ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
22PEV163
(PROFESSIONAL ELECTIVE II)

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MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES

Clean up of rivers and lakes

Providing safe drinking water
Control of urban and industrial air and noise pollution
Treatment, reuse and recycling of domestic wastewater
Solid waste management
Controlling work environment
Clean up of soil contamination and prevention
Preventing ozone layer depletion
Control global warming
Management of radio-active waste 2
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Understand and appreciate the need to study the course
Appreciate the need for occupational safety and health at work places
Basic understanding of safety and health principles, acts, rules and
regulations
Distinguish various types of accidents, investigation methods and
prevention under different scenarios and health problems in different
industries
Learn Ergonomics programme at a work place
Describe the importance and need for hazard control and emergency
response
Understand fire hazard and its prevention
Identify and describe various types of personal protective equipment
Define, categories and understand the occupational health problems
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related to wastewater treatment plants
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY
Cross-disciplinary area.
Concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare
of people engaged in worker employment.
Goal is to foster a safe work environment.
Secondary effect–protect co-workers, family members,
employers, customers, suppliers, nearby communities
and members of the public who are affected by the
workplace environment.

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 SUBJECT AREAS
Occupational medicine
Occupational(industrial)hygiene
Public health
Safety engineering
Chemistry & health physics
Ergonomics
Toxicology
Epidemiology
Environmental health
Industrial relations
Public policy & sociology
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Occupational health psychology
 Reasons for Safety and Health
Moral: Employee should not have to risk injury or death at work,
nor should others associated with the work.
Economic: Poor occupational safety and health performance
results in cost to the state or industry.
Legal: Requirements may be reinforced in civil law and or
criminal laws, it is a moral obligation on the part of the
organization.
Important Terminologies
Hazard: Potential of an accident.
Risk: Chance or probability or likeliness of the occurrence of an
accident.
Accident: An unplanned and undesirable event.
Exposure: Impact of the energy released in an accident on the life
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and limbs of persons near the accident site.
Occupational Health : Deals with all aspects of health and safety
in the workplace and has a strong focus on primary prevention of
hazards. The health of the workers have several determinants,
including risk factors at the workplace leading to cancers,
accidents, musculoskeletal diseases, respiratory diseases, hearing
loss, circulatory diseases, stress related disorders and
communicable diseases and others.

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Occupational Health and Safety is the discipline concerned with
preserving and protecting human resources in the workplace.
As per the definition adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO committee
on Occupational Health (1950), occupational health is the
adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job.
Occupational Health should aim at
Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical,
mental and social well being of workers in all occupations
Prevention among workers of departures from health caused by
their working conditions
Protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting
from factors adverse to health
Placing and maintenance of a workers in an occupational
environment adapted to his physiological and psychological
equipment. 8
 The Safety and Health Movement
Safety movement → US has developed steadily since the
early 1900s.
❖ In 1907 → 3,200 people were killed in mining accidents.
Legislation, precedent, and public opinion all favoured
management.
❖ Few protections for workers’ safety.
Working conditions for industrial employees today have
improved significantly.
❖ Chance of worker death in an industrial accident is less than half
of what it was 60 years ago.
❖ NSC → death rate from work related injuries is 4 per 1,00,000.
❖ Pressure for legislation to promote safety and health, the steadily
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increasing costs associated with accidents & injuries.
 Safety and Health Movement, Then and Now -Continue
Developments before the industrial revolution
Understanding the past can help safety & health professionals
examine the present and future with a sense of perspective and
continuity.
Modern developments in health & safety are neither isolated nor
independent, rather part of the long continuum of developments of
in the safety & health movement.
❖ Continuum Beginning in the days of the ancient Baby lonians.
Circa 2000 BC, their ruler developed his Code of Hammurabi,
which have all the laws of the land at that time.
❖ It showed Hammurabi to be ajust ruler, and set a precedent followed by
other Mesopotamian kings.

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 SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
Developments before the Industrial Revolution
Significance of the code from the perspective of safety &
health are clauses dealing with injuries.
❖ Allowable fees for physicians & monetary damages assessed
against those who injured others & concern for the proper
handling of injuries.
❖ If a man has caused the loss of a gentleman’s eye, then?
Later emerged in the Industrious Egyptian civilization.
❖ Temples & Pyramids that still remains → great industrious
people.
❖ Much labour was provided by slaves & slaves were not treated
well—unless it suited the needs of Egyptian task masters.
❖
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One such case occurred during the rule of a monarch of
RamesesI I(1500BC) → Major construction project.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
To ensure maintenance of a work force to build a huge
temple bearing his name, Rameses II created an
industrial medical service to care for the workers.
They were required to bathe daily in the Nile and given
regular medical examinations, & sick workers isolated
separately.
Romans were vitally concerned with safety & health,
asseen from their construction projects.
Built aqueducts, sewerage systems, public baths,
latrines, and well-ventilated houses.
As civilization progressed, sodid safety and health 12
development.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
In1567, Philippus Aureolus produced a treatise on the
pulmonary diseases of miners.
⚫ Treatise covered diseases of smelter workers & metallurgists
& Diseases associated with handling / exposure to mercury.
⚫ Georgius Agricola published DeReMetallica, emphasizing
need for ventilation in mines, showing devices to bring fresh
air into mines.
18th century saw contribution of Bernardino Ramazzini,
who wrote Discourse on the Diseases of Workers.
⚫ Ramazzini drew conclusive parallels between diseases
suffered by workers and their occupations → handling of
harmful materials & to irregular or unnatural movement of the
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body → relevant today.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
The Industrial Revolution changed forever the methods of producing
goods. According to J.LaDou,the change in production brought
about by the industrial revolution, which can be summarized as:
Introduction of inanimate power (i.e.,steampower) to replace
people and animal power.
Substitution of machines for people.
Introduction of new methods for converting raw materials.
Organization / specialization of work, resulting in a division of
labour.

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SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
DEVELOPMENTS BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL
REVOLUTION
These changes necessitated a greater focusing of
attention on the safety and health of workers.
⚫ Steam power increased markedly the potential for
life-threatening injuries, as did machines.
⚫ The new methods used for converting raw materials also
introduced new risks of injuries and diseases.
⚫ Specialization, by increasing the likelihood of boredom and
inattentiveness, also made the work place a more dangerous
environment
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SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW

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SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT
When the industrial sector began to grow in the US, hazardous
working conditions were common place. After the Civil war,
the seeds of safety movement were sown in the country.
⚫ Factory inspection was introduced in Massachusetts in 1867.
⚫ In 1868, the first barrier safeguard was patented.
⚫ In 1869, the Pennsylvania legislature passed a mine safety law
requiring two exits from all mines.
⚫ Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) →1869 → industrial accident &
report pertinent information about these accidents.
⚫ In1877, the Massachusetts legislature passed a law requiring
safeguards for hazardous machinery.
⚫ 1877 also saw passage of the Employer’s Liability Law → 17
Establishing potential for employer liability in workplace accidents.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
MILESTONES IN THE SAFETY MOVEMENT
In 1892, the first recorded safety program was established in a Joliet,
Illinois, steel plant →In response to as care caused when a fly wheel
exploded.
Committee of managers formed to investigate and make
recommendations,
⚫ Used as the basis for development of a safety program considered to be the first
in American industry.
Around 1900, Frederick Taylor began studying efficiency in
manufacturing to identify the impact of factors on efficiency,
productivity & profitability and drew a connection between lost
personnel time & management policies and procedures.
⚫ In1907, the U.S.Dept. of the Interior created the Bureau of Mines to investigate
accidents, examine health hazards, and make recommendations for
improvements since 3,200 of their fellow workers were killed in mining
accidents in 1907 alone. 18
⚫ Most important development → In 1908 a nearly form of workers’
compensation was introduced in the United States.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
Workers’ compensation actually had its beginnings in Germany,
and soon spread through Europe.
Workers’ compensation made great strides in the US when
Wisconsin passed the first effective workers’ compensation law in
1911.
⚫ Today, all 50 states have some form of workers’ compensation.
The Association of Iron and Steel Electrical Engineers (AISEE),
formed in the early 1900s, pressed for a national conference on
safety.
⚫ The first meeting of the Cooperative Safety Congress (CSC) took place
in Milwaukee in 1912.
A year after the initial meeting of the CSC, the National Council of
Industrial Safety (NCIS) was established in Chicago.
⚫ In 1915, this organization changed its name to the National Safety 19
Council, now the premier safety organization in the United States.
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
From 1918 through the 1950s, the federal government encouraged
contractors to implement & maintain a safe work environment.
Industry in the US arrived at two critical conclusions
Definite connection between quality & safety.
Off-the-job accidents have a negative impact on productivity.
The 1960s saw the passage of a flurry of legislation promoting
work place safety.
The Service Contract Act, The Federal Metal & Non-metallic Mine
Safety Act, The Federal Coal Mine and Safety Act, The Contract
Workers and Safety Standards Act.
These laws applied to a limited audience of workers, and the injury
& death toll due to industrial mishaps was still too high.
In the late 1960s, more than 14,000 employees were killed annually
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in connection with their jobs
SAFETY AND HEALTH MOVEMENT, THEN AND NOW
MILESTONESINTHESAFETYMOVEMENT
Work injury rates were taking an upwards wing, the primary reasons for
passage of the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) of 1970
and the Federal Mine Safety Act of 1977.
Superfund Amendments & Reauthorization Act of 1986, and the
Amended Clean Air Act in 1990 were major pieces of environmental
legislation.
The concept of Total Safety Management (TSM) was introduced in
1996 to help safety professionals in organizations using Total Quality
Management (TQM) philosophy and /or ISO9000 registration.
In 2000, U.S. firms began to pursue ISO14000.–Workplace terrorism
became an important issue in 2003.
In 2007 special safety needs of older people whore-entered the work
force became an issue for safety professionals. 21
In 2010, organizations began to concern themselves with off - the-job
safety as a critical part of their overall safety and health plan.
 PRINCIPLES OF SAFETY
First Principle
Hazard is an inherent part of human existence
Second principle
We cannot eliminate hazard but we can only control, contain and
manage hazards
Third principle
Accidents are not random happenings, but are patterned and have
combination of causative factors
Fourth principle
All accidents are caused either due to unsafe conditions or unsafe22
acts or both
PRINCIPLES OF SAFETY
Fifth principle
88% of accidents are caused by unsafe act (direct human error)
10% of accidents are caused by unsafe conditions
2% of accidents are caused by natural causes
Sixth principle
A safe and alert workers is safer in an unsafe condition

Corollary
An unsafe and unalert workers is unsafe in a safe condition

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WORKPLACE HAZARD GROUPS
Mechanical hazards

Type of agent

Impact force: collisions, falls from height

Stuck by objects
Confined space
Slips and trips
Falling on a pointed object
Compressed air/high pressure fluids
Entanglement
Equipment related injury 24
Workplace hazard groups

Type of damage

Crushing
Cutting
Friction and abrasion
Shearing
Stabbing and puncture

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WORKPLACE HAZARD GROUPS
Physical hazards

Noise
Vibration
Lighting
Barotrauma (Hypobaric and hyperbaric pressure)
Ionizing radiation
Electricity
Asphyxiation
Cold stress (Hypothermia)
Heat Stress (Hyperthermia)
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Dehydration
WORKPLACE HAZARD GROUPS
Chemical hazards
Acids
Bases
Heavy metals: lead, cadmium
Solvents: Petroleum
Particulates: Asbestos, fibrous materials
Silica
Fumes (noxious gases/vapours)
Highly reactive chemicals
Fires, conflagration and explosion hazards
Deflagration
detonation 27
WORKPLACE HAZARD GROUPS
Biological hazards
Bacteria
Fungi
Virus
Mold
Blood borne pathogens
Tuberculosis
Musculo-skeletal disorders

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WORKPLACE HAZARD GROUPS
Psychological issues
Work related stress (over work, over time)
Violence from outside
Bullying: Emotional, verbal etc
Mobbing
Burn out

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CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISION
Article 21 of Indian constitution guarantees the
protection of life and personal liberty of a person.
Directive principles of state policy.
❖ For securing the health and strength of workers, men and
women.
❖ That the tender age of children is not abused.
❖ That citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter a
vocations unsuited to their age or strength.
❖ -Just and humane conditions of work and maternity relief are
provided.
❖ The government shall take steps by suitable legislation or in
any other way to secure the participation of workforce 30
NATIONAL POLICY : INDIA

Initiated during the year 2002.

Draft policy was notified during 2006.
During February 2009, the union cabinet approved
the “national policy on safety, health and
environment at workplace”
First such law that seeks to protect worker’s right to
safe working environment.

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GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS IN INDIA

Constitutional provision.
Ministry of labour.
National safety council of India, Mumbai(1966).
Ministry of heavy industries.
Ministry of chemical sand fertilizers.
National institute of occupational health.
The Directorate General of Mine Safety (DGMS).
The Directorate General Of Factory Advice Service and
Labour Institutes (DGFASLI).

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OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH LAWS : INDIA

The Factories Act,1948.

The Mines Act,1952.
The Dock Workers (safety, health & welfare) Act,1986.

Compensatory Acts
Employees State Insurance Act,1948
Workmen’s Compensation Act,1923

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 RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS
Definition:
Legislation or regulation that requires an employer or
producer to disclose information on hazardous materials
disposed, emitted, produced, stored or used in a work
environment or community.

Information was restricted by the official secrets act of

1889, amended in 1923 by the British rule in India.

RTI act 2005 (actno.22/2005) notified on 15th June 2005

and came into force fully on 13th October 2005.

Provides access to public to the records of both central and

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state governments.
RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS

Right to request:
Any information.
Take copies of documents.
Inspect documents, work sand records.
Take certified samples of materials of work.
Obtain information informs of printouts, diskettes,
floppies, tapes, video cassettes or in any other electronic
mode

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 RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS
Information not to be provided
Prejudicially affect the sovereignty of India, security,
strategic, scientific or economic interests of the state.
Relation with foreign state.
Information for bidden by any court of law or tribunal.
Breach of privilege of parliament or state legislature.
Public Information Officer (PIO).
Time limit: 30 to 35days

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RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS –ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

Section 26 of the act enjoins the central as well as state govts.

(excluding J&K) to initiate necessary steps to:
Develop educational programmes.
Promote timely dissemination of accurate info to the public.
Train officers and develop training materials.
Compile and disseminate a user guide in the official language.
Publicise names, designation, postal address and contact details of
public information officers, fees to be paid, remedial clauses etc.,

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RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS – OSHA

Title 28 – Labor and labor relations

Chapter 28 – 21 – Hazardous substances Right to Know Act
Section 28 – 21 – 1 Duty of Employer
An employer who uses, transports, stores, or otherwise exposes
its employees to toxic or hazardous substances shall obtain,
maintain and make available in each workplace a list of all
hazardous substances to which employees are or may be
exposed.
The list of all Hazardous substances shall be readily available to
employees for examination during all hours of operation.

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 RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS – OSHA
Section 28 – 21 – 5 Fire Safety
An employer shall provide to the person responsible for the
administration and direction of a fire department in a fire district or
municipality, including a fire chief or fire administrator, or that person’s
designee:
A list of work areas, sufficiently identified by name and location, where
designated substances are present, containing the chemical and common
name of each substance regularly present. Upon request, material safety
data sheets for each hazardous or toxic substance included in this list.
The person responsible for the administration and direction of a fire
department in a fire district or municipality, including a fire chief or fire
administrator or that person’s designee, shall maintain the information
provided by the employer under subsection (a) of this section and shall
provide copies of this information
Currently conducted fire safety inspections may include, at the discretion39
of the fire chief or the inspector, compliance with the employer notice
requirements of this chapter as enumerated in section 28 – 21 – 3 (a).
RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS – OSHA

Section 28 -21 8 Employee rights

Refusing to work
Discipline, discrimination prohibited
Waivers prohibited
Remedies and compliant procedure for employees
In addition to but not in lieu of the action in paragraph (I) of
this subdivision, any employee may commence any action in
any appropriate court of law to enforce any obligation, duty or
responsibility imposed upon him or her or the employer under
the provisions of this chapter.

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RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS – OSHA
Section 28 – 21 – 9 Training and Education Program

Each employer shall provide an employee training and

education program prior to an employee’s initial
assignment designated to inform employees about the
designated substances to which they are exposed
This training shall be repeated annually

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 RIGHT TO KNOW LAWS – OSHA
28 – 21 – 10 Trade secrets
A manufacturer or employer may withhold the precise chemical
name of a chemical if:
The manufacturer or employer can substantiate to the department of
labour and training that it is a trade secret
The chemical is not a carcinogen, mutagen or teratogen as published
in OSHA regulation
The chemical is identified by a generic chemical classification that
would provide useful information I to a health professional
All other information on the properties and effects of the chemical
required by this chapter is contained in the material safety data sheet
The material safety data sheet indicates which category of
information’s being withheld on trade secret grounds.
In any event, the withheld information is provided on a confidential
basis to a treating physican who states in writing, except in an
emergency situation that a patient’s health problems may be the 42
result of occupational exposure.
OSHA ADMINISTRATION
OSHA Standards
Many OSHA standards are consensus standards which have been adopted from nationally
recognised organisations, such as American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the
National Fire Protection Association (NFPE) and the American Society of Mechanical
Engineers (ASME).
Other have been issued through specific rule making procedures, the major steps of which
are as follows
❖ OSHA proceeds on the basis of its own information, petition from interested parties,
and recommendations from other government agencies. Recommendations from
NIOSH form an important basis for OSHA health standards.
❖ OSHA may establish an advisory committee to make recommendations for the
development of a standard. Requirements are laid down for the composition of the
advisory committee and for the time periods within which it must act.
❖ If OSHA decides that a standard should be issued, it must publish a proposed standard
and give the public atleast 30 days to comment in writing. If objections to be proposal
are field and a public hearing is requested, such a hearing must be held
❖ On the basis of the entire record, OSHA must either promulgate the standards or
determine that no standards is needed and must publish a statement outlining its
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actions
❖ Certain prescribed time frames for most stages of rule making must be followed.
OSHA ADMINISTRATION
The goal of the good standard should be to coordinate
work on the same problems in order to generate routine
solutions which can guide those who face similar
problems in the future.
There are particular characteristics which apply to good
standards
❖ It must suggest something which can be attained
❖ It should be economically feasible
❖ It should be meaningful, and applicable to the situation in which
it is to be used
❖ It should be understand by its users
❖ It should be consistent in its interpretation
❖ It should be both stable and maintainable. 44
OSHA Enforcement
There are two ways that OSHA enforcement methods are intended
to promote a safe workplace
For those workplace inspected, it is though that the imposition of
penalties or even possible impossible of penalties, promotes
conformance at that particular workplace.
OSHA responds to serious injuries of fatalities, thereby inspecting
workplaces after an accident has occurred.
Onsite consultation involves a walk through inspection, a discussion
of violations and a written report containing recommendations for
conformance.
This program has been supplemented by voluntary programs where
compliance officers give general assistance, upon request, to
employers in identifying methods for correcting safety and health
hazards in the workplace. 45