Introduction To Occupational Safety
- 2. WHAT IS IT? Part of larger discipline of Occupational Safety and Health Which is part of Public Health Aimed at preventing accidents and injuries in the workplace
- 3. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH TEAM Safety Specialist Prevention of accidents and injury Every facility should have someone dedicated to this position either full time in larger facilities or as one of their assigned duties Industrial hygienist Prevention of occupational disease Anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of chemical, physical (noise, heat, radiation, etc) and biological hazards arising in or from the workplace Not every facility needs a full-time IH
- 4. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH TEAM Occupational Health Nurse Provides treatment for minor injuries Helps run the health and safety program Occupational Health Physician Provides treatment as needed Helps run the health and safety program
- 5. OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH TEAM Other potential team member Ergonomist Occupational Health Psychologist Human Resource Specialist Toxicologist Epidemiologist
- 6. SOME BASIC TERMS Accident – an unplanned event that disrupts the completion of an activity Injuries may or may not be involved Hazard – an existing or potential condition in the workplace that can result in injury, illness, death or property damage
- 7. WORKER – EQUIPMENT –ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM This is the system of job performance that leads to the completion of a task Worker functions Sensing Information processing Controlling Equipment (and materials) Should be properly designed maintained and used
- 8. WORKER – EQUIPMENT –ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM Environment Layout Housekeeping Conditions: lighting, temperature, humidity, noise, vibrations These three components of the system interact to produce job performance and tack completion
- 9. WORKER – EQUIPMENT –ENVIRONMENT SYSTEM While we will look at accident theory in a little more detail later… Accidents can often be linked to an imbalance in this system or a failure in one of the components
- 10. SOME PERSPECTIVE In the US and other developed countries occupational safety and health has come a long way However in much of the world, the working conditions are still horrible. To wrap up this introductory module you will view a video on the shipbreaking industry and discuss it on the discussion board.