Problems at work
Health and safety
Here are some health and safety issues for people at work.
a temperature b passive c repetitive strain d dangerous e hazardous f fire hazards
smoking injury or machinery substances
All these things contribute to a bad environment. The government sends
officials called health and safety inspectors to make sure that factories and offices
are safe places to work. check what companies are doing about things like:
g heating and h first aid i fire precautions
air-conditioning
Bullying and harassment
If someone such as a manager bullies an employee, they use their position of power
to hurt or threaten them, for example verbally. Someone who does this is a bully.
Sexual harassment is when an employee behaves sexually towards another in a
way that they find unwelcome and unacceptable. The related verb is harass.
Discrimination
If people are treated differently from others in an unfair way, they are discriminat-
ed against.
If a woman is unfairly treated just because she is a woman, she is a victim of sex
discrimination. In many organizations, women complain about the glass ceiling
that allows them to get to a particular level but no further.
If someone is treated unfairly because of their race, they are a victim of racial dis-
crimination or racism. Offensive remarks about someone's race are racist and the
person making them is a racist.
In the US, affirmative action is when help is given in education and to
groups who were previously discriminated against. In Britain, affirmative action is
known as equal opportunities.
Some companies have a dignity at work policy covering all the issues described
in B and C.
Business Vocabulary in Use
Match the employees' complaints (1-6) to the health an d safety issues (a-f) in A opposite.
all this waste paper but th
wrong with my lungs, but I've never no fire extinguishers in the buildi
smoked.
I do a lot of data entry, and I've start ontainers are leaking - one day
getting really bad pains in my wrists. . is going to get acid burns. ......
8.2 Complete these headlines and articles with the correct form of words from B and C opposite.
One expression is used twice.
OFFICE MANAGER SHOP MANAGERESS
ACCUSED OF IN CASE
A clothing shop's half-Burmese
A court heard today how an office worker was almost manageress, 24-year-old Marion
driven to suicide by a bullying office manager Jaines Brown, claims her boss continually
27, told how boss Nigel Kemp made remarks, and sacked her
victimized him by shouting at him, criticizing his from her E l 10-a-week job when she
objected.She claims that the company
work in front of others, tearing up his work-and that owns the shop has racially
against her ...
NATIONAL RESTAURANT CHAIN 5
FACES CLAIMS .......................
Four waitresses claim they were repeatedly
by male bosses in a branch of a well-known national AT TEXAS LAW SCHOOL
restaurant chain. All four waitresses said they were A court made at the
subjected to sexist remarks at the restaurant ... of Texas law school last
year, and supporters of .
say has been 'a Last year the
law school a class that was 5 9
Japanese women break per cent black and 6 3 per cent Hlspanlc
through year the black percentage stands
7 and the at 2 3 .
Naomi Tanaka, 23, last year started working on the
Tokyo Stock Exchange as a trader. She complained
about and said she did not want to
be a 'counter lady' answering phones and serving tea
at a Japanese bank. Instead she got a job as a trader
at a French firm ...
Business Vocabulary in Use
