Workplaces assessments

Cooper, C. L. et al. (1996). Stress Prevention in the Workplace Assessing the Costs and Benefits for Organizations. Dublin European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. 

The classification as very toxic, toxic, or harmful is based on the median lethal dose (LD50, see Section 2.3). Most often the LD50 value (oral, rat) is used for the classification, because oral investigations are most often carried out to determine the acute toxicity. In contrast to the oral toxicity, the dermal and inhalative toxici-ties are much more important for the workplace assessment, the oral toxicity being of little relevance to the workplace. Howevei the oral, dermal, and inhalative toxicities do not usually differ significantly. 

Yoshida, H., and Ogawa, K. (1991), Workplace Assessment Quideline—Checking Your Workplace, in Advances in Industrial Ergonomics ami Safety HI, W. Kruwowski and J. W. Yates, Eds., Taylor Francis, London, pp. 23—28. 

Overall, the greatest limitation with most endurance-related approaches is that the measures obtained cannot be used to perform task-related assessments. In a workplace assessment, for example, one can determine how long a specific task (defined by the conditions of load, range, and speed) needs to be performed. Endurance-related metrics can be used to reflect changes over time in a subjecfs available endurance capacity however, endurance-related metrics cannot be compared to the demands of the task. Task demands are measured in time or repetitions (e.g., 10 h) with a given rate (e.g., 1/0.5 h) from which total time (e.g., 5 h) can be calculated. A true endurance measure (vs. an endurance-related measure) can serve both purposes. Time reflects changes in endurance as the result of disease, disuse, training, or rehabilitation and also can be Hnked to task demands. 

Workplace assessments usually lequiie special attention to task demands, performance, and load. The demand measures form the counterpart of the performance measures, they specify the task or demand requirements of the environment (inputs whereas the performance/outcome measures define the way the operational output is assessed. Load measures, which are often the prime focus of ambulatory studies, can only properiy be interpreted in the context of task requirements, on the one hand, and performaiKe, on the other. 

McAtamney, L. and Corlett, E.N. Ergonomic workplace assessment in a health care context. Ergonomics... 

Conducting comprehensive baseline workplace assessments, updating assessments periodically, and allowing employees to participate in the assessments... 

Information about safety provided by trade associations or professional safety organizations Results of prior incidents and investigations Evaluating new equipment, materials, and processes for hazards before they are introduced into the workplace Assessing the severity of identified hazards and ranking those that cannot be corrected immediately according to their severity [2]... 

The assessment involves both identifying the substance present in the workplace assessing the risk it presents in the way it is used and deciding what precautions (and health surveillance) are needed. Where more than four employees are employed the significant findings must be recorded and the steps taken to comply with Regulation 7. 

Conduct a workplace assessment using surveys, interviews, job observations, and document searches to identify these concerns. 

Simulation training and workplace assessments with good quality feedback help to uniform the procedures practiced in an institution and therefore may reduce the risk for errors. 

McAtamney, L. and E.N. Corlett. 1992. Ergonomic Workplace Assessment in a Health Care Context Ergonomics 35(9) 965-978. 

Workplace assessment comprises evidence for each license category set of performance requirements, describing how each requirement is fulfilled (with references to evidence). 

Details of all people whose primary tasks reqnire an IRSE license are held in a company database, including details of the individual, license category(ies), date of the workplace assessment and identity of the assessor, date of the competence assessment and identity of the assessor, date of issue of the license and its expiry (ten years, but subject to annual review and five yearly interim assessment). 

Regulatory and advisory bodies publish methods for ambient air analysis sueh as those issued by the British Standards Institute and the US Environment Proteetion Ageney (Tables 10.24 and 10.25, respeetively). Methods for assessment of workplace air are published by the Health and Safety Exeeutive. Some of these are generie methods (Table 10.26) whilst others are eompound speeifie (Table 10.27). Examples of other offieial methods for monitoring workplaee air quality are those published by the British Standards Institute (Table 10.28), and the US National Institute of Oeeupational Safety and Health (Table 10.29). Table 10.30 provides additional guidanee on analytieal teehniques for a seleetion of substanees. 

Apply to all workplaces, unless specifically excepted, and require a fire risk assessment where necessary, appropriate fire-fighting equipment with detectors and alarms measures for fire-fighting emergency routes and exits maintenance of equipment provided. 

The new standard amended 29 Code of Eederal Regulations (CER) to include general requirements (29 CER 1910.132), eye and face protection (29 CER 1910.133), head protection (29 CER 1910.135), and foot protection (29 CER 1910.136). A new regulation (29 CER 1910.138) applied to hand protection. These changes are significant because they mandated employers to conduct a hazard assessment of the workplace to decide if hazards in the operation required the use of PPE. 

A certification document should be developed outlining that the workplace has been evaluated for hazards. It should specify the workplace or areas surveyed and should include the name of the person certifying the evaluation. The contents of a hazard assessment cannot be verified without documentation. Without documentation, the certification could be worthless. So to play it safe, some form of a written certification of the hazard assessment should be retained. 

CFN (1992). Workplace atmospheres — Guidance for the assessment of exposure by inhalation to chemical agents for comparison with limit values and measurement strategy. EN 689. 

The links between levels of exposure and inconvenience caused by ventilation noise are described in an investigation carried out on office workers.- Technical measurements and analyses of the ventilation noise at 155 typical office workplaces were in this study combined with assessments by the office workers of the level of disturbance that they experienced, the effect on working performance, fatigue, stress-related pain, and headaches. The average noise level was about 40 dB(A) at two of the workplaces, while it was about 35 dB(A) at two others. It emerged from rhe narrow-band analyses that the sound pressure levels of rhe infrasound were not in any event of an order that this type of sound frequencies (below 20 Hz) could contribute to any disturbance effects. Any steps taken to counter the sound frequencies of the ventilation noise under 50 Hz, i.e., the point of btersection between the threshold curve of auditory perception and the spectral level distribution curve of... 

This implies, for example, that measurements taken over a given period of time may give insufficient data to integrate workplace factors in the series of activities in the period under consideration in such a way as to permit assessment of the likely maximum risk to which the individual workers are exposed. 

The identification of chemical agents and the data on workplace factors leads to the assessment of exposure, which can be done in three different stages that depend on the risk level for the worker and the type and amount ot data required ... 

Finally, for situations in which it is not clear that exposure is and will continue to be below the limit values, a detailed survey with a measurement strategy is required. The methods used are based mostly on instruments for sampling the environment in order to obtain reliable measurements of workplace air concentrations. In general, the measurement strategy must consider the most efficient use of resources for the purpose of obtaining quantitative data on exposures by having a clear idea of what the data will be used for or whether it meets the specified need. For example, if the data pertain to peak exposures, these peaks have to be assessed according to the STEL requirements, if any. 

For the sampling location, fixed-point measurement may be used if the results make it possible to assess exposure of the worker at the workplace. In general, however, personal sampling devices are preferred, which give more representative results of worker exposure. 

This checklist presents detailed information for assessing VDU terminals and their workplaces. The items concern technical information about VDU characteristics but they do not directly consider the nature of the task performed using the VDU system. 

Human health effects of operations. This requires assessment of such things as workplace exposures effects of exposure to air toxics, contaminated drinking water and soil and exposures during product use, misuse, and disposal. 

The term risk assessment is not only used to describe the likelihood of an ad crse response to a chemical or physical agent, but it has also been used to describe the likelihood of any unwanted event. This subject is treated in more detail in tlie next Part. These include risks such as explosions or injuries in tlie workplace natural catastrophes injury or deatli due to various voluntary activities such as skiing, sky diving, flying, and bimgee Jumping diseases deatli due to natural causes and many others. ... 

You could also consider involving the peers of mentees as well as customers and suppliers, particularly if you wish to assess whether the learning that has occurred in a mentoring association is being applied in the workplace. 

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