Topic : Occupational Health & Safety

Module : Human Resource Management

Course Facilitator : Prof. Dr. H. H. D. N. P. Opatha.

B.Sc (Bus.Ad) Special(Hons) (Sri J);
MSc (Bus.Ad), HRM (Sri J);
MBA (Birmingham);
Dip.Personnel Mgt & Industrial Relations
(Cambridge Col);
Dip.Eve Eng (CPM); PhD (HRM) (Utara-
UUM, DHRM (IIU)

Programme : Master of Business Administration

Assignment / Term paper submitted to

European Institute Of Professional Education (Pvt) Ltd.

Associate Campus in Sri Lanka

Of

Irish International University, European Union.

By

Student’s Name : U.C.L. Perera

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 Content

Introduction 3

Aim 4

Work place assessment 4

Work place inspection 5

Welfare facilities 8

General working condition 9

Control of work place hazards 11

Conclusion 14

References 15

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Introduction

The aim of a business organization is to gain the maximum profit for the owners or the

partners. To achieve that, the organization should reach the optimum level of production

or the service what ever the business be.

In reaching the optimum level of production or service the workers of all occupations of

the organization should maintain a very high degree of mental, physical, social and

spiritual well being.

Occupational health & safety is to promote & maintain the above factors by prevention

among workers of departures from good health caused by hazards in the working

environment.

Basically it includes protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from

factors adverse to health, placing & maintenance of worker in an occupational

environment adapted to his/her physiological & psychological ability.

This document presents & explains aims of occupational health & safety, what are

possible hazards & the ways to asses the hazards.

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Occupational Health

Aims

• Promotion & maintenance of highest possible degree of physical, mental, social

and spiritual well being of all workers of all occupations.

• Prevention among workers of departures from good health caused by hazards in

the

working environment.

Occupational Health

• Protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors

adverse to

health.

• Placing & maintenance of worker in an occupational environment adapted to

his/her

physiological & psychological ability.

• in summary- adaptation of work to worker and each worker to his work.

Workplace assessment

• Purpose of workplace inspection.

• Identify and evaluate hazards- main reason.

• Identify non-compliance of workers.

• Recommend feasible improvements.

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• Investigate workers complains-collective or individual complains.

• Audit of OSH.

Work place assessment

• Review purpose of assessment - why you should asses?

• Any other relevant/important information

• Review any relevant records about the industry/factory

• Review the relevant literature- what is in textbooks may not find in real

practice. Difference picture in diff, factories / organizations.

Work place assessment steps

• Pre-inspection

• Inspection

• Post-inspection

Work place inspection

Pre-inspection-prerequisites

• List of materials/chemicals used in the workplace-hazardous chemicals?

• List of products. (product in intermediate level)

• List of products (finish good) their chemical physical and biological nature

• List of work processes- hazardous to workers? dangerous processes

• List of machines-dangerous? hazardous?

Pre-inspection prerequisites

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 Information about work place

• Working hours- shift work-nature of shifts-8 hrs or 12 hrs, permanent or rotating

shifts,night shifts, frequencies of shift rotation(circadian /internal body clock)

• Forward rotation of shifts

Pre-inspection

• Process or work flow chart- schematic diagram of factory/work place lay out

• Raw materials- list- hazardous?

• Intermediate products-list-hazardous?

• Final products-list-hazardous?

Pre inspection
Workplace inspection
Inspection walk through

• Start from the very beginning of the process

• Observe for …..

• Health hazards

• Safety hazards

• General working environment

• Control measures taken including PPE (personnel protective equipments)

• Warning signs/signals

• Waste disposal

Health hazards

• Physical- noise, heat, vibration, radiation, illumination,

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• Chemical-dust, mist, fumes gas, vapor, liquid, solids

• Ergonomics-working postures, lifting, repetitive motions, cumulative trauma,

MSD, RSI

Lifting & carrying weight

Work place inspection
Noise
Posture & Metal fumes
Health hazards

• Biological- soil, animals, infectious agents, air conditioning (leganelliasis)

• Mental-work organization (organization culture & structure), workers morale,

interpersonal relationship, worker-worker, worker- management, inter-managerial

relationships, job tasks, job targets, dead lines, overtime, shift work

Health hazards
Work place inspection
Chemical safety

• Take adequate safety precautions as per M.S.D.S

Chemical safety
Safety hazards

• Fire-Fire safety, fire drills, simulations, preparedness, advise from experts

• Explosion- anticipate, plan in advance, expect the worst outcome & plan to
prevent

Safety hazards

• Accidental falls- falling from heights, fall of objects on workers

Safety hazards
Unsafe working at height

• Mechanical/machine injuries- machine guarding(moving parts), machine layout,

congestion of machines

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• Electrocution- Electrical injuries, electrical safety

• Overloading of electrical circuits

• Work in confined space- manholes, underground storage tanks, ships(tankers),

septic

Tanks

• Clear safety policy on work in confined space

Working in Confined spaces

• Air supplying type respirator

• Supervision

• Suitable PPE

Welfare facilities

• Safe drinking water-outbreak of diarrheas -large number of workers will be

affected.

Serious blow to the production, worker unrest, trade union activities hamper

employee-employer relationship, industrial disharmony. Could be prevented. Cost

effective investment on safe water.

• Washing facilities-Taps, showers, bathrooms- adequate number for the work

force,

hygiene & sanitation, cleaning on daily basis, workers commitment to keep clean.

Regular maintenance.(broken taps, leaking bathrooms, slippery floor, bad odour)

• Toilets- adequate number, sanitation & hygiene, water supply, maintenance,

separate

for males & females.

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• Medical facilities-quality of care, in-house doctor, visiting doctor, refer to out side

institution, qualified nurse to man the medical centre, quality of drugs & medical

equipments

• First aid facilities- items , adequate quantity for the workforce, quality, locality of
first

aid boxes, keys to be placed in strategic locations under supervision of a

responsible officer, check the expire dates of items.

• Place for meals- meal rooms, canteens, kitchen- sitting capacity- 1/3 of the work
force at

a time, cleanliness, sanitation, hygiene, disposal of canteen waste, food hygiene,

quality & nutritional value of food served or sold

• Free meals or subsidized rate- enhance employee morale

• Medical examinations- on regular basis- identification of chronic degenerative

ailments

at early stage improves prognosis and more cost effective.

• Resources spend on medical care is a very good investment for the long run-
Healthy

work force is a priceless asset

• Working uniforms- suitable material, type, depends on the nature of the job task,
kind of

the uniform- overalls -production oriented industry- ship yards, metal industry

• Changing rooms & individual lockers

• Important safety messages could prominently displayed in common places

Other Welfare facilities

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• Washing of working uniform- hazardous industries- asbestos cement, lead based,

chemical based industries- contamination of the uniform-

• Washing of uniforms separately from home linen- “by stander effect

• Separate washing facilities at the work place

General working conditions

• General ventilation- air flow, air velocity, air inlets & out lets, their adequacy, any

obvious odor, dust, fumes, mist, smoke, vapor

• Local exhaust ventilation- to capture at source

• Push & pull ventilation- exhaust & blow fans- their effectiveness, adequacy

• Illumination (lighting)- depends on the nature of the job. more precision work-
more

illumination including local illumination with general illumination. too bright &

too dark best avoided

• Health consequences of poor illumination-accidents & injuries, bending towards
the

object- MSD

General working environment

General working conditions

• Over-crowding- congestion of workers & machines- inconvenience, prone to

accidents,

pollution of working environment, less productivity, poor inter-personal

relationship, conflicts, industrial disharmony

• Proper lay out of the factory/ workplace

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Over crowding
General working conditions

• House keeping- pathways well demarcated, unobstructed pathways, keeping

materials at

appropriate places, removal of unnecessary stuffs from the work place -provides

more space

• Good housekeeping contributes towards reduction of accidents and improves

safety

• Cleanliness & environment sanitation- Disposal of industrial/factory/workplace

waste/

garbage- regular basis(daily) and systematically, collection of garbage -result in

breeding of flies, mosquitoes, rodents etc.

Control of work place hazards

• Engineering control- most effective

• Capture at source & removal of hazardous substances

• Local exhaust ventilation- effectiveness

• Enclosure & barriers- machine guarding, enclosure of worker or process

• Isolation/segregation

Control of work place hazards

• Substitution- highly hazardous substances are substituted by non or less

hazardous-

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 feasibility, cost, quality of the final product

• Good work practices- Training (safety & vocational), re-training, on the job
training

• Safety consciousness, safety culture, behavior based safety

• Proper disposal of industrial waste

• Properly displayed safety & warning signs & signals- appropriate messages at

appropriate places

• Personal Protective equipments- least effective- appropriateness, maintenance,

suitability, compliance(ensure 100%)

PPE

Other work areas

• Storage areas- improper storage of hazardous materials

• Laboratories- use of hazardous substances

• Loading & unloading areas- accidents & injuries are common due to negligence

• Maintenance areas- areas under construction

• During break downs & shut downs of normal work routine safety mechanisms
may not

function- workers are vulnerable

Seek more information on:

• Maintenance & cleaning operations mainly done by contract workers

• Type and quality of chemicals

• Material Safety Data Sheets

• Non routine processes- could be unidentified hazards, unusual occurrences?

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 Go through records & documents
• Results of environment & biological monitoring- keep records for reference-
compare

with past results

• Training records of workers in OSH

• Production figures-related to hazards-less production-less profits-less allocation

for

OSH- less OSH services - Go through records & documents

• Overtime figures- safety standards are determined for 8 Hr exposure-Eg-Noise

levels 85

dB for 8 Hr exposure
• Quality of chemicals purchased-name of suppliers, their standards, reputation

Cooperate safety policy

• Safety policy -workers are educated and made aware of the safety policy, safety
policy

should be displayed in strategic locations

• Safety committee- chaired by a senior manager, who is capable of making policy

decisions
• Safety committee is met at least once a month to review the current safety status

• Proper implementation of the safety policy -contribution from all quarters from
top to

Bottom

• Trained safety officers

Interview of workers

• Work related health problems- be a good listener & observe non verbal emotional

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 expressions of workers- work related stress, work overload, overtime, impossible

job tasks, targets, dead lines

• Problems with use of PPE- difficulty in use, unsuitability, improper sizes

• Hours of exposure- long hours, overtime, extra workload

• Workers morale

• Nature of work- dangerous work with minimum safety measures, hazardous work

without adequate protection

Post inspection

• Discussion with the management

• Inspection report-identify the problems and list them out in priority order

• Specific recommendations- what actions to be taken- immediate, intermediate &

long

term. are the recommendation feasible & cost effective.

• Do you need specialized work place inspection to be carried out by a specialist

• Do you need biological & environmental monitoring to be carried out- what

organization to be contacted.

Conclusion

As I discussed in the introduction occupational health & safety is indirectly linked with

the success of a business organization. This is a major factor that affects the moral of

employees.

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Assessing of the hazards are very important. It involves identifying non compliance of

workers, investigate into worker complains & work place inspection for materials /

chemicals, product, work process, hazards related to machines & ect. This shows that

assessing of hazards involves highly human interaction & product process analysis.

Therefore recommending & giving feasible improvements boost the moral of employees.

Worker compliance involves welfare facilities such as health, cafeteria & food, transport,

toilet, changing rooms, uniforms, ergonomics & ect.

Also work environment, culture, interpersonal relationship, house keeping, cleaning &

illumination involves too. Workshops & training programs enhance the above factors.

During the production process assessment raw materials, storage, dangerous machines,

noise, vibration, heat, radiation, biological & ect are assessed.

Though controlling hazards are the most important, to give solutions there should be a

very good mechanism of identifying, assessing & continuous monitoring system.

Therefore this presentation is dedicated in assessing & identifying work place hazards.

References :

1. Occupational & environment median 1997 – Joseph Ladon.

2. Draft guidance for hazard determination – US department of labor,

Occupational safety & health administration (OSHA).

3. Occupational health 1998 – Rohini De alwis Senarathne, Dulitha N Fernando,

& Kantha Lankathilaka.

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4. Physical & biological hazards of the work place – Peter H. Walt & Gregy M
Stave. 2002.

5. Environment safety & health hand book 2002 – Nike Ink.

6. H & S manual – Noyon Lanka (pvt) Ltd.

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