PHS3263 INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE AND ERGONOMICS

WEEK 6 TASK 5
DURING CLASS

Ensure that you go through, read Chapter 4 (C4) Chemical Hazards uploaded earlier in the E-
learning. Most of the slides are self explainatory. In you own words, summarize at least
ten(10) most important points you think about this chapter. You need to search and find
from resouces available around, ex. Notes, books, internet etc. Upload your completed task
to Elearning. You can use any type of file format, no restriction, feel free to do so; as long as I
can open the file. The title of the file should be your full name. Make sure you do this during
your class time ok.
Any question please use our elearning platform, email or our whatsapps group.

Hj Ts Muhamad Rodzi
10 most important about chemical hazards :-

1) Definition about Chemical Hazards

- A chemical health hazard occurs when workers or other personnel are exposed to a
hazardous substance. Hazardous chemicals can be inhaled, absorbed through the skin,
swallowed, and ingested. Chemical health hazards can affect a person immediately (nausea,
vomiting, acid burns, asphyxiation — also known as acute hazards) or the affects might take
time to develop (dermatitis, asthma, liver damage, cancer — these are known as chronic
hazards).

2) Types of Chemical Hazards

Health Hazard: ingestion of poisons
- One of the biggest risks that surround hazardous chemicals in a workplace is making sure
everyone on site knows exactly what chemicals they are using and where they are. The tragic
example above might have been avoided had the workers used a proper storage container
that was correctly labeled. But labeling is not enough. You must train your staff how to use,
dispense and store hazardous chemicals correctly. Which means never placing or storing
chemicals in (or with) food containers (or utensils), and always use a portable container
(purposefully designed) that is correctly labeled.

Exposure to toxic fumes :-

A worker was cleaning a semi-trailer tanker. He was standing on top of the vehicle wearing a
respirator and hosing down the tanker. He look off his PPE and inhaled hydrogen sulfide
causing him to fall. His death was a combination of chemical burns to the lungs and the
impact of falling. This terrible accident resulted from a worker not using their Personal
Protective Equipment (PPE) correctly. It is unknown whether the worker had received on-
the-job training for work procedures and using PPE. But it does draw attention to the reason
that PPE is always considered a last resort when managing a chemical risk. Personal
protective equipment (PPE) is the least effective at minimising risk because it does not
control the hazard at the source and relies on human behaviour and supervision. These
control measures should only be used:

 To supplement higher level control measures (as a back-up)

 As a short-term interim measure until a more effective way of controlling the risk can
be used, or
 When there are no other practical control measures available (as a last resort).
PPE will almost always be a part of your risk control measures for reducing the exposure or
your workers to toxic fumes and gases. PPE must only be used in conjunction with clear
operating procedures and safe work methods. It’s not enough to train staff once.
Long term exposure to chemicals :-
For carcinogenic chemicals and other hazardous substances that emit chronic health
hazards, there is no safe level of exposure. It is imperative that chemicals are correctly
identified and hazard controls implemented to eliminate exposure to workers. Unlike many
toxic health effects of chemicals, a carcinogenic effect may take many years to develop and
there may be no early warning of adverse effects. A diagnosis of cancer may not be made
until long after exposure ceases and it may not be simple to link the disease to an exposure
at work. And it’s not enough to only consider the chemicals you actually use and store
onsite. You must also consider what work practices might produce chronic health hazards
too. For examples carcinogens can be generated by plant and machinery emitting exhaust
fumes or wood dust.

3) Physical and health hazards of chemicals in the workplace. 

- If the hazard is present in your facility, training must cover it. This includes those from
simple asphyxiants, combustible dusts and pyrophoric gases, as well any hazards not
otherwise classified.

4) How to detect the presence or release of chemicals.

- Whether done through use of monitoring equipment or simple observations, like odors or
visible evidence of sheens or stains, employees must know how to detect a chemical release.
If digital monitors are used, include information about where they are, what they measure,
and how to interpret the readings. And make sure the methods discussed for detecting the
presence or release of chemicals lines up with the specific chemicals and hazards you have at
your facility.

5) Guidance on the storage and disposal of chemicals. 

- Safe use of a product includes ensuring chemicals are returned to storage in the
appropriate manner, using the proper equipment. Similarly, the cleanup and disposal of
chemicals is often overlooked, creating hazardous conditions both for employee safety.
6) Hazardous chemical protection. 
- This includes clear and detailed information on the usage of personal protective equipment
(PPE), safe work practices, engineering controls and any other specific procedures or
controls you’ve implemented. Training is only effective if employees receive it. While many
employers do a good job of providing the right training content, they often fall short in
identifying all the workers who require training. OSHA has stated that it intentionally kept
the scope of who requires training broad in its Hazard Communication Guidelines for
Compliance document, saying this “includes any situation where a chemical is present in
such a way that employees may be exposed under normal conditions of use or in a
foreseeable emergency.” For some employers, this could mean that training is needed for all
your employees, while for others it may only include a select group. Overall, it’s important to
be familiar with your operations, the job tasks involved, the associated chemicals, and the
possible routes of exposure when determining which employees require training.

7) Making Training Engaging

- HazCom training must be delivered in a language and method that employees understand. The true
test of whether training has been effective or not is whether they can put that training to use in the
workplace. Employers who conduct training simply for the sake of completing the task, with little
regard of whether the information is being retained, will have a difficult time convincing an OSHA
inspector that they’ve met their HCS training requirements.

This is an area where today’s on-demand, online training solutions are useful. Feedback
VelocityEHS has received from thousands of safety professionals is that the move these days
is to training software that offers an extensive library of flexible online courses with content
that is interactive and engaging. Shorter, more digestible training courses are particularly
appealing to younger workers, while multi-language options help ensure all employees
understand the information being conveyed.
Especially in today’s climate, employers are looking to free employees from a centralized
classroom environment and provide workers access to courses from remote locations where
they learn at their own pace.

8) Keeping Training Relevant & Enjoyable

While most employees understand the necessities of training, it is often not something they
look forward to, which creates an additional barrier for employers to overcome. Employees
respond better to Wacom training material when they understand the reasoning behind it.
Ensure your training demonstrates the real-life implications of what is being taught. And
continue that training out on the floor. Test your people on the course elements on-the-fly in
the actual settings where they would need to know the information quickly. This will give
workers the chance to showcase how the lesson applies to their actual work tasks, and
further reinforces why it’s so important to retain the information being conveyed.
Another way to make training relevant is by adjusting the quality of your training objectives.
If your objectives are too vague, you won’t know whether you’ve met them or not.
Challenge yourself to create specific objectives, with performance conditions spelled out
that you can test against, so you know when your training is hitting the mark and can quickly
fix problems when it’s not.

9) Control the risks for hazardous chemicals in workplace.

Once you have identified hazardous chemicals and assessed the risks, you must put controls
in place to manage health and safety risks. What we must do is Eliminating and minimizing
risks. When controlling the risks of hazardous chemicals, your first strategy must always be
to eliminate the hazard and associated risk. If this is not reasonably practicable, the risk must
be minimized by using one or more of the following approached which is substitution,
isolation and engineering controls. Secondly what we must do to control the risk at
workplace is provide safety training to the employees especially factory worker. This can also
prevent accidents at work.

10) Storing and transporting hazardous chemicals

Hazardous chemicals must be stored and transported carefully according to specific
regulatory requirements covered by transport legislation, and work health and safety (WHS)
legislation. If hazardous chemicals are not stored correctly, they can lead to contamination,
fires, spills, gas releases, and toxic exposures. Information for storing any hazardous material
can be found on its safety data sheet (SDS). You must store the products in a location that
incorporates the appropriate risk control measures. When transporting chemicals:
 avoid transporting with food, water or other reactive chemicals
 follow the separation and segregation rules for transporting mixed classes of
hazardous chemicals (those classified as dangerous goods)
 secure hazardous chemicals on the vehicle so they can't move or fall
 keep a record of the chemicals you are carrying
 separate foodstuffs from chemicals
 make sure you have the required signs and equipment for the vehicle
 make sure the driver of the vehicle has the correct license and is trained in
emergency procedures.