Occupational safety and health

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Occupational safety and health is the discipline concerned with protecting the safety, health and welfare of employees, organisations, and others affected by the work they undertake (such as customers, suppliers, and members of the public).

The primary, and arguably most prominent reason for occupational safety and health (OSH) standards are moral - an employee should not have to expect that by coming to work they are risking life or limb, and nor should others affected by their undertaking.

OSH standards are, generally speaking, further reinforced in both civil law and criminal law; it is accepted that without the extra "encouragement" of potential litigation, many organisations would not act upon their implied moral obligations.

The final factor that favours OSH is economic - governments have long realised that poor occupational safety and health performance results in cost to the State (e.g. through social security payments to the incapacitated, medical costs for treatment, but also through the loss of the "employability" of the worker), and organisations undergo a number of costs in the event of an incident at work (such as legal fees, fines, compensatory damages, investigation time, lost production, lost goodwill from the workforce, lost goodwill from customers and the wider community).

In the European Union, Member States have enforcing authorities to ensure that the basic legal requirements relating to occupational safety and health are met. In many EU countries, there is strong cooperation between employer and worker organisations (e.g. Unions) to ensure good OSH performance as it is recognized this has benefits for both worker (maintenance of health) and enterprise (improved productivity and quality).

In the USA, OSHA has been regulating ocupational safety and health since the 1970s.

Occupational safety and health interacts strongly with other disciplines, such as ergonomics, toxicology, and psychology.

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Hazards, risks, outcomes

The terminology used in OSH varies between states, but generally speaking:

  • A hazard is something that can cause harm
  • A risk is the probability of the hazard causing harm
  • The outcome is the result of when the hazard causes harm

For example, repetitively carrying out manual handling of heavy objects is a hazard (it can cause harm). The risk can either be expressed mathematically, (0.5 = a 50/50 chance) or just as "high/medium/low". The outcome would be a musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs).

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Risk assessment

Modern occupational safety and health legislation usually demands that a risk assessment be carried out prior to making an intervention. This assessment should:

  • Identify the hazards
  • Identify all affected by the hazard and how
  • Evaluate the risk
  • Identify and prioritise the required actions

The assessment should be recorded and reviewed periodically and whenever there is a significant change to work practices.

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Common workplace hazard groups

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See also

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Public Organizations

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Fields

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External links

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Further Reading

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