Occupational Health and Safety Flashcards

Flashcards from lecture notes on Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational Health and Safety

The history of Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is a captivating journey marked by a gradual recognition of the imperative to protect workers.

Code of Hammurabi (c. 1750 BCE)

Included regulations related to occupational safety, holding builders accountable for building collapses.

Emergence of Labor Movements (Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries)

Witnessed the emergence of labor unions and workers' movements, which passionately advocated for better working conditions, equitable wages, and enhanced worker protections.

Milestones in Occupational Health and Safety

UK's Factory Inspectorate established in 1833; International Labour Organization (ILO) created in 1919; U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) passed in 1970.

Shift to Systematic Approaches (Late 20th Century)

A pivotal shift from reactive responses to proactive strategies, with emphasis on preventive measures, including rigorous risk assessments, specific hazard identification, and strong control measures.

International Cooperation in OHS

Organizations like the ILO, WHO, and national regulatory bodies worldwide worked collectively to establish global OHS standards, guidelines, and conventions.

Expansion of OHS Scope

OHS expanded its purview beyond traditional physical hazards to encompass psychosocial factors, mental health, ergonomic considerations, and overall workplace well-being.

Organized Labor

Labor unions have been instrumental in advocating for safer working conditions and influencing the legal framework governing workplaces.

The Role of ILGWU (International Ladies Garment Workers Union)

Established in 1900, promoted comprehensive safety and workers' compensation laws, focusing on the garment industry.

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)

Founded in 1911, promoting safety engineering principles and practices through educational programs, advocacy, and professional development.

The National Safety Council (NSC)

Established in 1913, concentrated its efforts on reducing preventable injuries and fatalities in workplaces by providing resources, training, and tools.

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)

Founded in 1939, dedicated to promoting industrial hygiene and mitigating workplace hazards through guidelines and practices for assessing and managing occupational health risks.

Industrial Medicine

Emerged in the 1930s, focusing on addressing health issues related to industrial work and the specific health risks faced by workers.

Occupational Medicine (Occupational Health and Safety)

A medical specialty focused on promoting and protecting the health and well-being of workers in various occupational settings.

Certification in Occupational Medicine

Certification is overseen by the American Board of Preventive Medicine, ensuring that practitioners meet rigorous standards of knowledge and competence.

Interdisciplinary Nature of Occupational Medicine

Practitioners combine their clinical skills with expertise in toxicology, epidemiology, safety, rehabilitation, and business operations.

Role of Occupational Medicine Professionals

Occupational Medicine professionals navigate the balance between the needs of patients, the demands of businesses, and the well-being of the community.

Occupational diseases

Health conditions that are caused or significantly influenced by exposure to workplace hazards.

Medical History

An individual's medical history is looked at for pre-existing conditions or underlying factors

Occupational Exposure Assessment

A thorough evaluation of the individual's work environment, including exposure to various hazards such as chemicals, physical agents, or ergonomic stressors.

Temporal Relationship

Examines the timing of the disease onset and its correlation with occupational exposure.

Epidemiological Evidence

Epidemiological studies and research can provide valuable insights into the prevalence of certain diseases within specific occupational groups.

Expert Evaluation

Professionals, such as occupational physicians or specialists in occupational medicine, are trained to assess the relationship between a disorder and the work environment.

Strength of association

The impact of an exposure on the occurrence or development of a disease.

Consistency

The agreement among research reports in reaching similar conclusions regarding the association between the exposure and the disease.

Specificity

The ability to demonstrate that exposure to a specific risk factor results in a clearly defined pattern of disease or diseases.

Temporality or time sequence

Examines the chronological relationship between the exposure and the development of the disease.

Biological gradient

The relationship between the level and duration of exposure to a hazard and the severity or incidence of the disease.

Biological plausibility

Assesses whether it is biologically reasonable to suggest that exposure to a specific hazard can lead to the development of the disease.

Coherence

Examines whether a review of the evidence supports the conclusion of a cause-effect relationship between the exposure and the disease.

Interventional studies

Trials or studies where the removal or reduction of the workplace hazard leads to the elimination or reduction of the development of the disease.

Occupational Health and Safety

A discipline with a broad scope involving many specialized fields. Aims at the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations.

Successful Occupational Health and Safety Practice

Requiring the collaboration and participation of both employers and workers in health and safety programs, considering occupational medicine, industrial hygiene, toxicology, education, engineering safety, ergonomics, psychology, etc.

Poor Working Conditions

Poor working conditions of any type have the potential to affect a worker's health and safety.

Overall Aim of Occupational Health and Safety

Efforts in occupational health and safety must aim to prevent industrial accidents and diseases, recognizing the connection between worker health and safety, the workplace, and the environment outside the workplace.

Costs of Occupational Injury/Disease

Work-related accidents or diseases are very costly and can have many serious direct and indirect effects on the lives of workers and their families.

Effective Workplace Health and Safety Programmes

Help to save the lives of workers by reducing hazards and their consequences, also have positive effects on both worker morale and productivity.

Accidents

In general, health and safety in the workplace has improved in most industrialized countries over the past 20 to 30 years.

Cause of an Accident

Identifying inadequate worker training, or wrong information about a product as indirect causes.

Exposure to Hazards

Occupational diseases have been recognized for many years, and affect workers in different ways depending on the nature of the hazard, the route of exposure, the dose, etc.

Some well-known occupational diseases

asbestosis, silicosis, lead poisoning, and noise-induced hearing loss

Why developing countries report a small number of affected by work-related diseases

Inadequate or non-existent reporting mechanisms; lack of occupational health facilities; lack of healthcare practitioners trained to recognize work-related diseases.

Difficulty of Identifying the Cause of Occupational Disease

A number of factors such as the latency period, changing jobs, or personal behaviors increase the difficulty of linking workplace exposures to a disease outcome.

Challenges to Workers, Employers, Educators, and Scientists

New chemicals and technologies are being introduced which present new and often unknown hazards to both workers and the community.

Obvious Hazards

Obvious unsafe working conditions, such as unguarded machinery, slippery floors or inadequate fire precautions.

Categories of Insidious Hazards

Chemical hazards, physical hazards, biological hazards, psychological hazards, and hazards associated with the non-application of ergonomic principles

Trade Union Position on Occupational Health and Safety

Ensure that work is made safer by modifying the workplace and any unsafe work processes. Remove the hazards, not to try to get workers to adapt to unsafe conditions.

Effective Accident and Disease Prevention

Accident and disease prevention begins when work processes are still in the design stage, when safe conditions can be built into the work process.

Successful Health and Safety Programme

There must be strong management commitment and strong worker participation in the effort to create and maintain a safe and healthy workplace.

Comprehensive Training Program

Recognize early signs/symptoms of any potential occupational diseases before they become permanent conditions; assess their work environment; insist that management make changes before hazardous conditions can develop.

Role of the health and safety representative

Health and safety representative-work proactively (this means taking action before hazards become a problem) to prevent workers from being exposed to occupational hazards.

Occupational Health and Safety Programmes

Preventing work-related diseases and accidents must be the goal of occupational health and safety programmes, rather than attempting to solve problems after they have already developed.

Workers in every occupation faced a multitude of hazards

addresses the broad range of workplace hazards from accident prevention to the more insidious hazards including toxic fumes, dust, noise, heat, stress, etc.

Welder Hazards

The processes involved light which casue permanent eye damage as well as fumes give off during the process that damages lungs.

Mechanic Hazards

Depending on the precise nature of a mechanic's duties, there may be safety problems from cuts and falls, etc., and exposure to chemical hazards: oils, solvents, asbestos and exhaust fumes.

Port Worker Hazards

The hazards depend largely on the nature of the job and in particular the cargo being handled. May be exposed to falls, cuts, back and other musculoskeletal problems as well as collisions with fast moving vehicles

Textile Worker Hazards

Faces problems of safety with unguarded machines, as well as the risk of fire, the hazards of noise and vibration. There is also exposure to dust from the material which can seriously affect the lungs.

Tractor Driver Hazards

One of the most serious problems with tractors is that they often overturn and, if they have no safety cab, the driver can easily be crushed.

Agricultural Worker Hazards

When spraying crops the worker may be exposed to hazardous chemicals contained in the spray. Spray can be breathed into the lungs and blown on to the skin where it can cause damage.

Electronics Assembly Worker

An electronics assembly worker can suffer eye problems from doing close work, often in poor light. Because such workers sit still for long periods with inadequate seating, they can also suffer from back and other musculoskeletal problems.

Office Worker

Stress is one of the most common complaints, as well as exposure to chemical hazards from office machines such as photocopiers. Poor lighting, noise and poorly designed chairs and stools can also present problems.

Construction Worker

Construction workers face a variety of hazards, particularly safety problems such as falls, slips, trips, cuts, and being hit by falling objects.

Miner

The hazards of mining are well known and include the ever present danger of dusts, fire, explosion and electrocution, as well as the hazards associated with vibration, extreme temperatures, noise, slips, falls, cuts, etc.

How does the body fight hazards?

The human body has natural defense systems which help to protect you against many hazards (dangers).

What kinds of hazards exist in the workplace?

Chemical hazards, arising from liquids, solids, dusts, fumes, vapours, gases, physical hazards, such as noise, vibration, unguarded machinery, unsatisfactory lighting, radiation, extreme temperatures (hot or cold); biological hazards, from bacteria, viruses, infestations, infectious waste;psychological hazards, resulting from stress and strain; non-application of ergonomic principles, resulting in poorly designed machinery and tools or poorly designed work practices.

Routes of Entry

through the lungs (inhalation), through the skin (absorption), through the mouth (ingestion)

Respiration System

body's respiratory system filters the air you breathe

Particles and Filtering Mechanism

large dust particles (including fibres) can be filtered out of the respiratory system. But small dust particles are difficult to eliminate and can reach the deepest parts of the lungs

Chemicals and all the available forms

vapours, solids, liquids, dusts, gases, you can inhale almost all of these.

Signals to know if exposed to hazards

smell, sneezing, coughing, a runny nose

Skin

major route of entry for hazardous agents in the workplace.Diseases can develop when chemicals and other materials used at work come into contact with your skin.

Occupational Skin Diseases and Injuries

Materials or conditions found in the workplace that can cause occupational skin diseases and injuries.

Sources of Occupational Skin Dieases

Mechanical work and chemicals

Ingestion

A hazard agent or chemical swallowed

Response Mechanism

Vomiting and Diarrhea

Reaction of Toxic Materials

Toxic substances can cause four types of effects on the body: local, systemic, acute and chronic.

Local effects

Some substances have only a localized effect on one part of the body where the hazardous agent comes into contact with or enters the body

Systemic effects

Systemic effects are problems caused inside the body once a hazardous agent has entered.

Acute Effects

Exposure to many occupational hazards causes the body to produce an immediate obvious response.

Chronic effects

Some hazardous substances cause chronic effects, which usually appear a long time after the exposure occurred and persist over time.

Action Against Dangers

Action (taking action before there is a problem) to eliminate hazards from the workplace as much as possible, to make sure workers are protected, and to educate workers about occupational hazards.

Help to get Rid of Dangers

Work with your union and the employer to make sure the air in the workplace is monitored regularly for hazards.

Hygeine

Hygeine (cleanliness), is an important factor in preventing both skin diseases and the ingestion of hazardous chemical and biological agents.

Controlling Hazards

All workplace hazards (chemical, physical, etc.) can be controlled by a variety of methods. The goal is to prevent workers from being exposed to occupational

Most Effective Method for Controlling Hazards

To control at the source by eliminating the hazard or by substituting a hazardous agent or work process with a less dangerous one.

Five major categories of control measures

Eliminating, substitution, engineering controls, aministrative controls, personal protective equipment

Elimination

Removing a specific hazard

Subsitution

Replacing it with a safer substitute.

When you look for safer substitutes

Choose a less volatile instead of a highly volatile one, choose a solid instead of a liquid

Information of Subsitute Material(s)

Check with your employer, the chemical manufacturers should have hazard data sheets on all chemicals they

Subsituting Work Processes

Changing the way you do a job so that it is safer is another form of substitution.

Engineering Controls

Controll measures including Enclosure, isolation and ventilation

Enclosure

If a hazardous substance or work process cannot be eliminated or substituted, then enclosing it so workers are not exposed to the hazard

Area of Operation

The area on a machine where work is actually being performed

Machine guards include

Enclosure guards, interlocking guards,automatic guards, remote control, feeding, placement or ejecting guards.

Machine Guarding

Should be combined with feeding and ejection where possible.

Isolation

Can be an effective method of control if a hazardous job can be moved to a part of the workplace where fewer people will be exposed,

Administrative controls.

limiting the amount of time workers spend at a hazardous job

Personal protective equipment

Is the least effective method of controlling occupational hazards and should be used only when other methods cannot control hazards sufficiently

PPE

puts a barrier between the worker and the hazard. . PPE may keep the hazard out, but it also keeps heat and water vapour in the protective clothing, which can cause you to be hot and uncomfortable.