Health and Safety - Chapter 1 Flashcards
Occupational health and safety (OH&S)
The identification, evaluation, and control of hazards associated with the work environment
hazard
Any source of potential adverse health effect on or damage or harm to something or someone under certain conditions at work.
Hazards include chemical, biological, physical, and psychological agents
occupational injury
Any cut, fracture, sprain, or amputation resulting from a workplace incident.
occupational illness
any abnormal condition or disorder caused by exposure to environmental factors associated with employment. For example, a firefighter might develop cancer following exposure to chemicals in fire retardants
Lost-Time Injury
A workplace injury that results in the employee missing time from work
Brown Lung (byssinosis)
A disease of the lungs caused by excessive inhalation of dust; the disease is in the pneumoconiosis family and often afflicts textile workers
Assumption of Risk
The belief that a worker accepted the risks of employment with he or she accepted the job
Accident Proneness
The notion that some individuals are inherently more likely than others to be involved in accidents, as a result of individual characteristics
Due Diligence
An expected standard of conduct that requires employers to take every reasonable precaution to ensure safety
Internal Responsibility System (IRS)
The system of shared responsibility for health and safety that is the basis for most Canadian OHS legislation
The Three Es
A traditional approach to occupational health and safety that emphasized engineering, education, and enforcement
Three principal rights of workers
- the right to refuse dangerous work without penalty 2. the right to participate in identifying and correcting health and safety problems
- the right to know about hazards in the workplace
The World Health Organization defines a healthy workplace in terms of four elements:
- health and safety, 2. the psychosocial environment, 3. personal health resources, and 4. enterprise community involvement.
Direct and Indirect Costs of Injury
A construction worker falls 3 metres off an unguarded scaffold and lands on the main floor, breaking his ankle and forearm. The direct costs of the injury include the time spent in investigating the incident, damaged equipment, and the finding/training of a replacement worker, and are estimated at $2530. This estimate does not include the indirect costs, which include things like a potential increase in Workers’ Compensation Board assessment and the potential fines and legal costs associated with allowing an unsafe condition in the workplace. These indirect costs can be more than 10 times the direct costs of the incident. Note as well that these costs come right from the bottom line—every dollar in cost is a dollar lost in profit. The direct costs of this one incident will take 25 days’ profit from the firm.
The internal responsibility system (IRS) is a “system” that is
- based on people in the system interacting and
2. self-correcting.
Self-correcting mechanisms
that are frequently enshrined in the legislation include procedures for work refusals or work stoppages and the institution of joint occupational health and safety committees.
The employer is responsible for preparing a written OH&S policy and for ensuring that it is prominently displayed in the workplace. Employers are also required to:
provide and maintain equipment, materials, and protective devices; ensure that the manner in which the work is performed is safe and that the environment is free from hazards and serious risks; monitor their workplace and report minor, critical, disabling, and fatal injuries, as well as occupational illnesses and toxic substances (and to maintain the records of these occurrences for many years); establish health and safety committees with strong employee representation; alert employees to any known or perceived risks and hazards in the workplace; and provide employees with health and safety training.
Role of the employee in health and safety
employees are required to perform their duties and tasks in a safe and responsible manner and to wear protective equipment in compliance with company and legislative regulations. They are also required to report defective equipment and other workplace hazards to the occupational health and safety professional, the joint health and safety committee, or the manager. Any employees who believe that a particular
activity will endanger them or others have the right to refuse to carry out the activity.
Role of the employee in health and safety
- Perform duties and tasks in safe and responsible manner
- Wear protective equipment in compliance with company and legislative regulations
- Report defective equipment and other workplace hazards to safety professional, joint health and safety committee, or manager
Goal of OH&S Programs
Reduce occupational injury and illness
Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) legislation passed (1988; revised in 2015)
Reflects the fundamental right of workers to know about potential workplace hazards
Indirect costs
Work stoppages, strikes, reduced morale, reduced productivity, employee turnover, and negative publicity
Moral Considerations
- Ethical arguments that safety is the “right” focus for employers
- Workers have a responsibility to learn about and enact safety and health practices
- Management commitment to health and safety results in higher levels of employee motivation to work safely and better organizational safety records
Two main goals of workers’ compensation legislation:
- Ensure injured workers received compensation and employers accepted liability, and
- Prevent accidents and illness by establishing safe work environments
