TOPIC 1 OSH Fiundamentals

TOPIC: OSH FUNDAMENTALS
OSH is important based on 3 arguments:
1) it is the right thing to do,
2) it is the smart thing to do, and
3) it is the law.
The first argument – right thing to do – is based on ethical principle in that the employer, while earning
profit, has the moral obligation to protect employees from accidents and illnesses. Workers have the
right to safe and healthful workplace.
The second argument – the smart thing to do – is based on the economic principle in that no business
owner wants accidents because accidents and illnesses impose a massive cost to business. They not only
lower productivity, but in the worst case, can even end the business.
The third argument – it is the law – is based on the legal principle in that employers violating the
provisions of the law are imposed penalties and can be issued work stoppage orders by the appropriate
authorities.
OSH is a strong business case. Investing in the prevention of accidents and ill-health is one of the best
decisions a business organization can do because they cost time and money. The fact is, many
businesses do not recognize the costs as most of them are indirect and hidden.
Only a fraction of the whole cost is actually seen, like an iceberg. The costs of accidents and illnesses
that are easily seen are called direct or recoverable costs while those which are hidden are the indirect
or unrecoverable costs. Indirect costs are usually many times greater than the direct costs. In fact,
uninsured losses are ten times the cost of insurance premiums according to HSE-UK (ROSPA).
The following are examples of indirect or hidden costs:
Lost time
Sick pay
Damage of products
Repairs of equipment
Extra wages
Production delays
Investigation time
Fines
Lost contracts
Legal costs
Other key points to consider:
Serious accidents can be critical to meeting contract deadlines.

Losing key personnel can spell the end of the business altogether.
Loss of business reputation can lead to loss of new or repeat business.
Accidents can damage workforce morale.
Workers engaged in administrative and support service activities reported the highest share of cases
with occupational diseases with 31.8 percent. Followed by manufacturing industry (28.9%) and
wholesale and retail trade; repair of motorcycles (9.6%).
Profile of Most Commonly Injured Worker
Male
Married
26-30 years’ old
With 1 to 5 years work experience
Assigned in the first shift
Accidents are “occurrences or events that are unexpected, unforeseen, unplanned and unwanted which
result to damage, injury, loss or death”. Incidents, on the other hand, are “events, which under slightly
different circumstances, may have resulted in injury or ill health, or damage or loss to property, plant,
materials or the environment or a loss of business opportunity” (HSE-UK).
Example: Accident
A window cleaner dropping a bucket from a height, which caused injury to a person underneath, would
be classed as an accident.
Example: Incident
A window cleaner dropping a bucket from a height, which just missed a person standing underneath,
would be classed as a “near-miss” incident. This incident did not cause an injury to a person but, under
slightly different circumstances (the person standing nearer to the contact point) the person may have
been injured.
The System Theory of Accident Causation proposes that work is a system composed a group of regularly
interacting and interrelated components such as people,
equipment/machineries/tools, materials and environment as shown in the figure below. The likelihood for
an accident to occur is dependent on how these components interact. Each component or a combination
of these components are considered source of hazard that can either cause injury or illness to the worker
after being exposed.
Example: An inexperienced worker who temporarily replaces a competent operator of a machine has
increased probability of figuring an accident.
It takes a hazard and someone exposed to the hazard to produce an accident.
(Hazard + Exposure = Accident/Incident).
What is a Hazard?
“A hazard is any source of potential damage, harm or adverse health effects on something or someone”
(CCOSH). Harm is referred to as physical injury or damage to health.
Generally, there are 2 classification of hazards: Safety and Health, hence the term OSH. Safety hazards
are something that has potential for injury while health hazards are something that has potential for
illness.
Types of Hazards
A common way to classify hazard is by category: biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic, psychosocial
and safety hazards.
Examples of Hazards
What is Exposure (to Hazards)?
A state of being where a worker is within the “danger zone” in which way the worker is in a position of
imminent danger (Safeopodia). Example: a maintenance worker performing task in less than 10 feet
away from a live wire.
Exposure to hazards can be:
 Physical – when a worker is generally within arm’s length (example: unguarded rotating
machine)
 Environmental – when a worker is an unhealthy atmosphere (example: extremely hot
working area)
Types of Accidents
1. Fall to:
 lower level
 same level
2. Caught:
 on
 in
 in between
3. Struck:
 against
 by
4. Contact with:
 chemicals
 electricity
 heat/cold
 radiation
5. Rubbed or abraded by:
 friction
 pressure
 vibration
Fatalism which is a belief that accidents are bound to happen are not the real causes of accidents
because the real and immediate causes are 1) unsafe acts which accounts for 88 percent and 2) unsafe
conditions which accounts for 10 percent (W.H. Heinrich).
Unsafe Acts are “any human action that violates a commonly accepted work procedure” (American
National Standards Institute).
Examples of unsafe acts are:
 Operating Equipment without Authority

 Disregard of SOP or instructions
 Removing Safety Devices
 Using Defective equipment
 Using PPEs improperly
 Horseplay
 Willful intent to injure
 Working while under the influence of alcohol or drugs
Factors Contributing to Unsafe Acts
 Improper Attitude
 Physical Limitations
 Lack of Knowledge or Skills
Unsafe conditions are “physical or chemical property of a material, machine or the environment which
could result in injury to a person, damage or destruction to property or other forms of losses” (American
National Standards Institute).
Examples of unsafe conditions:
 Slippery and wet floors

 Dusty work area
 Congested plant lay-out
 Octopus wiring
 Unguarded rotating machines
 Protruding nails/sharp objects
 Scattered objects in the work area
Can Accidents be Prevented?
Answer: YES.
And the truth is most accidents happen because they have not been prevented! According to W.H.
Heinrich accidents are 98 percent preventable and 2 percent non-preventable. How are accidents
prevented?
This course is focused on controlling hazards and managing exposure as a way to prevent accidents and
ill-health in the workplace.
OSH is an issue that is rooted on something beyond Unsafe Acts and Unsafe Conditions. “Behind every
unsafe condition, there is a management that allowed that hazard to exist and behind every unsafe
behavior, there is a management system and organizational culture that leads people to act unsafely”
(Dan Petersen, as quoted by Steve Minter).
That leads to the Multiple Causation Theory of Accident arguing that a single accident has multiple
causes. The theory considers unsafe acts and unsafe conditions together with human errors as the
immediate causes of accidents. And behind those immediate causes, there is system failure and
personal beliefs as root causes (Hartshorn).
All workplaces have some degree of hazards that can possibly cause accidents and ill-health to workers.
Occupational safety and health is one of the leading concerns both globally and locally.
Accidents and ill-health are costly that most business owners do not easily recognize.
Accidents and ill-health can be prevented by controlling hazards and managing exposure to hazards.
All accidents and ill-health are caused. Identifying these causes are helpful to control hazards

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TOPIC: OSH FUNDAMENTALS

OSH is important based on 3 arguments:

1) it is the right thing to do,

2) it is the smart thing to do, and

The following are examples of indirect or hidden costs:

Serious accidents can be critical to meeting contract deadlines.

Profile of Most Commonly Injured Worker

It takes a hazard and someone exposed to the hazard to produce an accident.

(Hazard + Exposure = Accident/Incident).

What is Exposure (to Hazards)?

Exposure to hazards can be:

Examples of unsafe acts are:

 Operating Equipment without Authority

Examples of unsafe conditions:

 Slippery and wet floors

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