Safety and Health Management

Meaning of Health and Safety

• Health (general physical and mental condition): The general condition of the body or mind, especially in terms of the presence or absence of illnesses, injuries, or impairments.
• Safety (freedom from danger): protection from, or not being exposed to, the risk of harm or injury.

In organizational context, in the industry, safety and health mean:

• Preventing accidents and
• Preventing work related ill health

Meaning of Accident

• It is an unplanned or even unexpected event.
• It results in injury and ill health of the people involved.
• It may result in damage to or loss of property, plant or materials.
• When no injury, ill health or loss takes place, the accident is termed as a "near miss".

Meaning of Work Related Ill Health

• It is illness, physical problem or disability caused on the work spot.
• It is the result of the working conditions.
• It may be temporary or permanent.

Implications of Ineffective Safety and Health Measures

Poor safety and health conditions will result in two types of costs:

• Human related costs
• Financial related costs

These may arise out of fatal and non-fatal accidents. Human beings may then suffer:

• Reduced quality and quantity of life.
• Physical loss in terms of losing body parts, restricting or paralyzing actions and mobility.
• Mental loss in terms of stress and may be, depression.

ILO carries out studies on the extent of losses due to poor safety and health conditions. The general sense these studies give can be roughly summarized below:

• The work related deaths are more than the ones in road accidents, wars, violence or by HIV/AIDS.
• The financial costs of occupational injury and disease can be in the vicinity of the range from 1% to 10% (based on limited data of limited countries) of the GDP.
• Thus, the human and financial losses as a result of poor safety and health conditions are enormous and need serious attention.

Causes for Accidents and Ill Health

• People working under unsafe conditions.
• Working without using the safety equipment.
• People working under pressure.
• Longer continuous working without rest pauses.
• Fatigue.
• Failure of control systems.
• Not following the laid down safety procedures.
• Lack of skills.
• Lack of experience.
• Lack of training.
• Faulty communication.

Important Factors for Improving Safety and Heath

• Imparting necessary knowledge related to safety and health.
• Knowledge on causes and effects of accidents.
• Training on use of safety equipment.
• Training on safety procedures.
• Improving the design of machines and equipment and making them fool-proof from safety and health view points.
• Improving the general working conditions everywhere in the organization.
• Stricter implementation of legal aspects related to safety and health.
• Continuous cause and effect analysis of accidents and near misses and continuous improvement to eliminate the causes from the root level.
• Rather than depending on prescriptive rules or individuals or common sense, design and implement systems like OHSAS and behavioral safety system where all aspects of safety and health are integrated into everyday operations. (For details on behavioral safety, refer: http://behavioral-safety.blogspot.com/)

Ultimate Objective

• To achieve a zero accident organization.

For More Guidance, Assistance, Training and Consultation

Contact: prodcons@prodcons.com

Originally posted at http://safety-health-management.blogspot.com/ Monday, August 17, 2009