test 2- OH and epidemiology

Question 1

what is a health risk?

Answer 1

they are defined as the physical effects of noise, dust, chemicals, radiation or extreme heat or cold often result in poor health or cause an occupational disease. Exposure to bacteria, viruses, or fungi, poor adjustment of workers to their work environment (ergonomics), and conflict between workers or workers and management, may result in physical or physiological illness.

Question 2

what is occupational health

Answer 2

-promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social wellbeing of all workers in all occupations

-prevention of adverse health consequences for workers as a result of conditions in their workplace

-protection of workers at risk due to existing factors in their places of employment

-placement and maintenance of workers in occupational environments that have been adapted to suit their physiological and psychological conditions

Question 3

what is occupational safety

Answer 3

is the prevention of accidents, injuries and incidents from machinary and work processes

Question 4

what is occupational hygiene

Answer 4

addresses the environmental stressors in the workplace through the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of conditions arising in or from the workplace, which may cause illness or adverse health effects to persons.

Question 5

Audiometric testing

Answer 5

is done to assess the hearing threshold levels of an individual, which may deteriorate due to exposure to noise levels over 85 decibels

Question 6

biological monitoring

Answer 6

is a planned programme of periodic collection and analysis of body fluid, tissues, excreta or exhaled air to detect and quantify the exposure to or absorption substance or organism by persons

Question 7

ergonomics

Answer 7

is concerned with the design of a work process, the arrangement of equipment and a work station for optimal worker case

Question 8

hazard

Answer 8

a source of or exposure to danger

Question 9

risk

Answer 9

The probability that injury or damage may occur

Question 10

what is a risk assessment

Answer 10

a risk assessment of a work area is done periodically to identify and control possible risks of workers

Question 11

spirometric testing

Answer 11

Spirometric testing is the assessment of the effect of exposure to airborne pollutants such as dust fumes, gases etc.

Question 12

duties of the employer

Answer 12

-include the identification of all hazards that may be present in the workplace

-and assessment of the potential of these hazards to affect the health and safety of workers

-eliminate or minimise the risks to a safe level

-this includes modifying the work process, providing safe work procedures and personal protective equipment

-and training employees for the task

Question 13

duties of the employee

Answer 13

include obeying lawful orders, abiding by safety rules and reporting any unsafe situation in or near the workplace

Question 14

responsibilities of the OMP

Answer 14

-inspect the whole workplace and study the occupational hygienists reports before setting a health policy

-develop and control, a health surveilance matrix and protocols according to the inherent job requirements and the health risks identified

-ensure that each occupational health team member is qualified to carry out his or her duties as set out in the scope of practice

-conduct basic medical examinations before the placement of employees in different types of jobs and thereafter periodic health surveillance according to the health hazards to which they are exposed and all legislative requirements

-report of trends revealed in the surveillance and recommend appropriate action to senior management and where legally required for occupational or communicable diseases, to the authorities

-evaluate cases referred by the OHN and review medical records and results of special examinations (hearing, lung function tests and blood tests) and take action

-the OMP is usually on call to attend to persons injured on duty and other medical emergencies

Question 15

responsibilities of the OHN

Answer 15

-provides healthcare and promotes employee health by making autonomous nursing judgements and seeking solutions that are compatible with the work environments, management policy and the health system

-strives to develop a good working relationship with the OMP as they constitute a team tasked with employee health by the enterprise management

-adhere to code of ethics and display the application of high ethical standards in all his or her actions

• role model healthy lifestyle for management, the employees or colleagues

-cultivate management and employees trust and confidence in his or her professional judgement

-keep employees personal information confidential unless informed, written consent must be given by the employee

Question 16

The procedure manual

Answer 16

-pre employment and pre-placement, periodic and exit clinical health assessments of permanent employees, temporary employees and contractors exposed to different hazards

-performance of audiograms, lung function tests, vision screening, and biological monitoring or effects monitoring of samples such as blood, urine, skin scraping, sweat, management of injuries on duty and any occupational disease.

-primary health interventions for all types of conditions that clients may be suffering from eg hypertension

-health promotion programmes (which should include health education)

-first aid training and duties of first aid teams

-ordering, storage, dispensing of medicines, and the disposal of those that have been expired

Question 17

what are the health surveillance programmes used for and what are the types of examinations

Answer 17

Health surveillance programmes are used to determine if vulnerable workers are adversely affected by exposure to health hazards it includes the following:

An initial full medical examination with a full medical and employment history- to obtain a baseline to compare with future findings, it is performed before the person is employed to ensure that they are placed in the correct placement within the job that will not negatively affect any existing condition. it includes special tests such as audiograms (to check hearing levels), spirometry (testing of lung function), vision screening, biological monitoring of blood and urine to check if there are any effects of exposure to chemicals or any biological agents. The OMP will examine the prospective of the employee and the results of the tests before issueing a certificate of fitness to work.

Periodic medical examinations- regularly done to assess exposure levels to hazards such as noise or welding fumes and the results of previous examinations. this is an annual examination scheduled by the OHN as part of the surveillance program.

Exit medical examinations- this happens when the employee leaves the organisation. the examination includes a full report on full assessments of an employees health as required for the type of work and exposure to health risks that he or she experienced. the employee is given a copy of the final report before leaving and the original is filed safely for future enquiries.

Emergency medical examinations- must be performed where a spillage or accident has occured. the health of the affected workers must be assessed to check for any effects of the exposure to the substance that was involved in the injury

Special tests- required in most of the above medical examinations, depending on the employees exposure to hazards (noise levels, dust, fumes, gases etc). other health risks include poor ergonomic conditions, audiometry.

Question 18

describe 4 competancies to measure health and disease within a community

Answer 18

1. Describe the demographics of the community.
2. Describe the size of health and disease states in the community and how rapidly these change over time.
3. Find associations between exposures and health outcomes.
4. Interpret basic biostatistical measures.

Question 19

what is demography

Answer 19

Demography involves the study of the characteristics of a population

Question 20

variance

Answer 20

used to describe how widely spread the data is

Question 21

standard deviation

Answer 21

used to provide more information on how widely spread the data is around the average. easier to interpret

Question 22

interquartile range

Answer 22

to provide information on how widely the data is spread around the median in a study

Question 23

ratio

Answer 23

used to compare two figures with each other

Question 24

proportion

Answer 24

special kind of ratio, where the numerator is included in the denominator. it is used to describe the size of a community

Question 25

rates

Answer 25

used to describe the speed or rapidity of events over time

Question 26

incident rate

Answer 26

the number of new cases in the population at risk of becoming a new case

Question 27

incident density

Answer 27

the number of new cases presenting in the total person-time that participates were at risk

Question 28

incidence proportion

Answer 28

is the proportion of individuals who were initially at risk who became new cases

Question 29

prevalence

Answer 29

Is the proportion of individuals in a population that are affected with a certain condtion