IMPORTANCE OF SAFETY AND HEALTH AT WORKPLACE

Industrial safety laws regulations, and codes and administration had at best been
spotty and inadequate to prevent great numbers of accidents in most circumstances. Because
of the increasing costs of premiums for worker’s compensation and litigation, some
companies became more safety conscious.

There are many ideas on the reasons why accidents had occurred, who was responsible for
having caused them, and the corrective measures that should be taken. Here we can see the
importance of safety and health at workplace.

1. Determining existence of hazards.

Each product or operation may have certain inherent hazards, although the probability of
accidents with some may be remote. Each will have only a limited number of primary
hazards and a large number of initiating and contributory hazards. The hazards and
safeguards for existing equipment and operations, or similar ones, may already be known.
From experience and theory, potential hazards can be determined and evaluated from
analyses.

2. Eliminating and controlling hazards.

It has already be pointed out that hazards can be eliminated or controlled by good design
or procedures for accident avoidance. Because of designer or managerial aims and
capabilities, the optimum solution for any hazard may depend on circumstances involves. All
types of hazards can be categorized according to safety. The methods are presented in a rough
order of priority of means to eliminate or reduce conditions that could cause accidents, injury
or damage. Each situation must be evaluated for affecting factors so a desirable and
satisfactory solution can be achieved.

Before this order of preference mentioned is presented, the following general features
should be observed:

 Designs to eliminate hazards are most preferred over any other method.
 Where safeguard by design are not feasible, protective safety devices should be
employed.
  Where neither design nor safety devices are practical, automatic warning devices
should be incorporated.
 Where none of the above is feasible, adequate procedures and personnel training
should be used.

3. Intrinsic safety.

The most effective method of avoiding accidents is with designs that are “intrinsically
safe.” Intrinsic safety can be achieved by either of two methods: (1) Eliminating the hazard
entirely, or (2) Limiting the hazard to a level below which it can do no harm. Under either
condition there will be no possible accident resulting from the hazard in question.

 Elimination
- A very common example of hazard elimination and accident avoidance is by good
housekeeping. Tripping over misplaced objects, slipping on wet or oily surfaces,
spontaneous ignition of trash or oily rags can be eliminated simply by keeping
facilities clean and orderly. There are numerous examples that can be cited, a few
of which include:
a) Rounding edges and corners on equipment so personnel will not injure
themselves.
b) Eliminating leaks by using continuous lines with a few connectors as possible.
c) Eliminating vibration, shock, rail separation, and derailment by using welded
and ground joints on railroad lines.
 Limitation
- In certain instances, the type of hazard cannot itself be eliminated. However, the
level of the hazard might be limited so no injury or damage will result. Examples
of methods by which hazard levels may be limited include:
a) Providing overflow arrangements that will prevent liquid level from getting
too high.
b) Using sprays or other conductive coatings on materials to limit the level of
static electricity that can accumulate.
c) Adding diluents to air where flammable dusts are present to minimize the
possibility of an explosion.
d)
 4. Failure minimization.

Hazards sometimes are such that fail-safe design arrangements cannot be provided. On
the other hand, the process may be so critical that even a fail-safe arrangement is less
preferable than a system that will fail only rarely. Nevertheless, to ensure that possibilities of
failures which could cause accidents are minimized, four principal methods are employed:

a) Safety factors and margins: this is probably the most ancient means to minimize
accidents by design. Under this concept, components and structures are designed with
strengths far greater than those normally required.
b) Failure rate reduction: this is the principle on which reliability engineering is
predicted. It endeavours to use components and design arrangements to produce
expected lifetimes far beyond the proposed periods of use, thereby reducing
probabilities of failure during operation.
c) Parameter monitoring: a specific parameter, such as temperature, noise, toxic gas
concentration, vibration, pressure or radiation is kept under surveillance to ensure it is
within specified limits and to determine when or if it exhibits an abnormal
characteristic. If it does, preventive or corrective action can then be taken.

5. Escape and survival.

In some cases, escape and survival in the event of an accident may be fairly easy process;
under slightly different conditions it might be extremely difficult or impossible. After a fire in
a single storied plant, workers might escape by simply walking out a door and survive in the
open air. Fire in a high rise building might permit no escape.

A suitable analysis should have determined the hazards and accidents that could occur
and how to combat their effect. Escape routes should be prescribed adequate for the number
of personnel who would use them. Routes and exits should be marked conspicuously (OSHA
standards require them) so they can be followed easily. Emergency lighting may be
necessary. Safety zones should be established to which workers could withdraw.
 ACCIDENTS AND DANGER IN BUILDING

The finding of accident investigations has long been used and still are being used to identify
factors that effected safe operations of industrial activities. Processes, equipment, and
safeguards have become more complex, and so have the causes and effects of failure and
other factors that lead to accidents. Thus, accident investigations and the methods involved in
determining causes have also become more complex. Although accident investigation does
have its uses, it must be considered that the hardest way to learn about hazards and accidents
prevention is through accidents.

1. Mechanical injuries.

Most of the injuries in industrial plants were originally from mechanical causes. This was
especially so in plants with much belt-driven rotating equipment, open geared power presses,
and power hammers. Gradually laws and codes were enacted requiring guards be provided on
points of danger of such equipment, which reduced the
number of accidents involving mechanical injuries.
They still however, constitute an extremely common
source of injury.

Mechanical injuries that can result from impacts have

already been pointed out. Mechanical injuries to the
body also include cutting and tearing, shearing,
breaking, straining of the body, and combinations of these.

2. Heat and temperature.

High and low temperatures, heat, cold, and variations of each can be all be directly injurious
to personnel and damaging to equipment. Effects can be generated, for example, by thermal
changes in the environment, which lead to
accidents and therefore indirectly to injures and
damages.
The principal immediate means by which temperature and heat can injure personnel is
through burns which can injure the skin and sometimes, muscles and other tissues below the
skin. Skin burns are classified into three degrees of severity.

3. Electrical hazards.

The common use of electricity and electrical equipment and appliances has resulted in failure
of most persons to appreciate the hazards involved. These hazards can be divided into five
principal categories:

1) Shock personnel.
2) Ignition of combustible (or
explosive) materials.
3) Overheating and damage to
equipment or burns.
4) Electrical explosions.
5) Inadvertent activation of equipment.

4. Fires and fire suppression.

It has been said that for a fire to start requires a

fuel, an oxidizer, and a source of ignition. This
is an oversimplification: then process is more
complex. First, both the fuel and oxidizer must
be in suitable proportions, in intimate contact
with each other, and in proper modes to enter
into reaction. The means by which permanent
gases, liquids, and solids reach states where they will burn are similar in certain respects and
far different in others.

5. Radiation.

In high-intensity fields, microwave radiation can cause

inductive heating of metals and induced currents that can
produce sparks. Unintended heating of metals in fields of strong radars or high powered
communications transmitters has resulted in temperatures that caused burns when the metal
was touched by personnel. Rings, watches, metal bands, keys, and similar objects worn or
carried by persons in such fields can be heated until they burn the bearers. Metal containers
can also become so hot in such fields they can ignite flammable or explosive materials.