Occupational Health and Safety

LECTURE 1 – Introduction to course

INSTRUCTOR: ASST. PROF. DR. SEVKET C. BOSTANCI

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 Course Content

Lecture Topic
Topic 1 Introduction
Topic 2 History
Topic 3 Safety Legislation
Topic 4 Compensation and Recordkeeping
Topic 5 Product Safety and Safety Related Business Laws
Topic 6 Accident Causes and Investigations
Topic 7 Personnel Involved in OCSH
Topic 8 Ergonomic Risk Factors
Topic 9 Organizational Emergency Preparedness

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 Course Content (cont`d)
Lecture Topic
Topic 10 External Force: Terrorism
Topic 11 Workplace Health and Safety - Physical Hazards
Topic 12 Workplace Health and Safety - Chemical
Hazards
Topic 13 Workplace Health and Safety - Electrical Hazards
Topic 14 Workplace Health and Safety - Biological
Hazards
Topic 15 Workplace Health and Safety - Psychological
Hazards
Topic 16 Workplace Health and Safety - Naturally
Occurring Hazards
Topic 17 Controlling Hazards

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 Objectives
• Explain the importance of occupational safety and health

• Identify key historical figures that have contributed to the profession

• Define terminology used in occupational safety and health

• List job titles of individuals performing occupational safety and health activities

• Identify roles and responsibilities of safety and health professional

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 Occupational Health and Safety (OSH)
▪ Preserving and protecting human and facility resources in the workplace

▪ Practitioners in the field try to prevent needless deaths and injuries to workers

▪ Occupational safety and health involves helping people by preventing them from
being injured or becoming ill due to hazards in their workplaces.

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 OSH (cont`d)
• Occupational safety and health is also a field wherein professionals
attempt to prevent catastrophic losses.

• Occupational safety and health is also the management function in an

organization concerned with improving its quality and efficiency.

• Safety professionals consider the way products are moved from place to
place and are concerned with reducing lifting injury exposures, while
minimizing product movement.

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 OSH (cont`d)
• Professionals attempt to eliminate property and facility damage, waste,
and costs that lessen an organization’s ability to operate profitably.

• In practice, occupational safety and health includes moral and economic

issues. There is also a legal compulsion for companies to promote
occupational safety and health.

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 OSH (cont`d)
• For example; The United States government and governments worldwide require
protection of employees from hazards that may result in injury, illness, or death.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970,commonly known as the
OSH Act, every employer in the United States is required to provide a safe and
healthful workplace.

• For some employers the responsibility to protect human life is not as important as
other goals.
- A company may focus on productivity and profits
- Its managers may view illnesses and injuries as a routine part of the job.
- In reality the amount of production required to cover costs associated with
accidents in the workplace can be substantial.

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 OSH (cont`d)
• The role of the safety professional requires him or her to monitor
workplace conditions and advise management on the importance of
making critical corrections for moral, legal, and economic reasons.
The effective safety professional will convince management that
providing a safe and healthy working environment is the right thing to
do.

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 Importance of Occupational Safety and Health
• Economically, morally, and legally, occupational safety and health has become an
important issue. Companies are attempting to remain profitable in an ever more
competitive global economy.

• For these companies, addressing safety, health, and environmental issues may mean
more than good business practice. Strong, safety, health, and environmental
programs may actually mean survival.

• The costs associated with losses number can be stated with the billions of dollars.
The staggering numbers of people involved in these accidents are a real concern.

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• Employers with poor safety and health records must also deal with
rising medical insurance costs as well as unfavorable workers’
compensation premiums. Unfortunately, many employers have not
had to bear the full cost of injuring and killing members of their
workforces. Workers, uninformed and unaware of their legal rights,
have been forced to shoulder the costs of the business not operating
safely.

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 Why is OSH needed?
Usually, consequences of not addressing safety and health have to do with
why OSH is addressed by employers. These consequences include but are
not limited to the following:
• Injury or illness to members of the workforce
• Loss of profit
• Loss of credibility as a responsible company
• Liability of not addressing safety and health
• Loss of productivity
• Loss of employees due to danger, risk, injury, illness, death, or unsafe/unhealthy work environment
• Decrease of employee morale
• Damage to or loss of capital investment (e.g., equipment or facilities)
• Decrease in reputation and integrity of the company
• View that the company does not exhibit good business practices
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Many why questions can be posed
regarding the need for OSH, such as the • Why are hazards identified?
following: • Why are interventions and controls utilized?
• Why address OSH? • Why is training and education a part of OSH?
• Why develop an OSH program? • Why is management of OSH important?
• Why is involvement crucial? • Why are the Occupational Safety and Health
• Why is behavior important? Administration’s regulations an important
component?
• Why is action required?
• Why is a safe and healthy workplace important?
• Why are the varied components and elements of the
OSH initiative undertaken? • Why are safety and health incentives as important
as rewards and bonuses for production?
• Why are accidents and incidents tracked?
• Why is communication is important for achieving
• Why are occupational illnesses tracked? OSH?

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• Philosophy is a critical study of the basic principles and concepts of a particular branch of knowledge
as an integral part of conducting business while assuring that an understanding of those principles and
concepts is being applied in a manner that provides a safe and healthy workplace for the workforce.

• A number of data systems and estimates exist to describe the nature and magnitude of occupational
injuries and illnesses, all of which have advantages as well as limitations. Estimates generated from
these sources generally are thought to underestimate the true extent of occupational disease, but the
scientific community recognizes them as the best available information.

• Current data systems are not sufficient to monitor disparities in health-related occupational injuries
and illnesses. Efforts will be made over the coming decade to improve surveillance systems and data
points that may allow evaluation of safety and health disparities for work-related illnesses, injuries,
and deaths.

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 The Components of Safety and Health Initiatives
1. Hazard recognition, evaluation, and control
2. Workplace design and engineering
3. Safety performance management
4. Regulatory compliance management
5. Occupation health
6. Information collection
7. Employee involvement
8. Motivation, behavior, and attitudes
9. Training and orientation
10. Organizational communications
11. Management and control of external exposures
12. Environmental management
13. Workplace planning and staffing
14. Assessments, audits, and evaluation
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Some of the other factors affecting OSH, which should be addressed as an employer
develops and implements an OSH program, are as follows:

• Management factors:
- Management commitment as reflected by management involvement in aspects of
the safety and health program in a formal way and employers’ resources committed to
employers’ safety and health program.

- Management adherence to principles of good management in the utilization of

resources (people, machinery, and materials), supervision of employees, and production
planning and monitoring.

- Designated safety and health personnel reporting directly to top management as

well as duties and responsibilities from mangers, supervisors, and employees.
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• Motivational factors:
- Humanistic approach to interacting with employees
- High levels of employee/supervisor contact
- Efficient production planning.

• Hazard control factors:

- Effort to improve workplace safety and health
- Continuing development of employees
- Clean working environment
- Regular, frequent inspections

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• Illness and injury investigations and record-keeping factors:
- Investigation of all incidents of illness and injury as well as non-lost-time
accidents
- Recording of all first-aid cases

There are so many elemental parts to OSH. It can be overwhelming and much too
complex. But, business or industry must take the principles and philosophies that
meet their individual needs and tailor them to their safety and health initiative.

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• The following is a list of other areas that need consideration when
developing an OSH effort:

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 References
• Friend, M.A. and Kohn, J.P. (2007) Fundamentals of Occupational Safety and Health. 4th ed.,
Government Institutes. The Scarecrow Press, USA.

• Koradecka, D. (2010) Handbook of Occupational Safety and Health. Taylor and Francis Group.
CRC Press, USA.

• Reese, C.D. (2016) Occupational Health and Safety Management – A Practical Approach. 3rd
ed. Taylor and Francis Group. CRC Press, USA.

• Reese, C.D. (2017) Occupational Safety and Health – Fundamental Principles and
Philosophies. Taylor and Francis Group. CRC Press, USA.

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