COMM 806 ASSIGNMENT
QUESTION: DISCUSS THE PREVENTION AND CONTROL OF OCCUPAT
IONAL HAZARDS
Occupational hazards are risks associated with working in specific occupations.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) further classes
occupational health into five categories: Physical Safety hazards, Chemical haza
rds, Biological hazards, Physical hazards, and Ergonomic risk factors. Physical
Safety hazards include anything that could lead to injury in a workplace acciden
t. This could be slipping hazards, the operation of machinery, electrical hazards,
or any other potentially dangerous condition that could exist in a workplace. Th
e latter four hazards are described as OSHA as health hazards.
Prevention and Control of Occupational Health Hazards
Effective controls protect workers from workplace hazards; help avoid injuries,
illnesses, and incidents; minimize or eliminate safety and health risks; and help
employers provide workers with safe and healthful working conditions. The pro
cesses described in this section will help employers prevent and control hazards
identified in the previous section.
To effectively control and prevent hazards, employers should:
1. Involve workers, who often have the best understanding of the conditions
that create hazards and insights into how they can be controlled.
2. Identify and evaluate options for controlling hazards, using a "hierarchy o
f controls."
3. Use a hazard control plan to guide the selection and implementation of co
ntrols, and implement controls according to the plan.
4. Develop plans with measures to protect workers during emergencies and
nonroutine activities.
5. Evaluate the effectiveness of existing controls to determine whether they
continue to provide protection, or whether different controls may be more
effective. Review new technologies for their potential to be more protecti
ve, more reliable, or less costly.
Occupational hazard prevention and control measures have been generally
classified into six:
1. Elimination: This is the interruption of the spread or transmission of a
disease or health problem/hazard. It precedes eradication and as such, it is
vital to realizing the goal of disease or injury eradication. In an industrial
setting, eliminating a hazard completely is the ideal solution to
occupational health problems although it is nearly difficult to achieve.
There are however certain barriers that make elimination nearly
impossible. Some identified barriers include:
i. The quality of the potential hazardous product may have a
service life of many years, and even a small defect in quality
could cause it to fail in use.
ii. Applications to change the production method may be difficult
or expensive.
iii. The cost of the product may be increased. Raw materials or
energy costs may be higher or the production time may be
increased if the new method is slower.
2. Substitution: This involves replacing a hazardous product or process by a
safer or less hazardous one. Substitution in the agricultural industry could
involve using less hazardous pesticides such as those based on
pyrethrums (prepared from natural product) which are considered to be
less toxic to humans than some other pesticides.
3. Engineering Controls: This means changing a piece of machinery or a
work process to reduce exposure to a hazard; working a limited number
of hours in a hazardous area; and there are number of common control
measures which are called engineering control. This includes enclosure,
isolation and ventilation.
4. Administrative controls: Administrative control can be used together with
other methods of control to reduce exposure to occupational hazards.
Some examples of administrative controls include:
i. Changing work schedules, for example two people may be able to
work 4 hours each at a job instead of one person working for 8
hours at that job.
ii. Giving workers longer rest periods or shorter work shifts in order
to reduce exposure time.
iii. Moving a hazardous work process so that few people will be
exposed.
iv. Changing a work process to a shift when fewer people are working.
v. Ensuring workers’ promotion as and at when due.
vi. Provision of health and sanitation facilities.
5. Use of personal protective equipment: Personal (PPE): This is the least
effective method of controlling occupational hazards and should be used
only when other methods cannot control hazards sufficiently. PPE can be
uncomfortable, may decrease work performance and may create new
health and safety hazards. For example, ear protectors can prevent
hearing warning signals, respirators can make it harder to breathe,
earplugs may cause infection and leaky gloves can trap and spread
hazardous chemicals against the skin.
6. Industrial Health Education:
Industrial Health Education according to Ogundele (2017) is aimed at
empowering industrial workers with the requisite knowledge, attitude and skills
required to adopt safety practices at the work setting with a view to promoting
their health and well-being. Industrial Health Education is therefore an
important strategy to improve, promote and maintain health of workers.
Ogundele (2017) identified three components of industrial Health Education:
i. Industrial health services
ii. Industrial health instruction
iii. Healthful industrial environment
REFERENCES
Ogundele, B.O. (2017). Industrial Health Education. In Moronkola, O.A. (ed).
Health Education for Tertiary Institution Students (In Honour of Professor J.A.
Ajala). Nigerian School Health Association. Ibadan: His Lineage Publishing.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Recommended practice for
safety and health programs.
