Railways Basic Science and Engineering Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational Health and Safety

Occupational health and safety is a discipline with a broad scope involving many specialized fields. In its broadest sense, it should aim at

• the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations
• the prevention among workers of adverse effects on health caused by their working conditions
• the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health
• the placing and maintenance of workers in an occupational environment adapted to physical and mental needs
• the adaptation of work to humans.

In other words, occupational health and safety encompasses the social, mental and physical well-being of workers that is the whole person".

Successful occupational health and safety practice requires the collaboration and participation of both employers and workers in health and safety programmed, and involves the consideration of issues relating to occupational medicine, industrial hygiene, toxicology education, engineering safety, ergonomics, psychology, etc.

Occupational health issues are often given less attention than occupational safety issues because the former are generally more difficult to confront. However, when health is addressed, so is safety, because a healthy workplace is by definition also a safe workplace. The converse, though, may not be true - a so-called safe workplace is not necessarily also a healthy workplace. The important point is that issues of both health and safety must be addressed in every workplace.

Important of Occupational Health and Safety

Work plays a central role in people's lives, since most workers spend at least eight hours a day in the workplace, whether it is on a plantation, in an office, factory, etc. Therefore, work environments should be safe and healthy. Yet this is not the case for many workers. Every day workers all over the world are faced with a multitude of health hazards, such as:

• dusts
• gases
• noise
• vibration
• Extreme temperatures.

Unfortunately some employers assume little responsibility for the protection of workers' health and safety. In fact, some employers do not even know that they have the moral and often legal responsibility to protect workers. As a result of the hazards and a lack of attention given to health and safety, work-related accidents and diseases are common in all parts of the world.

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. For workers some of the direct costs of an injury or illness are:

• the pain and suffering of the injury or illness
• the loss of income
• the possible loss of a job
• health-care costs.

It has been estimated that the indirect costs of an accident or illness can be four to ten times greater than the direct costs, or even more. An occupational illness or accident can have so many indirect costs to workers that it is often difficult to measure them. One of the most obvious indirect costs is the human suffering caused to workers' families, which cannot be compensated with money.

The costs to employers of occupational accidents or illnesses are also estimated to be enormous. For a small business, the cost of even one accident can be a financial disaster. For employers, some of the direct costs are:

• payment for work not performed
• medical and compensation payments
• repair or replacement of damaged machinery and equipment
• reduction or a temporary halt in production
• increased training expenses and administration costs
• possible reduction in the quality of work
• negative effect on morale in other workers.

Some of the indirect costs for employers are:

• the injured/ill worker has to be replaced
• a new worker has to be trained and given time to adjust
• it takes time before the new worker is producing at the rate of the original worker
• time must be devoted to obligatory investigations, to the writing of reports and filling out of forms
• accidents often arouse the concern of fellow workers and influence labour relations in a negative way
• Poor health and safety conditions in the workplace can also result in poor public relations.

Overall, the costs of most work-related accidents or illnesses to workers and their families and to employers are very high.

On a national scale, the estimated costs of occupational accidents and illnesses can be as high as three to four per cent of a country's gross national product. In reality, no one really knows the total costs of work-related accidents or diseases because there are a multitude of indirect costs which are difficult to measure besides the more obvious direct costs.

Poor Working Conditions Affect Worker

Health and Safety

• Poor working conditions of any type have the potential to affect a worker's health and safety.
• Unhealthy or unsafe working conditions are not limited to factories - they can be found anywhere, whether the workplace is indoors or outdoors. For many workers, such as agricultural workers or miners, the workplace is "outdoors" and can pose many health and safety hazards.
• Poor working conditions can also affect the environment workers live in, since the working and living environments are the same for many workers. This means that occupational hazards can have harmful effects on workers, their families, and other people in the community, as well as on the physical environment around the workplace.

Extent of Problem in Occupational Health and Safety

Accidents

In general, health and safety in the workplace has improved in most industrialized countries over the past 20 to 30 years. However, the situation in developing countries is relatively unclear largely because of inadequate accident and disease recognition, record-keeping and reporting mechanisms.

It is estimated that at least 250 million occupational accidents occur every year worldwide. 335,000 of these accidents are fatal (result in death). (Since many countries do not have accurate record-keeping and reporting mechanisms, it can be assumed that the real figures are much higher than this.) The number of fatal accidents is much higher in developing countries than in industrialized ones. This difference is primarily due to better health and safety programmes, improved first-aid and medical facilities in the industrialized countries, and to active participation of workers in the decision-making process on health and safety issues. Some of the industries with the highest risk of accidents worldwide are: mining, agriculture, including forestry and logging, and construction.

Identifying the Cause of an Accident

In some cases, the cause of an industrial injury is easy to identify.

However, very often there is a hidden chain of events behind the accident which led up to the injury. For example, accidents are often indirectly caused by negligence on the part of the employer who may not have provided adequate worker training, or a supplier who gave the wrong information about a product, etc. The consistently high fatal accident rates in developing countries emphasize the need for occupational health and safety education programmed that focus on prevention. It is equally important to promote the development of occupational health services, including the training of doctors to recognize work-related diseases in the early stages.

The Range of Hazards

There are an unlimited number of hazards that can be found in almost any workplace. There are obvious unsafe working conditions, such as unguarded machinery, slippery floors or inadequate fire precautions, but there are also a number of categories of insidious hazards (that is, those hazards that are dangerous but which may not be obvious) including:

• chemical hazards, arising from liquids, solids, dusts, fumes, vapors and gases
• physical hazards, such as noise, vibration, unsatisfactory
• lighting, radiation and extreme temperatures
• biological hazards, such as bacteria, viruses, infectious waste and infestations
• psychological hazards resulting from stress and strain  hazards associated with the non-application of ergonomic principles, for example badly designed machinery, mechanical devices and tools used by workers, improper seating and workstation design, or poorly designed work practices.

Key Features of a National Policy on Occupational Safety and Health

• The formulation of the policy should reflect tripartite participation, i.e. there should be inputs from employers' and workers' organizations as well as from government and others involved in the area of occupational safety and health.
• The policy should be consistent with national development objectives and policies as a whole, o
• The policy should promote the right of workers to decent, safe and healthy working conditions and environment.           
• The policy should include ways of promoting adequate public awareness and eliciting political endorsement at the highest level of government.
• The policy should promote the development of a national preventive safety and health culture that includes information, consultation and training.
• The policy should include a plan for mobilizing the necessary institutional and financial resources.
• Coordination among all concerned institutions should be fostered as an inherent element of the policy.
• All available means of action should be used consistently.
• The policy should encourage voluntary compliance at enterprise level.
• The policy should be reviewed regularly

National occupational safety and health (OSH) system model: