Work Health and Safety

Practitioner

Reading

GENERAL WHS INFORMATION SOURCES

January 2012

®

Contents

OVERVIEW.....................................................................................................................1

SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................2

SECTION 2: LEGAL INFORMATION.............................................................................4

SECTION 3: BOOKS AND PERIODICALS....................................................................8

SECTION 4: WEBSITES AND DATABASES...............................................................16

SUMMARY ....................................................................................................................20

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING.......................................................................21

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Published by WorkSafe, PO Box 294, WEST PERTH WA 6872. E-mail: institute@worksafe.wa.gov.au

The SafetyLine Institute material has been prepared and published as part of Western Australia’s contribution to national work health and safety skills development. ®

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© 2012 State of Western Australia. All rights reserved. Details of copyright conditions are published at the SafetyLine Institute website.

Before using this publication note should be taken of the Disclaimer, which is published at the SafetyLine Institute website.

READING – GENERAL WHS INFORMATION SOURCES

OVERVIEW

This reading will give you an insight into the types of general WHS resources available and how these can be accessed.

Objectives

After reading this information you should be able to:

differentiate the type of resources available; and

identify the documents that will provide the answers to specific queries.

Authors Lucy Caminschi and Margaret Gabriel Revised and updated by Judith Abbott

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Section 1: INTRODUCTION

Glossary of terms When they are first used, glossary terms are indicated with an asterisk (*). Make sure that you are familiar with the Glossary of terms before going any further.

Bibliographic database

Provides access to the literature of a specific subject. Usually includes books, journal articles, conference proceedings, reports and government publications

ISSN International Standard Serial Number. A unique 8 digit code assigned to a specific journal title

Journal A specialised periodical containing scholarly articles. Usually written by specialists in a subject field and issued by a professional society or institution

Periodical Publications issued in successive parts bearing numerical or chronological designations that appear at regular intervals.

Standard Documents that set out minimum requirements. National WHS standards are declared by Safe Work Australia and most deal with the elimination, reduction, or management of specific workplace hazards.

Website A collection of related, interlinked web pages, usually with a home page, accessible on the World Wide Web owned and managed by an organisation or company

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1.1 Access to WHS information is essential Governments have been concerned about the number of deaths and injuries in the workplace and the social costs to the community and have sought to reduce the workplace risks to work health and safety (WHS) in a variety of ways, for instance, by legislation, education and by providing training. Workplace injury and disease can be dramatically reduced by good risk management. In order to have good risk management, it is essential for the business or undertaking and workers to have access to WHS information. There is a wealth of information available in this field, the problem being how and where to find it. Furthermore, WHS covers a number of sciences and to find information it is necessary to look at a variety of subjects such as occupational medicine, industrial hygiene, toxicology and ergonomics. The aim of this reading is to give an insight into the types of WHS resources available and how these can be accessed.

1.2 Subject headings When searching bibliographic databases and library collections you will notice they use subject headings. Becoming familiar with these subjects heading or descriptors may assist you to find relevant information quickly. The two key WHS thesauri are:

Australian Occupational Health and Safety Thesaurus 3rd ed. Canberra: NOHSC, 2003 http://safeworkaustralia.gov.au/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Pages/GM200303Thesaurus.aspx

CISTHES Occupational Safety and Health Thesaurus International Labour Organization http://www.ilo.org/safework/info/databases/WCMS_112576/lang--en/index.htm

READING – GENERAL WHS INFORMATION SOURCES

Section 2: LEGAL INFORMATION

Most of the publications that fall in this category are issued by regulatory bodies such as the government departments responsible for administering the legislation, and agencies responsible for standard setting.

2.1 Legislation The Australian Government has identified WHS as a priority area for reform. One of the key elements of the WHS reform agenda is harmonisation – moving towards one set of national WHS laws. Safe Work Australia is responsible for developing national model WHS legislation. The model legislation will consist of a principal WHS Act, supported by model regulations and model codes of practice that can be readily adopted around Australia. This requires each state and territory to pass their own laws that mirror the model WHS laws and adopt them by December 2011.

KEY POINT

The key sources of information relevant to WHS legislation are the Act, Regulations, Australian Standards, Codes of Practice and Guidance Notes.

Go to the website of your regulatory authority to access the legislation applicable to your jurisdiction.

2.2 Standards Standards referred to in legislation are documents that set out minimum requirements. The key agencies responsible for setting standards in Australia are Standards Australia and Safe Work Australia. Examples of international or other national standards setting bodies are the British Standards Institute, and the International Standards Organisation. All standards issued by these bodies can be purchased from their local offices or their appointed agents. These organisations also have home pages on the Internet with links to their catalogues and information on how to place orders online. Good WHS libraries, such as the WorkSafe WA Library, subscribe to Australian Standards online and have some hard copies in their collection.

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National Standards

Standards Australia can be located on the Internet at: www.standards.org.au Some standards are adopted in legislation giving them a legal status under WHS regulations, for example:

AS 1319 : 1994 Safety signs for the occupational environment

AS/NZS 2865 : 2001 Safe working in a confined space

Examples of Australian standards relevant to WHS legislation are:

AS 2444 : 2001 Portable fire extinguishers and fire blankets – selection and location

AS/NZS 4576 : 1995 Guidelines for scaffolding

International Standards

For international standards and their Internet sites go to:

International Standards Organisation: www.iso.org

International Electrotechnical Commission: www.iec.ch

British Standards Institute: www.bsi-global.com

Examples of international standards:

ISO 6395-2008 Earth-moving machinery – determination of sound power level – dynamic test conditions.

ISO 5131-1996 Acoustics - tractors and machinery for agriculture and forestry - measurement of noise at operator's position

BS 7255-2001 Code of practice for safe working on lifts

2.3 Codes of practice A code of practice is a document prepared for the purpose of providing practical guidance on acceptable ways of achieving compliance with statutory duties and regulatory requirements.

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Codes of practice:

should be followed, unless there is another solution which achieves the same or better result; and

can be used to support prosecution for non-compliance. Codes of practice, like the standards, have a legal status when adopted in legislation. Go to the website of your regulatory authority to access the codes of practice applicable to your jurisdiction.

National (Australia)

Safe Work Australia is responsible for developing model codes of practice that can be readily adopted around Australia.

All national model codes of practice can be found at:

www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au

International (HSE)

Control of lead at work

Managing health & safety in construction

2.4 Guidance notes Guidance notes are explanatory documents providing detailed information on the requirements of legislation, regulations, standards, codes of practice or matters relating to WHS. Examples of guidance notes are:

State (Western Australia)

The general duty of care in Western Australian Workplaces

Formal consultative processes at the workplace

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National (Australia)

Guidance note for the prevention of occupational overuse syndrome in keyboard employment [NOHSC : 3005 (1996)]

Guidance note for the assessment of health risks arising from hazardous substances in the workplace [NOHSC: 3017 (1994)]

International (HSE)

Managing shift work: Health and safety guidance

Assessing and managing risks at work from skin exposure to chemical agents – guidance for employers and health and safety specialists

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Section 3: BOOKS AND PERIODICALS

Books on occupational medicine, ergonomics, industrial hygiene, noise, toxicology and other subjects are widely used to improve workplace health and safety. Written by specialists in their field, they provide comprehensive and often complex technical guidance and advice for work health and safety professionals. Many are available in both print and electronic (e-book) format. These will be available from a good WHS library, such as the WorkSafe WA Library. Here is a selection of the some of the authoritative or “classic” WHS books.

3.1 Reference books Encyclopaedias

ILO Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety. Stellman, J. M. 4th ed. Geneva: International Labour Organization,1998

This is a 4 volume, concise, easy-to-understand reference work on almost every topic related to work health and safety and is written by specialists. Most articles describe the health hazards and give an account of the safety measures that should be taken. This is now also freely available via the Internet as part of the ILO safework bookshelf. http://www.ilo.org/safework_bookshelf/english?d&nd=170000102&nh=0

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Glossaries and dictionaries

Dictionary of terms used in the safety profession. Lack, R.W.(editor) 4th ed. Des Plaines, IL: American Society of Safety Engineers, 2000

Hawley’s condensed chemical dictionary. Lewis, R.J. 15th ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2007

Health and safety at work: key terms. Stranks, J.W. Oxford, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2002

Occupational health and safety : terms and abbreviations. Confer, R.G. and Confer, T.R. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers, 1999

3.2 General books

Occupational Medicine

ABC of occupational and environmental medicine. Snashall, D.; Patel, D. 2nd ed. London: BMJ Books, 2003

Current occupational & environmental medicine. La Dou, J. 4th ed. New York: McGraw-hill, 2007

Environmental and occupational medicine. Rom, W.W.; Markowitz, S.B. 4th ed. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer, 2007

Hunters diseases of occupations. Baxter, P.J. 10th ed. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2010

Occupational and environmental health : recognizing and prevention disease and injury. 6th ed. New York: Oxford University press, 2011

Occupational medicine : principles and applications. Zenz, C. 3rd ed. St. Louis, Mosby, 1994.

Practical occupational medicine. Agius, Raymond M. and Seaton, Anthony 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold, 2006

Textbook of clinical occupational and environmental medicine. Ravenstock, L. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders, 2005

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Ergonomics

Biomechanics in ergonomics. Kumar, S. (editor) 2nd ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2008

Bodyspace: anthropometry, ergonomics and the design of work. Pheasant, S. 3rd ed. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis, 2006

Fitting the human: introduction to ergonomics. Kroemer, K.H.E. 6th ed. Boca Raton: CRC, 2009

A guide to manual materials handling. Mital, A., Nicholson, A.S., Ayoub, M.M. 2nd ed. London : Taylor & Francis, 1997

Handbook of human factors and ergonomics. Gavriel, S. (editor) 3rd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley, 2006

Kodak’s ergonomic design for people at work. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NY: John Wiley, 2004

Industrial Hygiene and Toxicology

Bisesi and Kohn’s industrial hygiene evaluation methods. Bisesi, M.S. 2nd ed. Boca Raton: Lewis, 2003

Casarett and Doull’s toxicology : the basic science of poisons. Curtis, D. (editor) 7th ed. Toronto: McGraw-Hill, 2008

Exposure standards for atmospheric contaminants in the occupational environment. National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (1995) AGPS, Canberra, Australia.

Fundamentals of industrial hygiene. Plog, B. A. 5th ed. Chicago: National Safety Council, 2002

Hazardous chemical desk reference. Lewis, R.J. 5th ed. New York: Wiley, 2002

Industrial ventilation: a manual of recommended practice for operation and maintenance. 27th ed. Cincinnati: ACGIH, 2010

Occupational hygiene. Gardiner, K.; Harrington, J.M. 3rd ed. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2005

Patty’s industrial hygiene and toxicology. Bingham, E. et,al. (editors) 5th ed. New York: Wiley, 2001

Proctor and Hughes chemical hazards in the workplace. Hathaway, G.J/ (editor) 5th ed. New York: Van Nosdtrand Reinhold, 2004

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Sittig’s handbook of toxic and hazardous chemicals and carcinogens. Pohanish, R.P.(editor) 5th ed. Norwich, NY: William Andrew, 2008

The dose make the poison: a plain language guide to toxicology. Frank, P. and Ottoboni, M.A. 3rd ed. Hoboken, NY: Wiley, 2011

2011 TLVs and BEIs based on the documentation of the threshold limit values for chemical and physical agents and biological exposure indices. Cincinnati, Ohio: ACGIH, 2011

Safety

Enhancing occupational safety and health. Taylor, G.; Easter, K.; Hegney, R. Oxford: Elsevier,2004

Fundamental principles of occupational health and safety. Alli, B.O. Geneva, ILO, 2008

Handbook of occupational safety and health. Koradecka, D. Boca Raton: Taylor & Francis, 2010

The psychology of safety handbook. Geller, E.S. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers, 2001

Safety at work. Ridley, J.; Channing, J.(editors) 7th ed. Oxford: Butterworth, 2008

Safety culture : assessing and changing the behaviour of organisations. Taylor, J.B. Farnham, Surrey: Gower, 2010

The safety officer’s concise desk reference. O’Brien, D.P. Boca Raton: Lewis Publishers, 2002

Noise

Criteria for a recommended standard: occupational noise exposure. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health revised criteria. Cincinnati OH: NIOSH, 1998 http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/98-126/pdfs/98-126.pdf

Noise induced hearing loss: basic mechanisms, prevention and control. Henderson, D. et al.). London: Noise Research Network,2001

Occupational hearing loss. Sataloff, R.T. and Sataloff, J. 3rd ed. Boca Raton: Taylor and Francis, 2006

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Occupational noise. National standard [NOHSC : 1007(2000)]. National code of practice [NOHSC : 2009 (2004)]. National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. 3rd ed. Canberra :NOHSC, 2004.

Noise management at work. National Occupational Health and Safety Commission. Canberra: AGPS, 1991

Handbook of noise induced hearing loss: prevention and rehabilitation. Barber, A. Canberra: AGPS, 1992

Periodicals Journals, newsletters and mailing lists are an excellent source of up-to-date information because of the frequency of publication. Information in books takes time to be written and published while journal articles can report more quickly on new developments and current trends. Journals also contain useful information in the form of reviews for books, software and websites, news items and announcements of conferences and seminars. Subscriptions to most journals and newsletters can be either in print or electronic format. While journals usually have scientific/technical content, others are more practical and can be a useful source of trade information such as advertisements and product news. There are many journals and newsletters available at good WHS libraries such as the WorkSafe WA Library: Here is a selection of the more popular WHS journals.

3.3 Journals

Australian

Journal of Health, Safety and Environment. (ISSN 0029-7917) North Ryde, NSW: CCH Australia Ltd

National Safety (ISSN 1445-9922) South Yarra, Vic.: National Safety Council of Australia

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International

Accident analysis and prevention (ISSN 0001-4575) Oxford : Pergamon Press

Annals of Occupational Hygiene (ISSN 0003-4878) Oxford: Pergamon Press

Applied Ergonomics (ISSN 0003-6870) New York: Elsevier

Health and Safety at Work (ISSN 0141-8246) Croyden, Surrey: Reed Elsevier

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene (ISSN 1545-9624) Philadelphia, P.A.: Taylor & Francis

Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ISSN 1076-2752) Baltimore, MD: Williams & Wilkins

Noise Control Engineering Journal (ISSN 0736-2501) Ploughkeepsie, NY: Institute of Noise Control Engineering

Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ISSN 1351-0711) London: BMJ Publishing Group

Occupational Health (ISSN 0029-7917) Sutton, Surrey: Reed Business Information

Occupational Medicine (ISSN 1471-8405) Oxford: Oxford University Press

Professional Safety (ISSN 0099-0027) Park Rige, Ill: American Society of Safety Engineers

RoSPA Occupational Safety and Health Journal (ISSN 1474-7952) Birmingham: RoSPA

Safety and Health Practitioner (ISSN 0958-479X) Borehamwood, Herts: Paramount Publishing

Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health (ISSN 0355-3140) Stockholm: National board of Occupational Safety and Health

Work and Stress (ISBN 1464-5335) London: Taylor & Francis

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3.4 Newsletters Newsletters are often the best sources of up-to-date information about recent developments in a particular field. Newsletters may report on changes to WHS legislation, current research, accidents, court proceedings, new work programs or work practices and include short articles on topical issues. They are sent as an email update often daily or weekly. Here is a selection of Australian newsletters.

Occupational Health News (ISSN 1441-144X) Kew, Vic.: Thomson Reuters (Professional) Australia

OHS Alert ( Fast independent new and analysis for workplace safety professionals) Sydney; Specialist News

OHS bulletin (the plain English guide to workplace health and safety) Melbourne: Crown Content

WorkplaceOHS (news and info for Australian OHS professionals)North Sydney: Australian Business Pty Ltd.

3.5 e-Journals Many magazines provided freely to the community are now available in electronic format. Here is a selection of Australian and International titles.

Asian-Pacific newsletter on occupational health and safety. Finnish Institute of Occupational Health http://www.ttl.fi/en/publications/electronic_journals/asian_pacific_newsletter/pages/default.aspx

Hazards magazine. Trade Union Congress http://www.hazards.org/

Health and safety report Canadian Centre for Occupational Safety and Health http://www.ccohs.ca/newsletters/hsreport/issues/current.html

HesMag European Trade Union Institute http://www.etui.org/Topics/Health-Safety/HesaMag

Magazine of the European Agency for Safety and Health at work. EU-OSHA http://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/magazine

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Regulation at work - newsletter. National Centre for Occupational Health and Safety Regulation http://ohs.anu.edu.au/publications/index.php

Safe work Australian. Safe Work Australia http://safeworkaustralia.gov.au/AboutSafeWorkAustralia/WhatWeDo/Publications/Pages/QuickSearchResults.aspx?PublicationType=Newsletter

Safety science monitor http://ssmon.chb.kth.se/

Workplace issues magazine Workplace Standards Tasmania http://www.wst.tas.gov.au/publications/wpi_mag

WorkSafe magazine Workers Compensation Board of British Columbia http://www.worksafebc.com/publications/newsletters/worksafe_magazine/default.asp

3.6 Subscribe to email alerts All government work health and safety agencies provide a number of options to keep the community informed about their activities. Subscribing to an email update service will provide you with information about, new publications, amendments to legislation, safety alerts, incident reports, changes to the website, events and seminars.

WorkSafe Western Australia http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/worksafe/Content/Services/Mailing_lists/index.htm

Safe Work Australia http://safeworkaustralia.gov.au/Contact/Subscribe/Pages/Subs cribe.aspx

Go to the website of your regulatory authority to subscribe to email alerts relevant to your jurisdiction

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Section 4: WEBSITES AND DATABASES

4.1 Websites Websites are available freely on the Internet. Most government websites provide full text access to all their publications, legislation as well as a diverse range of WHS training resources often including films, podcasts, posters and PowerPoint presentations. The website of professional associations, research centres, trade unions, employers associations and universities can all be useful information sources. There are many good directories providing comprehensive links to the constantly increasing list of WHS websites on the Internet:

WorkSafe Western Australia http://www.commerce.wa.gov.au/worksafe/Content/Services/Useful_links/Useful_links.html

Canadian Centre for Occupational Safety and Health http://www.ccohs.ca/oshlinks/

Sheila Pantry and Associates – OSH World http://www.sheilapantry.com/oshworld/links.html

4.2 Databases Bibliographic databases are collections of references to articles, reports and conference proceedings that can be searched using keywords, title, author details. They usually provide you with an abstract (summary) of the article or sometimes the complete article or report. Factual or direct databases are extensive collections of facts and data on a specialised subject. Among the factual database relevant to WHS are statistical, chemical, legal and standards databases. Many bibliographic databases are freely available to the public on the Internet, however, you sometimes need to pay a subscription to access databases providing access to standards, SDS and full text information.

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Some of the databases useful in the WHS field are listed below. Databases not freely available online require a paid subscription or may be available to view from a good WHS library, such as the WorkSafe WA Library.

AUSTRALIAN BUILDING CODES BOARD Provides access to the Building Code of Australia. Subscription required. http://www.abcb.gov.au/

AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS (ABS) Proves access to all ABS products and statistics. Freely available online http://www.abs.gov.au/

AUSTLII Australian Legal information Institute. Contains full text databases of most Australian court decisions and legislation. Freely available online http://www.austlii.edu.au/

AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS Full text access to Australian Standards. Subscription required http://www.standards.org.au/

CHEMWATCH Comprehensive collection of safety data sheets (SDS) from Australia. Subscription required. http://www.chemwatch.net/

CISDOC (ILO) International labour Organization. Bibliographic database contains about 70,000 citations related to WHS. Freely available online http://www.ilo.org/dyn/cisdoc/index_html?p_lang=e

COCHRANE DATABASE Consists of a regularly updated collection of evidence-based medicine databases featuring over 1,000 journals and major reference books. Freely available online http://www.thecochranelibrary.com/view/0/index.html

ELECTRONIC LIBRARY OF CONSTRUCTION OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH (eLOSH) CPWR Center for Construction Research and Training. Provides a wide range of resource on construction safety and health. Freely available http://www.elcosh.org/

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HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES INFORMATION SYSTEM Safe Work Australia. Provides information on hazardous substances that have been classified in accordance with the Approved Criteria for Hazardous Substances and the National Exposure Standards for Atmospheric Contaminants. Freely available online http://hsis.ascc.gov.au/

ILO SAFEWORK BOOKSHELF International Labour Organization. Provides full text access to the ILO Occupational Health and Safety Encyclopaedia, International Chemical Safety Cards, ILO Conventions and Recommendations. Freely available online http://www.ilo.org/safework_bookshelf/English

KEY POINT

Those working with chemicals require a relevant safety data sheet.

NIOSHTIC-2 U.S. National institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Bibliographic database contaions around 47,000 citations related to occupational health and safety with full text access to NIOSH publications. Freely available online www.cdc.gov/niosh

OSH UPDATE Sheila Pantry Associates. Collection of over 20 bibliographic databases including some full text records.relevant to WHS. Subscription required. http://www.oshupdate.com/

PUBMED U.S. National Library of Medicine. Bibliographic database contains around 21 million citations from biomedical literature. May include links to full text articles. Freely available online http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

SAFETYLIT Centre for Injury Prevention Policy, San Diego State University. Database of citations related to injury prevention and safety promotion Freely available online http://www.safetylit.org/

WEBLAW A subject gateway to Australian Legal Resources Freely available online http://www.weblaw.edu.au/display_page.phtml?WebLaw_Page=Occupational+Health+%26+Safety+Law

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4.3 Mailing lists There are many mailing lists debating relevant topics on WHS. A comprehensive list of the addresses is produced by Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety. The list is organised alphabetically and is maintained by the Canadian Centre. This is available at:

KEY POINT

Safety officers who want to be kept up-to-date with the latest developments in WHS would read journals and newsletters, use the Internet and follow newsgroups.

http://www.ccohs.ca/resources/listserv.html

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SUMMARY

You have been introduced to a variety of information sources in different formats and you should now be able to differentiate between the types of resources available for your search needs. You should also be able to identify the type of documents that will provide the best answers to your queries. This is just an overview of the sources of WHS information that are available. There is much more information on WHS which would be available from various institutions, universities, research centres, government departments and also on the Internet.

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REFERENCES & FURTHER READING

Guide to occupational and environmental health and safety

information in British Columbia compiled by Marci Gibson and Lance Nordstrom 7th ed. Richmond, BC : Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia, 2010 http://www.worksafebc.com/about_us/library_services/assets/pdf/ohsguide.pdf

Identifying and describing databases relevant to health and safety at work Surrey, Health and Safety Executive, 2011 (Research Report RR898) http://www.hse.gov.uk/research/rrpdf/rr898.pdf

Occupational health and safety : an annotated bibliography of research and related literature (1998 – 2003) Edited and compiled by UNESCO-UNEVOC International Centre Publications, 2004 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001480/148010e.pdf

A practical guide for the use of research information to improve the quality of occupational health practice for occupational & public health professionals Verbeek, J. and van Dijk, F. Geneva : World Health Organisation, 2006 (Protecting workers’ health series no. 7) http://www.who.int/occupational_health/publications/pwh7elr.pdf

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