this only happens in cases where the indigenous individuals are in a semantic position as the lucky beneficiaries of the benevolence are active agents holding the objects.

Remarkably, there are different cases in which indigenous culture was used in retrieving the remains of their ancestors. Burke and Smith (2003), differentiated the spirit and the ethical code substance. According to them, ethical codes are mainly the suggestive guidelines used by professionals during field follow-ups. The codes give values sets in prioritization when professionals are subjected to ethical dilemmas. Besides, ethical codes are spirit provisions employed in working through ethical dilemmas. Particularly, a spirit can be explained in action by their efforts in resolving ethical challenges. Hence, every ethical code is often in flux, since it is used in the reflection of regional professional needs during the time of code development. Conversely, there exist ethical codes precise to indigenous heritage culture. This specification brings out the protection and recognition importance of culture to be used to the good of the indigenous natives. For example, the Kow Swamp and Lady Mungo excavation were used in addressing the international standard problems and ethical practices. For a fact, the ethical dilemma was witnessed in returning the material of Kow Swamp, because some of them came from international standards. Consequently, the entire humanity suffered from cultural heritage loss. Therefore, this kind of cherishing remains of archeology may have an ethnocentric view from the Western World, whereby the Aboriginal people have contributed to it. As a consequence, the Kow Swamp indigenous stewardship is crucial to the wellbeing and health of indigenous people in the future generation.

Additionally, the lady Mungo remains possessed archeological importance, nonetheless, since it contained cultural importance to the indigenous people, its remains were reburied and returned. The remains were made accessible by coming generation for investigation, which needed two different keys in opening the remains safe that were kept by the archeological society and the indigenous society. As a result, the mutual respect practice hopes in building future projects trusting foundation in togetherness.

Markedly, the debate on displaying and treating human remains contains cultural practices close alliances in handling the deceased. These practices should also be used in human remains identified as a contentious property, particularly, in cultural taboos terms. Generally, with reference of the public, ethical uneasiness as stated by Gunther Von Hagen’s Worlds exhibit body (2009) as well as the controversy in ethics that was surrounding the exhibition lead the debate to a sharp emphasis. The exhibits ethical concerns had a different path from early human remains, although the varying ethics human response to the exhibition shows that there are common ethical problems in displaying and treating human remains.

Markedly, ownership is the correct way of possessing anything regardless of it is intellectual property, estate, land, or an object. Hence, in a similar way, indigenous properties ownership has many issues than solutions. Pannell asserts that museums habitually depict post-colonial and colonial images in various cultures in showing their artifacts. This form of displaying artifacts has a western construction of imagining other cultures since it is not primarily all about indigenous heritage representation. Under this protection guise behind a reflective glass, there is a laid relationship between Europeans and natives. Hence, it is unfair to employ indigenous heritage without respecting other cultures.

The Thunderbird Case (Hillman, 1995).

According to the Thunderbird Case, the global village four section handles their intellectual belongings differently. Undeniably, the first world handles its intellectual possessions like a commercial product that was created by the creator. Moreover, the Fourth World terms the spirit and the soul of individuals as the intellectual property. Considerably, the international standard in handling property incorporates the property rights understanding as it is in the first world. This develops unethical and vulnerable treatment regarding the First World, for instance, the UNESCO has copyright collectives of the Fourth World. Generally, the first world involves pragmatic ways of simplifying all property kinds’ treatment, which leads to Fourth and Third World legal indoctrination of communities.

Indeed, the fourth world keeps collective properties whereby their cultural enlightens is not easily controlled to fitting the designed commercial transaction of the First World. For instance, their heritage of culture is often passed orally, in a social genetic compared to being passed from one generation to the next. Hence, this brings difficulty in claiming its creator origin distinguishing the property owner. Significantly, the knowledge of the traditional environment is regarded in shared meaning and knowledge. However, the Fourth World is in a way animistic in viewing the natural world as being spirit infused. Nonetheless, it is hard to translate this kind of meaningful and sacred commodity product. The Fourth World social knowledge system is not absorbed into the material format, thus, an icon, a story or a song is not possessed by a person, but by the whole society.

This perception difference in intellectual property has challenges in regards to the Fourth World. This is the case with the businessmen privatization of the Japanese based on the cultural heritage of the Fourth World. The businessmen incorporated the thunderbird motif to their sweaters. This made them unable to raise millions of dollars, whereby no profit was enjoyed by the people of the Fourth World. Consequently, they took a public domain cultural image so the people of the tribe had no mandate of appearing in the court in seeking compensation and damages (Hillman, 1995).

Noteworthy, intellectual and cultural property of indigenous societies is always a target for misuse without suitable compensation. The exploitation happens because of the existence of an understanding gap of property between the Fourth and First World. The concept of the First World property possession derived from the contractarians of Hobbesian and Kymlick gives a deeper explanation of property ownership, whereby the understanding of Hobbe is majorly on an individual’s bargaining power. In case a person does not possess a similar physical amount of property possession as other individuals, the person is not qualified for making a social contract (Kymlicka, 1993). Hence, a vulnerable person is later enslaved or killed by others. This theory does not recognize natural moral status and any equality rights among individual suggests earlier physical equality of them. Those subjected to susceptible social status who is physically handicapped are not entitled to have any inherent rights. The ethical theory from the west has been developed to involve Kantian contractarianism valuing moral obligation. This theory care for every individual despite having physical deformities because of every individual matter equally and a person has a promotion responsibility just like institutions. Nonetheless, the nature state tries to show moral equality; in this case, everyone must be treated equally as a natural right.

Most importantly, the understanding of the first world of the rights pre-supposes equality amongst two people. As depicted by Phelan, the basic treatment of copyrights involves the copyright law of America, where its rights of property give the maker a transitory exploitation prevention monopoly of the creation by other people. In case the creator makes a decision of publishing or publicly showing their work, a copyright notice must be given. Once the work is put on the public domain, there is no way of copyrighting. Significantly, intellectual property protection has various values set from the culture of non-western.

Therefore, human remains propertization degrades value where human dignity is affected. In the case of Lake Mungo and Kow Swamp, nonetheless, the indigenous human wellness was respected, where the Archeologist kept the ethic that led to communal strength. Nevertheless, the Chinese exhibition of the body did opposite of the archeologists, where they showed the bodies of political prisoners at the exhibit without a suitable consent. The Chinese authority, in a manner, was capable of instilling fear on the Chinese citizens, such that anyone who dared to oppose would be shown on the exhibit in a different way. Regarding body exhibit, the Chinese unethical practice revealed that human dignity can be simply exchanged for a negligible price.

For a fact, money cannot be used in buying human dignity as written by Sandel in the book What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of the Market. Considering that we live in a world that everything is subject to buying and selling, it is vital to maintaining track of items not for sale because In nature markets corrupt the secrecy (Sandel, 2013). As stated by Sandel, when we make a choice that various goods can be sold and bought, we do it implicitly, allowing them to be treated as instruments or commodities for use and profit. Nevertheless, all goods are not valued properly this way. for that reason, human dignity is a virtue that calls for caution in handling. For example, the Kow Swamp and Lady Mungo treatment is an example of how well human remains need to be handled, as well the Chinese Body exhibits is not a good example (Sandel, 2013).

Optimal forms of human remain treatment in cultural heritage. The Coffee Fair Trade

The Stewardship Practice

Heritage management and preservation in regards to stewardship shows non-maleficence and beneficence as basic ethical imperatives in preventing harm and benefiting anything material making cultural heritage of the people. According to Lowenthal argument stewardship is a characteristic task overburdened by the ideological, political, and social today’s world current. He argues that stewardship is watched by heritage consciousness that is academic, elite and scientific. For Lowenthal, no public generalization is employed in stewardship venture since the public is composed of sub-cultural and indigenous conflict. These divisions affect professional ethics; consequently, stewardship is difficult for professional heritage to incorporate if they have a wide public idea (Lowenthal, 2000).

Lowenthal gives suggestions that heritage practice in stewardship requires close connection maintenance in daily life and a common familiarity with all procedures making and shaping the people. This can be considered as a universal absolute refusal in human flourishing cultural preconditions that need groups and individuals to recognize particular and universal.

Overall, it is the citizen’s responsibility of holding the world justice not the body exhibit’s duty and the exhibition visitors should be used as moral agents in deterring body exhibit from their unethical practices support. As suggested by Kok-Chor Tan in regards to the global justice duties, encompasses can work at a fundamental level that it is justified by the aims of humanitarians. Instead of attending to obligations of Rawls standards of distribution, the responsibilities can be understood by critical and careful standards assessments in evaluating and correcting the global institutions’ distributive aspects. According to Tan, global ethics involves interactional focus and global justice employs an institutional emphasis. Thus, there must be an external drive towards the exhibition of the human body in acquiring human remains through ethical ways (Tan, 2004).

References

Bodies the exhibition disclaimer http://www.premierexhibitions.com/exhibitions/4/4/bodies-exhibition/bodies-exhibition-disclaimer.

Clare Bradford quoted in Brooke Collins-Gearing and Nancy White. (2005). “The rhetoric of benevolence as an impediment to the protection of indigenous cultural rights: A Study of Australian Literature and Law,” Journal of Australian Studies 29, no. 85 .57, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14443050509388016.

Gunther V. H. (2009). Body Worlds: The original exhibition of real human bodies toured parts of the world.

Hillman Chartrand, H. (1995). “Intellectual Property in the Global Village.” Government information in Canada/information government is at Canada 1, no. 4.1 1–12.

Kymlicka, W. (1993). “The social contract tradition.” In a companion to ethics, edited by Peter Singer, 186–96. Oxford: Blackwell.

Lowenthal, D. (2000). “Stewarding the past in a perplexing present.” In values and heritage conservation: research report, 18–25. Los Angeles: Getty Trust.

Pannell S (1994), “Mabo and Museums: ‘The indigenous (Re) appropriation of indigenous things,'” Oceania 65, no. 1: 18, http://0search.proquest.com.aupac.lib.athabascau.ca/docview/1299169740?accountid=8408.

Phelan, Marilyn E (1982). “Rights of artists in their works.” In museums and the law, 83–93. Nashville, TN: American Association for State and Local History.

Rachels, J. (2005) “The Challenge of Cultural Relativism.” In philosophical problems: An annotated anthology, edited by Laurence Bonjour and Ann Baker, 546–54. Montreal: Pearson.

Sandel, M (2013) What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets

Smith, Claire, & Heather B. (2003). “In the Spirit of the Code.” In ethical issues in archaeology, edited by Larry Zimmerman, Karen Vitelli, and Julie Hollowell-Zimmer, 177–97. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press. Reproduced with permission.

Tan, Kok. (2004). Diversity and Global Justice. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2000.———. Justice Without Borders: Cosmopolitanism, Nationalism and Patriotism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.

The Urgent Need to Address the Root Causes of Mass Shootings in America

by Herman Bailey | Mar 8, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

America’s mass shooting has established one of the deadliest events in modern American history; the recent mass shootings, particularly in schools, has clawed itself to becoming amongst the top urgent issues in the United States today.
The Orlando mass shooting that occurred in the Pulse nightclub killed forty-nine people and injured fifty-three people. This absurd violence shook the nation into a shock that that led to the ignition of the over the prolonged debate on gun control, as well as the shooters mental states and the socially related root causes of mass murder (Fox, James & Monica 127). Schildkraut states that despite the fact that the underlying reasons behind the latest attack are unknown, the social scientists have made a suggestion of three key factors (18).

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First of all is the element of hate, and cases when hate has led to homicide; a number of studies have shown that the mass murderers have a tendency of turning off and completely shutting out their moral sensibilities; and as such dehumanize their victims, thus treating their fellow human as objects or animals (Schildkraut 20). However, recent studies and research have distinctly described in Behavioral Science one type of killing as moral violence which refers to perpetrators who perceive their victims as entirely human. Schildkraut expresses that the outrage that emerged over perceived morality, and not in indifference; is the trigger and driver to these attacks (22). Nevertheless, the Orlando shooter’s motivations remain unknown, although most of the terrorist acts point towards situations of moral violence.

The second key factor is the implications of guns. Despite the mass shootings claiming thousands of lives throughout the recent history of the United States; the gun advocates claim that the more access to weapons will significantly assist in curbing the carnage. Moreover, recent research shows that the circulation of more firearms only increases the level of experience of crime communities (Fox, James & Monica 142).

The third key factor is the impetus of inequality, social sciences research have over decades observed that with the existence of more unequal societies there is enabling of violence. Schildkraut further states that the existence of income inequality is the root cause of men killing, thus leveraging violence towards securing social ranks (26). Furthermore, with the United States standing at the top of the list of the most unequal amongst Western nations, there is significant chance that most of the recent shootings including the Orlando shooting are a result of the substantial resource disparities.

1. Obesity in the United States

The United States has an estimated one hundred and sixty million citizens who are either overweight or obese (Wolin, Kathleen & Jennifer 2). Almost three-quarters of the male population and over 60% of the female population in America are either overweight or obese. Wolin, Kathleen & Jennifer point out that obesity is, however, an alarming issue particularly amongst America’s children with over 30% of both girls and boys below the age of twenty years being overweight or obese, shooting up from 19% in the year 1980 (5). These alarming statistics thus shows how the United States has landed amongst the highest rated countries with its obesity cases in the entire world.

According to Ruhm when viewing the issue with the perception of obesity’s root cause, a conclusion can be derived that obesity stands as a social problem (11). The major causes of obesity particularly in the United States society today are substantially socially related this is due to the fact that they are significantly based on interactions; interactions not limited to family and friends but also inclusive of the larger population (Ruhm 12).

The United States roots its alarmingly shooting rate in obesity cases in the rising pressure that is exerted to buy the vast range of unhealthy foods through advertisements. Secondly, Americans make poor decisions in regards to lifestyle choices, for instance, a great number of American’s inability to cook their own food in their homes serves as another major cause of the growing obesity rates in the United States (Wolin, Kathleen & Jennifer 17). Thirdly, the vast and significantly available food from fast food outlets as well as cafeterias is yet another key cause. Fourthly, Wolin, Kathleen and Jennifer state that the tediousness and difficulty of walking from one location to another is another major cause of the rise of obesity in the United States (17). Nevertheless, all the key factors that are driving people towards a habitual path of more consumption, as well as less energy expenditure all, result in fueling the menacing growth rate of obesity.

Ruhm expresses that apart from these root causes which have resulted from the societal pressure, there are numerous obesity causes which are similarly associated with the social factors including social eating, extreme lack of exercise, substantial level of availability of types of group transportation which enables the prevention of many people from walking even to cover short distances; and lastly the closeness of individuals to obese relatives as well as friends (23).

Nevertheless, there are quite a number of individual obesity causes which exist in our society today, these include over-consumption of foods which carry more calories that are stored in the sugar sweetening. Another key individual cause of obesity in society today is devoted to watching media advertisements that are oriented and focused on food products (Wolin, Kathleen & Jennifer 26). Just as the obesity root causes in the United States are experienced from both a social and individual aspect, the implications of the rising rate of obesity are just as well both exhibited at the social as well as the individual level. Ruhn further explains that obesity more often than not in numerous cases low self-esteem in an individual, which particularly in the world today is more likely to lead to cases of depression as well as eventually death (29).

2. Karl Max

Karl Marx stands as a prominent pillar in the field of sociology (Beer 3). Karl Marx is known as a significantly established classical thinker in regards to sociology. According to Beer Marx made his contributions is quite a number of core disciplines including economics, political science, and methodology and mostly in sociology’s sociological thoughts and theories (4). Moreover, Marxist otherwise known as Marxism itself brings forth a perspective of a different angle and dimension when looking at the society and its social issues in regards to sociology.

Marx introduced theoretical aspects from the class formation to the class conflict in regards to conflict perspective, society development stages in view of a historical analysis, the modes of production, capitalism, the surplus in production, as well as a philosophical approach to dialectal materialism amongst others. According to Beer, Marx gave a path to the emergence of the Neo Marxists school of thought in critical sociology (53). Beer points out that Marx, as well as his great ideas, have faced great criticism in the 21st century, nevertheless Marx remains and will remain alive for decades to come (62).

Works cited

Beer, Max. The Life and Teaching of Karl Marx. London: Routledge, 2012. Print.
Fox, James A, and Monica J. DeLateur. “Mass Shootings in America: Moving Beyond Newtown.” Homicide Studies. 18.1 (2014): 125-145. Print.
Ruhm, Christopher J. Current and Future Prevalence of Obesity and Severe Obesity in the United States. Cambridge, Mass: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2007.
Schildkraut, Jaclyn. Mass Shootings in America: Understanding the Debates, Causes, and Responses. , 2018.
Wolin, Kathleen Y, and Jennifer M. Petrelli. Obesity. Santa Barbara, Calif: Greenwood Press, 2009.

Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.

Importance of Hazard Control and Prevention in Workplace Training

by Herman Bailey | Mar 7, 2023 | Essays | 0 comments

Strategies for hazard control and prevention for assuring every working employee is safe, healthful conditions of the workplace consider training as an axiomatic part of the efforts to emphasis the point, Worker training on safety and health requirement are found in many occupational safety and health standards that have been promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Certain job assignments are limited to individuals judged to be competent by getting a specialised training. However, training provisions merits in worksite hazard control regulations and efforts for controlling hazards in general has not been without any questions. In some instances, trainings has been reported to be infected in reduction of the disabilities that are work related (Linnemann, et al., 1991; Snook, Campanelli & Hart, 1978; Tan et al., 1991).

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Moreover, a review by Hale (1984) has raised concerns about the safety training programs worth at the work place. In his argument, Hale (1984) pointed out that shortcomings in training could reflect application of instructional techniques that are inadequate, or situational factors confounding learning objectives or its processes. However, more importantly, the idea that training is exempt somehow from demands of accountability of its business operations is not tenable. Additionally, in appreciating that training rules adherence imposes extra costs on the employers who are responsible and also extra burden to the workers to, understanding the factors that has ability of influencing training efforts success world be particularly important. Indeed, it can be argued that bad or faulty training may result to worse consequences compared to no training at all.

These were the issues that prompted the need for this literature review. The purpose originally conceived for this literature review was to address two major questions:

1. Can the training requirements of occupational safety and health (OS&H) be shown to be effective truly in reduction of injuries and illness that are related to work?
2. Does evidence point out certain characteristics or elements of training program as having most positive effects on safety and health of a worker?

To answer these questions, the approaches to be employed may appear to be straightforward, for instance;

1. Searching the literatures for the reports on how applicable OSHA training requirements were implemented by employers and the related change in their disease experience and work injury
2. Locate sources of data that compares the nature and extent of OS&H training given to the workers who got diseases or injuries that are related to work, with the workers who have not but are in similar work situations or occupations
3. Analyses the practices on safety and health training of the employers who have exemplary programs for controlling injuries or diseases and contrast them with the employers who have the worst performance but comparable workforce size r makeup, job operations and other factors at the workplace.

This literature review noted that the literature existing only satisfies these approaches partially. For instance, the reports on compliance efforts with the OSHA training rules are few, and the most common in the literature are studies on training that target problems that are site specific, that may not or may be covered by regulation. Indications of safer procedures of work, Attitude change, knowledge gain being adopted by the workers are used frequently in measuring the impact of training. Fewer studies noted reduced disease or injuries outcomes from training, and were they report, they are very cautious in drawing the conclusions of the cause effects. Epidemiological studies results of the occupational disease and injury may suggests that shortcomings of the trainings as contributing factors but lack evidence of baseline data to support such claims. Additionally, evaluation of the OS&H training practices or certain instructional methods merits as provided in the literature may not be to always separate effects that are specific to training from other factors of workplace. In many instances also, collection of data for evaluation of worksite training purposes of evaluation may not follow sound principles of study design always.

The broad perspective of safety and health training

Basic thrusts of programs

OS&H training involves instructing the workers to recognise the hazards that are known and using methods available for protection. In contrast, Education of workers prepares an individual to deal with the unforeseen problems or the potential hazards. Guidance is provided in a way that makes the worker to be better informed and in seeking actions that are aimed in eliminating the hazards. the explanation by the report of the 1985 Office of technology Assessment (OTA) on how to prevent injury and illnesses in the workplace, distinction between education programs and worker trainings is often blurred and majorly depends on the responsibilities that the workers are expected to assume during process. OTA (1985, p. 189) stated that the narrower the responsibility, the more training instructions, the broader the responsibility, the more education instructions. This literature review draws much of the information on the reference of narrower training, but approaches of worker education are also acknowledged.

The report of OTA included analysis of forty worker education and worker training programs conducted by trade associations, business firms, hospitals and universities, unions, and OS&H groups’ coalitions. The analysis of the objectives and activities suggested four types of programs: recognition, fundamental, empowerment, and problem-solving programs.

Fundamental programs-these involve instruction to prevent injury and illness that are work related through proper use of maintenance equipment, tools, materials; emerge procedures knowledge, medical monitoring needs, measures of personal hygiene, and use of personal protective equipment in operations that are non-routine, or as an interim safeguard before implementation of the engineering controls

Recognition programs– these includes instructions programs that emphasise awareness of the hazards at the workplace; knowledge of the hazard elimination methods or control; recognizing toxic exposures symptoms; understanding laws of right to know and ways of collecting information on hazards of the workplace; and observing and reporting potential hazards or hazards to the relevant bodies. OSHA (1983) indicated that the training activities of recognition programs were largely spurred by the OSHA Hazard communication standard which required employers to inform their workers of the potential or the chemical hazards in their areas of world and means of reducing its risks.

Problem solving programs-this involve instructions that are aimed to giving the workers’ skills and information that enable them to participate in recognition of hazards and the control activities; to use management and union means; to help in identifying and solving problems through teams works; and to exercise their rights of allowing outside agencies to investigate hazards at the workplace when warranted. Lin & Cohen (1983) stated that inviting the input of the workers in the planning of the company or in designing of the new operations is recognized in business as a viable means of improving quality of products, productivity and motivation of workers. Applying this approach in control of hazards is reasonable especially given that workers possess an intimate hazards knowledge, owing to their job work experience every day and they could be a rich source for the company’s corrective ideas.

Empowerment programs-these provides instructions of building and broadening skills of workers in recognition of hazard and skills of problem solving. However, emphasis is on activism of the workers with the objective of ensuring that their rights to a workplace that us free from illness and injury (Wallerstein & Baker, 1994). Therefore, the program aims at enabling the employees in effecting control measures that are necessary through educating supervisors and co-workers, and through use of safety/health contract negotiations or committee process

Effectiveness of occupational safety and health training data

The nature of the literature review

This literature review sought relevant empirical information to evaluating whether OS&H training as dictated by the standards of OSHA had any beneficial impacts in reduction of the world related illnesses and injury risks, and factors that were particularly critical to the successful efforts of training. The following documentation types were specifically sought:

1. Study reports where interventions of trainings were used for the purposes of reducing risks of workers of workplace disease or injury and evaluative data gotten to show their importance. Reference accounted for the undertaken training programs at specific jobsites, efforts of implementation rules of OSHA training rules by affected groups or users and laboratory studies that has training simulators.
2. Investigative or survey reports offering training data or lacking, as well as other contributing factors to work related fatalities, injuries and health problems
3. Occupational safety and health program practices reports for employers having exemplary health/safety performance to isolate the factors of training that may have contributed to their success
4. Other relevant studies in the learning/education field or the ancillary areas dealing with issues particularly pertinent to effective training of OS&H.

In regards to item 1 and 4, the literature review confined itself to the reports describing training objectives and plans, methods of evaluation, manner of implementation, and results/data reflecting effectiveness. Consideration were not made on articles that offer testimonials to different approaches to training, or anecdotal references. Item 2 covered the results from the survey of person’s questionnaires having particular type of injuries of work and investigative workplace incidents reports where workers were killed, injured or found exhibiting health problems. In both cases, the intent was to look into any training references in appreciating how and why the event producing injury or occurrence of the health problem. Item 3examined analytical information on program practices of a company, particularly worker training aspects that were related to their hazard control success.

The tapped data sources

The search strategy adopted by the literature review made use of the database of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSHTIC) which covers a wide range of literature on OS&H, in addition to other computerized reference systems that are online, and abstract listings for the available specialty areas through Information Services of DIALOGUE, and the National Institute of Medicine MEDLARS System. Furthermore, relevant citation searches in specialty areas tapes applied psychology databases (such as psychINFO, psychSCAN), social sciences (such as social research), education (such as ERIC), occupation/industry/trade issues (such as Trade &Industry ASAP, AGRICOLA), health administration and planning (such as MEDLASRS/HEALTH), specific health problems/topics (TOXLIT, TOXLINE, CANCERLIT) among others.

In the course of searching, a total of 25 various reference systems were scanned. The multidisciplinary nature, uniqueness of indexing systems and use of training concepts used with the different sources of information made it impractical for a single list of keywords. In most cases, the review had to devise list of specific terms of database that are customized, and made up of a common or a root word in combination with the search terms that are free-text which had proximal connection to the keyword for search. Some of the sample terms for the MEDLARS database included risk management, program evaluation, evaluation n studies, and attitude to health, in-service training, dangerous behavior, and patient compliance among others. Moreover, titles searches trough different databases were done while varying keywords mix constantly and free-text in a round-robin fashion essentially. This produced over 2000 listings citations which after eliminating false hits, deleting duplicates was reduced to about 700 titles. References and abstracts to these reports in other review yielded less than 150 to satisfy one of the earlier noted four requirements for selection

The drawn references from the search efforts were majorly from the period of 1980 to 2014 though it was also supplemented by earlier studies that were believed to be cogent to the issues of training evaluation in some cases. The review’s final selection represented five different categories of hazard agents which included:

• Toxic materials and chemicals
• Injury producing forces
• Ergonomic stressors
• Harmful physical agents
• Infectious/biological agents

The five agent conditions were selected to reflect recognized exposure risks that are work related in different ways by current standards of OSHA or those under development.

Herman Bailey

With a student-centered approach, I create engaging and informative blog posts that tackle relevant topics for students. My content aims to equip students with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed academically and beyond.