Fundamentals of Environmental Health and Safety
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This document provides an overview of occupational safety and health, including definitions, goals, and key aspects. It discusses occupational safety and health programs and industrial hygiene programs. It also describes common workplace hazards like physical/mechanical hazards, chemical hazards, biological hazards, noise hazards, temperature extremes, electricity, and more. Specific industries like construction, agriculture, mining, and services sectors are reviewed in terms of their occupational health and safety challenges. The document also summarizes occupational health and safety in India, including constitutional provisions, national policies, and key legislation like the Factories Act.
![Occupational Safety and Health
Institutions
There are two main institutions devoted to
occupational health and safety:
• Central Labour Institute, Mumbai [Bombay]
and Regional Labour Institutes in Calcutta,
Kanpur and Chennai under Ministry of Labour;
• National Institute of Occupational Health,
Ahmedabad and regional institutes in Calcutta
and Bangalore under the Indian Council of
Medical Research (ICMR) ministry of health](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/ohse-140212224347-phpapp02/85/Fundamentals-of-Environmental-Health-and-Safety-72-320.jpg)
Fundamentals of Environmental Health and Safety
- 1. Fundamentals of Environmental Health and Safety Unit-IV
- 2. Syllabus • Fundamentals of environmental health and safety: Overview of occupational safety and health and industrial hygiene programs, safety and health hazards: identification of potential safety and health hazards in industrial and development projects.
- 3. Occupational Safety and Health • Occupational safety and health (also commonly referred to as occupational health and safety) is an area concerned with protecting the safety,health and welfare of people engaged in work or employment. The goals of occupational safety and health programs include to foster a safe and healthy work environment. OSH may also protect coworkers, family members, employers, customers, and many others who might be affected by the workplace environment.
- 4. Occupational Safety and Health
- 5. Occupational Safety and Health • Occupational safety and health can be important for moral, legal, and financial reasons. • All organisations have a duty of care to ensure that employees and any other person who may be affected by the companies undertaking remain safe at all times. • Moral obligations would involve the protection of employee's lives and health • Legal reasons for OSH practices relate to the preventative, punitive and compensatory effects of laws that protect worker's safety and health. • OSH can also reduce employee injury and illness related costs, including medical care, sick leave and disability benefit costs
- 6. Occupational Safety and Health
- 7. Industrial Hygiene • Industrial hygiene is generally defined as the art and science dedicated to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, communication and control of environmental parameters in, or arising from, the work place that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well being of workers and members of the community. These parameters are divided into the categories biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psycho-social. • The profession of industrial hygiene uses strict and rigorous scientific methodology and often requires professional experience in determining the potential for hazard and evaluating exposures or risk in workplace and environmental studies.
- 9. Industrial Hygiene • The Industrial Hygienist may be involved with the assessment and control of physical, chemical, biological or environmental hazards in the workplace or community that could cause injury or disease. • Physical hazards may include noise, temperature extremes, illumination extremes, ionizing or nonionizing radiation, and ergonomics. • Other related areas including Indoor air quality (IAQ) and safety may also receive the attention of the Industrial Hygienist.
- 10. Industrial Hygiene • Industrial Hygienists work to minimize exposures through the implementation of controls. • The preferred method of control is the elimination of the chemical, which can sometimes be achieved by the substitution of a less hazardous material. • Another method to reduce exposure is the use of an engineering control, such as a laboratory hood or other enclosure that isolates the chemical from the worker. In some cases an administrative control, such as the rotation of workers through a position to minimize the exposure to any single worker, is implemented. The use of personal protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, goggles, or respirators may be recommended. The use of PPE is the least preferred method due to the diligence required to ensure effectiveness.
- 11. Occupational Health • Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have shared a common definition of occupational health. • "Occupational health 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 amongst workers of departures from 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 the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological capabilities; and, to summarize, the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job”.
- 13. Occupational Health • "The main focus in occupational health is on three different objectives: • (i) The maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and working capacity; • (ii) The improvement of working environment and work to become conducive to safety and health and (iii) development of work organizations and working cultures in a direction which supports health and safety at work and in doing so also promotes a positive social climate and smooth operation and may enhance productivity of the undertakings.
- 15. Workplace Hazards Physical and Mechanical hazards • Physical hazards are a common source of injuries in many industries. They are perhaps unavoidable in many industries such as construction and mining, but over time people have developed safety methods and procedures to manage the risks of physical danger in the workplace. Employment of children may pose special problems. • Falls are a common cause of occupational injuries and fatalities, especially in construction, extraction, transportation, healthcare, and building cleaning and maintenance.
- 17. Workplace Hazards • An engineering workshop specialising in the fabrication and welding of components has to follow the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work regulations 1992. It is an employers duty to provide ‘all equipment (including clothing affording protection against the weather) which is intended to be worn or held by a person at work which him against one or more risks to his health and safety’. In a fabrication and welding workshop an employer would be required to provide face and eye protection, safety footwear, overalls and other necessary PPE.
- 19. Workplace Hazards • Machines are commonplace in many industries, including manufacturing, mining, constructi on and agriculture, and can be dangerous to workers. • Many machines involve moving parts, sharp edges, hot surfaces and other hazards with the potential to crush, burn, cut, shear, stab or otherwise strike or wound workers if used unsafely.
- 22. Workplace Hazards • Machines are also often involved indirectly in worker deaths and injuries, such as in cases in which a worker slips and falls, possibly upon a sharp or pointed object. The transportation sector bears many risks for the health of commercial drivers, too, for example from vibration, long periods of sitting, work stress and exhaustion.. More drivers die in accidents due to security defects in vehicles.
- 24. Drivers Security
- 25. Workplace Hazards • Confined spaces also present a work hazard. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health defines "confined space" as having limited openings for entry and exit and unfavorable natural ventilation, and which is not intended for continuous employee occupancy. • These kind of spaces can include storage tanks, ship compartments, sewers, and pipelines. Confined spaces can pose a hazard not just to workers, but also to people who try to rescue them.
- 28. Workplace Hazards • Noise also presents a fairly common workplace hazard: occupational hearing loss is the most common work-related injury in the United States, with 22 million workers exposed to hazardous noise levels at work and an estimated $242 million spent annually on worker's compensation for hearing loss disability. • Noise is not the only source of occupational hearing loss; exposure to chemicals such as aromatic solvents and metals including lead, arsenic, and mercury can also cause hearing loss.
- 30. Workplace Hazards • Temperature extremes can also pose a danger to workers. • Heat stress can cause heat stroke, exhaustion, cramps, and rashes. Heat can also fog up safety glasses or cause sweaty palms or dizziness, all of which increase the risk of other injuries. Workers near hot surfaces or steam also are at risk for burns. • Dehydration may also result from overexposure to heat. Cold stress also poses a danger to many workers. Overexposure to cold conditions or extreme cold can lead to hypothermia, frostbite, trench foot, or chilblains.
- 33. Workplace Hazards • Electricity poses a danger to many workers. Electrical injuries can be divided into four types: fatal electrocution, electric shock, burns, and falls caused by contact with electric energy. • Vibrating machinery, lighting, and air pressure can also cause work-related illness and injury. Asphyxiation is another potential work hazard in certain situations. Musculoskeletal disorders are avoided by the employment of good ergonomic design and the reduction of repeated strenuous movements or lifts
- 35. Biological and Chemical Hazards • • • • Biological Hazards Bacteria Virus Fungi – Mold • Blood-borne pathogens • Tuberculosis
- 36. Biological and Chemical Hazards
- 37. Chemical Hazards • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Acids Bases Heavy metals Lead Solvents Petroleum Particulates Asbestos and other fine dust/fibrous materials Silica Fumes (noxious gases/vapors) Highly-reactive chemicals Fire, conflagration and explosion hazards: Explosion Detonation
- 38. Psycho-Social Hazards • Employers have an obligation not only to protect the physical health of their employees but also the psychological health. Therefore as part of a risk management framework psychological or psychosocial hazards (risk factors) need to be identified and controlled for in the workplace. Psychosocial hazards are related to the way work is designed, organised and managed, as well as the economic and social contexts of work and are associated with psychiatric, psychological and/or physical injury or illness.
- 41. Psycho-Social Hazards • According to a survey by the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the most important emerging psychosocial risks are: • Precarious work contracts • Increased worker vulnerability due to globalization • New forms of employment contracts • Feeling of job insecurity • Aging workforce • Long working hours • Work intensification • Lean production and outsourcing • High emotional demands • Poor work-life balance
- 42. Occupational safety and health by industry • Specific occupational safety and health concerns vary greatly by sector and Industry. • Construction workers might be particularly at risk of falls, for instance, whereas fishermen might be particularly at risk of drowning. • the fishing, aviation, lumber, metalworking, ag riculture, mining and transportation industries as among some of the more dangerous for workers.
- 43. Construction Construction • Construction is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, incurring more occupational fatalities than any other sector • Falls are one of the most common causes of fatal and non-fatal injuries among construction workers.
- 45. Construction • Proper safety equipment such as harnesses and guardrails and procedures such as securing ladders and inspecting scaffolding can curtail the risk of occupational injuries in the construction industry. • Due to the fact that accidents may have disastrous consequences for employees as well as organizations, it is of utmost importance to ensure health and safety of workers and compliance with HSE construction requirements. Health and safety legislation in the construction industry involves many rules and regulations. For example, the role of the Construction Design Management (CDM) Coordinator as a requirement has been aimed at improving health and safety on-site
- 47. Agriculture • Agriculture workers are often at risk of work-related injuries, lung disease, noise-induced hearing loss, skin disease, as well as certain cancers related to chemical use or prolonged sun exposure. On industrialized farms, injuries frequently involve the use of agricultural machinery. • Pesticides and other chemicals used in farming can be hazardous to worker health, and workers exposed to pesticides may experience illnesses or birth defects. As an industry in which families, including children, commonly work alongside their families, agriculture is a common source of occupational injuries and illnesses among younger workers. Common causes of fatal injuries among young farm worker include drowning, machinery and motor vehicle-related accidents
- 48. Agriculture
- 49. Service Sector • As the number of service sector jobs has risen in developed countries, more and more jobs have become sedentary, presenting a different array of health problems than those associated with manufacturing and the primary sector. Contemporary problems such as the growing rate of obesity and issues relating to stress and overwork in many countries have further complicated the interaction between work and health.
- 50. Service Sector
- 51. Mining and Oil & Gas Extraction • Workers employed in mining and oil & gas extraction industries had high prevalence rates of exposure to potentially harmful work organization characteristics and hazardous chemicals. • Many of these workers worked long hours: 50% worked more than 48 hours a week and 25% worked more than 60 hours a week in 2010. Additionally, 42% worked nonstandard shifts (not a regular day shift). These workers also had high prevalence of exposure to physical/chemical hazards. In 2010, 39% had frequent skin contact with chemicals. Among non-smoking workers, 28% of those in mining and oil and gas extraction industries had frequent exposure to second-hand smoke at work. About two-thirds were frequently exposed to vapours, gas, dust, or fumes at work.
- 52. Mining and Oil & Gas Extraction
- 53. Occupational Safety and Health in India India has a very poor health and safety record. Much legislation exists to protect workers rights and health but they are not implemented properly and only an elite of workers enjoy the benefits. Of the total work force only 8.8 percent are organized. The workforce is abundant, low skilled and easily available and the high rate of unemployment makes them susceptible to exploitation. Getting work is more important than the hazards involved.
- 54. Constitutional Provision for Occupational Safety and Health Article 24 • No child below the age of fourteen years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in other hazardous employment.
- 55. Constitutional Provision for Occupational Safety and Health Article 39 (e & f) • The state shall in particular direct its policy towards securing. • e) that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age and strength; f) that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation. Article 42 • The state shall make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief.
- 56. Constitutional Provision for Occupational Safety and Health
- 57. National Policy • Safety and health occupies a very significant position in India’s constitution which prohibits employment of children under 14 in factories, mines and in hazardous occupations. Policy aims to protect the health and strength of all workers. • The constitution provides a broad framework under which policies and programmes for occupational health and safety could be established.
- 58. National Policy
- 59. National Legislation Legislation provides an essential foundation for safety. To be meaningful and effective legislation should be reviewed and updated regularly as scientific knowledge develops. India has had legislation on occupational health and safety for over 50 years
- 60. National Legislation Other laws have also been framed for workers’ welfare. OSHA Legislation • The Factories Act 1948, amended 1954, 1970, 1976, 1987 • The Mines Act, 1952 • The Dock workers (safety, health and welfare) Act, 1986 • The Plantation Labour Act, 1951 • The Explosives Act, 1884 • The Petroleum Act, 1934 • The Insecticide Act, 1968 • The Indian Boilers Act, 1923 • The Indian Electricity Act, 1910 • The Dangerous Machines (Regulations) Act, 1983 • The Indian Atomic Energy Act, 1962 • The Radiological Protection Rules, 1971 • The Manufacture, Storage and Import of Hazardous Chemicals Rules, 1989
- 61. Factories Act. On health this law requires employers: • to ensure cleanliness of the workplace; • make effective arrangement for treatment and disposal of waste and effluent; • make suitable and effective provisions for adequate ventilation; • maintain temperatures to secure reasonable comfort for workers; • remove any dust or fumes from the workplace which may be injurious to workers; • prevent overcrowding by maintaining a specific cubic area for each worker; • provide sufficient and suitable light; • make suitable arrangements to provide clean drinking water conveniently situated for all workers and; • provide suitable latrines and urinals to specified standards
- 62. Factories Act. • The factory occupier must disclose information about: • dangers, health hazards, and measures to protect workers from substances or materials in manufacture, transportation, storage etc. to the workers, the chief factory inspector, and the local authority; • safety and policy; • quantity and characteristics and disposal of substances and waste; • emergency plans to workers and the local public; • handling, using, transportation, storage and disposal of hazardous substances to workers and the local public.
- 63. Occupational Safety and Health
- 64. Occupational Accidents Occupational Accidents are grossly underreported in India. In any case the factories Act does not cover the vast majority of workers because they work in the informal sector where accidents are not reported at all.
- 66. Occupational Disease The Factories Act requires notification of occupational diseases to the government, but they are hardly reported, allowing official statistics to compare well with industrialized countries. However independent studies report the existence of many occupational diseases, most notably respiratory diseases due to dust. Agriculture is India’s largest employer. Workers are exposed to a wide variety of dust in its fields and factories. The most common disease is bysinossis caused by cotton dust in the textile industry.
- 67. Occupational Disease • Asthma and Allergies are common among workers in grain and tea production. • Chronic lung diseases such as silicosis and pneumoconiosis are due to mineral dust. • Heavy metal poisoning especially lead, chromium, pesticide and other chemical poisoning are quite common.
- 70. Workmen’s Compensation • There are two main laws for compensating occupational diseases and accidents: • Workman’s Compensation Act • Employees State Insurance (ESI) • The procedure for compensation is so cumbersome that very few damaged workers receive compensation. Even though workers are insured under the ESI act getting compensation is enormously difficult.
- 72. Occupational Safety and Health Institutions There are two main institutions devoted to occupational health and safety: • Central Labour Institute, Mumbai [Bombay] and Regional Labour Institutes in Calcutta, Kanpur and Chennai under Ministry of Labour; • National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad and regional institutes in Calcutta and Bangalore under the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) ministry of health
- 73. Occupational Safety and Health Institutions
- 74. Occupational Safety and Health in India • Occupational health and safety cannot be isolated from other problems like wages or job security. The key job is to make workers aware of the importance of occupational hazards. • Trade unions are reluctant to organize on occupational health and safety, mostly due to ignorance and lack of awareness. It is unlikely that things will improve unless workers participate in the process.
- 75. Occupational Safety and Health in India
- 76. References Environmental Management Bala Krishnamoorthy- PHI publication Wikipedia- The online free Encyclopedia http://www.nioh.org/
- 77. Thanks…..