Lecture 03

HEALTH, SAFETY
&
ENVIRONMENT
Dr Tasweer Hussain Syed

DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT

NUST COLLEGE OF E&ME
 What is a hazard?
• Both used interchangeably “Hazzard is a danger or risk".
• A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse
health effects on something or someone.
• Basically, a hazard is the potential for harm or an adverse effect
(eg,effect people health, loss to organizations as property or
equipment losses, or to the environment).
• Sometimes the resulting harm is referred to as the hazard
instead of the actual source of the hazard. For example, the
disease tuberculosis (TB) might be called a "hazard" by some
but, in general, the TB-causing bacteria (Mycobacterium
tuberculosis) would be considered the "hazard" or "hazardous
biological agent".

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

 WHAT IS RISK?
• Risk is the chance or probability that a person will be
harmed or experience an adverse health effect if exposed
to a hazard. It may also apply to situations with property
or equipment loss, or harmful effects on the environment.
• For example: the risk of developing cancer from smoking
cigarettes could be expressed as:
• "cigarette smokers are 12 times (for example) more likely
to die of lung cancer than non-smokers", or
• These risks are expressed as a probability or likelihood
of developing a disease or getting injured, whereas
hazard refers to the agent responsible (i.e. smoking).
•
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
 WHAT IS RISK?
•
• Factors that influence the degree or likelihood of risk
are:
• the nature of the exposure: how much a person is
exposed to a hazardous thing or condition (e.g., several
times a day or once a year),
• how the person is exposed (e.g., breathing in a vapour,
skin contact), and
• the severity of the effect. For example, one substance
may cause skin cancer, while another may cause skin
irritation. Cancer is a much more serious effect than
irritation.
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
 Hazards/Danger
Observable or predicted from knowledge

Risk
Not directly observable - probability of harm to system elements being
realised from exposure to hazards and danger.

Harm
Damage to system elements - long or short term

Accidents

Injuries Ill-Health Damage
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
 TYPES OF HAZARDS
Here are the six main types of workplace hazards:
• Biological: Bacteria, insects, viruses, plants, animals, birds, humans,
etc.
• Chemical: The toxic, chemical and physical properties of
the material
• Ergonomic: Posture, workflow, workstation design, poor equipment
design, improper workstation setup, heavy or awkward
lifting, repetitive movements, etc.
• Physical: Loud noises, extreme pressures, magnetic fields, radiation,
fire, poor lighting, unsafe machinery, misused machinery,
obstructions in walkways, slippery floors, etc.
• Psychological: Violence, stress, constant low-level noise, threats of
danger, discrimination, harassment, public relations, intense
workloads, shift work, etc.
• Safety: Equipment malfunctions, equipment breakdowns,
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
inappropriate machine guarding, tripping and slipping hazards, etc.
INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT
• An accident or occupational accident is an event of
accident that suddenly occurs when one or no. of
employees/workers are in a plant.

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

EXAMPLES - INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
• In an organization:
• Person/labor while working receive an electric
current
• Labor cut his finger from machine
• Blast in chemical industry
• Fire in textile sector
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EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT

• Loss to Industry
• Loss to Workers
• Loss to Consumer
• Loss to Society

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EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
Effect # 1. Loss to Industry
• Expenditure to be made on the medical treatment of
the worker.
• Wages to be paid to the worker for the period when
he is not able to join the work due to the injuries
caused to him due to the accident.
• Expenses to be made for the services of machines
and tools on which the worker is working.
• Expenses to be made for inspection and repairs of
the machines and the tools.
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
Effect # 1. Loss to Industry
• Expenses to be incurred on recruitment and training of new
worker who has been employed in place of an injured and
deceased worker.
• The cost of the period during which other workers to stop
working out of fear or out of sympathy with the worker
injured by an accident.
• More wages than the normal ones are to be paid on overtime,
in case the production work is held up, for honoring the
orders of customer in time.
• An accident has also its effect on the other workers. There is
a likelihood of occurrence of other accidents out of fear or
nervousness.
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
Effect # 2. Loss to Workers
• An industry suffers a lot on account of accidents. It affects
adversely the worker too. In fact the worker’s loss is far
more than the loss of others. Beside the economic loss,
worker has also to suffer more badly and in case of his
death, his family has no one to help. If he is unable to work
after the accident, he becomes a burden for his family.
Family losses the source of income and also to bear
increased expenses of his treatment.

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
Effect # 3. Loss to Consumer
• The cost of industrial accident is included in the
production cost and therefore, the accidents make an
increase in the production cost. This again leads to an
increase in the prices of commodities and consumer will
not be able to buy according to his need which will also
affect the standard of living of the consumers.

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

EFFECTS OF INDUSTRIAL
ACCIDENT
Effect # 4. Loss to Society
• If the worker dies or is rendered disabled on account
of the accident and the worker’s family become
helpless and the society has to come to its rescue.
The family of such worker has to depend upon the
aid of the donation given by the different
organisations and it is also a burden on the society.

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT
Length of Recovery
• First-Aid accidents
• Worker receives first-aid at plant hospital & then
return to job
• Lost time accidents
• Incident that has resulted in an employee needing to
miss work due to sustaining an injury while working
• Home-case accidents
• Workers loses reminder of shifts or turn on which the
accidents has occurred
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
TYPES OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT
Nature of Injury
• Fatal Accidents
• Accidents that could result in death of the injured
worker
• Temporary Disablement
• Accident that reduces the earning capacity of an
employee when he engaged in the injury
• Permanent Disablement
• Accident that reduces completely the earning capacity
of an employee
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CATEGORY OF INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

• Minor Accidents
• Reportable Accidents
• Fatal Accidents
• Accidents due to Dangerous Occurrence

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

MINOR ACCIDENTS

• Less harmful in nature to the worker

• Prevent employees from working for the period less
than 48 hours from the time of accidents
• Not reported to the higher management
• Easily control

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

REPORTABLE ACCIDENTS

• Little complicated than of minor accidents

• Here the injuries caused to the worker prevent him
from working for the period of 48 hours or more
• Here supervisor is responsible to report to the higher
management and arrange another worker so that the
production could not be affected

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

ACCIDENTS DUE TO THE
DANGEROUS OCCURRENCES
• Bursting of vessel for containing steam under
pressure greater than atmospheric pressure
• Failure of crank or other appliances
• Explosion of fire causing damage to any room or
place where person are employed
• Explosion of container used for storage of any gas or
liquid at a pressure greater than atmospheric
pressure.

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

CAUSES OF ACCIDENTS

• Technical

• Human

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TECHNICAL CAUSES

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 TECHNICAL FACTORS

• Mechanical Factors
• Unsafe mechanical design and construction
• Hazards arrangement
• Improper machine guarding
• Defective device
• Improper material handling
• Leakage

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

 TECHNICAL FACTORS
• Environmental Factors
• Two low and too high temperature to cause shivering
and sweating respectively
• Too high humidity to cause fatigue
• Inadequate rest and brakes between working hours
• Poor housekeeping noise
• Bad order and flash coming from near by machinery,
equipment or process etc

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

HUMAN CAUSE

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed

PERSONAL FACTORS
• Age
• Health
• Lack of knowledge & skill
• Improper attitudes towards work
• Emotional instability such as jealousy
• Mental worries
• Non use of safety device
• Working and safe speed
• Improper use of tools
Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed
 DISCUSSION

Dr Tasweer HUssain Syed