Workplace activities hazard identification

Employers must identify the workplace hazards before they can determine how to protect their employees. In performing worksite hazard identification, employers must consider not only hazards that currently exist in the workplace, but also those hazards that could occur because of changes in operations or procedures, or because of other factors such as concurrent work activities. For this element, employers should... 

Medical Programs An effective safety and health program will include a suitable medical program where it is appropriate for the size and nature of the workplace and its hazards. Healthcare providers are on-site for all production shifts and are involved in hazard identification and training. Healthcare providers periodically observe the work areas and activities and are fully involved in hazard identification and training. 

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 ... 

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). 

As part of a site s overall ISMS, hazard analyses are conducted at the site, facility, activity, and task levels utilizing a variety of resources. The need for an integrated approach is illustrated by reviewing DOE directives, and OSHA and EPA standards and regulations, many of which call for some type of hazard analysis. At the nuclear facility level, DOE-STD-3009-94, the preparation guide for SARs, requires hazard analysis in Chapter 3, Hazard and Accident Analyses, and Chapter 8, Section 11, Occupational Chemical Exposures. At the activity or worker level, DOE O 440.1A and its related guides (DOE G 440.1-1 and DOE G 440.1-3) requires the identification of workplace hazards and evaluation of risk, and calls out OSHA standards (i.e., 29 CFR 1910 and 29 CFR 1926). 

The hazards and risks associated with work activities need to be identified first. Hazards are defined as situations with the potential to cause harm or loss. Under the CDM Regulations it is both hazardous circumstances and hazardous activities that potentially threaten the health and safety of employees. So the identification of hazards and activities is an essential part of analysing the risks that these represent to health and safety in the workplace. Risk is a function of three factors the likelihood of actual harm resulting from a hazard, the potential severity of the consequence should it occur, and the number of people that might be exposed to the harm. There are a number of well established methods by which risks may be quantified and hazard indices developed, if reliable data is available. Risk is normally measured in terms of the probability of a worker being injured in any given year, while carrying out his or her work, by the severity of injury suffered. Accident frequency is often used as the prime indicator of risk overall. 

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