Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Exam PDF

Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Final Exam: Chapters 1-3 Due Diligence: the expected standard of conduct that requires employers to take every reasonable precause to ensure safety -​ In legal terms it is the measure of prudence to be expected from and ordinary exercised by, a reaso...

Canadian Occupational Health and Safety Final Exam: Chapters 1-3 Due Diligence: the expected standard of conduct that requires employers to take every reasonable precause to ensure safety -​ In legal terms it is the measure of prudence to be expected from and ordinary exercised by, a reasonable and prudent person under the particular circumstances depending on the relative facts of the special case -​ A standard of conduct measured by what could be expected of a reasonable person in the same circumstances -​ Requires business to foresee all unsafe conditions or acts and requires it to take precaution to prevent accidents that can reasonably be anticipated 3 rights of workers (understand them) In 1974, the three principles rights of workers first articulated: 1.​ Right to refuse dangerous work without penalty 2.​ Right to participate in identifying and correcting health and safety problems 3.​ Right to know about hazards in the workplace -​ These rights are still enshrined in current legislation and are the basis for many of canada's health and safety programs Joint Health and Safety Committees (when are they used) The federal and most provincial and territorial governments require every organization with 20 or more employees to establish a joint health and safety committee -​ Includes both employers and workers -​ These joint committees of workers and managers respond to -​ Accidents -​ Monitor the workplace -​ Notify authorities about serious hazards, critical injuries or deaths -​ Hear complaints -​ Make recommendations -​ Help enact the internal responsibility system (IRS); suggest that work and safety are inexorably linked and that all parties in the workplace have a responsibility to improve health and safety -​ Provide non adversarial atmosphere in which labour and management can work to create healthier workplace -​ OH&S acts regulate the formation, composition, training, and certification requirements of these committees -​ Whether a workplace must have a joint health and safety committee largely depends on its sizes and the occupational health and safety jurisdiction it falls under In order to make an effective joint occupational health and safety committee it must: -​ Appropriately trained -​ Operating in a workplace where senior management is supportive  -​ Being empowered in their work -​ Visibility in the workplace -​ Good communication with the workforce -​ Adequate resources WCB/WSIB claims and how they work Workers compensation board (WCB): for of insurance governed by an act of parliament to help workers injured on the job to return to work -​ Premiums are paid by the employer Workplace safety and insurance board (WSIB): the form injured employee need to submit, only applicable to ontario Injured worker will receive: 1.​ First aid treatment, either on the job or at the nearest local treatment facility 2.​ Benefits while at home recuperating 3.​ Proper treatment for any injuries, -​ Payment while off work and all medical bills paid if injury happened at work and because of work -​ Pension if disability is or becomes permanent -​ Benefits if he or she cannot earn same amount if money earned before incident Regulation and responsibility of WCB: -​ Classify employers to ensure consistency -​ Decide whether an individual is classified as a worker, a subcontractor, ot an employers, as each class has different conditions -​ System can pay benefits if workers is affected by industrial disease that had resulted from his or her occupation Two main goals: 1.​ Provide services to prevent injuries or reduce psychological impact of injuries when they occur 2.​ Provide training and development to prepare an injured worker to return to work -​ To process a claim when a worker is injured, WCB need information from the -​ Employer: must file form 7 within 3 days; keeping in contact with the worker, finding safe employment options for the works, and keep the WCB up to date -​ Employee: report injury to his or her employer; form 6 with WCB; active role in treatment, cooperate with return to work options, and keet the employer and WCN informed -​ Physician: complete and submit form 8 to WCB; reports for additional health care services or assessment services to determine worker capabilities, must also be submitted to the WCB -​ Employers must report all workplace injuries to WCB within a certain time -​ Employers report collects information about -​ Nature of employment relationship  -​ Employees salary and hours of work -​ Nature of incident and injury -​ Extent of time loss and medical treatment -​ Employees are also required to report to the WCB if they want to open a claim for compensation Chapter 4-5 Hazards, risks and control (understand the difference) Hazard: any object, action or condition that can be a source of potential adverse health effect, damage, or harm to people, processes or equipment within the workplace -​ Hazard pose a risk Risks: the probability or the extent to which a hazard is likely to cause harm to people, processes or equipment -​ Risk assessment: the process of hazard and risk identification, analysis, and control 1.​ Hazard identification 2.​ Risk analysis 3.​ Risk control Hazard identification: 1.​ People: human factor or unsafe act (a deviation for standard job procedures or practices that increase a workers exposure to a hazard 2.​ Equipments: under certain condition or situation, the tools, machines, or equipments people use and work near can be hazardous 3.​ Environment: improper illumination, poor exhaust or ventilation system, adverse temperature conditions and poor indoor air quality 4.​ Material: any workplace substance, matter or provisions used for production that have the potential to cause cause or loss especially if handled 5.​ Processes : a process is involved when combining people, equipments, environment, and material with the purpose of producing a good service -​ Involves the flow of work and include factors such design, pace and organization of the various types of work via policies, procedures and work processes Components of the hazard identification program -​ Identifying hazards in the workplace -​ Visible inspection of the workplace or taking air samples to test for suspected contaminants -​ Walk-through surveys -​ Safety sampling Risk analysis: once hazards are identified, the risk of an incident or injury is determined via risk analysis -​ Two main pillars of analysis include  1.​ Probability: chance or likelihood that an event will occur and will result in harm or loss 2.​ Consequences: the results or severity if the injury Risk control: all methods involved a systematic process for determining where and when a control is necessary -​ Determines what types of controls would be best EX: source-path-human: hazards can be controlled or eliminated by identifying and attacking the source of the hazard, path it travels and employee or recipient of the hazard -​ Program or process used to establish preventive and corrective measures 1.​ Elimination: process of removing a hazard 2.​ Substitution: replacing or changing equipment, materials ir work processes for less hazardous ones 3.​ Engineering controls: modification of work processes, equipment, and materials to reduce exposure to hazards 4.​ Administrative control: goal is to protect individuals e.g. management involvement, training of employees , rotation of employees, environmental sampling, and medical surveillance (changing to work practices, policies, procedures, training and rules) 5.​ Personal protective equipment Thermal Stress and what to do in the case of it Thermal stress: cold and hot temperatures extremes couples with high humidity Hemostasis: balance of heat generation -​ Use to examine effect of heat and cold on the body -​ In cold climates, heat will flow out of body to the surroundings -​ Hypothermic: heat loss -​ In warm climates, heat will be absorbed by the body -​ Hyperthermic: heat gain -​ When an imbalance occurs, the body is stressed thermally Method of heat transfer: Conduction: when two surfaces are in contact Convection: when one surfaces added heat to the surroundings Radiation: when energy is transmitted by electromagnetic waves Controlling heat: -​ If employees are at risk for heat-related illnesses the employer is required to conduct heat assessments and implement the proper controls -​ Engineering controls are the most effective method for controlling heat exposure EX: insulating heat sources, shielding or protecting workers, providing air condition or increasing ventilation -​ If engineering controls are not feasible, administrative controls should be put in place  EX: reducing worker activity, proper supervision, arranging for work-rest cycles, and implementing work methods or requirements that help acclimatized workers Controlling Cold: -​ Their are also engineering, administrative and PPE mechanism to reduce the risk of suffering cold related injury or illness -​ Engineering controls include: heaters and shield that protect individual from the cold environment or object -​ Administrative controls include: work and rest schedules and cold weather procedures such as shutdown or closure requirements -​ Clothing is the most effective methods for reducing the risk of cold related illness or injury Physical agents in the workplace Physical agents: sources of energy that may cause injury or disease if they are not controlled or managed properly EX: radiation, noise, vibration and extremes temperatures and pressure -​ Each of these agents may be ambient (all encompassing condition associated with a given environment) or acute Radiation: the emission of electromagnetic energy and is divided into two distinct groups 1.​ Ionizing: electromagnetic energy capable of producing ions through interaction with matter EX: X-rays -​ Controlling ionized radiation exposure though regular monitoring, shielding, job rotation, PPE and extensive training 2.​ Non-ionizing: electromagnetic radiation that does not have energies great enough to ionize matter EX: UV, infrared, microwave, radio waves -​ Controlling non-ionizing radiation exposure includes isolation or separation, PPE and training, sunscreen Noise: an unwanted sound -​ Can cause, physiological damage that affects hearing and psychological effects -​ To controlling noise includes, following noise exposure standards, assess noise exposure through different devices, making the source quieter Vibration: oscillating motion of body moving about a reference position -​ A health effect includes raynaud's phenomenon, or white figures caused by restricted blood circulation in the fingers -​ Controlling vibration includes, avoid the source by revising the task, use equipment that produces lower vibrations, add dampening devices to equipment to reduce vibrations, decrease worker exposure time Chapter 6-7 Stress intervention and psychosocial disorders Psychological healthy and safe workplace: a workplace that promotes workers psychological well-being and actively works to prevent harm to workers psychological health Stressor: objectively verifiable event that occurs outside the individual that has the potential to cause stress 1.​ Acute: specific time onset (know exactly when it began), short duration, high intensity, low frequency EX: car accident 2.​ Chronic: no specific time onset, short or long duration, repeat frequently, low or high intensity EX: being an air traffic controller, very stressful job because of the demands placed on individuals 3.​ Daily: specific onset, short duration, low in intensity, infrequent EX: dealing with a broken piece of office equipment 4.​ Catastrophic: specific onset, occur infrequently, high intensity, long or short duration EX: witnessing someone getting shot Stress: individuals internal response to, or evaluation of, stressors The occupational health psychology (OHP) applies the field of psychology to occupational stress, illness and injury -​ Aims to improve quality of work like, and to protect and promote safety, health and well-being -​ Have a 4 components strategy that focuses on 1.​ Organizational change 2.​ Information 3.​ Psychological health service 4.​ Surveillance Stress moderators: factors affects people evaluations of stressors and how they react to them -​ Moderator: variable the changes the relationship between other variables -​ Some aggravate or increase the effects of stressors; others can protect individual from adverse effects of stressors -​ Risk factors: variable that increase the negative effects of stress -​ Buffer: variable that protects people from negative effects of stress Psychological Strain: reactions include a disturbance in affect (mood) or a disturbance in cognition (concentration) Behaviour strain: reactions take a variety of forms; individual may develop nervous habits, avoidance of certain situations Organizational strain: outcomes of stress lead to increase absenteeism, decreased performance, higher turnover Different levels of interventions: 1.​ Primary: reduction or removal of actual stressors 2.​ Secondary: minimizing negative consequences once a person is feeling stress 3.​ Tertiary: help those individuals who have not been able to manage workplace stress effectively and are experiencing symptoms of strain Stress intervention: individual level -​ Primary: avoid taking an overload of work -​ Secondary: talk with friends and coworkers; use relaxation techniques -​ Tertiary: seek medical treatment; participate in psychological counselling Stress intervention: organizational level -​ Primary: redesign particularly demanding job -​ Secondary: provide comprehensive benefits programs that include provisions for options such as employee and family assistant programs -​ Tertiary: offer benefits packages with sick days and leave options; provide counselling services following major stressors Distributive and procedural injustices (know the difference) Distributive justice: fairness of outcomes Procedural justice: fairness of processes Interactional justice: fairness of interpersonal treatment Technology stressors Increasing role of technology affects the psychological as well as the physical well-being of workers -​ Technology-related factors are psychosocial stressors -​ Malfunctions -​ Islations -​ Privacy -​ Increased job demands -​ Increased expectations for continuous learning Biological and Chemical agents in the workplace Biohazards: hazards created by exposure to infectious microorganisms, proteins or nucleic acids -​ Biological agents are natural organisms or products of organisms that present a risk to humans -​ Exposure to biohazards is not as common as exposure to chemical agents Chemical agents: hazards created by exposure to chemicals -​ Toxicity: ability to cause injury to human biological tissue -​ Aerosols: airbornes respirable contaminants  -​ Chemicals can enter the body through respiration (inhalation). Skin absorption, ingestion, and skin penetrations -​ Ototoxicity: adverse harmful effect on the nerves and or bones requires for hearing and balance Agents: any substances, chemical or biological, to which a human may be exposed at work ot at home Ways to control exposure: 1.​ Engineering controls: -​ Substitution with less hazardous solvents -​ Process enclosures exhaust ventilation -​ Close systems -​ Maintenances of engineering control systems -​ Vapour recovery system -​ Control ignition systems 2.​ Work practices -​ Standard work procedures -​ Education and training for workers -​ Labels -​ Safety cans -​ Good housekeeping -​ Preventive maintenance 3.​ Administrative controls -​ Employees should receive training in: safe operating and emergency procedures, use and care of PPE, and handling and control of agents -​ Training must be conducted on an ongoing basis -​ Workers must be familiar with WHMIS legislation 4.​ Medical surveillance -​ Pre-employment and pre-placement medical examination should be conducted to establish a baseline of the employees health and exposure to agents in previous workplaces -​ Follow-up medical examinations should be conducted periodically 5.​ Personal Protect Equipment Chapters 8-9 4 types of workplace violence Violence: an actual physical assault or threat of an assault Aggression: behaviour by an individual or individuals within or outside an organization that is intended to physically or psychologically harm a worker and that occurs in a work-related context Harassment: engaging in annoying or embarrassing conduct against a workers in a workplace (unwelcomed) Bullying: aggressive, non psychological behaviors perpetrated by organizations members over a prolonged period of time Incivility: rude or discourteous behavior Sexual harassment: intentionall, persistent and unwelcomed sexual conduct or remarks that occur despite resistant from the victim Types of workplace violence: -​ Type I violence: committed by someone with no legitimate relationship to the organization, often while committing another criminal act -​ Preventions: focus on physical design that make it difficult to assault employees -​ Type II violence: committed by clients or customers of the organization -​ Prevention: environmental strategies i.e. metal detectors, surveillance cameras, presence of security personnel -​ Type III violence: committed by coworkers -​ Prevention: comprehensive workplace violence program to address potential co worker aggression and violence -​ Type IV violence: committed by spouse or partner of the victim Different types of training programs and delivery 1.​ What are the objectives for training? 2.​ Will the training program be designed or purchased? 3.​ What is the appropriate content for the training? 4.​ Who will receive the training? 5.​ Who will deliver the training? 6.​ Where will the training take place? Health and safety programs: Instructional systems design (ISD) model of training: incorporates needs analysis, training design and delivery and training evaluation and that notes interdependencies among the three major components of the training process -​ Needs analysis: initial stage of training development process, intended to identify employee and organizational deficiencies that can be addressed with training and to recognize potential obstacle to success of a training program 1.​ Organizational analysis 2.​ Task analysis 3.​ Person analysis -​ Training design delivery 1.​ Training objective 2.​ Training content 3.​ Training methods 4.​ Learning principles -​ Training evaluation: 1.​ Evaluation criteria 2.​ Evaluation design Organizational analysis: an analysis of the entire organization designed to examine its resources, strategy and environment in order to assess the organization's support for training -​ Have your have any incidents in the workplace Job/task analysis: a component of the training needs analysis process during which the jobs and specific job tasks that are in need of training are identified and studied Personal analysis: a competent of the training needs analysis process during which individual employees behaviour is studied to identify gaps in performance -​ Someone may be prone to more accidents Training delivery methods: -​ On the job training: job instruction, performance aid, job rotation, apprenticeships -​ Technology based training: web-based, void/TV, CD/DVD, teleconference -​ Off the job training: lecture, discission, audio visuals, case incident, behavioral modelling, role-play, games, simulation Training evaluation models Training evaluation: a components of the ISD training model designed to assess the value added for individuals and organizations following the implementation of training program To assess the value added for individuals and organizations following implementation of training program 1.​ Did the trainees have positive reactions to the training? 2.​ Did the trainees learn the material covered in the training? 3.​ Did the trainines apply what they learned and realize a change in work behavior? 4.​ Did the organization see positive organization results following training? The best evaluator is to observe employees on the job performance Chapter 12-14 Disability management (how to manage workers who are away form the workplace) Organizations can use disability management to: -​ Prevent workplace injuries and illnesses -​ Facilitate successful return to work for injured employees There are many reasons for organization to engage in disability management -​ Financial motives i.e. saving money and losing money -​ Moral and social motives -​ Legal motives Disability management programs are most effective using a systems approach -​ Systems approach: an approach to disability management that emphasizes the work and organizational context Primary values for disability management programs: -​ Safe and productive employment for individuals including those with disabilities -​ Reduced incidence and impact of workplace injury and illness Best practices in disability management -​ People-focused climate: values human resources and supports safety initiative -​ Prevention focus: efforts to reduce the incidence of illness and injury in the workplace -​ Early intervention: reduce risks for injury and illness; look for patterns in absence data and intervene -​ Education: supervisor play important roles in prevention and in return to work; need to be trained in all aspects of programming -​ Return to work case management: co-ordinated service for ill and injured -​ Integrated case management/monitoring: facilitates multiple aspects of process and eases experience claims and RTW experience for employee Flexible work arrangement (know the various types) Compressed workweek: full-time hours in fewer days/week Job splitting: 2 people divide the responsibilities of a job Job sharing: 2 people share the responsibilities of a job Flex time: employee to have variable start and finish work times Flexplace: employees complete work assignments away from the office Various types of wellness programs Family friendly policies: -​ Flexible work arrangements -​ Family care benefits -​ Personal leave Health promotion programs: -​ Employee and family assistance programs -​ Lifestyle programming -​ Stress management Hypertensions hypertensions : high blood pressure, has been called the “silent killer.” -​ Individuals can have hypertension for a long time without knowing it or without experiencing symptoms. -​ Hypertension is considered one of the major (and most easily controlled) risk factors in heart-related diseases. Workpalce programs aimed at addressing hypertension vary widely but typically consist of four interrelated steps: 1. Education—Employees are alerted to the dangers of hypertension and the benefits associated with treatment.​ 2. Screening—Employees are screened using blood pressure clinics in which participants have their blood pressure read by a medical professional.​ 3. Referral—Employees with elevated readings are referred to medical treatment.​ 4. Follow-up—Referred employees are followed up to verify the outcome of treatment and to monitor progress. Health promotion programs Lifestyle changes 1.​ Most common programs are designed to affect an employee health practices or physical lifestyle i.e. alcoholic and drug testing, psychical programs 2.​ Secondary level health promotion -​ Physical or psychological assessment -​ Counseling concerning findings and recommendation about personal health promotion -​ Referral to in house or community based resources 3.​ Tertiary level health promotion -​ The identification of currently symptomatic as well as high risk individuals -​ The appropriate referral or treatment of individuals -​ Treatment directed at the symptoms, delivers by the appropriate professionals