All employees within the organization participate in quality assurance. Therefore, the TQM program needs to incorporate health, safety, and diversity considerations in order to ensure the necessary degree of commitment. Employees must be aware that the quality of a product is not achieved at the expense of their well-being. Thus, in order to avoid workplace accidents, safety needs to be prioritized in all operations. At the same time, employees are responsible for maintaining a safe environment and operational processes. Finally, the impact of any given action on the overall safety of the organization needs to be responsibly considered.
Understandably, a healthy environment is a crucial element of safety policies. Thus guidelines and policies need to be introduced that regulate actions of all stakeholders in situations that pose a risk to health on individual and organizational levels. The said documents should contain criteria of a healthy environment and provide protocols for actions in potentially hazardous situations. Importantly, they also encourage active employee participation in the process, which is consistent with the TQM principles explained above. For instance, they are expected to report their safety concerns to the manager and participate in safety improvement processes.
Finally, it is necessary to recognize the importance of equality as a component of a productive and healthy workplace. Equality provides opportunities for employees to actively participate in continuous organizational improvement. In addition, it ensures sufficient commitment to responsible safety practices and encourages horizontal interactions between employees and management. For instance, fair and adequate reporting of safety issues mentioned above is possible only in the workplace where employees are treated equally. Finally, it enables the potential of the company’s staff for innovation, resulting in improved performance. Equality allows for the diversification of talents and approaches which provide the business with the necessary competitive advantage.