PRINCE DAVID ART M.

TOLEDO ENGR 2120

BSCE 2-1 ASSIGNMENT #3

Search the web for a recent job related incident resulting to health issue or
injuries arising from workers performing their job. List at least 10 such incidents.
What are the different causes resulting the health issue or injuries? What actions
can be done to prevent such incidents from happening.

1. Slips, Trips and Falls (Bodily injury, broken bones, permanent disability)
• Slippery and cluttered floors and working surfaces. When working at heights:
Use proper safety equipment; Follow safe work practices; Keep the floors free
from clutter, debris and spills; Clean up spills immediately.
2. Noise (Hearing loss, Stress, Annoyance)
• Noisy machines Buy quieter machines and equipment. Build enclosures and
barriers to stop noise from reaching people. Wear ear protection. Reduce exposure
time.
3. Hot Environments (Heat stroke, Heat Syncope (fainting))
• Working near furnaces. Summer outdoor work Dress in light loose clothing to
allow sweat evaporation. Acclimatize yourself at a slow pace before starting
full work. Pace your work or play to avoid over-exertion. Drink plenty of water
frequently even if you are not thirsty. Take rest in a cool place or shade if you
feel very hot. Ask for training to recognize symptoms of heat stroke. Seek
immediate medical help if you notice that someone might be getting heat
stroke.
4. Fires (Burns, inhalation of toxic fumes)
• Chemical reactions, heat, ignition, electrical short circuit, static electricity,
friction. Follow fire prevention rules. Set off alarm and leave the house or
school as soon as possible. Call 911 for help.
5. Job dissatisfaction
Some people experience job dissatisfaction because they are unhappy or unsafe at
work. Previous choices or life circumstances can limit a person’s ability to change
their employment.
• People who are unhappy in their jobs may have problems such as:
• Conflict with bosses or workmates
• Bullying, discrimination or harassment
• Boredom • Overwork, stress or safety issues
• No promotion prospects • Poor pay. The cost of workers’ compensation
claims for stress-related conditions in Australia is very high.

Common causes of work-related stress include long hours, heavy workload, job
insecurity and conflicts with co-workers or bosses. On a strictly business level,
workplace conflict leads to downturns in productivity and increases in
absenteeism. It is in an organization’s best interests to ensure that employees are
happy at work. Paying attention to your ‘work–life balance’ can help you manage
work-related stress. Burnout can occur when a person strives too hard in one area
of life while neglecting everything else. ‘Workaholics’, for example, put all their
energies into their career, which can put their family life, social life and personal
interests out of balance.
6. Exposure to animals and vegetation
• For example, those working in agriculture or horticulture, people working in
zoos or as dog handlers, are at risk of encountering bacteria, fungi, viruses
and mites off the animals and vegetation they work around. If not properly
controlled, this exposure can result in a range of health impacts, including
allergic diseases such as farmer’s lung.
Zoonotic diseases are diseases that can be passed from animals to humans, such as
rabies and plague. Preventing these diseases in humans can often be achieved
through education and avoidance of direct contact with wildlife or with wildlife
feces and urine.
7. Welding fumes
 • Welding activities pose many hazards, including exposure to invisible
gaseous fumes. These fumes include ozone, nitrogen oxides, chromium and
nickel oxides, and carbon monoxide. Exposure to these gases can cause
serious health impacts, including Pneumonia, occupational asthma, cancer,
metal fume fever and respiratory irritation. If not properly controlled, the
fumes can impact the welder and anyone working in the vicinity.
Simple steps can minimize exposure:
• Wear a respirator.
• Don’t stand in before air flow pushing fumes away from your workspace.
• Position your face as far from fumes as possible.
• Use a small cooling fan if no air flow moves fumes from your workspace,.
• Use any provided ventilation systems.
• When possible, remove any coatings and paint from the metal prior to
welding. This will avoid production of other toxic gases that may be
produced under fusion of those coatings.
• If welding in confined spaces with no extraction ventilation system or if
welding fumes cannot be avoided, wear a respirator with good filtration.
8. Harassment.
• Harassment is a result of someone acting in a way that makes you feel
intimated, humiliated, offended or otherwise distressed, and can have
serious impacts on a person’s health and wellbeing. For example, bullying
in the workplace is surprisingly common and can pose a serious
psychosocial hazard. Bullying behavior can result in the bullied individual
experiencing several psychosocial symptoms, including stress, anxiety and
sleep deprivation, loss of appetite and a sense of vulnerability.
Make Sure Employees Understand What Constitutes Harassment at Work
Approach it with a Prevention-Focused Outlook
Enlist Employees as Allies
Keep the Legalese to a Minimum
Make Preventing Workplace Harassment a Process, Not an Event
9. Vibration.
 • Long term use of vibrating tools can have serious health impacts including
vibration white finger, sensory nerve damage, carpel tunnel syndrome and
muscle and joint injuries.
Protecting workers from the effects of vibration usually requires a combination of
appropriate tool selection, the use of appropriate vibration-absorbing materials (in
gloves, for example), good work practices, and education programs.
Safe Work Practices
Along with using anti-vibration tools and gloves, workers can reduce the risk of
hand arm vibration syndrome (HAVS) by following work practices:
• Use a minimum strength hand grip that still allows the safe operation of the
tool or process.
• Wear sufficient clothing, including gloves, to keep warm.
• Avoid continuous exposure by taking rest periods.
• Rest the tool on the work piece whenever practical.
• Do not use faulty tools.
• Maintain tools properly. Tools that are worn, blunt or out of alignment will
vibrate more.
• Consult a doctor at the first sign of vibration disease and ask about the
possibility of changing to a job with less exposure.
10.Unguarded machinery.
• Unguarded moving machinery parts pose a safety hazard as employees can
sustain serious injury and fatalities if they were to accidentally come into
contact with them. For example, clothes, lanyards, hair or body parts could
become entangled in unguarded machinery and can result in bruising,
broken bones, loss of limbs, head injuries and death.
Preventing injuries when using work equipment or machines
Employers have a duty to take adequate steps to prevent injuries when using work
equipment. Risks from work equipment can be reduced in a number of ways.
Risk assessments
Remove the hazard
Safety design and controls:
It is important that all work equipment has proper safety controls built-in to the
design. Well design work equipment should have:

• suitable operating controls that are easy to see and use

• operating controls that prevent machines from being accidentally turned on
• suitable emergency stop controls
• ‘fail to safety systems’ which prevent the machine operating if there is a
fault
• a way of disconnecting the equipment from its power source
Guards on work equipment and machinery
Regular maintenance and inspection of work equipment
Use of personal protective equipment and clothing
How to Manage Hazards in Your Workplace
If you neglect your responsibility to protect your employees, you could face
financial and/or custodial penalties. Therefore, it’s vital that you properly manage
all your workplace hazards. This article should have helped you to identify and
consider more obscure hazards, but it’s important that you take further steps to
protect you employees. For example, you should:
• Carry out an appropriate risk assessment for the nature of the work and
hazards. We have provided some downloadable templates for you to use
throughout this article. You can find more, including those that are relevant
to your industry, by searching on the Hub
• Introduce appropriate control measures. Once you have completed your risk
assessment, you must introduce controls to reduce or eliminate the
identified hazards. For example, you may be able to avoid work at height
completely when window cleaning by using extension poles or, if those are
inappropriate, you could reduce the risks by installing fall prevention
equipment.
• Appropriately train all your employees in their duties. All employees should
have basic Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3 Health and Safety Training or Office
Safety Training, in addition to training for any specific workplace hazards.
https://www.highspeedtraining.co.uk/hub/hazards-in-the-workplace/
https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/work-and-your-health
https://www.ccohs.ca/teach_tools/phys_hazards/phys_intro.html