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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.
- The community needs healthy members who will contribute effectively to community affairs- financially, physically and mentally.
- The nation needs citizens who would pay taxes as well as contribute physically and mentally.
- 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
- HEAD AND PROTECTION.
- 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
- 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
.
- FOOT PROTECTION: Consists of safety shoes boots, job master, and swamp shoes.
- FACE SHIELD: They are used for the protection of the face and neck against light impact, flying particles, hazardous chemicals, heat, radiation,
- Hand Gloves: They are used for protection of fingers palms and hands from burns, cuts, and bruises, scratched.
- EAR PROTECTION: Assorted types and styles, design for the protection of ear from high damaging sound. They are Ear muffs and Ear plugs.
- RESPIRATORY EQUIPMENT: For the protection against inhalation of dangerous substances e.g. dusts, fumes, and tiny air particles.
- OVERALL/APRONS: Protect the body from contact with heat, corrosive and/or toxic substances.
- 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:-
- 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.
- 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.
- AS A CONDITION FOR EMPLOYMENT: The compulsory use of PPE should be a condition for employment.
- 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.
