Concept of Safety and Health Hazards

One of the cardinal responsibility of employers is to ensure the safety and health of their
employees by preventing their exposure to occupational risks, hence the concept of occupational
Safety and Health.
Occupational Safety and Health is concerned with protection, promotion and maintenance of the
highest degree of the general well-being of workers
This specialty of public health mainly looks at protection of the health of workers from diseases
and injuries from hazardous work-related exposures and improvement of the work environment
so that no harm befalls one who is trying to earn a living.
In Uganda, this falls under the purview of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Department in
the Directorate of Labor under the Ministry of Gender, Labor & Social Development, but
operationalized at work places by adoption of occupational safety and Health focal
persons/champions.
According to study done and published by International labor organization (ILO),
approximately 2.3 million deaths result from occupational injuries or diseases while 160 million
people suffer from occupational diseases alone, annually. Together, fatal and non-fatal
occupational injuries result in about 10.5 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs); that
is, about 3.5 years of healthy life are lost per 1,000 workers every year globally.

Safety and Health Hazards

Occupational safety and health Hazards describe illness as a condition arising from exposure to
physical, chemical or biological agent in the work place affecting normal physiological
mechanisms impairing health of the worker.
Occupational safety and health Act of Uganda prescribe a number of workplace welfare
benchmarks such as:
-Clean workplace
-Room temperature,
-Size of the room
-Air quality
-Light
-Noise
 -Toilet and washrooms
 -Drinking water

The Hazards may include but not limited to:

-Sitting for long hours causing back problem
-Workplace Bullying
-Lack of/inadequate orientation of new staff
-inadequate hygiene/sanitization facilities
-Exposed work place equipment i.e. electrical equipment, wires, servers
-work place premises deficiencies such as compressed space, inadequate exit/emergency doors,
firefighting equipment’s, poor ventilation, excessive noise, etc.
-Lack of or inadequate work equipment and protective gear, especially industries and agricultural
sector employing predominantly blue collar workers

The core elements of successful safety and health program include:

-Safety Culture-observance and practice of OSH guidelines
-Employee training and empowerment
-Hazard identification and control systems
-Focus on compliance
-Continuous Improvement
-Leadership and organization buy in

Cost of Not managing Health safety

-Increased cost associated with accidents and incidents like medical bills, admission to hospitals
-Likelihood of increased insurance premiums due to increased staff medical coverage costs
-May lead to penalties for failure to adhere to regulatory compliance as stipulated in the
occupation and safety Act of Uganda
-Poor/reduced health and safety performance standards owing to accidents and prevalence of
infirmity in the workforce
-Reduced productivity due increased absenteeism, reduced employment longevity and reduced
quality of health of the workforce
- If knowledge about the importance of Occupational Safety and Health is low, it will cause poor
work procedures and unsafe work
-Poor safety record would likely dent the public image of the organization which could indirectly
affect willingness of the workers and public to engage with such
an entity

Conclusion
In closing, “Safety in Numbers”, one of the highest-profile publications of the ILO in the area of
Occupational Safety and Health, suggests that 4 per cent of global income is lost due to
occupational injuries and illnesses.

It is important to endeavor to learn more about and adhere to proper workplace practices in our
respective occupations to help us achieve a solid Occupational Safety and Health culture that will
pave way for not just ourselves but the next generations to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Remember, a workplace is meant to be a source of livelihood and not of ill-health.