Safety and Health

Introduction

• Health and safety policies and programs are

concerned with protecting employees and other
people affected by what the company produces
and does against hazards arising from
employment or their links with the company.
• Consists of two elements:
• Occupational Hygiene
• Occupational medicine
 Introductions

• Occupational medicine is concerned with

diagnosis and prevention of health hazards at
work and dealing with any ill health or stress that
has occurred in spite of preventive action.
• Occupational Hygiene which is the province of
the chemist and the engineer or ergonomist
engaging in the measurement and control of
environmental hazards.
 Introductions

• Managing safety and health at work is a matter of:

• Developing health and safety policies
• Conducting risk assessment which identifies
hazards and assess the risks attached to them.
• Managing stress
• Preventing accidents
• Measuring Health and safety performance
• Communicating the need for safety and health
practices
 Introductions

• Training in good health and safety

practices.
 Conducting risk assessment

• Risk assessment are concerned with

identification and analysis of risks attached
to them.
• Hazards is anything that can cause harm
• Risk is the chance large or small of harm
actually being done by the hazard.
• Risk assessment are concerned with looking
for hazards and estimating the level of of
risks associated with them.
 Types

• There are two types of risk assessment:

• Qualitative and Quantitative.
• Quantitative produces an objective probability
estimate based upon risk estimate based upon
risk information that is immediately applicable to
the circumstances in which the risk occurs,
• Qualitative assessment is more subjective and is
based on judgment backed on generalized data.
 Looking for Hazards

• The following are typical activities where

accidents happen or there are high risks:
• Receipt of raw materials, e.g lifting or carrying.
• Stacking and storage e.g falling materials
• Movement of people and materials e.g falls and
collisions.
• Processing of raw materials e,g exposure to
toxic substances.
 Looking for Hazards

• Maintenance of building e.g roof work and gutter

cleaning.
• Operating machines
• Dealing with emergencies e.g. spillage, fire.
 Health and safety audits

• Provides for comprehensive review of all health

and safety policies and procedures and safety
and practices program.
• Safety audits are carried by safety advisors and
or HR specialist, but the more managers,
employees and trade union representatives are
involved the better.
 Health and safety audits

• A health and safety audit should cover:

• Do safety and health policies meets legal
requirements?
• Are senior managers committed to health and
safety?
• How committed are other managers, team
leaders and supervisors to health and safety?
 Health and safety audits

• Is there health and safety committee?

• How effective is the committee in getting things
done?
 Safety Inspections

• Safety inspection are designed to examine a

specific area of the organization, operational,
department or manufacturing process in order to
locate and define any faults in the system,
equipment, plant or machine, or any other
operational errors that may cause accidents.
 Occupational Health programs

• Many working days are lost because of work

related illness.
• Commonly reported illness include:
• Back pain
• Muscular disorders
• Stress
 Occupational Health programs

• Control of occupational health and hygiene

programs can be achieved by:
• Eliminating hazards at source through design
and process engineering.
• Isolating hazardous processes and substances
so that workers don’t come across them.
• Changing the process or substance
 Occupational Health programs

• Pre employment medical examination for those

exposed to risks.
• Maintaining preventive medicine program which
develops health standard for each job.
• Regular inspections to ensure potential hazards
are identified with time.
• Training workers to avoid risk
• Providing protective equipment
 Stress Management

• Four main reasons why organizations should take

account of stress and do something about it:
• They have a social responsibility to provide good
quality of working life.
• Excessive stress causes illness.
• Can result in inability to cope with demands of the
job.
• Excessive stress can reduce employee
effectiveness and therefore organisational
performance.
 Ways of managing stress

• Job design
• Targets and performance standards
• Placement: Taking care to place people in jobs
that are within their capabilities.
• Counseling
• Management training in counseling techniques
and in performance reviews
 Ways of managing stress

• WLB practices which includes provision for

special leaves and flexible working hours.
• Performance management processes which
allow dialogue to take place between managers
and individuals about the latter's work, problems
and ambitions.
• Career development planning career
development that is is planning careers and
promoting staff in accordance with their
capabilities.
 Accident Prevention

• Can be achieved by:

• Identifying causes of accidents and conditions under
which they are most likely to occur.
• Taking into account of safety factors at design stage.
• Designing safety equipment and protective devices
and providing protective equipment.
• Maintaining good records
• Conducting a continous programme of education
and training on safe working habits and methods of
avoiding accidents.
 Accident Prevention

• Investigating all accidents

• Carrying out a regular risk assessment audit.
• Leadership and motivation