Workplace Safety and Risk Management Quiz

Introduction to Risk Assessment and Control, Accident Analysis

• Objectives: Students will understand fundamental workplace safety concepts, like hazards versus risks, and identify stakeholders in prevention. Students will be familiar with accident indicators (frequency rate, severity rate), and occupational diseases. Students will analyze risks in work situations, create cause trees for accidents, and analyze contributing factors. Practical skills in risk assessment, evaluation, and prevention will be developed.

Introduction

• Occupational Hygiene: A discipline dealing with the professional environment to optimize worker health and well-being. It complements occupational medicine, ergonomics, and safety.
• Importance of Occupational Health: Crucial to companies for preventing human and social tragedy from workplace accidents or occupational diseases, as well as the significant economic and legal impacts. It interacts with public health, environmental concerns, and the economy.
• Climate concerns: Climate change and localized pollution are major environmental concerns.

1.1 Understanding Basic Concepts

• Definitions:
  • Hazard: A potential source of harm; a 'cause capable of causing harm'.
  • Risk: The combination of the probability of a hazard occurring and its potential severity; the 'instrument of the risk' is danger.
  • Risk Factors: Elements that can increase or decrease the likelihood or severity of an accident.
  • Exposure: The contact between a hazard and a person; there is no possibility of harm without exposure.
• Risk components: Risk = Hazard x Exposure

1.1.1 Basic Concepts (hazard, risk), and Actors of Prevention

• Risk Factors: Elements that increase or decrease the likelihood of an accident or undesirable event.
• Hazards: Conditions that could result in harm to people, property, or the environment.
• Risks: The possible harm combined with the probability of it occurring.

1.2. Basic Concepts - Nuisance, Incident, Near Miss

• Nuisance: Factors that harm quality of life, such as pollution or noise.
• Incident: An unwanted event occurring during work which does not cause bodily injury.
• Near Miss: An unexpected event which could have caused an accident, but did not because of small differences in conditions.

1.2. D. Work Accidents

• Work accident: A bodily injury with temporary or permanent damage resulting from sudden, external action linked to work.
  • Classified according to severity: slight without stoppage, significant requiring specific care, or resulting in permanent or total incapacity to work.
  • Fatal accidents result in immediate death or coma followed by death.

1.3. Risk Classification

• Mechanical risks: impacts, cuts, projections, vibrations, repetitive motions, and postural/visual constraints. Examples include broken tools, moving machines, and heavy objects.
• Physical risks: temperatures, lighting, noise levels, chemical exposure, electricity, fire and explosion hazards, etc. Examples include extreme heat, loud machinery, and dangerous chemicals.
• Chemical risks: Exposure to chemical substances through inhalation, ingestion, or skin contact. Examples include vapors, fumes, dusts, and gases.
• Biological risks: exposure to Infectious agents or allergens. Examples include bacterial infections, contact with animals, and allergens.
• Radiological risks: Exposure to ionizing radiation (e.g., X-rays, gamma rays). Examples include Radiation from nuclear materials.
• Psychological risks: e.g., stressful work environment, mental burdens. Stressful jobs and work conditions.

1.4. Occupational Risks

• Occupational risks: health impairments from exposure to hazardous substance(s) over a period.
  • Examples: Occupational deafness (high noise levels), anemia, leukemias, lead poisoning.

1.5. The Different types of risk

• Mechanical risks: these risks arise from machinery and equipment. This includes fixed or movable machines and tools.
• Noise: sounds or vibrations that induce physical discomfort or damage hearing, the use of sound and noise levels which can cause deafness, auditory fatigue and masking effect.
• Thermal risks: extreme temperatures which can cause serious harm and increase the risk of accidents by reducing alertness and creating risk of serious health concerns such as heatstroke and hypothermia.
• Fire Risk: originating from diverse causes, including human errors, natural conditions or energy factors. A fire is a chemical reaction needing fuel, oxygen and an ignition source.

1.6. Chemical Risks

• Occupational diseases: Health impairments resulting from exposure to hazardous substances (chemicals, biological, physical) which can cause health issues or accidents. There are acute (sudden) and chronic (long-term) intoxications.

1.7 The Work Accident

• Work accidents: occur in industrial work during manufacturing, maintenance, handling, or transferring hazardous materials/products. Examples: fires, explosions, burns, asphyxiation, intoxications, dangerous reactions.

1.8. Occupational Disease

• Occupational diseases: illnesses arising from gradual, prolonged exposure to hazardous substances, impacting health gradually over time. Examples: various respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, and blood diseases arising from long-term exposure.

1.9 Routes of Entry into the Body

• Routes of entry of hazardous substances into the body: ingestion, skin contact, inhalation.
  • Mouth: Accidental ingestion and consumption of substances.
  • Skin: Absorption through skin (corrosive, irritants, and some fat-soluble products).
  • Lungs: Inhalation of harmful particles in the air.

1.10 Prevention

• Sources of information: Product information, labels, and risk assessments are necessary.

1.10 Permissible Limit Values

• Occupational Exposure Limit (OEL): Establishes the maximum safe concentrations of substances workers can be exposed to. These limits protect workers from long-term or short-term effects of toxic/harmful substances. This can reduce the likelihood of illness and injury.

1.11 Identification of Prevention Stakeholders

• Within the company: employer, workers, health and safety committees. Roles of each for risk assessment and accident prevention.
• Outside the company: government agencies, professional organizations responsible for setting regulations. Roles in workplace safety regulation and enforcement.

1.12 Master the Indicators Related to Workplace Accidents and Occupational Diseases

• Frequency Rate: A calculation of how often an event (e.g., accidents) occurs over time in relation to total work hours.
• Severity Index: The number of days lost due to occupational injuries per 1,000,000 hours worked. Used for assessing the consequences of accidents.
• Severity Rate: The quantity of work hours lost due to incapacity per 1,000,000 hours worked. It shows the severity of injuries.

1.13 Risk Assessment

• Frequency assessment: considers exposure frequency, number of employees exposed, existing procedures.
• Severity assessment: measures the probable consequences or potential harm, factors that improve or degrade the likelihood of harmful events.

1.14 Creating and Analyzing Cause Trees

• A systematic method to analyze accidents; starts with the accident and analyzes conditions leading up to it.
  • Steps to create a cause tree: Definition of the accident/incident. Determining intermediate causes and events that led to the event/accident. Determine the necessary connections between these events for the accident/incident to happen.

1.15 Conclusion

• Accidents and occupational diseases are a significant problem. Proper prevention methods are needed throughout the life of a worker through thorough training and analysis. The importance of prevention programs needs to be highlighted and their necessity reinforced. Review and improvements of existing legislation and regulations for better health and safety measures need to be continuously done.

Test your knowledge on workplace safety and risk management concepts with this quiz. Questions cover hazards, risk factors, fire safety, and occupational diseases. Understand the key principles that can help prevent accidents in various settings.