2. IDENTIFICATION, ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION OF EXPOSURE TO FACTORS HARMFUL TO HEALTH, STRENUOUS AND HAZARDOUS FACTORS, AND EVALUATION OF RISK
CONNECTED WITH SUCH THREATS
OSH TRAINING FOR EMPLOYERS AND MANAGERS
Labour Code
Section X - OSH V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE
PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
Art. 220.
§ 1
No materials and technological processes can be used without first determining the degree of their potential harm to the health of employees, and without undertaking appropriate preventative measures.
Art. 221.
§ 1. (159)
No chemical substances or preparations can be used unless clearly marked and easily identifiable.
Art. 221
§ 2
No hazardous substance or chemical preparations can be used without an updated list of such substances and preparations and material safety data sheets, as well as packing protecting against their harmful effect, fire or explosion.
§ 3.
The use of hazardous substances and chemical preparations is allowed as long as measures ensuring the protection of the life and health of employees are applied.
V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
Art. 222.
§ 1
If an employee is exposed to carcinogenic or mutagenic chemical substances, mixtures of such substances, factors or technological processes, the employer must substitute these chemical substances, mixtures, factors or technological processes with less harmful to health, or must apply other available measures to limit the exposure, by the appropriate use of scientific and technological achievements.
§ 2.
The employer must keep a record of all types of work being in contact with carcinogenic or mutagenic chemical substances, mixtures, factors and technological processes, as specified in the list referred to in § 3, and a record register of employees performing these types of work.
V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
Art. 223.
§ 1
The employer is obliged to protect employees against ionising radiation from artificial and natural sources existing in the work environment.
§ 2.
A dose of ionising radiation from natural sources received by an employee at work exposed to such radiation must not exceed maximum doses stipulated in separate regulations on artificial sources of ionising radiation.
V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
Art. 224.
§ 1
An employer conducting activity that involves a sudden danger to the health and life of employees must take measures to prevent the danger.
§ 2
In the case referred to in § 1, the employer is obliged to ensure:
1) rescue devices and equipment corresponding to the type of danger and their operation by properly trained people;
2) first aid to the injured.
V. FACTORS AND PROCESSES OF WORK THAT CREATE PARTICULAR THREATS TO HEALTH AND LIFE
To evaluate hazards at workstation, physical and chemical factors existing at such a workstation must be analysed.
Such factors include, without limitation:
- Noise- Pollination (complete and respirable fraction)- Vibrations (general and local)- Chemical substances- Lighting- Microclimate- Energy expenditure
Working conditions are considered harmful if the concentration or intensity of any of the factors is exceeded in accordance with the applicable standard or journal of laws.
For chemical substances and pollination, we define Maximum Acceptable Concentration (MAC), i.e. an average weighted concentration whose influence on an employee during an 8-hour day and an average weekly working time, as defined in the Labour Code, and during the period of the employee’s professional activeness should not have a negative impact on the employee’s health and the health of the employee’s future generations.
For such factors like noise and vibrations, permissible intensity is defined and means the maximum acceptable intensity of a physical factor harmful to health, i.e. an average intensity whose influence on an employee during an 8-hour day and an average weekly working time, as defined in the Labour Code, and during the period of the employee’s professional activeness should not have a negative impact on the employee’s health and the health of the employee’s future generations.
On the basis of these ratios, we can define whether a given factor has been exceeded at a given workstation and a frequency of necessary measurements.
NOISE
Noise means all undesirable, unpleasant, troublesome or harmful acoustic vibrations of particles of a resilient centre which influence, via the air, hearing and other senses of a human being. In Poland, applicable permissible values related to the protection of hearing are as follows:
- in relation to an 8-hour working day:exposure to noise - .Lex, 8h – 85 dBexposure to noise -EA, Te – 3.64*103 Pa2s- maximum level of A sound - LA, max – 115 dB- peak level of C sound - Lc, peak – 135 dB
NOISE
CONSEQUENCES OF NOISE
A negative impact of noise on our organism is dependent on many factors, including in particular acoustic pressure. Along with the growth of acoustic pressure and time, exposure to noise increases.
The harmful impact of noise on our organism can be broken down into:1. impact on hearing,2. impact on the whole organism.
NOISE
The harmful impact of noise on hearing results from the following noise properties:- long-lasting noise equivalent to a sound greater than 80 dB,- impulse noise of peak acoustic pressure levels greater than 130 – 140 Db,- noise of high and medium frequency (i.e. noise including maximum frequency components, where hearing is most sensitive),- special individual susceptibility to the harmful impact of noise.
NOISE
As a result of the impact of noise on hearing, a hearing threshold is temporarily or permanently increased.Hearing defects are defined through audiometric tests. A criterion for an occupational disease being recognised is a so called permanent hearing defect caused by noise, which occurs when the hearing threshold is increased by at least 45 dB.Consequences of the impact of noise on the whole organism have not been recognised in detail yet. Experiments indicate that when the acoustic pressure of 75 dB is exceeded, physiological functions of the organism are disturbed. Generally, non-hearing consequences of noise are a response of the organism to noise as a stressor and contribute to the organism’s resistance to the development of various diseases.
NOISE
PROTECTION AGAINST NOISE
At workstations where noise exceeds permissible standards, it is necessary to:- define reasons for such exceeding and a programme of technical and organisational actions,- use hearing protection adjusted to noise,taking into account individual characteristicsof employees- limit the time of exposure,- mark the zones and limit the access.
POLLINATION
Given the type of their biological (pathogenic) impact, non-toxic industrial dustsmay be broken down into dusts that are:- irritating,- fibrogenic, - carcinogenic,- and allergising.
POLLINATION
The type, intensity and course of pathologic processes for persons exposed to dust inhalation are determined by a number of factors. The most important factors include: the level of exposure (the concentration of dust in the air and exposure time), the degree of fragmentation of dust particles, chemical (mineral) composition of dust.
Dust absorption in the respiratory system, particle settling in various sections of respiratory tracts, elimination and retention are dependent mainly on the size of particles.
The respiratory system is divided into several areas that differ in terms of dust retention time in the dust settlement places, the rate and ways of elimination, as well as a pathologic reaction to dust.
POLLINATION
Dusts are divided into two fractions:- respirable and complete.
Given health consequences, factors of an aerodynamic dimension of below 7µm, which allows for penetration to the gas exchange area, are most important.
This dust fraction is called respirable and is responsible for the development of pneumoconiosis, most cancers and pollination of lung alveoli.
POLLINATION
Apart from the analysis of pollination at workstation, the content of a free crystalline silica in dust is specified.
This is a crystalline variation of silicon dioxide.
Free crystalline silica has the strongest fibrogenic impact, which contributes to collagen silicosis with the pathologic development of connective tissue (collagen fibres) causing permanent damages to the structure of alveoli and cicatricial changes.
POLLINATION
Collective measures of protection against pollination include general
mechanical ventilation systems, as well as installations and devices of local
mechanical ventilation equipped with air filters.
Personal protection equipment which protects against pollination includes
masks with filters, half-masks and suits with dust absorbers.
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
Mechanical vibrations exist in the working environment as one of physical factors.
Depending on their intensity and time of impact on an employee, they can constitute:
- an onerous factor (which makes work difficult or reduces working capacity);
- a harmful factor (which deteriorates health gradually and leads to an occupational disease);
- a hazardous factor (which causes a rapid deterioration of health, i.e. an injury).
Sources of mechanical vibrations of general impact:
- floors of factories and other buildings and platforms, bridges, etc. vibrating as a result of stationery or portable machinery and equipment used on them (or outside them) or by road or railway traffic;- various types of vibrating platforms;- seats and floors in any type of means of transport (cars, tractors, trams, trolleybuses and railway vehicles, ships and planes);- manual pneumatic, hydraulic, diesel or electrical impact tools;- manual electric, pneumatic or diesel rotary tools (e.g. drills, grinders);- technological sources (e.g. elements processed in hands).
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
Vibrations are broken down by place where they penetrate into the organism:- general vibrations moved to the human organism through (general): feet, pelvis (buttocks), back, sides;- vibrations influencing the human organism through upper limbs (local).
OSH TRAINING FOR EMPLOYERS AND MANAGERS
Consequences of the harmful impact of vibrations on the human organism:
1. Functional:- motor coordination disorder,- extension of motor reaction time ,- excessive tiredness.
2. Physiological:- disorder in the operation of internal organs,- changes in the nervous system, - diseases of blood vessels, - muscle and tendon disorders.
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
A disease caused by the impact of mechanical vibrations is a hand arm vibration syndrome.
HAVS may have the following forms:- affecting blood vessels or blood vessels and nerves,- affecting bones or bones and muscles,- mixed form.
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
The most common variant of the HAVS is the one affecting blood vessel (a white finger disease), which causes the following changes in the organism:
- mechanical damages to blood vessel walls;
- blood flow disorders;-wrong distribution of blood flow between a nutritional flow and a thermoregulation flow;
-sudden contractions of blood vessels caused by the distribution disorders.
In recent years, 200 - 400 incidents of this disease have been recorded a year!!!
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
PROTECTION AGAINST VIBRATIONS
Methods of reducing the impact of mechanicalvibrations are broken down into:
1. technical methods:- minimising vibrations at their source (reducing the vibroactivity of sources),- minimising vibrations on the way of their propagation (gloves protecting against vibrations),- automating technological processes and controlling vibration sources remotely,- active reduction methods.
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
2. Organisational and administrative methods:
- shortening the time of exposure to vibrations during a shift;
- separating special rest rooms;
- moving persons that are particularly sensitive to the effects of vibrations
to other jobs;
- training employees on safe operation of machinery and tools in order to
make them aware of threats arising from exposure to vibrations.
3. Medical prevention
MECHANICAL VIBRATIONS
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES are chemical elements and compounds of such elements in the state they exist in the nature or are obtained during production.Toxicity of a substance or preparation may be generally defined as capacity to cause damages to living organisms. The possibility of an effect of toxic influence is dependent on a dose.
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
TYPES OF POISONING
Poisoning takes place when exposure to chemical substances or chemical preparations exceeds defined limits of the capacity of a human organism, i.e. the organism cannot remove such substances or preparations.
Given the rate, mechanism and impact of chemical substances on the organism, poisoning can be broken down into:- acute,- subacute,- chronic.
Chemical substances are absorbed in various ways:- through the respiratory system; - through skin;- through the gastrointestinal system;- extraintestinally, e.g. intravenously;- through body cavities: conjunctival, nasal, rectum.
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
respiratory system gastrointestinal system skin
CHEMICAL SUBSTANCES
Collective measures of protection against chemical substances include:- general mechanical ventilation systems,- local mechanical ventilation systems and devices equipped with air filters and various types of absorbers.
OCCUPATIONAL RISK
ASSESSMENT
LEGAL BASISTERMINOLOGY
Occupational risk: the probability of occurrence of undesired incidents connected with work
which cause losses, in particular the occurrence of unfavourable health consequences as a
result of occupational hazards existing in the working environment or working method (PN-
N-18001).
Risk: a combination of frequency or probability of occurrence of a defined incident causing a
hazard and consequences connected with such an incident (PN-N-18001).
Risk assessment: an analysis and determination of permissible risk (PN-N-18001).
GOALS OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT
Occupational risk assessment is one of the employer’s duties.
The purpose of occupational risk assessment is to:
- verify whether hazards existing at workstations have been identified and related occupational
risks are known;
- demonstrate, both to employees and/or employee representatives and regulatory and control
authorities, that hazards have been analysed and relevant protection measures have been
taken;
- choose relevant workstation equipment, materials and chemical substances, as well as work
organisation;
- define priorities of actions aimed at eliminating or limiting occupational risks;
- ensure a continuous improvement in health and safety at work.
Occupational risk assessment plays an important role in the process of monitoring by providing information necessary to plan corrective and preventive actions in relation to unconformities identified in the process. The process of occupational risk assessment based on the Polish standard PN-N-18002 may be presented as follows:
GOALS OF OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT
Collecting information that is necessary to assess occupational risks
Hazard identification
Occupational risk estimation
OC
CU
PA
TIO
NA
L R
ISK
A
SSES
SMEN
T
OC
CU
PA
TIO
NA
L R
ISK
A
NA
LYSI
SDefinition of occupational risk
permissibility
Are preventive and/or corrective
measures necessary?
YES
NO
Preparation of a plan of corrective and/or preventive
measures?
Plan implementation
Periodical occupational risk assessment
Occupational risk assessment is not a one-off activity.
Assessments must be made cyclically in order to verify whether technical,technological and organisational actions have brought about the desired effect,i.e. the elimination of hazards existing at workstations.
In addition, occupational risk assessment can be made every time after changes ina technological or organisational process, the implementation of new machineryor materials, changes in existing protection measures.
OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT
NECESSARY INFORMATION
INFORMATION CONCERNING:
- the location of and tasks performed at the workstation;
- persons working at the workstation;
- resources, materials and technological operations used;
- activities performed and their time and method;
- hazards which have been already identified and their sources;
- possible consequences of existing hazards;
- protection measures used;
- accidents and occupational diseases existing at workstations;
- requirements of legal regulations and standards for the analysed workstation.
Such information is collected on the basis of:
- technical data of machinery and equipment operated at workstations;
- technological procedures and working instructions;
- results of measurements of harmful and arduous factors at the workstation;
- documentation on accidents at work and occupational diseases;
- safety data sheets of chemical substances;
- legal regulations and technical standards
NECESSARY INFORMATION
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION
HAZARDS SHOULD BE IDENTIFIED in a structured way which enables to identify the greatest number of hazards or conditions that may lead to hazards.
Hazards are identified on the basis of the analysis of information necessary to assess occupational risks, which allows for verifying:
- whether there are harmful, dangerous and arduous factors at workstations which can constitute a source of a hazard;
- who is exposed to such factors.
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION - SOURCE
The source of hazards at workstations includes, without limitation, the following risk factors:
- harmful factors whose impact can contribute to gradual deterioration of health (occupational diseases);
- hazardous factors which causes a rapid deterioration of health;
- arduous factors which can hinder work or reduce working capacity without, however, permanent deterioration of human health.
HAZARD IDENTIFICATION - SOURCE
All these factors may be broken down into:
Physical, like vibrations, noise, radiation
Chemical
Psychophysical
Mechanical
Biological
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS
A biological factor, within the meaning of the regulation, means cellular micro-organisms, internal parasites, non-cellular units capable of replication or carriage of genetic material, including genetically modified cell cultures, which may cause infection, allergy or poisoning.
Given a hazard degree, biological factors are broken down into 4 groups.
They are broken down by their infectious properties.
The impact of these factors on an organism of a healthy man and not a person with a weakened immune system (like pregnant or breastfeeding women) is taken into account.
BIOLOGICAL FACTORS - CLASSIFICATION
Biological factors are classified on the basis of the following criteria:
Capacity to cause a human disease and severity of such a disease;
Possible spreading of a disease in population;
Possible use of effective prevention and treatment.
HAZARD GROUP OCCURRENCE OF DISEASE
POSSIBLE SPREADING IN POPULATION PREVENTION
AND/OR TREATMENT
Hazard group 1 Hardly probable Not important Not required
Hazard group 2 Probable Hardly probable Usually possible
Hazard group 3 Significant threat of infection among
employees
Highly probable Usually possible
Hazard group 4
Significant threat of infection among
employeesHighly probable Usually impossible
THREAT OF HARMFUL BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AT WORK
The threat is evaluated by particular pathogens on the basis of Appendix No 1 to the regulation. It includes a list and classification of pathogens.
The assessment of hazards at particular workstations consists mainly in locating pathogens in the working environment.
Defining spreading ways (manner of infection)
Detailed analysis of activities performed by an employee;
Use personal protection equipment;
Capturing points of the greatest threat of infection with selected pathogens.
On the basis of the detailed analysis of the working environment, hazards connected with municipal wastes removal and sorting based on available literature, guidelines of the Institute of Labour Medicine in Łódź, it was found out that employees performing activities connected with solid wastes removal and sorting are exposed to pathogens classified under Group 2 of biological hazards.
These are among others:
- Clostridium tetani, - hepatitis A,- Typhoid fever.
THREAT OF HARMFUL BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AT WORK
On the basis of the detailed analysis of existing harmful biological factors, it is recommended to:
1. Use personal protection equipment, including in particular protection against direct contact with hand skin;
2. Obey OSH rules at workstations, including in particular workstations instructions, OSH instructions in the case of exposure to biological factors;
3. Wash hands before eating and after leaving a toilet;4. Eat meals, smoke cigarettes in the designated places.5. Protective vaccination - hepatitis A, tetanus, typhoid fever.
THREAT OF HARMFUL BIOLOGICAL FACTORS AT WORK
ESTIMATION OF OCCUPATIONAL RISKS
Risks connected with the occurrence of hazards is estimated on the basis of two elements, i.e.:
• the probability of a bodily injury or a loss of health;
• the severity of a possible injury or worsening health.
The probability of a bodily injury or a loss of health is influence mainlyby time during which a man is exposed to the operation of a harmful or hazardous factor(exposure time) and human possibilitiesof avoiding or reducing consequences of hazards.
In order to assess occupational risks at particular workstations, a risk score may be used as one of methods. This method is a ratio-based occupational risk assessment method, where the probability of consequences of an incident is described as a function of risk parameters:- the probability of an incident;- the frequency of a hazard or exposure to a hazard;- possible reduction or limitation of a hazard.
In this method, risk is valued in accordance with the following formula:
R = S x E x Pwhere:
R - risk,S - probable consequences of an incident,E - exposure to hazard,P - probability of a hazard.
RISK FACTOR – RISC SCORE METHOD
On the basis of guidelines set out in the Polish standard PN-N-18002:2000, when occupational risks are estimated, it is necessary to find out whether the risk in given conditions is permissible or not.
When an R factor is defined, risk is valued in accordance with the scale of the risk score method:
R – risk valuation
DEFINING THE PERMISSIBILITY OF AN OCCUPATIONAL RISK
Risk value
R
Risk category Permissibility of occupational risk
Preventive measures
R < 20 Acceptable
permissible
Inspection recommended, actions not required
20 < R < 70 Small Inspection necessary
70 < R < 200 Significant Improvement necessary
200 < R < 400 High
impermissible
Immediate improvement necessary
R > 400 Very high Work stoppage recommended
Depending on the outcome of occupational risk assessment, actions which aim at eliminating or reducing the risk to the acceptable level are suggested.
On the basis of the outcome of occupational risk assessment, corrective or preventive actions at workstations, if any, are taken.
OCCUPATIONAL RISK ASSESSMENT
MOVE TO THE NEXT SECTION
