OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY NOTES

Introduction

Occupational Health is a science concerned with health in its relation to work or working
environment. This involves four main concepts to ensure total care of the individual and these
are;
 surveillance of working environment
 surveillance of workers health
 information, education and training and advice
 treatment and health programmes
 emergency preparedness - response planning (first aid etc.)

It is therefore the maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of
workers in all occupations. The hazardous human work factors include;
 chemicals
 ergonomics
 physical hazards
 mechanical/electrical
 biological
 psychological

Defination of Terms

i) Hazard – A potentially damaging physical environment, phenomenon or human

activity that may cause the loss of life or injury, property damage, social and
economic disruption or environmental degradation.

ii) Safety – Practical certainty that injury will not result from exposure to the hazard
under defined conditions or high probability that injury will not result.
iii) Occupation – a job, profession, livelihood, career or employment.
iv) Health – a state of complete physical, social and mental well-being and not merely
the absence of diseases or infirmity
v) Occupational health and safety – safety issues related to the workplace OR the
discipline concerned with preserving and protecting human facility resources in the
workplace.
vi) Risk – probability or frequency of the occurrence of a particular hazard or event and
some measure of severity of the consequence OR the potential harm that may arise
from some present processes or from some future events. It is often mapped to the
probability of some event which is seen to be undesirable.
vii) Accident – an unplanned event that interrupts the completion of an activity and may
not include injury or property damage OR anything that happens by chance without
an apparent cause OR an unforeseen, unexpected and unintended event.
viii) Incident – an occurrence or event OR a single distinct event OR an occurrence either
human caused or by natural phenomenon.
Organisation of Occupational Health and Safety in Zimbabwe

Safety organisation in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe, safety organisation falls into two main categories that is;
- as a government organisation
- safety in the private sector

National level - NSSA is responsible for occupational health and safety and workers
compensation

Purpose of the OHS division in NSSA is to assure the creation and maintenance of ideal work
environments, which are free from occupational hazards, that may cause injury or illness to all
employees in work environments.

Safety organisation in the private sector

- The employer to have a laid down company safety policy
- To ensure education and training is given to workers
 both management and workers to be involved in prevention of accidents through e.g.
safety committee meetings
 hazard monitoring and control programmes
 accident investigations and reccommendations for improving the overall health and safety
environment of the workplace.

Safety is everyone's business.

Implementation - tripatite approach

 government
 employer
 labour

Zimbabwe Occupational Health and Safety Council (ZOHSC) drives the tripatite arrangement.
All parties agreed position is implemented.
Approach is in line with the ILO convention and reccomendations.

Role of the Government/NSSA in OHS

 To establish OHS legislation, national standards and guidelines in OHS
 Monitoring and enforcement of the OHS legislation
 Promote training and awareness of OHS
 Recording and maintenance of national accident/incident statistics
 Setting up and maintaining workers accident/incident compensation insurance funds
 Set aside funds and institutions that can deal with with workplace emergencies and
remediation etc.
OHS Legislation

International Guidelines and Legal Statutes

These include the International Labour Organisation Conventions as well as Occupational Health
and Safety Conventions e.g.;

 The Occupational Safety and Health Convention of 1981

 Occupational Health Services Convention, 1985
 Prevention of Major Industrial Accidents Convention, 1993

The local legislation on OHS includes the following;

Factories and Works Act (Chapter 14:08), 1976

The Act provides for the administration of occupational health and safety in Zimbabwe. It sets
minimum standards that should be met at all times by employers and provides means of dealing
with non-conformance. The Act covers the approval of building plans, reporting and
investigating of accidents/incidents, making of recommendations to management etc. This Act is
complemented by a series of Regulations which cover lighting, ventilation, noise, personal
protective equipment/clothing, hygiene, machinery etc.

Factories and Works Health and Safety Regulations

There are eight sets of regulations which are currently in force with regards to various activites
carried out in industry as guidelines for enforcing the requirements of law.

1. Registration and Control of Factories R.G.N. No. 262 of 1976

 plans and registration
 floor space and ventilation
 lighting
 sanitory conveniences
 washing facilities
 cleanliness of premises
 change rooms
 fire precautions
 use and storage of volatile flammable substances
 taking of meals within certain factory premises

2. General Regulations R.G.N. No. 263 of 1976

 protection against noise
 protective clothing and appliances
 drinking water
 first aid
 medical fitness
 dust and fumes
 goods hoists
 ladders, cranes, lifting appliances and lifting gear
 accident register and reports

3. Building Structural and Excavation Work R.G.N. No. 264 of 1976

4. Elevator and Escalator R.G.N. No. 278 of 1976

5. Boiler R.G.N No. 279 of 1976

6. Machinery R.G.N. No. 302 of 1976

7. Pressure Vessels R.G.N. No. 303 of 1976

8. Electrical R.G.N. No. 304 of 1976

National Pensions and other Benefits Scheme S.I. 393 of 1993 (NSSA)
The Pension and Other Benefits Scheme is for every working Zimbabwean above the age of 16
years and uncer the age of 65 who is in permanent employment, seasonal contract and/or
temporary employment (excluding domestic workers and the informal sector). It is a legal
requirement for all Zimbabweans to contribute to the scheme. The benefits offered by the
scheme include;
 retirement benefit
 invalidity benefit
 survivor's benefit
 funeral grant

Accident Prevention and Workers Compensation Scheme (NSSA) S.I 68 of 1990

The sheme;
- provides financial relief to workers and their families when a worker is injured or killed in
work related accident or disease
- creates an awareness and promoting health and safety at all places of work
- encouraging adoption of the health and safety legislation through factory and machinery
inspection
- providing rehabilitation services to disabled workers so as to reduce their disablement and
return them to their former employment employment or otherwise prepare them for a useful and
meaningful palce in society.

Pneumoconiosis Act Chapter 15:08 of

Pneumoconiosis is a progressive irreversible disease of the respiratory organs (lungs and
bronchial tree) caused by inhalation (breathing in) of particular forms of respirable dust, which
can be either mineral or organic (from plants such as cotton) dust.

 Mineral dust sites include; quarrying, brickmaking, potteries, cement manufacturing,

ceramics, roads construction, demolition works, power stations, boilers etc.
 Organic dust sources include; cotton from ginning, carding etc., textile industries, sugar
cane plantations, manure (mouldy hay), mushroom dust, etc.
 Chemical dust sources include; all chemical plants, fertiliser companies, chemical mists,
chemical vapours, chemical powder, chemical fumes, welding fumes, etc.

No worker shall be employed in a "dusty occupaiton" unless he/she is in possession of a valid

medical certificate of fitness issued by the Pneumoconiosis Medical Bureau in NSSA . All
workers are required to have medical examinations that include physical examinations and chest
x-rays pre-employment, periodical and on retirement/termination of empoyment.

Public Health Act Chapter 15:09 and Communicable Diseases Control

The Public Health Legislation aims to determine the health status of the population (by gathering
health surveillance information), and to implement broad societal measures that can prevent
injury and disease, and promote the public's health. The law also control activities that are a risk
to public health and is an essential tool for creating the conditions that enable people to lead
healthier and safely. Tuberculosis is a notifiable disease according to the legislation.

Other Legislation
 Foods and Food Standards Act Chapter 15:04
 Environmental Management Act Chapter 20:27
 Mines and Minerals Act Chapter 21:05
 Hazardous Substances and Articles Act Chapter
 Labour Relations Act etc.

Role of the employee in accident prevention

 taking reasonable care of health and safety of themselves and others
 reporting absence or defective equipment or protective devices
 reporting to employer existence of hazards which the employee is aware of
 cooperate with employer in creating and maintaining a safe working environment
 going for medical examinations
 working in compliance with such requirements for the protection of health and safety of
workers
 proper use/wearing of PPE provided by the employer
 not allowed to take away PPE from workplace for purposes which are not in line with
OHS
 ensure that operations are not endangering fellow workers
 not remove or make defective any device required for the health and safety of the
workplace.
 reporting of all accidents/incidents. etc.

Duties/Role of employers
 provide a safe and healthy working environment i.e. ventilation, exits, sanitary facilities
etc
 provide training and awareness to employees on hazards and control measures as well as
operating procedures/working instructions
 provide PPE for use in areas where hazard can not be completely eliminated
 investigate the cause of all accidents and /or incidents encountered
 report to NSSA any fatalities and or accidents in the workplace to enable workers to be
compensated
 dispose of waste such that there is no harm to the employees
 comply with the set OHS standards and regulations.
 ensuring that information, instructions,training and supervision is provided to support the
safety of employees etc.

Safe Systems of Work

Hierarchy of Control

Elimination
Substitution
Isolation/Separation
Engineering Controls
Administration controls
Personal Protective Equipment

 Elimination - the most satisfactory method of dealing with a hazard. Once the hazard has
been eliminated, the potential for harm has gone.
 Substitution - this involves substituting a dangerous process or substance with one which
is not as dangerous. This may not be as satisfactory as elimination as there may still be a
risk even if it is reduced.
 Isolation/Separation - separate/isolate the hazard from people. This method has its
problems in that the hazard has not been removed. The guard or separation device is
always at risk of being removed or bypassed.
 Engineering Controls - this includes the designing of the machine so as to ensure that it is
safe for use as well as the modification of the machine such as putting guards over
rotating or moving parts.
 Administration controls – usually involves the modification of the likelihood of an
accident occurring and this can be done by reducing the number of people operating the
machine, danger signs, lock out and tag out systems etc.
 Personal Protective Equipment - this is the least desirable control option. When it is not
feasible to render the work environment completely safe, it may be nescessary to protect
the workers from hazards with personal protective devices.

Monitoring and review - review is an important aspect of any risk management process. It is
essential to review what haas been done to ensure that the controls put in place are effective and
that they have not introduced new hazards.

Behavioural and Organisational Considerations

Some common behavioural and organsational errors include the following;
 operating using controls, valves and supply lines
 mix up of hazardous substances
 safety devices disconnected due ti frequent false alarms
 improper maintenance or repair work
 wrong communication between personnel

Behavioural Controls - systems which prevent behavioural and organisational errors

 proper labelling, packaging, receiving inspection and analysis to avoid material mix up
 inter-locking of safety related valves and switches which may not operate simultaneously.
 use of different sized connections at loading stations to prevent mix up of reactive
substances
 clear markings and displays on control panels, knobs and switches
 safeguarding against inadvertent switching actions
 proper communication devices for personnel
 appropriate training of personnel

Maintenance and Monitoring

Proper maintenance and monitoring should include the following tasks:
- checking of safety related operation conditions both at control stations and at site
- physical inspections of safety related components
- monitoring of safety related utilities
- documentation of maintenance work
- inspection and repair

Training
Selection and training of personnel should include relevant information covering;
i. Hazards of the process or substances used
ii. Operating conditions
iii. Emergency response in case of malfunctions or accidents
iv. Historical cases of accidents and near misses

External Factors - External accidents need to be considered e.g. neighbouring plants mishaps,
sabotage or misuse etc.

Mitigation of consequences
Emergency response plans and procedures must be developed taking into account any
eventualities. Management can do the following;
1. Provide the inhouse fire brigade teams training that can immediately responding to
emergencies
2. Provide alarm systems directly alerting the fire brigade and public emergency services
3. Fomulate an emergency plan explaining the organisational procedures.
4. Alarm and communication routes
5. Guidelines for fighting the energency
6. Develop with the relevant authorities the possible plan for escape
7. Medical personnel

Job Safety Analysis

Job Safety Analysis is a process of planning for work with safety as an intergral factor of the way
the job is done. It is a method of ensuring that sufficiently skilled manpower, plant/equipment
and materials are allocated for a task and all persons ultimately involved are aware of and follow
a safe system of work.

Work requiring a Job Safety Analysis

Any work activity, whether scheduled or not, should have a Job Safety Analysis carried out
inclusive of;
 tasks that have a history of, or potential for, injury, near misses or related incidents
 safety critical tasks e.g. fire, explosion, chemical spills etc.
 tasks carried out in new environments
 jobs that have changed
 tasks that have been rarely performed or where new people are performing the task
 tasks where workplace application or environmental conditions have or may change
 tasks performed under permit to work conditions
 tasks that may impact on the integrity or output of a processing system.

Development of a Job Safety Ananlysis

Supervisors develop a JSA in consultation with the employees and the following steps can be
taken;
- review the scope of the job and work plan with the assigned employees.
- identify each task of the job and review the assigned employees
- identify the procedures involved in each task to be completed
- review the procedures in logical steps
- identify and assess the hazards in each step
- develop solutions to eliminate or control hazards in each step

Permit to Work Systems

It is a formal written authority for persons, usually trades persons, to carry out work including
maintenance of plant, a building or an item of equipment. The permit to work is issued by an
authorised person e.g. supervisor. This person must have a clear understanding of the equipment,
be aware of any hazards that may be involved and be trained in the operation of the Permit to
Work System.

Personal Protective Equipment

It is a false sense of protection. It is equipment and clothing that is worn to protect against or
minimise work place risks. PPE is often the first choice in reducing the risk of exposure to a
hazard but it really should be the considered the last resort for the following reasons;
o Use of PPE/C does not reduce the hazard at source
o If the PPE/C fails and the failure is not detected, the risk increases significantly
o People nay fail to wear equipment, particularly for the “one off, quick job” and take the
attitude that it will be alright
o People believe that they are “safe” when wearing PPE/C and may place themselves at a
higher risk
o Choosing PPE/C as the first option inappropriately shifts the responsibility from the
employer to the employee.
Program elements
1. Management Commitment - Management demonstrates its commitment by providing the
resources necesary to meet the organisation's safety and health policy. They should also lead by
example such as wear/put on the PPE as well as emphasise the importance of the PPE.
2. Consultation with employees - it is the employees who do the job thus they know the best
ways of protecting themselves and they know their requirements with the nature of their jobs,
hence they should be consulted through the worker's committee
3. Purchasing Policy - appropriacy and adequecy of the equipment should be considered as well
as fit, comfort, perfomance, product informatio, cost, reputation, supply etc.

Provision of PPE - it is the duty of the employer to provide items of PPE at no cost to the
employee.

Selection and important factors in the use of PPE

 The selection of PPE requires the consideration of the hazards and the workplace
 PPE is personal, i.e. it is best used by one person or an individual
 Employees would be properly trained in the proper maintenance of the PPE and they also
need to know how to store the PPE to minimise wear and tear as well as proper disposal
of the PPE
 PPE must be comfortable and fit properly for adequate use and protection

Risk Management Process

Risk is the unwanted and uncertain future events/occurence OR the potential harm that may
result from some present processes or from some future events,
Risk Management is a technique or a group of techniques for minimising the adverse financial
effects of tpure risk upon an individual, family or firm. It seeks to identify alternative methods an
organisation can adopt to handle risks and show the interdependence between these options.

Objectives of Risk Management

- reduce or minimise the likelihood of the loss producing events occuring
- reduce or minimise the adverse (financial) effects once the event has occured
- deal (physically) with the event while it is occuring in an attempt to recover from the loss with
the least possible consequences.

Risk Management is essentialy concerned with the proservation of an organisation's assets and
earning power from sudden losses. It is concerned with the formulation of some form of strategy,
which takes account of direct and indirect losses which results from;
 the exposure of the organisation's property and assets to losses caused by fire, explosion,
floods, accidental damage and similar perils
 the exposure of the organisation's labour to injury and diseases etc
 exposure of the organisation's capital structure to liabilities to employees and the public
at large, which results from unwanted human behavior or by products of the firm's
activities.
Risk = Probability of occurence x Financial consequence

By reducing either the probability of the event or impact on the firm, the expected cost can be
reduced.
Rissk Management process describes the total procedure associated with identifying and
assessing risks associated with the hazard, putting in place mechanisms to control those hazards
and reviewing the outcome.

Steps involved in the Risk Management Process include;

1 Risk identification – this involves discovering the sources from which losses may arise.
The aim in risk identification is to be confident that no significant risks have been
overlooked. There are many techniques for identifying risks such as action error analysis
(postulating and analyzing possible human errors), failure mode and effects analysis
(systematic review of effects of different types of each component), failure mode and
effects criticality analysis (includes estimates of severity of effects and likelihood of
occurrence), fault tree analysis (analyses possible causes and factors leading to those
causes), Hazop (review of consequences and likelihood of different process or system
abnormalities etc.
2 Risk evaluation – this involves evaluating the impact of an organization or individual
should loss occur. It can be defined as the appraisal, assessment or the findings of the
numerical expression of risk. Techniques such as maximum foreseeable loss (value of
largest possible loss from a single event which is reasonably foreseeable under adverse
conditions), estimated maximum loss (reasonably estimated loss from a single event) and
normal loss expenditure (average loss from a single event given that all risk control
measures operate as expected).
3 Risk control – this involves the selection of the most effective and efficient techniques to
minimize or reduce the risk. It is aimed at preventing the losses from occurring,
minimizing the magnitude of loss if the event does occur, dealing with the event while it
is occurring and recovering from the loss as economically as possible once it has
occurred.
4 Risk financing – this involves making financial provision to fund or finance the loss
should it occur. Insurance is one way of risk financing which involves the legal
assignment to another company of the financial losses arising from the occurrence of
risks. Under a policy of insurance, the insurer undertakes an obligation to compensate the
insured with set rules on the contract of a specified event. Risk retention or assumption is
the part of risk not insured and includes self-funding through a deliberate management
strategy or it may occur through neglect due to failure to identify a risk or
underestimating its magnitude.

Accident Theories/Models

An Accident Model is a design of the cause, impact and effect of an accident. It is a model used
in the investigation of an accident as well as the prevention of an accident by identifying the
factors that lead to an acccident as well as its impacts. The purpose of the model is to provide a
classification system for the accident as well as to assist in hazard identification and to aid in
accident investigation and prevention.

Simple Model
The Simple Model attempts to illustrate that the cause of any accident can be grouped into five
categories i.e. task, material, environment, personnel and management.

 Task - Here the actual work procedure being used at the time of the accident is explored
e.g the procedure used to perform the task is checked for efficiency
 Material - This is to seek out possible causes resulting from the equipment and materials
used e.g. the material used is checked for defects or other problems
 Environment - The physical environment and especially sudden changes to that
environment are factors that need to be identified
 Personnel - The physical and mental state of the individuals directly involved in the event
must be explored e.g. checking for the level of training
 Management - It holds the legal responsibility for the safety of the workplace and
therefore the role of supervisors and higher management must always be considered in an
accident investigation.

Accident Causation/The Domino Effect

This is a multiple factor theory that postulates that accidents occur when a number of factors act
together to cause an accident .

The domino effect is represented by the following dominos;

1 Management lack of control – this happens due to failure to assert management
commitment to a situation at hand (total loss control), unclear goals, lack of motivation
programs, no proper selection of employees, no skills development and training for
workers as well as undefined and unspecified delegation and performance measurement
not done etc.
2 Basic causes – which include personal factors such as inadequate physical and mental
capability, physical stress, lack of knowledge and skill as well as improper motivation,
attitudes and attributes. Job factors such as inadequate and incompetent leadership,
unclear and conflicting assignment of responsibility, lack of proper and safe instructions,
induction and training, inadequate engineering, lack of assessment of loss exposure,
ergonomics, standards, specification or design, lack of evaluation of changes, lack of
planned preventive maintenance programs, inadequate purchasing policies, inadequate
work standards etc.
3 Immediate causes – personal and job factors when they are not controlled results in
substandard actions which are characterized by violations of accepted safe procedures
and or behavior and substandard conditions which are hazardous, physical, mechanical,
chemical, biological, psychological situation/state which could directly permit the
occurrence of an accident/incident.
4 Incident/Accident – an accident is an undesired event that could or does result in loss or
downgrade the efficiency of business operation. It could result in physical harm to a
 person or damage to property or both. Incidents/accidents are a manifestation of
substandard acts or conditions unattended and neglected over a period of time.
5 Injury/Property Damage/Business Interruptions – these factors precede an incident or
accident and always have an impact to business.
6 Loss – the cost (loss) can be direct or indirect. Direct costs are the obvious e.g. medical
costs, compensation costs and insured costs. The indirect costs are the hidden costs e.g.
property damage, material and product damage, production delays, hiring of
replacements, overtime, clerical time etc.

Accident Classification System

There is need to clasify accidents because it aids in accident investigations and helps in the
analysis of investigations. There are three systems of classification of accidents that are
commonly used;
a) Severity of Results - e.g.fatality, major/minor accident, near miss etc.
b) Unsafe Acts or Conditions - e.g. not wearing/putting on PPE, horseplay etc.
c) Agency type and Mechanism - e.g. fall from heights, vehicle accidents, underground
environment etc.

Accident Investigation
These are conducted for the following purposes;
 Compliance with legislation or to fulfill legal requirements
 To determine the cause of the accident/incident in order to reduce probability of
recurrence
 As a hazard identification tool
 As a monitoring tool for OHS management systems and standards
 For risk management purposes thereby enabling proper planning to take place
 To come up with corrective action to address the effects/impacts of the incident
 To process workers’ compensation claims
 To classify the incident for organizational and national accident/incident statistics
 To determine preventive action and measures in order to prevent the accident from
occurring again
 To determine the cost, effects and/or impacts of the incident
 To aid in emergency planning and procedures formulation
 To improve on existing work procedures and standards
 To identify training needs

Accidents Recording and Statistics

In the event of an accident/incident and/or near miss occuring, the relevant authority should be
notified and an incident/accident report filled out. This report can be kept as a record of the
accident/incident and used to come up with the organisation's accident/incident statistics.

Principles of Accident Prevention

In every shape of human activity, there is the possibility of an accident, and work is no
exception. Industrial accidents are the end products of unsafe acts and unsafe conditions.
How to Prevent Accidents
The various means generally used to promote safety are;
i) Regulations - include mandatory prescriptions concerning the general working conditions, the
designs, construction, maintenance, inspection, testing ans operation of equipment, the duties of
employers and employees, training and medical supervision, first aid and medical exams.
ii) Standardisation - the laying down of official, semi official or unofficial standards concerning
ths safe construction of certain equipment (boilers) safe hygiene practices or PPE.
iii) Inspection - the enforcement of mandatory regulations
iv) Technical Research - of the properties and characteristicof harmful materials, study of
machine guards etc.
v) Medical Research - industry investigations of the physiologicaland pathological effects of
environmental and technological factors.
vi) Psychological Research - i.e. investigation of the psychological patterns conducive to
accidents.
vii) Statistical Research - to ascertain what kinds of accidents occur, their numbers, to what
group of people, in which operations and from what causes.
viii) Education - involving the teaching of safety as a subject in colleges etc.
ix) Training - i.e. the practical instruction of workers and especially new employees, in safety
matters.
x) Persuation - through financial incentives to promote accident prevention
xi) Safety Measures - within the individual management systems. Probabbly the most effective
method covering all the other methods of accident prevention.

Emergancy Preparedness and Response Planning

Disaster - a crisis event natural or man-made, sudden or progressive disrupting normal functions
causing loss or damage.
Emergency - an embryonic which if not managed properly may grow into a full disaster.

An organisation should establish and maintain plans and procedures to identify the potential for,
response to, incidents and emergency situations and for preventing and mitigating the likely
illness and injury that may be associated with them.
These arrangements are meant to identify the potential for accidents and emergency situations
and to address the prevention of occupational safety and health risks associated with them.
Deliberate intervention to minimise vulnerabilities and disaster risks include:
 prevention
 mitigation
 preparedness

 Prevention - activities to provideoutright avoidance. It can be done through planning and

legislative measures i.e. building codes, industry safety codes etc.
 Mitigation - structural measures to limit adverse impacts of hazards.
 Preparedness - ability to predict, respond and cope with effects of a disaster.

Measures include;
- forecasting and early warning systems
- contigency plans
- stock piling of appropriate supplies
- arrangement forproviding funds for management operations

Emergency Response Planning - actions necessary to save lives and reduce suffering
These should include:
 safety of workers, visitors etc
 care of injured
 evacuation protocol
 protection of assets and environment
 clean-up procedure

Hazard Identification and Control Measures

Hazard - possible source of danger with potential to cause harm to people, environment or
property.

Hazard Identification - this involves;

i) Pro-active approach - done before an accident/incident occurs (preventive) through
inspection /surverys . It follows logical sequence of production processes, maintecance work,
repair, breakdown, emergency and cleaning area should be considered.
ii) Reactive Approach - hazard only identified after an occupational mishap, incident/accident.

Classification of Hazard
1. Mechanical - unguarded moving parts of machinery (e.g. v - belts, drive chains. gears, rotating
shafts etc.)
2. Non- mechanical - falling objects, broken or uneven floors, dangerous openings on floors,
overcrowding, bad housekeeping etc.
3. Physical - e.g. noise, climatic conditions, radiation etc.
4. Chemical - e.g. solvents, corrosive substances, organic dust in the form of fumes, smoke etc
5. Biological - bacteria, viruses and fungi
6. Physiological (ergonomic) - e.g. por work station, physically heavy work, poor work postures,
worng working methods etc.
7. Psycho-Social - e.g.stressful situations , job dissatisfaction, job uncertainity, long working
hours, quantity of work, human relations etc.

Hazard Identification Methods

a) Examinatin of accidents
b) Use of checklist
c) Work safety analysis
d) Investigation
e) Inspection
f) Risk map
g) Surveillance

Control Measures
- Engineering controls - e.g.building design, equipment etc.
- Process change -
- Substitution -

Health and Safety Surveys/Inspections

Definition - Systematic procedure aimed at recognition of actual and/or potential health and
safety hazards at various workplaces.
Objectives;
 identify possible health and safety hazards
 evaluate effectiveness of control measures/procedures
 establish or maintain appropriate health and safety hazard control systems
 give practical and feasible recommendations or control measure
 ensure compliance with health and safety regulations

Types of inspections
- Housekeeping - e.g. waste removal, clear walkways, proper storage, stacking of materials
- Floors - e.g. slippery floors, dirty, obstruction, spillages etc
- Lighting - e.g. amount of both natural and artificial lighting, glare, reflections
- Fire precautions - e.g. possible sources of ignition, availability and suitability of fire fighting
equipment, training, alarm systems etc
- Materials handling - e.g. transportation of goods, safe manual lifting, etc
- Hand tools - e.g. defective tools, wrong tools for the job, incorrect method of use, poor storage
etc.
- Safety of machinery - e.g. check for guards etc
- Welfare facilities - e.g. change rooms, adequate toilets, clean drinking water, canteen etc
- Ventilation - efficiency of local exhaust ventilation etc.
- Other Physical Hazards - e.g. noise, vibration, heat etc
- Use and storage of hazardous substances - provision of material safety data sheets (MSDS)
- PPE - types, suitability, usage, condition etc
- Electrical Equipment - installation, earthing, broken switches, insulation. etc.

Benefits of Inspection
a) Hazard and safety hazards are identified and eliminated before workers'health and safety
suffers.
b) Increased productivity is achieved through elimination of loss producing incidents
c) Enables organisation to identify training needs which then helps management to formulate
appropriate training programmes.

Occupational Health Hazards

In occupational health, there is concern for the preservation of the worker's health both in the
course of his/her work and after he has left his/her work.

Occupational health hazards:

 are much more difficult to recognise than safety hazards and may act very slowly on the
 body
 can cause harm which compounds the effects of non-occupational health hazards (such as
smoking)
 are of many different kinds, all of which can act simultaneously on the body, and
 can manifest themselves in sickness while the worker is no longer at his job. The task of
preserving the health of workers must necessarily be more complicated and dificult than
that of assuring workers' safety.

There are four types of occupational health hazards;

o physical - noise, heat, vibration and radiation
o chemical - dusts, poisonous fumes and gases, toxic metals and chemicals and carcinogens
o biological - bacteria, fungi, insects
o stress - including that caused by physical, chemical, ergonomic factors and psychological
factors such as disciplinary pressure on the job.

Specific Health Hazards

Noise - In addition to contributing to hearing loss and accidents, noise has a potentially serious
effect as a stressor and causative factor in disease. Noise triggers changes in cardiovascular,
endocrine and neurologic functions that are suggestive of a stress reaction i.e. noise induces
physiological and psychological adjustments to the body and mind similar to the response that
one would have under an alert condition. The most serious effect of noise as a stressor may be its
interaction with chemical or physical hazards.

Some Harmful Dusts - Many occupational poisoning that affects the internal organs of the body
occurs as a result of breathing airborne materials. Such materials, whether generated by grinding,
crushing or some other mechanical means of alteration, are categorised as dusts. Dusts can be
inorganic or organic in nature, and the extent of biological damage done when they are inhaled
depends on the size and density of the particles, the concentration of the dust particles in the
breathing zone, the composition of the dust itself, the length of exposure, the solubility of the
dust and the rate of elimination from the body. some common dust related diseases are silicosis
(from inhalation of silica dust), asbestosis (from inhalation of asbesto dust), etc.

Some Toxic Gases, Metals and Chemicals - A toxic material is one which demonstrates the
potential to induce cancer, to provide long term disease or bodily injury, to affect health
adversely, to produce acute discomfort or to endanger the life of man or animals through
exposure in the resiratory tract, skin, eye, mouth or other routes. Toxic materials may also be
carcinogenic, teratogenic or mutagenic.

Heat stress - Tje immediate effect of heat stress may be physiological or psychological. It has
been noted that heat stress accelerates fatigue, causes sensory motor coordination to deteriorate,
decreases learning capacity and increases the rejection rate in production lines. Chronic heat
stress has been found to be deleterious to the cardiovascular system.

Vibration - At resonant frequencies (when the body is in tune with the source of vibration) the
gut mass - that entire area between the pelvis and the rib cage - tends to move up and down and
creates pressure on the heart and the lung area. Such movement can cause lesions in some organs
and blood vessels. it also affects speech and vision.

Radiation - Exposure to high intensities of UV light is common to welders, glassblowers, steel-

mill workers, foundry workers, electricians etc. The effects occur mainly in the skin, the eys may
become severely burned if inadequate precautions are taken. The action of infrared radiation is
thermal. Workers exposed to this form of radiation include blacksmiths, furnace and foundry
workers, glassblowers, kiln operators, welders and steel-mill workers, Ionising radiation includes
both electrically charged or neutral particles and electromagnetic radiation that interacts
harmfully with body tissue.

Unlike safety hazards, health hazards are often slow acting, cumulative, irreversible, and
complicated by non-occupational factors.