SAFETY IN ELECTRONIC MANAGEMENT

SAFETY IN ELECTRONIC MANAGEMENT
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Introduction
Over the last couple of decades, the electronic industry established itself as one of the quickest growing industries. This is an industry that represents part of our lives, and it is one company that brings various risks to both the health and safety of workers and to the environment. Among the many concerns over people working in this industry, is the safety and health conditions in the factories. Electronic devices contain a complicated mixture of several materials. These materials have toxic metals such as mercury, lead, beryllium and cadmium, among other hazardous chemicals. Facing the hazards and hardships in the electronics industry, trade unions, activists and other employee organizations started conducting struggles all through Asian regions and countries.
The journals used to reference this paper are very important in the detailing of the various safety difficulties in the electronics industry. The sources detail various instances and differences in the attainment of the good safety standards for the workers and the working environment. This paper aims at giving various ways through which the safety of workers has been neglected in the electronics industry. The main instances of this lack of a better working environment for workers in the electronic industry include the presence of harmful chemicals. Ignorance of safety standards necessary for the attainment of good working conditions for the workers is also noted. Occurrence of fires and the lack of ways to escape infernos in factories dealing in electronics are available in these journals.
The manufacture of electronic products comes with a high incidence of work-related illnesses, thus reflecting the extensive use of toxics in the manufacturing process (Pellow & Sonnefield, 2006). Proactive chemicals, metals, toxic gases, acids and solvents are used in a number of combinations and settings of the work place. There are also problems of exposure to radiation and several other occupation stressors. The rapid changes in the technology utilized by this industry combined with the stern precautions on security, have added to the complexity of instituting proper safety and health standards. Epidemiological research show a shocking rise in impulsive abortions among the clean room manufacturing workers, however, no definitive research has revealed the cause of these abortions. Employees in companies dealing with electronics face daily contact of metallic dust, dangerous chemicals, and smoke exuded from welding, poor ventilation and deafening noise and all these activities expose a risk to their health. A majority of these companies fail to offer occupational health and safety trainings for their employees (Pellow & Sonnefield, 2006). Employees who often are exposed to these hazardous materials lack appropriate protection gear as well as teaching regarding how to handle such materials. Most of these workers do not even know about the kinds of chemicals, which they frequently handle, including if they are hazardous or not and how to equip themselves. For example, people manufacturing computer circuit boards need to treat these boards using various chemicals with their bare hands thus directly exposing themselves to poisonous chemicals, which result in irritating skin sores and rashes. In addition to these, the workers who weld these boards and other electronic parts often inhale smoke resulting from the process of welding. This also leads to breathing difficulties and skin allergies (Raj-Reichert, 2012). Still in the computer industry, monitor testing requires severe focus on a screen that is bright for approximately 12 hours a day. Averagely, employees test around 150 computer screens in an hour, implying that every monitor needs approximately twenty four seconds of testing. Such a heavy workload prevents employees from giving their eyes a rest and time to recuperate.
The electronic industries have the highest rates of health related risks and workers’ affected by the increased exposure to chemicals. An increase in the exposure of chemicals and harmful pollutants has been viewed at a high percentage in the sources considered in this paper. Workers are exposed to risky materials through inhaling polluted air and poor working and unhealthy environment. The main reasons given in are the high instances of lack of regulation in the electronic industry. Over the past decade, the question of chemical contamination and worker safety in the electronics industry has received a huge amount of attention. The electronics being built nowadays are extremely sensitive to contaminants of the environment. Most of the chemicals used in the process of manufacturing are known carcinogens and pose serious health risks when not contained properly. A high percentage of industries operating in the electronic industry use a high number of chemicals, minerals, and manufacturing substances. Most of these chemicals are harmful to the workers, participants, and management in the factories, in electronic industry (Raj-Reichert, 2012). The lack of strict regulation and codes of conduct by the industries increases the rate of use of harmful chemicals leading to lack of responsibility to workers, customers, and suppliers.
Studies on individuals working in the electronic industry in England and the U.S. show that approximately twenty percent of the people working in the soldering department had clinical symptoms of asthma and their working environment caused them. Those symptoms were characterized by shortness of breath, chest pains, coughing and wheezing. The conclusion of this research is that the fumes from soldering are the key cause of employee turnover and illness in jobs related to soldering. Lead that is used when a person is soldering poses a potential hazard to the system of production of that individual. These fumes might ...