EFFECTS OF HAZARDOUS PHYSICAL AGENTS

Effects of Hazardous Physical Agents



Effects of Hazardous Physical Agents

Introduction

Work is an important determinant of health. It can influence health positively or negatively. For most people work is essential for economic, social as well as physical wellbeing. It is said that Legislation could be considered the least effective way to control workplace hazards but it is frequently the only mechanism available to require employers to provide at least minimum standards of health and safety in the workplace.

This paper discusses how legislation is used to control physical agent hazards in the workplace and critically evaluate its effectiveness. This paper also focuses on the adverse effects of work on health, even though the positive effects of appropriate work on health and well-being are no less important.

Discussion

Every year about 10 million of the 150 million workers in the European Community are affected by incidents, "accidents" or diseases at work. Direct compensation costs are estimated at 20 billion ECU per year. In the UK data on medically reported incidence of occupational disease and work-related ill health is collected from occupational physicians (OPRA), General Practitioners (THOR-GP) and other doctors participating in the THOR network.

According to UK official statistics, every year about 2,000 lives are lost through occupational disease or injury, about 20,000 major industrial injuries occur (e.g. skull fracture, loss of sight) and there are about 200,000 injuries resulting in a work disability of 3 days or more. These figures are gross underestimates of the true incidence of occupational ill-health. Thus for example the "true" figure of occupational cancer deaths alone in the U.K. may be to the order of 5,000 per year. While only about 300 workers receive disablement benefit for industrial dermatitis every year, there may be between 15,000 and 60,000 new cases of this condition every year (Sternfield, 1997: 20).

Extrapolation from the UK Labour Force Survey suggest that in a year at least one million people believed they had ill health caused by work and a further million believed they had ill health made worse by work.

Hazard is the potential to cause harm. Risk is a measure of the likelihood of a specified harmful effect in specified circumstances. It is important to distinguish between hazard and risk.

Hazards in the workplace include the following:

Non-ionising radiation e.g. microwaves, infra red, visible and ultra-violet light

Ionising radiation e.g. X-rays, gamma rays, beta particles, alpha particles from radon daughters

Noise (usually measured in decibels dB) and vibration;

Temperature, humidity etc.

Ergonomic: Posture, movement (e.g. keyboard operation), load bearing (e.g. patient handling)

Responsibilities of the Employer, with the Participation of Employees, so as to Reduce the Risks to Health from Work

The responsibilities of the employer mainly stem from legislation such as the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act (1974) but other more recent UK and European Union legislation is very important in managing Health and Safety at work. These include the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, Manual Handling Operations Regulations, Personal Protective Equipment at ...