OHS Study Notes
Page 2: Occupation Health and Safety
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a discipline with a broad scope involving many specialised fields. It encompasses the social, mental and physical well-being of workers, i.e., the “whole person.”
OHS relates to health, safety, and welfare issues in the workplace.
OHS includes the laws, standards, and programs aimed at making the workplace better for workers, co-workers, family members, customers, and other stakeholders.
Page 3: Definition per ILO/WHO
As per the definition adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health (1950), occupational health is the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job.
It has the following components:
Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations;
Prevention among workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions;
Page 4: Components of OHS (continued)
Protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health;
Placing and maintenance of a worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological equipment.
Page 5: Why OHS
To reduce industrial accidents.
To prevent occupational hazards/diseases.
To achieve maximum human efficiency and machine efficiency.
To reduce sick absenteeism.
Page 6: Purpose of OHS
To maintain and promote the physical, mental and social well-being of the workers.
To prevent occupational diseases and injuries.
To adapt the workplace and work environment to the needs of the workers, i.e., application of ergonomics principles.
It should be preventive rather than curative.
Page 7: Accident
Undesired circumstances which give rise to ill-health or injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment; production losses or increased liabilities.
Page 8: Incident
Undesired circumstances and 'near misses' which could cause accidents.
Page 9: Health
Acute and chronic ill health caused by physical, chemical or biological agents as well as adverse effects on mental health.
Page 10: Hazard
The potential to cause harm. Harm including ill health and injury, damage to property, plant, products or the environment, production losses or increased liabilities.
Page 11: Risk
Means the likelihood that a specified undesired event will occur due to the realisation of a hazard by, or during work activities or by the products and services created by work activities.
Page 12: Safety
The ‘control of accidental loss’.
freedom from harm or danger
the state of being safe
the state of not being dangerous or harmful
a place that is free from harm or danger
a safe place.
Page 13: Why is it a must to prevent Accidents?
There are three main reasons for preventing accidents and ill-health:
Moral / Humane - No-one comes to work to be injured or killed;
Cost - Accidents cost organizations money;
Legislation - Organizations have a legal obligation.
Example: Piper Alpha – 167 people killed – estimated to have cost over including in direct insurance payouts.
Page 14: OHS History – Paracelsus (1493-1541)
Paracelsus is best known today as the “Father of Toxicology” because of his dose–response observations: “All substances are poisons; there is none which is not a poison. The right dose differentiates a poison and a remedy.”
Page 15: OHS History – Agricoloa (1494-1555)
Noted the need to provide ventilation for miners: “Some mines are so dry that they are entirely devoid of water and this dryness causes the workmen even greater harm, for the dust, which is stirred and beaten up by digging, penetrates into the windpipe and lungs, and produces difficulty in breathing and the disease the Greeks call asthma. If the dust has corrosive qualities, it eats away the lungs and implants consumption in the body.”
Page 16: OHS History – Bernardino Ramazzini (1633-1714)
Italian physician, known as the “patron saint of industrial medicine.”
His book, The Diseases of Workmen, described symptoms of mercury and lead poisoning and issues with silica.
Advised physicians to learn about occupational diseases by studying the work environment, and exhorted them to always ask their patients, “Of what trade are you?”
Page 17: OHS History – Sir George Baker, Percival Pott, Sir Humphry Davy
Sir George Baker (1722-1809): Discovered that “Devonshire colic” was caused by lead contamination in cider.
Percival Pott (1714-1788): First to link occupational exposure to cancer (scrotal cancer among chimney sweeps due to soot).
Sir Humphry Davy (1788-1829): Investigated mine explosions and developed the first miner’s safety lamp.
Page 18: OHS History – Dr. Alice Hamilton (1869-1970)
First woman faculty member at Harvard University (1919).
Social activist who worked to improve occupational health and safety.
Autobiography: Exploring the Dangerous Trades details experiences in mines and mills across America (e.g., deplorable conditions in Salt Lake City area mines).
Page 19: Objectives of Occupational Health and Safety
The prime objective at a global level is to ensure health and safety is accessible to every worker employed in any sector across the economy.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has included elements of occupational health in its policy since its inception; protect workers from occupational health hazards and promote safety at the workplace have been emphasised in key WHO documents (Constitution, Alma-Ata Declaration, Global Strategy on Occupational Health for All, WHO General Programme of Work and Walter Assembly resolutions).
Page 20: Global Strategy – Ten high priority objectives
According to the Global Strategy on Occupational Health for All, the ten high priority objectives are:
Strengthening of international and national policies for health at work and development of policy tools
Development of a healthy work environment
Development of healthy work practices and promotion of health at work
Strengthening of OHS
Establishment of support services for occupational health
Development of occupational health standards based on scientific risk assessment
Development of human resources for occupational health
Establishment of registration and data systems, development of information services for experts, effective transmission of data, and raising public awareness through public information
Strengthening of research
Development of collaboration in occupational health and with other activities and services
Page 21: Principles of Occupational Health and Safety (Part I)
OHS is a multi-disciplinary field, covering law, medicine, technology, economics and industry-specific concerns.
Core ILO principles:
All workers have rights. Workers, employers, and government must ensure these rights and foster decent conditions of labour. ILC 1984 statements:
Work should take place in a safe, healthy environment;
Conditions of work should be consistent with workers’ well-being and human dignity;
Work should offer real possibilities for personal achievement, self-fulfillment and service to society.
OHS policies must be established and implemented at governmental and enterprise levels and effectively communicated to all concerned parties.
There is a need for consultation with social partners (employers and workers) and other stakeholders during formulation, implementation and review of policies.
Page 22: Principles of Occupational Health and Safety (Part II)
Prevention and protection must be the aim of OHS programmes and policies; focus on primary prevention at the workplace level. Plans and designs should make workplaces safe and healthy.
Information is vital for effective programmes and policies: collection and dissemination of hazard information, surveillance of workplaces, monitoring compliance, and raising public awareness.
Health promotion is central: enhance workers’ physical, mental and social well-being.
OHS services covering all workers should be established; ideally all workers in all economic activities should have access to such services to protect and promote health and improve conditions.
Compensation, rehabilitation and curative services must be available to workers who suffer occupational injuries, accidents and work-related diseases; actions to minimise consequences.
Page 23: Principles of Occupational Health and Safety (Part III)
Education and training are vital components of safe, healthy working environments; workers and employers must be aware of safety importance and procedures; trainers must be skilled in industry-specific OHS concerns.
Responsibilities, duties and obligations: workers follow safety procedures; employers provide safe workplaces and access to first aid; competent authorities devise, communicate and periodically review policies.
Policies must be enforced; a system of inspection must exist to secure compliance with OHS and other labour legislation.
Page 24: OSH Tragedies and Effects
1860 Pemberton Mills – Lawrence, MA: Mill collapses; 145 deaths; 166 injuries.
1878 Washburn Mill – Minneapolis, MN: 18 killed; flour dust explosion; leveled 7.5-story building.
1900 Pleasant Valley Coal Mine: 200 workers killed (black powder explosion).
1902 Fraterville Coal Mine – Coal Creek, TN: 194 men and boys killed (methane explosion).