UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION

TO OSH
Module 1: OSH and the BOSH Framework
 OBJECTIVES
- have an overview of the BOSH Course and the importance of
safety and health
- define OSH and its three major fields – Occupational Safety,
Occupational Health and Industrial Hygiene
- Identify work hazards and risks and recommend control
measures to reduce or eliminate work-related accidents and
illness
- Acquire basic knowledge & skills on OSH, such as safe work
practices, that will enable you to plan/develop your company’s
Safety and Health program.
 What is Occupational
Safety and Health (OSH)?
The study of trends in illnesses and injuries
among the working population, as well as
the development and implementation of
policies and procedures to prevent them,
Occupational safety and health is a
discipline with a broad scope involving
three major fields – Occupational Safety,
Occupational Health and Industrial
Hygiene.
Occupational safety - deals with understanding the causes of
accidents at work and ways to prevent unsafe act and unsafe
conditions in any workplace.

Occupational health - is a broad concept which explains how

the different hazards and risks at work may cause an illness and
emphasizes that health programs are essential in controlling
work-related and/or occupational diseases.

Industrial hygiene - discusses the identification, evaluation, and

control of physical, chemical, biological and ergonomic hazards
OSH aims at:
• the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of
physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all
occupations;

• the prevention of adverse health effects of the working

conditions

• the placing and maintenance of workers in an occupational

environment adapted to physical and mental needs;

• the adaptation of work to humans (and NOT the other way

around).
In other words, occupational health
and safety encompasses the social,
mental and physical well-being of
workers, that is, the “whole person”.
Successful occupational health and safety
practice requires the collaboration and
participation of both employers and workers
in health and safety programs, and involves
the consideration of issues relating to
occupational medicine, industrial hygiene,
toxicology, education, engineering safety,
ergonomics, psychology, etc.
Occupational health issues are often given less attention than
occupational safety issues because the former are generally
more difficult to confront. When health is addressed, so is
safety - a healthy workplace is by definition also a safe
workplace. The reverse may not be true - a so-called safe
workplace is not necessarily also a healthy workplaces.
Occupational safety and health should be integrated in every
step of the work process, starting from storage and use of raw
materials, to manufacture and release of products. The hazards
affecting the workplace under each major area should be
detected, identified, controlled and, at best, prevented from
occurring.
 HAZARDS
A source or situation with a potential to cause harm
in terms of injury, ill health, damage to property,
damage to the environment or a combination of
these.
 RISK
a combination of the likelihood of an occurrence
of a hazardous event with specified period or in
specified circumstances and the severity of
injury or damage to the health of people,
property, environment or any combination of
these caused by the event.
The hazards affecting the
workplace under each major area
should be detected, identified,
controlled and, at best,
prevented from occurring by the
safety and health officer of the
company.
Module 2: OSH Situation
in the Global and Local
Levels
Objectives:

- articulate a heightened awareness of the OSH

situation, both local and international

- identify the problems, issues and challenges

associated with OSH conditions in the country
During the industrial revolution of 1800 –
1900s, the use of machines, equipment and
chemicals were intensive as manufacturing
processes, agriculture and train/steam
engine transport were the driving force of
the economy.
During the industrial revolution of 1800 –
1900s, numerous work-related accidents
and deaths occurred arising from hazards in
these industries. Statistics, at that time,
showed that safety hazards, chemical
exposures and injuries from manufacturing
work were very high. This led to the
development of guidelines and standards to
protect workers.
As work patterns change, trends on
accidents and diseases may also reflect
how workers are affected. In the late 20th
century and until the present, we see a
predominance of the service sector. The
emergence of ergonomics is to be
discussed at length in the Occupational
Health module.
 Global OSH figures
Fatality rates among agricultural workers are
five to six times higher than in industrialized
nations and in developing countries. Every
year, around 170,000 agricultural workers and
320,000 people die from exposure to biological
risks such as viral, bacterial, insect or animal
related risks. The ILO Safework Introductory
Report in 2008 showed that close to 50% of
work-related deaths occur in Asia.
 The latest ILO
figures reveal that
“Every 15 seconds, 160
workers have a work-
related accident. Every 15
seconds, a worker dies
from a work-related
accident or disease.
Every day, 6,300 people die as
a result of occupational
accidents or work-related
diseases – more than 2.3
million deaths per year. The
economic burden of poor
occupational safety and
health practices is estimated
at 4% of global Gross
Domestic product each year.
Safety and health conditions at
work are very different between
countries, economic sectors and
social groups. Deaths and injuries
take a heavy toll in developing
countries, where a large part of
the population is engaged in
hazardous activities. Throughout
the world, the poorest and least
protected – often women, children
and migrants – are among the
most affected.
Philippine
Labor and
OSH
statistics
 According to the latest Labor Force Survey (LFS) of
the National Statistics Office (NSO), the Philippine
labor force/ economically active population, which
refers to persons 15 years old and above who are
employed or underemployed, totals 38.905M in
October 2010.

Most of those who worked in the service sector were

into wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles
and personal and household goods.
 The majority (54.4%) of the employed
were wage and salary workers, most of
whom were in private establishments.
Thirty percent were self-employed
without any paid employee, four percent
were employer in own family-operated
business or farm. The rest of the major
occupation groups each comprised less
than 10 percent.
 More than half (63.5%) of the total
employed were full time workers or have
worked for at least 40 hours per week.
The lowest underemployment rate was
observed in Central Luzon (9.1%) while the
highest was noted in Bicol Region
(36.8%).
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
an unexpected and unplanned occurrence, including acts of violence arising
Occupational accident out of or in connection with work which results in one or more workers
incurring a personal injury, disease or death.

an injury which results from a work-related event or a single

Occupational injury instantaneous exposure in the work environment (occupational
accident).

Temporary incapacity
case where an injured person was absent from work for at least one day, excluding the day of the
accident, and 1) was able to perform again the normal duties of the job or position occupied at the
time of the occupational accident or 2) will be able to perform the same job but his/her total
absence from work is expected not to exceed a year starting the day after the accident, or 3) did not
return to the same job but the reason for changing the job is not related to his/her inability to
perform the job at the time of the occupational accident.
 DEFINITION OF TERMS
case where an injured person was absent from work for at least one day,
Permanent incapacity excluding the day of the accident, and 1) was never able to perform again the
normal duties of the job or position occupied at the time of the occupational
accident, or 2) will be able to perform the same job but his/her total absence
from work is expected to exceed a year starting the day after the accident.

Fatal case case where a person is fatally injured as a result of occupational

accident whether death occurs immediately after the accident or within
the same reference year as the accident.
 Definition of Terms:

Frequency Rate (FR) – refers to cases of occupational injuries with

workdays lost per 1,000,000 employee-hours of exposure.

Incidence Rate (IR) – refers to cases of occupational injuries with

workdays lost per 1,000 workers.

Severity Rate (SR) – refers to workdays lost of cases of occupational

injuries resulting to temporary incapacity per 1,000,000 employee-hours
of exposure.

Average Workdays Lost – refer to workdays lost for every case of

occupational injury resulting to temporary incapacity.
 Emerging issues in OSH

Women worker’s Osh and child

issues labor

Osh in the informal

agriculture
sector

schools Lifestyle diseases

The hazards that a women worker is exposed to while at work
can affect her reproductive health and for a pregnant worker,
her unborn child. These may also affect her performance at the
workplace and add to the stresses that come with working in a
male-dominated industry.
There are 250 million child laborers around the world of which
3.7 million are found in the Philippines. Of these, 2.2M are in
hazardous jobs. Employing children in these types of work
greatly affects the quality of their life and in serious cases, may
even cause serious disabilities or death.
The use of pesticides in farms is also another issue. Farmers or
farm workers who handle pesticides may be unaware of the
hazards that they are exposed to. Constant exposure of a
worker, has enormous adverse effects his or her health.
Workers handling pesticides may even bring home residues of
the chemicals and, affecting their families and the community.
There is also little mechanism on OSH for the informal sector
considering that they represent more than half of the total
workforce and is the sector badly in need of OSH information
since they have the tendency to ignore such concerns just to get
their daily incomes.
In schools, students are also exposed to hazards such as
chemicals and electricity, while bullying and hazing (both
psycho-social issues) are becoming more common. Many school
buildings are also risks themselves.
Although the number of work-related accidents and illnesses
has decreased in the recent years here in the Philippines, cases
of occupational injuries and diseases continue to occur.

Everyone must therefore be involved in the effort to contain

OSH concerns to enhance one’s working life. After all, most of us
work mainly for economic purposes - “ang hanap-buhay ay para
ikabuhay, hindi para ikamatay.”
 GROUP 1: BES 105
(MODULE 1 &2)

Corbeta, Frenzeslei M.
Juablar, Clarence
Alguno, Marlo
Mendoza, Roderick