COMMON HAZARDS AT WORK PLACE

COMMON "HAZARDS" AT

 WORK PLACE 

There are many types of workplace hazards, which tend to come under four main categories:

• Physical hazards – the most common workplace hazards, including vibration, noise and slips, trips and falls;
• Ergonomic hazards – physical factors that harm the musculoskeletal system, such as repetitive movement, manual handling and poor body positioning;
• Chemical hazards – any hazardous substance that can cause harm to your employees;
• Biological hazards – bacteria and viruses that can cause health effects, such as hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and Legionnaire’s disease.

Common health risks:

Some of the most common health risks associated with workplace hazards include:

• breathing problems;
• skin irritation;
• damage to muscles, bones and joints;
• hearing damage;
• reduced well being. 

How to prevent workplace hazards

The best way to protect yourself and your employees from workplace hazards is to identify and manage them and take reasonable steps to prevent their potential to harm.

In order to control workplace hazards and eliminate or reduce the risk, you should take the following steps:

• identify the hazard by carrying out a workplace risk assessment;
• determine how employees might be at risk;
• evaluate the risks;
• record and review hazards at least annually, or earlier if something changes.

Seven ways to avoid potential safety hazards:

1. Turn the power off. There is one important thing to remember when working with any electrical device. 
2. Inform others. 
3. Lockout/tagout (LOTO). 
4. Stay away from wires . 
5. Maintain equipment. 
6. Wear personal protective equipment (PPE). 
7. Avoid arc flash areas.

To effectively control and prevent hazards, employers should:

• Involve workers, who often have the best understanding of the conditions that create hazards and insights into how they can be controlled.
• Identify and evaluate options for controlling hazards, using a "hierarchy of controls."
• Use a hazard control plan to guide the selection and implementation of controls, and implement controls according to the plan.
• Develop plans with measures to protect workers during emergencies and non-routine activities.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls to determine whether they continue to provide protection, or whether different controls may be more effective. Review new technologies for their potential to be more protective, more reliable, or less costly.

                               Hazard Identification & Risk Assessment 

Identify the hazard or hazards present, make an assessment of the risk associated with the hazard and identify control measures that should be implemented to eliminate or reduce the risk as far as is reasonably practicable. The emphasis is on doing a quantitative risk assessment, assigning a risk of High. Medium or Low and identifying the necessary controls.

Hazard: Anything in the workplace which can cause harm (eg. dangerous chemicals, electricity, working at heights, poor housekeeping). 

Risk: The likelihood, large or small, that someone will be harmed by the hazard, together with the severity of harm suffered. Risk also depends on the number of people exposed to the hazard.

 Severity: When considering a particular hazard, first ask yourself, ‘realistically, what is the worst that could happen?’ Is it minor injury or ill-health. Serious injury or ill-health, or could it even be death?

 Likelihood: Make a judgement about the chance or likelihood of that injury or ill-health actually happening, is it unlikely, highly likely, or somewhere in between? Be sure to take existing control measures into account. 

Risk Assessment: The careful examination of, what in your work, could cause harm to people, so that you can weigh up whether you have taken enough precautions or should do more to prevent harm. 

Simple numerical risk evaluation: Numbers can be assigned to describe the severity and the likelihood and these multiplied together give the risk rating for each hazard.

                                        Severity x Likelihood = Risk 

                     Severity x                      Likelihood                   = Risk 

1.         3 / Very harmful              3 / Very likely            6-9 / High
2.         2 / Harmful                      2 / Likely                   4-5 / Medium
3.        1 / Slightly harmful         1 / Unlikely                1-3 / Low

Likelihood:

1/Unlikely: Rare – May only occur in exceptional circumstances.

2/Likely: Possible – Might possibly occur at some time. 

3/Very likely: Probable – Expected to occur in most circumstances.

Severity (consequences):

 1 / Slightly harmful: Minor or no injury – no treatment or first aid only required. 

 2 / Harmful: Reversible injury – medical treatment required. 

 3 / Very harmful: Irreversible injury or death – hospitalisation or on-going medical treatment.

Risk Response: 

1-3 Low: Routinely manage or rectify in normal maintenance cycle. 

4-5 Medium: Specific management/procedures required, specific maintenance actions.

 6-9 High: Immediate action, senior management involvement, possibly stop work.

 

A video may make it clear to understand more about the Common Hazards At Workplace

(You May See The Video In The Link Given Below)

 https://youtu.be/4RKY9u-S8TU

               Some spots where most common hazards takes place are:-

 1.   In our Kitchen

2.  In warehouse

3. In Offices

• Biological: Include viruses, bacteria, insects, animals, etc., that can cause adverse health impacts. 
• Chemical: Include paints, drugs, cosmetics, cleaning chemicals, degreasers, detergents, gas cylinders, refrigerant gases.
• Physical: Explosive, Flammable, Oxidising, Gases under Pressure and Corrosive to metals.
• Safety: Anything that can cause spills or trips such as cords running across the floor or ice, Anything that can cause falls such as working from heights, including ladders, scaffolds, roofs, or any elevated work area, Unguarded and moving machinery parts that a worker can accidentally touch.
• Ergonomic: equipment layout and operation; lifting, pushing and pulling (manual handling);
• lighting; noise; systems and computer programs; task, job and workplace design; workstation design and height.
• Psychosocial: Excessive workloads; Conflicting demands and lack of role clarity; Lack of involvement in making decisions that affect the worker and lack of influence over the way the job is done; Poorly managed organisational change, job insecurity.

SAFETY HAZARDS

CHEMICAL HAZARDS

PHYSICAL HAZARDS