OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT Relationship between

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH: RISK ASSESSMENT

Relationship between Work and Health: Working conditions Which subjects are we addressing today? • Basic concepts in occupational health and safety. • How to manage the occupational health and safety problems? Workplace risk prevention and risk assessment 11/1/2020 2

Basic concepts in workplace health • • Health problems Harms Working conditions Hazard and Risks Factors Prevention 11/1/2020 3

Basic concepts in workplace health Health The World Health Organization (WHO) understands that you can not separate a persons different dimensions and therefore it defines health as being “…a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. ” 11/1/2020 4

Basic concepts in workplace health Health problems work accidents and occupational diseases • Occupational accident covers an occurrence arising out of, or in the course of, work which results in fatal or nonfatal injury Occupational disease covers any disease contracted as a result of an exposure to risk factors arising from work activity Commuting accident covers an accident resulting in death or personal injury occurring on the way to or from work. • • 11/1/2020 5

Basic concepts in workplace health Harms The direct or indirect degradation, temporary or permanent, of the physical, mental, or social well-being of workers. Every year more than 2 million people die from occupational accidents or workrelated diseases. About 270 million occupational accidents and 160 million cases of occupational disease. 6 11/1/2020

registration system: known health hazards/ harms Unknown health hazards/ harms 11/1/2020 7

Basic concepts in workplace health Working conditions Types of working conditions: • • Work place, machines and work equipment work environment task work organization All the characteristics that fix the way to carry out the tasks. 11/1/2020 8

Basic concepts in workplace health Hazard is the potential to cause harm. Risk is a measure of the likelihood of a specified harmful effect in specified circumstances. 11/1/2020 9

Basic concepts in workplace health • • • A hazard is something that can cause harm if not controlled. The outcome is the harm that results from an uncontrolled hazard. A risk is a combination of the probability that a particular outcome will occur and the severity of the harm involved. 11/1/2020 10

Risk value matrix Risk measurement= Probability (or Frequency) x Outcome severity 11/1/2020 11

Hazard classification Hazards are typically categorized into one of 6 groups: • 1. Safety: moving machinery, working from heights, slippery surfaces, mobile equipment, electrical, etc. 2. Ergonomic: material handling, environment, work organization, etc. 3. Chemical Agents 4. Biological Agents 5. Physical Agents: noise, lighting, radiation, etc. 6. Psychosocial: stress, violence, etc. • • • 11/1/2020 12

Basic concepts in workplace health Risks factors are inadequate working conditions. Potentially dangerous work conditions. 11/1/2020 13

Basic concepts in workplace health 11/1/2020 14

Basic concepts in workplace health Prevention Actions on the work conditions that have the objective to avoid health harm. Prevention is to act before something happens aiming to prevent it or to avoid its effects. In OSH, “prevention” means to avoid harm by acting on working conditions. Any health problem, even minimal, is a prevention failure. 11/1/2020 15

Basic concepts in workplace health ü ü ü OSH disciplines: Safety at work: prevent work accidents. Industrial hygiene: prevent the onset of occupational diseases. Psycho-sociology: control the risks related to work organization characteristics and company structures. Ergonomics: adapt work to the worker. Occupational medicine: monitor the workers state of health. 11/1/2020 16

Basic concepts in workplace health Remember § Endangering your health at work is not included in your pay. § Social inequalities also count in occupational health and safety. 11/1/2020 17

How to manage the workplace health problems? What is the solution for occupational risks? The solution is occupational risk prevention. 11/1/2020 18

Principles of occupational risk prevention 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 19 Avoiding risk: elimination or replace. Evaluating risk: risk assessment. Combating the risk at source. Adapting work to the requirements of the individual. Prevention must be incorporate in all business management. Adapting to technical progress. Developing a coherent overall prevention policy and planning the prevention actions. Giving priority to collective protective measures over individual protective measures. Promoting the workers participation: information, training and consulting… 11/1/2020

Basic risk prevention management 11/1/2020 20

Risk Assessment Ø An assessment of risks is a careful examination of what could cause harm to people. Ø An evaluation of whether the hazard is significant. Ø An analysis of whether enough precautions have been taken to prevent them. The aim is to make sure that no worker gets hurt or becomes ill. 11/1/2020 21

Risk Assessment Methods • General risk assessment methods: Checklist: safety-health and working conditions • Methods for specific risks assessment in depth. 11/1/2020 22

Risk Assessment Process The risk assessment process proposed is: • • Consider the task and processes Identify the hazards (triangle of danger) Identify who is at risk (why) Analyse and evaluate the risk against the severity (priority: traffic light) Decide the control measures Implement the control measures Monitor the control measures Review the process 11/1/2020 23

Risk value matrix Risk measurement= Probability (or Frequency) x Outcome severity Traffic light 11/1/2020 24

Root causes of risks: example noise 11/1/2020 25

About the principle “combating the risk at source” Levels of prevention: • at the point of origin or source • during transmission • at reception, on the worker 11/1/2020 26

Remember • Risks have their origin in working conditions. • Health problems are caused by exposure to these risks. • Therefore, to eliminate these health problems preventive measures have to act on working conditions. 11/1/2020 27

Some material to “change” § Barefoot research: http: //www. ilo. org/public/english/protection/ses/info/publ/barefoot. htm#line The manual has been developed to help empower workers to increase their level of control over their own work situations, to protect their health and well being, and to improve their level of basic security. § Work Improvements in Small Enterprises (WISE) http: //www. ilo. org/travail/whatwedo/instructionmaterials/lang-en/doc. Name--WCMS_152468/index. htm Work Improvements in Small Enterprises (WISE), also known as "Higher Productivity and a Better Place to Work", is a programme developed by the ILO to assist small and mediumsized enterprises in improving working conditions and productivity using simple, effective and affordable techniques 11/1/2020 that provide direct benefits to owners and workers. 28

Thank you! www. istas. ccoo. es agari@istas. ccoo. es 11/1/2020 29