HEALTH AND SAFETY AT WORKPLACE

Health and Safety at Workplace

Health and Safety at Workplace

Introduction

Health and safety at workplace means protection of health, safety and welfare of the people who are engaged in work employment. The purpose is to provide safe environment for employees at work. In United Kingdom, the work and safety at work Act 1974 is considered as primary piece of legislation. It covers occupational health and safety in United Kingdom. Occupational safety and health does not only protect employees but also protect the co-workers, families and many others who might get affected due to workplace environment. Occupational safety and health are also highly important for other factors like legal, financial and moral reasons (Raz & Hillson, 2005, 61).

All companies are responsible to keep safe environment for their employees and for all those who might get affected. Employee's health and lives are considered as moral obligations. Legal practice of occupational safety and health includes compensatory, preventative and punitive effects of laws. These laws protect the safety and health of the workers. Occupational safety and health also aims to reduce the rate of employee's injury and other costs related to illness. This includes medical care, benefit costs for disability and sick leave. It can also include transactions among subject areas like occupational health psychology, industrial engineering, occupational medicine, ergonomics, and occupational hygiene, health physical, safety engineering, chemistry and industrial engineering (Saaty and Niemira, 2006, 44)

Hazards at Workplace

In many industries physical hazards are a common source of injuries. These injuries are inevitable in some industries like mining and construction. With the passage of time companies are developing safety methods and procedures so control the risk of physical danger at workplace. Special problems may occur in the case of children employment. Falls are the most common physical hazards. Falls mostly occur in construction, healthcare, cleaning and maintenance and transportation industries. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is a work regulation of year 1992. This regulation has to be followed for the engineering workshops for specializing in welding and fabrication of components (Schuette, 1994, 52)

It is the responsibility of employers to provide all the required equipments. Equipments also include cloths for the protection against the weather. These cloths must be worn by the employees at the workplace to minimize the risk to their health and safety. In welding and fabrication industry employers must also provide face and eye protection and footwear to the employees for their safety and protection. Many physical and mechanical hazards take place while using machinery. It is very common in agricultural, mining, manufacturing and construction industry and it is very dangerous for workers. Many machines are very dangerous because they of their moving parts, sharp edges and hot surfaces. If the machines are not used safely then crush, tear, burn and many wounds can happen to workers (Smithand Bohn, 1999, 101)

There are many safety measures which must be taken to minimize the risk. These safety measures include lockout0tag out procedures for the maintenance of ...