When you think about someone who may need to file a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim your mind may turn to an injury that happened at work because of an accident. Often accidents do occur at work, leaving someone injured and needing to miss time from work to heal and in those cases it is important that they are compensated for their injuries and their time away from doing the day to day of their jobs.
You may not think about the organizational culture of the workplace where a person works and how it might have impacted the person’s ability to do her/his job effectively and without incident. It’s important to first define the term organizational culture. An organization, or business, develops culture through a variety of different items including its deeply held beliefs and attitudes and norms. You can think of organizational culture as the unique personality of a business as set forth by leadership and the team of people who work there.
Organizational culture has a deep impact on everything about the business. It can determine the happiness of employees. It can determine how productive the team is in accomplishing goals that are set. It can affect hiring and retention and it can affect communication that is had from leadership to team members and between team members as well. Organizational culture can also have a direct impact on the safety of employees especially when it comes to the company’s attitudes towards things like training and protocols.
It is important, before you start at a company, that you get a sense of the organizational culture there. This can be hard in an interview process, but you can certainly ask questions that will help you get a clearer picture of how the company treats important safety issues. Of course, you will not know if the organizational culture is a fit for you until you actually begin working for the company and see it in action.
Some factors that will be indicators that the culture is not good and you should start to look for something else may include;
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Resistance to reporting hazards. If you’re working for a company and you’ve expressed your concerns about hazards in the workplace that should be addressed by the leadership of the organization and they are not being addressed you may be in need of a change. An even bigger red flag is a company that will hear your concerns about hazards and not only disregard them but meet them with negative consequences for you because you brought them to management’s attention.
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Limited or no training on safety protocols and safety awareness. A good company will provide you with safety training and a clear understanding of what obstacles you might find to doing your job safely as you get started. A company with a questionable organizational culture will just throw you into the fire with limited or no training on safety protocols. This should immediately raise concerns for you and cause you to question whether the job you are about to embark on is one you really should take.
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A disregard for legal and regulatory requirements. Governments provide oversight and regulations for businesses of all sizes and all industries. These regulations should be followed and a company that values your safety will very clearly and transparently follow these safety regulations and requirements. If your company is not doing this you may want to raise it with your supervisors and continue up the ladder until you get a sufficient response. If you get no sufficient responses you may need to report the company to OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) for investigation.
A company’s organizational culture may not be evident immediately when you start at a job or in the interview process either, but good culture can be easy to spot as it will be open and transparent throughout the process. If once you get into your job you realize that there are some troubling signs you may want to speak up or move on from your role.
Without the adherence to a strong organizational culture there may be ample opportunities for an employee to become injured on the job and require a filing of a Connecticut workers’ compensation claim. If this is the case you may need to speak with a board certified workers’ compensation attorney to review your situation and work on protecting your long-term interests.
