Occupational Safety and Health

Occupational Safety

• Deals with understanding the causes of accidents at work and ways to prevent unsafe acts and conditions in any workplace.
• Covers concepts on good housekeeping, proper materials handling and storage, machine safety, electrical safety, fire prevention and control, safety inspection, and accident investigation.
• Hazard: any source of potential damage, harm, or adverse health effects on something or someone.
• Hazard vs. Risk: Hazard refers to the potential source of harm, while Risk refers to the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard.

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment

• Harm: physical injury or damage to health.
• Hazard: a potential source of harm to a worker.
• Risk: the chance or probability that a person will be harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed to a hazard.
• Factors that influence the degree or likelihood of risk:
  • Nature of the exposure (how much a person is exposed to a hazardous thing or condition).
  • How the person is exposed (e.g., breathing in a vapor, skin contact).
  • Severity of the effect.

Occupational Health

• A broad concept that explains how the different hazards and risks at work may cause an illness and emphasizes that health programs are essential in controlling work-related and/or occupational diseases.
• Adverse health effect: any change in body function or the structures of cells that can lead to disease or health problems.
• Examples of adverse health effects:
  • Bodily injury
  • Disease
  • Change in the way the body functions, grows, or develops
  • Effects on a developing fetus (teratogenic effects, fetotoxic effects)
  • Effects on children, grandchildren, etc. (inheritable genetic effects)
  • Decrease in life span
  • Change in mental condition
  • Effects on the ability to accommodate additional stress
• Adverse health effects can be acute (immediate) or chronic (delayed), and may be reversible or irreversible.

Learn about the basics of occupational safety, including accident prevention, good housekeeping, and safety inspection. Understand the importance of machine safety, electrical safety, and fire prevention and control.