INTRODUCTION TO HEALTH, SAFETY, AND ENVIROMENT.

Relevance of Health Safety, and Environment  to Industry, the employer and employee, and the Community.

Health: Physical Condition.

 1. Every individual wants to be fit and healthy to enable him work to earn a living.

 2.   The employer needs his employee to be of good health to be able to perform to standard required for the achievement of set goals.

3. The community needs healthy members who will contribute effectively to community affairs- financially, physically and mentally.
4. The nation needs citizens who would pay taxes  as well as contribute physically and mentally.
5. Families need their breadwinner and companion. 

Safety: A state of being free from danger or harm (injury or damage).

 1.  Every individual wants to be safe for a worthy life.         

  2. A business organization needs its employees to be safe for continuous 

     operation to meets targets and objectives, as well as to conserve its vital

     resources.

 3. Families, communities and the nation all need their kins-folk to be safe to continue to provide needs, service, and contributions-physical, mental and financial.

Environment: The air, water, and land in which people, animals and plant live

sustain the quality of life of the people and activities located within its confines.

The foregoing paragraphs emphasize the relevance of health, safety, and environment to industry, its people, its assets, and the environment within which they are located, and the reason why every effort deserves to be made to prevent negative activities or conditions that would impact adversely on them that would in turn harm people, assets and the environment.

ACCIDENTS.

Industries activities generally involve people, machines, materials, chemicals and the

environments. In the course of operations in which these elements interacts, it does

happen that one or the elements is upon adversely and there is injury or damage, and

it is said an accident has occurred. The negative actions or situations are usually

unplanned, unexpected, and the resultant impact unwanted. Hence the definition of

an accidents as ‘an’ unplanned and unwanted occurrence caused by unsafe acts and

unsafe conditions which result in injury or damage. and sometimes both injury and

damage, or neither (the near miss)

CONSEQUENCES OF ACCIDENTS

Accidents impact adversely on the industry, its  people,plants,machinery,equipment

and the environment within which the industry is located. When an accidents occurs

in an industry, directly affected are usually-

   1.  The injured employee: physical pain, mental agony, disability (temporary or permanent), and loss of leisure, earning, and life.

   2.The company: economic loss, production loss, time, reputation, possible litigation.

       Usually affected indirectly are:-

   1. Family of injured employee: loss of breadwinner.

   2. Community: contributions-financial, mental, physical.

  3. The Nation: Taxes paid by the company and the employee.

 The reasons for which accidents are considered undesirable are usually summarized

as-

   1. humanitarian.

   2.Economic.

   3. Legal.

   4. morale.

   5. Reputation

Since these consequences are undesirable it is imperative that effort should be

directed at preventing  accidents.  This can be achieved through an understanding of

the factors responsible for the occurrence of accidents and eliminating them or

making provisions for effectively controlling them or mitigating the effect of the

occurrence.

ACCIDENT CAUSES

Research has establish that accidents are caused by unsafe acts and

unsafe conditions.

Unsafe acts are defined  are defined as actions taking or performed by someone without due regard for personal safety, that of colleagues or other persons in the vicinity .  These are acts usually contrary to rules and regulations, or accepted standard practices and procedures – they are ilegal acts .

ACCIDENT PREVENTION MEASURES.

       With the acceptance of the assertion that accidents are caused, it is also accepted that identified as being responsible for unsafe acts and the existence of unsafe conditions. They are said to act unsafely and permit the existence of unsafe conditions because of the following defects in them-

    1. Does not know: ignorance, not trained ,not instructed, not informed.

     2.Cannot: physically or mentally unable.

    3. Does not want to: wrong attitude.

      Measures to prevent accidents would therefore seek to identify and correct the unsafe acts of people and the unsafe conditions in the work environment, as well as identify and correct the defects in the people, for a permanent solution to the accidents problem. Measures adopted are therefore those of-

       1. Engineering.

        2. Education.

        3. Enforcement.

        4. Encouragement.

       Engineering takes the unsafe conditions out the work environment: Education takes the defects out of the people through training, induction,nstruction,rules, policies, procedures,seminars ,etc.;Enforcement ensures that people comply with and apply all that they have been taught and instructed to do through effective supervision,inspections,audits, and reports ;encouragement by recognition, incentives,awards,and promotion, boosts the morale of employees and makes them react more positively to the requirements of the employment, which has a salutary effect on production.

BENEFITS DERIVABLE FROM SAFE OPERATIONS.

Safety pays great dividends to all  stakeholders.

The company has to continued service of a healthy , competent and

efficient workforce, which ensures achievement of targeted

quality and quantity of production, conservation of funds that would

otherwise have been spent on medical, compensation, and lost time

bills, and greater profits.

The employee remains healthy and fit, and is in position to achieve

his life ambition. He is able to fully enjoy the company of his family

and associates, his leisure and hobbies. He remains in the

employments and is employable in an appropriate job, with full

earning capability. He has full hope of improved conditions and

elevation if he continues to give good service unhindered by injury or

ill health.

The family is happy the breadwinner is always available to provide

for them the pleasures and necessities of life.

The community continues to reap the benefits of the contributions of

a worthy member.

Government earns increased revenue from the increased profits

earned by the company, and from, the employee who pays tax from

his earnings.

•          HAZARDS AND EFFECTS MANAGEMENT PROCESS-

•          The process for those critical operations and installation should include

•           An inventory of the major hazards to the environment and to the health and safety of people of all the activities, materials, products and services; and

•          An assessments of the related risks, implementation of measures to control these risks and to recover in case of control failure.

•           Planning and procedures-adequate standards and procedures shall be in place and understood at the appropriates organization levels.preparation,review and distribution of all key reference documents shall be adequately controlled.

•          HSE; standards include;procedures;and work instructions; permit to work; concurrent operations; emergency response procedures (including medical emergencies) shall be regularly tested.

•          Implementation and monitoring- HSE performance targets shall be set to ensure progression towards the long-term goals of no harm to people and n o damage to the environment. performance indicators shall be established, monitored and results reported in away that can be externally verified. All HSE incidents and near misses with significant actual or potential consequences shall be thoroughly investigated and reported.

•          HSE RULES AND PROCEDURES.

•          HSE rules are meant to ensure that the company’s HSE objectives are realized. They enable the policy of the company to pursue the goal of no harm to people- its staff, other persons, and to protect the environment.

•          These set rules and procedures are required to be adhered to while executing any task. Strict adherence will prevent accidents that could result in injury to people, or  loss of product and lead to pollution of the environment and exposure of persons to health hazards.

•          PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT  (PPE)

•          INTRODUCTION

•          The Board of Directors of the National Safety Council (US), in 1949, declared, in a former statement of policy;  ‘ The elimination of accidents is vital to the public interest.  Accidents produces economic and social loss impair individual and group productivity, cause inefficiency, and retard the advancement of standards of living’. The thus emphasis the need to prevent accidents and protect the workers , using every possible advice.

•          The primary approach in any accident prevention effort is the correction of the physical environment so that accident cannot occur.   However, it does not happen sometimes that the nature of the operations requires that the personnel should also be safe guided, by equipping them individually with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE).  Then it should be noted that these PPE should be considered only as a ‘second line or last line’ of deface in accident prevention. PPE does not prevent the accident or remove the hazard it only serves to prevent contact with the hazard , minimize the effect of the hazard on the worker or reduce the severity of the injury from the accident.  It will be wrong for a worker to deliberately expose himself to a hazard because he is wearing some form of protective equipment.

•          DEFINITION

•          Personal Protective Equipment are pieces of equipment; gadgets, and apparels used or worn by workers to protect them against the hazards, existing in their work situation or environment .

•          The provision of PPE + by management, and their use by employees is a statutory requirement ideally design to protect or minimize the impact of accidents on a worker in a work site.

•                                          TYPES AND KINDS OF PPE

1. HEAD AND PROTECTION.
2.  SAFETY HATS: These are equipment  used to protect the head against falling or flying objects, menace by bumps, liquids leaking from facilities. They are made of metal, plastic, glass fiber impregnated with resin, and some non-metallic materials.  Impact resistance is essential.   Where contact with energized circuits is possible, only hats that meet the   requirement of class B. ANSI Z89.1(i.e tested at 20 volt). They are different types shapes styles and shades for different work situation

3. EYE PROTECTION: They are various types and styles of eye protection equipment mainly, for protection of the eyes against flying objects and particles, splashes of corrosive liquids or molten metals, dust , and harmful radiations.  They include:

       Cup Goggles, Cover Goggles, Welders’ goggles, Melters’ Goggles, Protective Spectacles e.t.c .

4. FOOT PROTECTION: Consists of safety shoes boots, job master, and swamp shoes. 

5. FACE SHIELD:  They are used for the protection of the face and neck against light impact, flying particles, hazardous chemicals, heat, radiation,

6. Hand Gloves: They are used for protection of fingers palms and hands from burns, cuts, and bruises, scratched.

7. EAR PROTECTION: Assorted types and styles, design for the protection of ear from high damaging sound.  They are Ear muffs and Ear plugs.

8. RESPIRATORY EQUIPMENT: For the protection against inhalation of dangerous substances e.g. dusts, fumes, and tiny air particles.

9. OVERALL/APRONS:  Protect the body from contact with heat, corrosive and/or toxic substances.

10. FIRE SUIT: For fire fighting

                          REASONS FOR NOT WEARING PPE

It is commonly observed that some workers resent using the PPE they are

expected to wear why performing their duties.  The advance reasons with

psychological, egotistical and economic undertones these includes:-

•          Discomfort, due to weather conditions

•          Wrong Size (oversize/undersized).

•          Due not keep pace with fashion trends.

•          Exposure of grade of workers.

•          Payment for the equipment.

MEASURES TO ENSURE EFFECTIVE USE OF PPE.

Effort must be made to persuade workers to use PPE issue to them

attention should be drawn to the fact that it is statutory requirement.

They should be a proper education and the need and the importance of the use of PPE.

The following measures are recommended:-

1. EDUCATION: Workers should be thoroughly educated in the need and the importance of PPE. .These will enable them to bear whatever discomfort the equipment might cause them. They will be concerned with their safety rather than their ego.

2. CHOICE OF THE STYLE: Resentment due to vagaries of fashion can be solve by allowing employees to choose from a group of pre- selected style of PPE. They will thus have no excuse for refusing to use them.

3. AS A CONDITION FOR EMPLOYMENT: The compulsory use of PPE should be a condition for employment. 

4. FREE ISSUE OF PPE: All PPE that an employee must wear while performing his job should be provided free of charge.

5.            SANCTION FOR NOT WEARING IT: There should be penalty for an employee failing o wear provided PPE where it should be worn.