OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

Occupational safety and health

Occupational safety and health

Introduction

A hazard is the potential for harm. In practical terms, a hazard often is associated with a condition or activity that, if left uncontrolled, can result in an injury or illness. Identifying hazards and eliminating or controlling them as early as possible will help prevent injuries and illnesses. Providing a safe workplace for employees is the fundamental responsibility of employers. Workers must be protected from workplace injuries and illnesses. Experience has shown that successful health and safety management results from establishing processes that address the multiple facets of safety within the context of a management system.

Discussion

Occupational Health and Safety Act refer to the health and safety problems that can be encountered at the workplace and suggest effective measures through which these problems can be minimized. These problems represent the health and safety risks to the workforce while performing their tasks at the workplace. There exists the strong probability of occupational risk to the work environment where effective measures are not taken. Occupational risk represents the risk to everything that aspect of the work that has the potential to cause harm. The prevention of occupational hazards is the discipline that seeks to promote the safety and health of workers by identifying, evaluating and controlling hazards and risks associated with a production process, and to promote the development of activities and measures to prevent risks derived from the work.

Case study

In the case study, the truck driver deviated from his original route and opted to go for a darkened area. This route was authorized to use but was not in the original route plan because of less lighting. Another mistake of the truck driver was to let the attendant sit on his right side. Since these trucks are not designed to carry passengers, in order for a rider to sit on the seat, the driver must move over, which puts him or her in an awkward position. However, the attendant noticed that the truck was heading towards a steel building column. Upon impact, the truck driver was thrown 15 feet away from the truck. The attendant got behind the wheels and applied brakes to stop the truck. The driver got injured with a severe fractured skull and, chest injury and concussion and could not survive the blow. He died three weeks later due to severe blood clot.

Causal Factors

In the case study, the causal factors, ...