Lesson 1

 Control Measures for

OSH Hazards

Hazard Controls

All hazards must be controlled either by removing the hazard or reducing its risk
of harm to an acceptable level, both proactively (to prevent its occurrence) and
reactively (to minimize harmful effects in the event it does occur). Often, more than
one hazard control method must be implemented. For example, certain chemicals
require a combination of proper storage, labeling, safe work practices, the use of
Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) and emergency response equipment, procedures,
and training in order to effectively control the hazards.

When considering how to reduce the risk, best practice is to follow the hierarchy
of hazard controls. The controls should be implemented in order of effectiveness
beginning with the most effective. All types of controls should be considered as they
often work best in combination.

A. Elimination or substitution
Eliminating the hazard completely is always the first choice (e.g., redesign the work
process). Substitution involves replacing the material or process with a less hazardous
one.
Consider these questions:
 ● Can I find safer ways to perform the task? For example, if
falling is a hazard, eliminate the risk by storing stock at
lower heights so workers don't have to reach the goods.
● Can I use something less harmful? For example, if stock is
stored high, consider substituting a step stool for a rolling staircase with
a railing. Make sure the substitution doesn't create new hazards such as
tripping.

B. Engineering controls
If it is not practical to eliminate the hazards or substitute safer alternatives,
engineering controls are the next best options. Engineering controls are physical
changes to the workplace that prevent workers from being exposed to a hazard and
may include machine guards, noise enclosures, ventilation to dilute the concentration
of a hazardous substance). For example, while working at heights cannot be avoided in
construction, guardrails can be installed to prevent falls from happening.

C. Administrative controls
Administrative controls involve identifying and implementing safe work
procedures. A risk assessment will usually form the basis of these safe work procedures.
Examples of administrative controls include implementing working alone procedures,
training, and supervision.

D. Personal protective equipment and clothing (PPE)

Personal protective equipment is a common control and is a last resort to protect
workers from hazards that are difficult to eliminate or engineer out. For example, the
use of protective eyewear will help to reduce the exposure risk to foreign bodies for
work involving cutting and grinding.

Monitoring Control Measures

Controlling hazards requires ongoing effort. Monitor the effectiveness of the
hazard controls in place and improve those that don’t measure up. Best practice
includes:
Regular inspections.
Testing (e.g., air quality, if applicable).
Reviewing Injury/illness statistics.

Implement Selected Hazard Controls

The worker and the worker’s supervisor are responsible to ensure that the hazard
control measures are maintained and implemented.
Hazard control measures include:
The development of written safe work procedures.
Training and orientation on safe work procedures.
Follow up to ensure proper procedures are followed.

Assess effectiveness Selected Hazard Controls

 The worker and the worker’s supervisor are responsible for the evaluation of the
effectiveness of the hazard control selected and to make improvements where
deficiencies are identified. This can be done through regular inspections, testing and
monitoring, evaluations of complaints or concerns received and investigations into near
misses or other incidents.
Other situations that may prompt evaluation include:
Repeated non-compliance, which could be of lack of training, supervision, or
other problems in the control that cause persons to be reluctant to implement
them. For example, implementing a control that creates another hazard.
Failure to reduce risk. For example, testing may demonstrate that there has
been no change in the measured risk after the control has been implemented. In
other cases, students/staff or others may have a continued complaint.
Lesson 2


INTRODUCTION
Occupational Health

According to WHO (2001), Occupational Health is defined as the following:

 The protection and promotion of the health of every worker by preventing and
controlling occupational diseases and accidents and by eliminating occupational
factors and conditions hazardous to health and safety at work;
 The development and promotion of health and safe work, work environments,
and work organizations;
 The enhancement of the physical, mental, and social well-being of workers and
support for the development and maintenance of their working capacity, as well
as professional and social development at work; and,
 The enabling of workers to conduct socially and economically productive lives
and to contribute positively to sustainable development.

Occupational Health Hazards

Remember that workplace hazards can potentially cause harm to a worker.

However, the risk or the likelihood that this harmful effect would take place depends
on the conditions of exposure. These factors include intensity and duration of exposure
to the hazards, timing of exposure and multiplicity of exposure.

1. Exposure duration or the length of time of being vulnerable to work hazards.

Constant exposure to amounts which have low levels in the workplace over a prolonged
period of time increases the risk of disease after a latency period (the interval between
exposure to a hazard(s) and the clinical appearance of disease);

2. Magnitude, level, or dose of exposure. As the concentration or amount of a hazard

is increased the likely it can do more harm.

3. Timing of exposure. This is related to exposure duration. A worker who is exposed

to a hazard continuously or for several periods in a day is more at risk than those with
less exposure.

4. Multiplicity of exposure. Exposures to mixtures of hazards or several chemicals at

the same time can cause synergistic or cumulative effects.

. The non-occupational factors that must be considered include age, sex, genetic
factors, previous medical history, and lifestyle habits of the worker.
 1. Age is an important factor since elderly and young workers have poor metabolic
processes, which allow a buildup of toxic substances. In a normal adult, these
substances can be easily neutralized.
2. Sex is a very important consideration, too. A hazardous agent may be toxic to
female workers and not toxic to male workers or vice versa. For pregnant
women, some toxins may cause developmental problems in the fetus. Lead and
mercury have been documented to cause neurological defects in the offspring of
exposed pregnant women. In both men and women, other toxins may affect their
reproductive systems.
3. The genetic make-up of a worker should also be considered because those with
history of allergies will find it difficult to work in an environment where their
allergies would likely flare up. Also, those with enzyme deficiencies may not be
able to handle toxic substances that enter the body.
4. Your medical history is important to identify previous illnesses, which may be
aggravated by substances, or agents found in the workplace. An anemic (weak
and pale) worker who will be employed in a company using lead may continue
suffering from anemia (condition characterized by an abnormally low number of
red blood cells in the circulating blood) due to lead exposure. A worker diagnosed
with a liver disease should be closely monitored if he/she would be working with
solvents since which may compromise the liver functions.
5. Lifestyle factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption, physical inactivity,
unhealthy diet, drug abuse, among others can alter a worker’s natural defense
mechanisms and increase the chance of developing ill-effects. For example,
higher risk of liver disease in a worker exposed to solvents and a history of alcohol
consumption; or increased risk of hypertension in a worker with occupational
stress who is also eating high salt and high fat diet. The risk of lung cancer is
much greater in workers who have workplace exposure to asbestos fibers and
who also smoke.

Health Effects of Occupational Health Hazards

Hazards in the workplace that can cause ill-health among workers include, but
not limited to, the following:

1. Chemical hazards such as dusts, gases, vapors, and mists.

2. Physical hazards such as noise, illumination, extremes of temperature, vibration,
and radiation (non-ionizing and ionizing).
3. Ergonomic hazards due to repetitive movement, improper posture, forceful
exertions, monotonous tasks, mental stress, etc.
4. Biological hazards that can cause harm to humans such as viruses, bacteria, fungi,
and parasites.
Health Effects of Chemical Hazards

Workers are exposed to various chemicals in the workplace. These chemicals

possess inherent toxicities that can possibly harm humans depending on the amount of
substance that has entered the body and the intensity of exposure. Once such enter the
body, they can cause a variety of harmful effects. The effects may occur at the site of
chemical contact such as irritation of skin, eyes, or upper respiratory tract. Other
chemicals may involve organ systems distant from the point of contact. Inhaled
substances such as inorganic lead, do not produce ill-effects to the lungs but can
damage the radial nerve causing wrist drop.

Health effects of physical hazards

1. Noise
Hearing damage may be acute or immediate after exposure to very loud sounds
such as blasts, or chronic which would be secondary to long-term exposure to hazardous
noise levels. The major risk factor that may cause hearing damage from noise is
prolonged and unprotected exposure to harmful levels.

Noise affects not only the hearing but also your entire well-being or general
health. It brings about other health effects such as hypertension and hyperacidity.
Stress-related disorders also occur due to noise such as irritability and difficulty in
sleeping.

2. Hot and Cold Temperature

In the presence of elevated environmental temperature, high humidity, heavy
physical activity, loss of fluids and electrolytes or impaired heat dissipation, heat
stress-related disorders may manifest. They include skin lesions termed as miliaria
rubra, heat cramps, heat exhaustion, and heat stroke. There are different clinical
features that differentiate the heat-related illnesses and the prognosis or usual
outcomes of these diseases.

Cold exposure and the associated behavioral and physiological reactions, on the
other hand, have an impact on human performance at various levels of complexity.
Effects may be localized such as frostbite in the extremities or may affect the entire
body causing general hypothermia. Cold exposure causes distraction and cooling.
Behavior and mental functions are more susceptible to the distraction effect, whereas
physical performance is more affected by cooling.

3. Vibration
Workers operating heavy equipment or driving buses or tracks are exposed to
general or whole-body vibration whereas workers using pneumatic or powered hand
tools such as drills, grinders, chain saws are exposed to local or segmental vibration.
The former can cause discomfort or cause injury and is often associated with elevated
health risk for low back pain in workers exposed for many years to intense whole-body
vibration. Stomach problems, headache and muscle pains have been reported among
workers with occupational exposure to whole-body vibration. Prolonged exposure of
the hands to vibrating tools may lead to the development of vibration disease, or “Hand
Arm Vibration Syndrome” (HAVS).
Health Effects of Biological Hazards

Biologic hazards are plants, animals and their products that may present risks to
the health of persons infected by biologic agents they carry. Such biologic agents are
classified as bacteria, virus, fungi, and parasites depending on their physical and other
cellular characteristics.

1. Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is at the top of the list because it remains one of the most prevalent
illness affecting Filipinos. It is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality
based on Philippine Health Statistics and Field Health Service Information System. It is
a long-standing infection caused by the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The TB
bacteria usually attack the lungs but can also attack any part of the body such as the
kidney, spine, brain, bones, and intestines. If not treated properly, TB disease can be
fatal.

The best way to prevent tuberculosis is to strengthen one’s immune system by eating
healthy, exercising regularly, and getting plenty of rest. If one has active TB, covering
the mouth when coughing, sneezing, or laughing is one way to help prevent the
propulsion of the bacteria into the environment. Wearing a mask during this time is also
deemed very helpful as well as staying at home until one’s sputum examination has
reverted back to normal as certified by one’s physician.

2. Tetanus
Tetanus, commonly called lockjaw, is another illness caused by a bacterial toxin or
poison from the spore of the bacterium Clostridium tetani. It affects the nervous system
and is usually exemplified by an increase in muscle tone causing painful spasms. One of
the usual manifestations of untreated tetanus infection is lockjaw.

The illness is contracted through a cut or wound that eventually becomes

contaminated with tetanus bacteria. The bacteria can get in through even a tiny
pinprick or scratch, but deep puncture wounds or cuts like those made by nails or knives
are especially susceptible to infection. Tetanus bacteria are present worldwide and are
commonly found in soil, dust, and manure. Tetanus causes severe muscle spasms,
including “locking” of the jaw so the patient cannot open his/her mouth or swallow,
and may lead to death by suffocation.

Effective prevention of tetanus is achieved by active immunization with the use of

tetanus toxoid. Since there is an extensive risk of acquiring tetanus in the workplace,
conducting a mass immunization is highly suggested. Immunization is usually carried
out as part of the occupational health program for workers. Active immunity is
preferable to passive immunity because there are fewer side reactions and because
better protection is afforded.
Health Effects of Ergonomic Hazards
Ergonomics aims to make the work environment safe and humane as much as
possible, to boost human efficiency, and to improve workers’ whole well-being.
Workers and their performances are affected by different factors at the workplace such
as the difficulty of the task, the people, the equipment, the workstation etc. With an
imbalance of all these factors, it may consequently lead to low product quality, high
rate of errors, material and equipment loss or wastage, including musculoskeletal and
other systemic disorders. An example of musculoskeletal disorders arising from
ergonomic stresses is carpal tunnel syndrome, which arises from median nerve
compression in the wrist and secondary to repetitive flexion of the wrist.
When a worker assumes awkward positions or his posture remains static or
unmoving for long periods, excess load is carried by certain muscle groups that may
cause discomfort and even pain after long periods. The same mechanism applies to
work entailing forceful exertions, movement over an extreme range of motion and
highly repetitive work.

The primary goal in the prevention of Work-related Musculoskeletal Disorders is

to reduce or eliminate the risk factors that caused such. After identifying and properly
evaluating the ergonomic stresses that exist, interventions are selected with the
objective to reduce the magnitude and duration of risk factors. Controlling the risk
factors may require redesigning the employee’s workstation, tools, work schedule or
work methods. Policies may be implemented by companies to promote compliance with
the preventive strategies.

Prevention of Occupational Diseases

1. Medical Measures
- Pre-placement examination
- Periodic examination
- Medical and health care services
- Supervision of working environment
- Maintenance and analysis of records
- Health education and counseling

2. Engineering Measures
- Design of the building
- Good housekeeping
- General ventilation
- Mechanization
- Protective devices
- Statistical monitoring
- Environmental monitoring
- Sanitation