Workplace activities hazard control

In the UK the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) Regulations 2002 oblige laboratory managers and supervisors (and employers in general) to assess the risks to health from hazardous substances used in or created by workplace activities. 

Chanical management is the process of controlling the activities, data, and exposures of chemicals in the workplace. A best practices approach takes into account people, process and technology considerations. Ideally, you want to be able to control the introduction of chani-cals into the woikplace, track chemical locations and use, generate reports and access hazard information. 

This written safety and health program establishes procedures and responsibilities for the identification and correction of workplace hazards. The following activities will be used by this company to identify and control woikplace hazards ... 

In the most effective safety cultures, everyone is involved in monitoring hazard controls in the workplace. It s not usually adequate to simply rely on the safety director or safety committee to monitor hazard controls. Employees and supervisors, especially, need to be directly involved in this activity. 

Consistent with the obligation to ensure that compliance remains in the workplace (and not with Government) new performance based standards require hazard identification, risk assessment and risk control. Such activities are basic and necessary to a functional system of safety management, but the requirement introduces a subjective element into the process which continues to cause problems and disputes as to whether what has been done complies with the legal requirement (Dell, 2001). 

Assessment. An analysis of the hazards present in this laboratory show the most significant hazard to be the release of vapor CSM from engineering controls and into the workplace. The significance of this hazard mandates further efforts in system safety in the form of a Preliminary Hazard List (PHL) and a Preliminary Hazard Analysis (PHA). The user must in this instance take an active role in the design review process. 

Abatement Effects. The remaining studies in Table 2-1 have examined the abatement impact of OSHA enforcement activities on workplace safety. Smith (1979), McCaffrey (1983), and Ruser and Smith (1991) determined the effectiveness of OSHA inspections by comparing lost workday injuries in plants inspected early in the year to lost workday injuries in plants inspected late in the year. Firms inspected first have more time to eliminate workplace hazards and, therefore, should have fewer injuries if inspectors correctly identify health and safety hazards. By examining only inspected companies, the three studies indirectly controlled for factors causing an inspection, such as deteriorating workplace safety, that might confound estimates of OSHA s effectiveness. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (GDC), founded in 1946, and part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is concerned with infectious and chronic diseases, injuries, and disabilities in and out of the workplace, as well as environmental health hazards. The GDG s Foodbome Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) collaborates with industry, state health departments, and federal food regulatory agencies to monitor outbreaks of food-borne illness. 

In order for risk control to be successful in the workplace, we must manage the risk associated with the underlying hazards. This should be done on a priority basis in other words, priority should be given to the hazards or activities which have the potential for greatest adverse effects (put 80% of the effort into this 20% of hazards). 

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