Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Unit 1
Unit 1
ACCIDENT
An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or
injury.
An accident, also known as an unintentional injury, is an undesirable, incidental, and unplanned event that
could have been prevented had circumstances leading up to the accident been recognized, and acted upon,
prior to its occurrence.
HAZARD
A hazard is an agent which has the potential to cause harm to a vulnerable target. The terms "hazard" and
"risk" are often used interchangeably. However, in terms of risk assessment, they are two very distinct terms.
A hazard is any agent that can cause harm or damage to humans, property, or the environment. Risk is
defined as the probability that exposure to a hazard will lead to a negative consequence, or more simply, a
hazard poses no risk if there is no exposure to that hazard.
Hazards can be dormant or potential, with only a theoretical probability of harm. An event that is caused by
interaction with a hazard is called an incident. The likely severity of the undesirable consequences of an
incident associated with a hazard, combined with the probability of this occurring, constitute the associated
risk. If there is no possibility of a hazard contributing towards an incident, there is no risk.
RISK
A situation involving exposure to danger. Risk is the potential of gaining or losing something of value.
Values (such as physical health, social status, emotional well-being, or financial wealth) can be gained or lost
when taking risk resulting from a given action or inaction, foreseen or unforeseen (planned or not planned).
Risk can also be defined as the intentional interaction with uncertainty. Uncertainty is a potential,
unpredictable, and uncontrollable outcome; risk is a consequence of action taken in spite of uncertainty.
A basic principle of safety can be illustrated by the accident triangle. This principle states that for each
accidental death that occurs, there are X instances of human injury, Y instances of property damage, and Z
instances of what we will call Near Misses (in which the hazardous situation exists but an accident does not
occur). Common examples of Near Miss behavior include smoking in bed, or running a red light. This safety
principle reasons that the best way to avoid death, injury and property loss is to stay out of the Near Miss
zone.
For example, consider the hazard of smoking in bed. For every death caused by smoking in bed, there
are X number of people injured by smoking in bed, and Y number of bedrooms or Houses damaged
by smoking in bed. And there are Z number of instances of people smoking in bed who do not die,
injure themselves, or burn their houses down. These Z people are operating in the Near Miss zone.
Even though nothing destructive happened to them, their behavior is unsafe because it is the same
behavior observed in people who died, or were injured, or suffered property damage.
The best way to stay out of the Near Miss zone is to analyze hazards and create guidelines for safe operation.
We then educate people about those safety guidelines. Whenever possible, we also place warnings and
indicators near the hazard.
If, instead of focusing on accident prevention, we focus only on minimizing loss after an accident has already
occurred, we will seek to improve our emergency response to accidents. Emergency response is a very
important part of any safety program, but it is significantly more expensive than prevention. Therefore,
unless we follow safety guidelines to avoid accidents, we will spend a great deal more money and time
correcting accidents after they have happened.
1. An unsafe act, an unsafe condition, an accident: these negative events are symptoms of
something wrong in the management system.
Historically, after an accident happened, safety people would target the specific unsafe act, and/or unsafe
condition. If they could only find out what the unsafe act and/or unsafe condition was, they would take
action to rectify that act or condition.
2. Certain sets of circumstances can be predicted to produce severe injuries. These circumstances
can be identified and controlled. Circumstances include such things as:
High Energy Sources
Certain Construction Activities
Public Safety Activities (Police and Fire)
Working at Heights
3. Safety should be managed like any other organizational function. Management should direct
the safety effort by setting achievable goals and by planning, organizing, and controlling to
achieve them.
4. The key to effective line safety performance is management procedures that establish
accountability.
5. The function of safety is to locate and define the operational errors that allow accident to occur.
6. The cause of unsafe act should be identified and classified. Some of classifications are overload.
Each cause is one which can be controlled.
7. In most cases, unsafe behavior is normal human behavior; it is the result of normal people
reacting to their environment. Management’s job is to change the environment that leads to
the unsafe behavior.
8. There are three major subsystems that must be dealt with in building an effective safety system:
9. The safety system should fit the (management) culture of the organization.
10. There is no one right way to achieve safety in an organization; however, for a safety system to
be effective, it must meet certain criteria. The system must:
3. Identify and evaluate the severity and foresee ability of product hazards.
4. Conduct a design review assessing the risk of injury by considering the hazards, the environment, and
foreseeable use.
5. First attempt to eliminate hazards. If not possible, then reduce the opportunity for injury by guarding
against the hazards.
10. Promptly notify product users and institute recall procedures where necessary to substantially reduce
or eliminate injury.
A written corporate safety policy is the ultimate responsibility of top management. The document is
designed to detail executive commitment, both statutory and voluntary, to the concept of system
safety; a before-the-fact management system designed to insure the production and distribution of
reasonably safe products. Oral direction such as "safety is everyone's responsibility" provides
inadequate instructions to the organization. The policy must describe management commitment to
clear identification of the responsible corporate units for the tasks of hazard identification, risk
assessment and injury control. The primary goal of a written safety policy is the creation of a
management system to substantially reduce of eliminate injury to consumers.
The independence of the safety function within the management structure is crucial to successful
analysis of potential product dangers. Corporate Safety Director is an advisory role, with authority to
interact with technical functions such as product design, engineering, epidemiology, human factors,
communications and legal. The safety manager must be able to order safety-related analyses by the
various technical divisions and have the authority to integrate the results for presentation directly to
top management for decisions on injury control. It is critical that the safety management office be
independent of production and distribution. Giving a production manager primary responsibility for
safety will divide his or her loyalties and compromise injury control before management review. The
safety director often will preside over a safety review board is compromised of members from the
technical divisions.
A hazard is the inherent capability of a product to do harm. It is most often the result of an energy
transfer or release, with such transfer creating impact to the product user. Appropriate analysis must
include a focus on whether the hazard is latent to the user while foreseeable to the producer and the
impact on certain vulnerable population groups. The vast majority of homeowners in rural areas do
not understand that pilot outage in an LP gas water heater can create dangerous conditions when the
safety valve fails to operate. Turning on a light bulb or attempting to relight the pilot can create a
catastrophic explosion. Some hay balers can entangle a farmer's arm faster than they can let go of a
piece of string caught in the feed rollers. Children cannot recognize strangulation hazards in and
around cribs. Manufacturers and distributors must proceed with extra caution where the hazard is not
immediately apparent to the user.
4. Conduct a design review assessing the risk of injury by considering the hazards, the environment,
and foreseeable use.
A risk of injury is the opportunity for a specific set of conditions to create harm: Under what
circumstances can the user be injured? An examination of the identified hazards, the environment in
which it is intended to be used and foreseeable use and misuse of the product by the user population
must be considered. An all terrain vehicle, or ATV, can be an inherently unstable 300-pound machine
that can throw a rider. Crushing injuries can occur in addition to the impact by overturning. ATVs are
intended to be used in uncontrolled, wilderness environments, such as mountainous paths, sand dunes
and over obstacles. By creating a recreational, sometimes uninhibited setting, ATV riders can
foreseeable use the product by going fast, racing with friends, or even by partaking in alcoholic
beverages. While not always appropriate behavior to a safety analyst, it is foreseeable that these
situations will occur and must be considered to effect reasonable safeguards to prevent injury.
5. First attempt to eliminate hazards. If not possible, then reduce the opportunity for injury by
guarding against the hazards.
By eliminating a specific hazard, certain injury cannot occur. For many years cribs were designed
with finials, or cornerposts, extending above the top edge of the crib. Children would become
entangled on the finials through clothing or other articles and strangle. Redesigning the crib with a
smooth top edge with no protrusions eliminates the danger. But in other cases this is often not
possible. Gasoline creates toxic and explosive fumes. It is not possible to eliminate them without
destroying its usefulness. Gasoline can however, be stored in an appropriate canister to prevent the
fumes from leaking into a water heater closet in the garage causing an explosion and severe burn
injuries. A power mower employs a steel blade rotating at over 200 mph, but lawn mowers can
incorporate devices to shut down the blade when the operator releases the controls and can shield user
access to the rotating blades.
6. Warn users of product dangers and motivate them to avoid injury.
In addition to elimination of hazards, product warnings and instructions must assist the user to avoid
dangers, including those that remain after thorough attempts to eliminate or guard. An explicit
warning including a signal word, statement of the hazard, appropriate behavior and a description of
the consequences of the danger are required. A pictogram illustrating the consequences is often
needed to communicate the danger, especially to those who cannot read the words. This
communication of the consequences is particularly important in motivating the user to avoid the
danger. Ten years ago, the CPSC required a warning on certain power lawn mowers signaling
Danger, to keep hands and feet away from the mower, and included a pictogram depicting a blade
cutting a hand. A warning not to go in the kitchen without knowing why may be quickly disobeyed.
Informing the chef not to enter the kitchen because of a fire spreading from the oven will often cause
him or her to go elsewhere to eat.
Advertising and product promotion sometimes subtly and deceptively promote consumer misuse.
Motorcycles promoting speeds up to 150 mph certainly encourage users to go fast, if not to the limit.
Some chain saw manufacturers for years promoted the "macho" image to outdoorsmen. When they
began distributing smaller, homeowner saws to the general population, injuries more than doubled. In
the early years of sales, ATVs were advertised as safe, family fun. Print advertisements said the
ATVs could traverse "an astonishing array of terrain", over "rocks, boulders and fallen logs" and
"where some animals can't go." Small, instantly removed disclaimers are insufficient to warn users of
the dangers of actions depicted in advertisements. Positive statements providing safe use instructions
with sufficeint frequency to influence behavior is necessary to reinforce safe activity.
An effective product safety system requires records in sufficient detail to allow for timely detection of
safety hazards and trends, and for tracing product defects in assembly, components and overall
design. Records necessary to provide sufficient data for management decisions include safety-related
product changes, test results, consumer complaints, product liability lawsuits, location of products
within the distribution chain, government injury data, and engineering reports. An integral part of the
corporate safety policy is establishment of a system of records and a directive concerning retention of
those documents. A document destruction policy of three years concerning a product with a useful
life of seven years deprives the organization for the opportunity to protect product users from danger.
9. Continuously monitor the safety performance of the product in the hands of users.
Once a manufacturer/distributor has concluded that a product is reasonably safe based on pre-
production review and analysis, the product is ready for distribution to users. Feedback from product
users is critical to determining whether subsequent corrective action is necessary. Government injury
data such as the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) is a primary resource for
management safety data. A major producer of furnace valves distributed approximately 15,000 valves
to furnace manufacturers. Reports from the field indicated the seals were not properly chlorinated,
thus allowing the gasket to tear and leak gas. The company notified the Consumer Product Safety
Commission under section 15(b) that the product possibly "contained a defect which could create a
substantial product hazard". An appropriate corrective action plan including the recall of the valve
and notification to consumers was taken to protect consumers from the dangers of gas explosions.
10. Promptly notify product users and institute recall procedures where necessary to substantially
reduce or eliminate injury.
Upon discovery of a product hazard after distribution to the public, immediate notification of the
danger and quick steps to protect users from injury are critical. Time is of the essence.
Knowledgeable product users can help reduce both injuries and claims. Efficient recall procedures
can remove hazardous products from the stream of commerce. A number of years ago a major
producer and distributor of telephones in the United States discovered that the transformers used to
power the lighted dial on certain phones would catch fire. Four incidents of minor property damage
were reported. Although no injuries were reported, the company embarked on a major notification
and recall campaign which included "bill stuffers" to tens of millions of consumers of the fire damage
and offered a free replacement, along with compensation for damage caused by the transformer. Few
additional incidents were reported.
Plant location or the facilities location problem is an important strategic level decision- making for an
organisation. One of the key features of a conversion process (manufacturing system) is the efficiency with
which the products (services) are transferred to the customers. This fact will include the determination of
where to place the plant or facility. The selection of location is a key-decision as large investment is made in
building plant and machinery. It is not advisable or not possible to change the location very often. So an
improper location of plant may lead to waste of all the investments made in building and machinery,
equipment. Before a location for a plant is selected, long range forecasts should be made anticipating future
needs of the company. The plant location should be based on the company’s expansion plan and policy,
diversification plan for the products, changing market conditions, the changing sources of raw materials and
many other factors that influence the choice of the location decision. The purpose of the location study is to
find an optimum location one that will result in the greatest advantage to the organization.
1. When starting a new organisation, i.e., location choice for the first time.
2. In case of existing organisation.
3. In case of Global Location.
The different operations strategies under the above circumstances could be:
1. Plants manufacturing distinct products:
Each plant services the entire market area for the organization. This strategy is necessary where
the needs of technological and resource inputs are specialized or distinctively different for the
different product-lines.
For example, a high quality precision product-line should not be located along with other
product-line requiring little emphasis on precision. It may not be proper to have too many
contradictions such as sophisticated and old equipment, highly skilled and semi-skilled
personnel, delicates processes and those that could permit rough handlings, all under one roof
and one set of managers. Such a setting leads to much confusion regarding the required emphasis
and the management policies. Product specialization may be necessary in a highly competitive
market. It may be necessary to exploit the special resources of a particular geographical area.
The more decentralized these pairs are in terms of the management and in terms of their physical
location, the better would be the planning and control and the utilization of the resources.
2. Manufacturing plants supplying to a specific market area:
Here, ea ch plant manufactures almost all of the company ’ s products. This type of strategy is
useful where market proximity consideration dominates the resources and technology
considerations. This strategy requires great deal of coordination from the corporate office. An
extreme example of this strategy is that of soft drinks bottling plants.
3. Plants divided on the basis of the process or stages in manufacturing:
Each production process or stage of manufacturing may require distinctively different equipment
capabilities, labour skills, technologies, and managerial policies and emphasis. Since the
products of one plant feed into the other plant, this strategy requires much centralized
coordination of the manufacturing activities from the corporate office that are expected to
understand the various technological aspects of all the plants.
4. Plants emphasizing flexibility:
This requires much coordination between plants to meet the changing needs and at the same time
ensure efficient use of the facilities and resources.
Frequent changes in the long-term strategy in order to improve be efficiently temporarily, are not
healthy for the organization.
For an established organization in order to add on to the capacity, following are the ways:
( a ) Expansion of the facilities at the existing site:
This is acceptable when it does not violate the basic business and managerial outlines,
i.e ., philosophies, purposes, strategies and capabilities. For example, expansion should not
compromise quality, delivery, or customer service.
( b ) Relocation of the facilities (closing down the existing ones):
This is a drastic step which can be called as ‘ Uprooting and Transplanting ’ . Unless there are
very compelling reasons, relocation is not done. The reasons will be either bringing radical
changes in technology, resource availability or other destabilization.
All these factors are applicable to service organizations, whose objectives, priorities and
strategies may differ from those of hardcore manufacturing organizations.
Virtual proximity
With the advance in telecommunications technology, a firm can be in virtual proximity to its
customers. For a software services firm much of its logistics is through the information/
communication pathway. Many firms use the communications highway for conducting a large
portion of their business transactions. Logistics is certainly an important factor in deciding on a
location whether in the home country or abroad. Markets have to be reached. Customers have to
be contacted. Hence, a market presence in the country of the customers is quite necessary.
Virtual Factory
Many firms based in USA and UK in the service sector and in the manufacturing sector often out
sources part of their business processes to foreign locations such as India. Thus, instead of one
’sown operations, a firm could use its business associates’operations facilities. The Indian BPO
firm is a foreign-based company’s ‘virtual service factory ’ . So a location could be one ’ s own
or one’s business associates. The location decision need not always necessarily pertain to own
operations.
FACTORS INFLUENCING PLANT LOCATION/FACILITY LOCATION
In this section, you will learn about the various factors that affect decisions regarding choice of location.
These factors are explained in the following sections.
1. Proximity to Customers (Markets)
When the plant is located near the customers/markets, the cost of transportation is low. This reduces the
product cost. Most small ancillary units are located near big automotive factories. The OEMs (Original
Equipment Manufacturers) are the institutional customers of small parts, components, or sub- assemblies
from these ancillary units. The Maruti joint Venture Complex at Gurgaon near the Maruti Suzuki car factory
is a good example of how proximity to the customer reduces the transportation cost of auto ancillary units,
which supply parts, components, sub-assemblies, etc. for making the Maruti car. Proximity to markets also
allows companies to meet sudden spurt in demand, thus providing an advantage over competitors who are
located at far-off places. That is why we find hospitals, schools, post offices, banks, insurance companies,
etc. located in high population zones so that they are able to serve a large number of customers.
The natural drainage facility for disposal of Effluent should be duly examined.It would be economically
advantageous if an effluent disposal facility after treatment, which can handle the produced quantity of
effluent is readily available. Otherwise, transporting the effluent by a drainage, to a safe disposal area which
is far away has to tackle the legal and ecological problems.
PLANT LAYOUT
Plant layout refers to the physical arrangement of production facilities. It is the configuration of
departments, work centres and equipment in the conversion process. It is a floor plan of the physical
facilities, which are used in production. According to Moore “ Plant layout is a plan of an optimum
arrangement of facilities including personnel, operating equipment, storage space, material handling
equipment and all other supporting services along with the design of best structure to contain all these
facilities ”
The primary goal of the plant layout is to maximize the profit by arrangement of all the plant
facilities to the best advantage of total manufacturing of the product.
The objectives of plant layout are:
1. Streamline the flow of materials through the plant.
2. Facilitate the manufacturing process.
3. Maintain high turnover of in-process inventory.
4. Minimize materials handling and cost.
5. Effective utilization of men, equipment and space.
6. Make effective utilization of cubic space.
7. Flexibility of manufacturing operations and arrangements.
8. Provide for employee convenience, safety and comfort.
9. Minimize investment in equipment.
10. Minimize overall production time.
11. Maintain flexibility of arrangement and operation.
12. Facilitate the organizational structure
1.Principle of integration:
A good layout is one that integrates men, materials, machines and supporting services and
others in order to get the optimum utilization of resources and maximum effectiveness.
2. Principle of minimum distance:
This principle is concerned with the minimum travel (or movement) of man and materials.
The facilities should be arranged such that, the total distance travelled by the men and materials
should be minimum and as far as possible straight line movement should be preferred.
CLASSIFICATION OF LAYOUT
Layouts can be classified into the following five categories:
1. Process layout
2. Product layout
3. Combination layout
4. Fixed position layout
5. Group layout
1. Process Layout
Process layout is recommended for batch production. All machines performing similar type of operations are
grouped at one location in the process layout e.g., all lathes, milling machines, etc. are grouped in the shop
will be clustered in like groups.
Thus, in process layout the arrangement of facilities are grouped together according to their functions. A
typical process layout is shown in Fig. 2.5. The flow paths of material through the facilities from one
functional area to another vary from product to product. Usually the paths are long and there will be
possibility of backtracking. Process layout is normally used when the production volume is not sufficient to
justify a product layout. Typically, job shops employ process layouts due to the variety of products
manufactured and their low production volumes.
2. Product Layout
In this type of layout, machines and auxiliary services are located according to the processing sequence of the
product. If the volume of production of one or more products is large, the facilities can be arranged to
achieve efficient flow of materials and lower cost per unit. Special purpose machines are used which perform
the required function quickly and reliably.
The product layout is selected when the volume of production of a product is high such that a separate
production line to manufacture it can be justified. In a strict product layout, machines are not shared by
different products. Therefore, the production volume must be sufficient to achieve satisfactory utilisation of
the equipment.
3. Combination Layout
A combination of process and product layouts combines the advantages of both types of layouts.A
combination layout is possible where an item is being made in different types and sizes. Here machinery is
arranged in a process layout but the process grouping is then arranged in a sequence to manufacture various
types and sizes of products. It is to be noted that the sequence of operations remains same with the variety of
products and sizes. Figure 2.7 shows a combination type of layout for manufacturing different sized gears.
4. Fixed Position Layout
This is also called the project type of layout. In this type of layout, the material, or major components remain
in a fixed location and tools, machinery, men and other materials are brought to this location. This type of
layout is suitable when one or a few pieces of identical heavy products are to be manufactured and when the
assembly consists of large number of heavy parts, the cost of transportation of these parts is very high.
5. Group Layout
Thus group layoutis a combination of the product layout and process layout. It combines the advantages
of both layout systems. If there are m-machines and n-components, in a group layout (Group-Technology
Layout), the m-machines and -n-components will be divided into distinct
INTRODUCTION
While best management practices and best in class programs may be a goal of many EHS
professionals, at the heart of the profession are the requirements and obligations established by law. It is this
myriad of legal requirements that EHS professionals must be able to identify in order to achieve the
minimum goal of compliance. While it is not expected that anyone can be an expert in all, or even many,
areas of the law, a good EHS professional has enough knowledge to identify potential legal requirements
which allows for further review and analysis. This paper provides a quick review of the major areas of
regulations along with some of their components and triggers.EHS professionals are cautioned to seek local
counsel when their analysis identifies complicated legal issues or structures or for areas where the
professional does not feel competent to make decisions.
Law
In the each branch of the government (i.e., executive, legislative, and judicial) has a
role in establishing the “law”. The powers of the legislative branch are established through the state or
federal constitutions. The legislative branch develops and establishes Acts and Statutes. Acts can directly
place requirements on the citizenry, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act’s requirement that
“[e]ach employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are
free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his
employees”.
Acts can also establish duties on the executive branch such as the OSH Act’s requirement that “the Secretary
shall . . . by rule promulgate as an occupational safety or health standard any national consensus standard . . .
unless he determines that the promulgation of such a standard would not result in improved safety or health.
The executive branch is provided powers through these Acts and must work within the
constraints established by the legislative branch’s delegation of power. Executive agencies do not have the
freedom to go outside the areas where they have been delegated authority to address other issues. Where
required by the act, or as necessary to implement the requirements of the act, these executive agencies
develop and implement rules and regulations. When legislative acts or executive regulations are challenged,
it is the judicial branch which rules on the legality of the actions taken. Legislatures must act within the
confines of their constitutional powers and similarly the executive agencies must act within the powers
delegated them by the legislature; where this is exceeded the judicial branch can invalidate actions of either
the legislative or executive branches. Similarly, when the meaning or functioning of the law is challenged, it
is the judicial branch which establishes either meaning or parameters of the law.
For the EHS professional the list of potential laws that may be impacted is extensive, including
environmental, medical, and workers compensation. The remainder of this section provides a quick overview
of some of major bodies of law that may be incurred upon by the EHS professional.
Environmental
Unlike the singular nature of the OSHA regulations, there are a large number of environmental regulations,
many with a potential to impact an EHS professional’s activities.Similar to OSHA, the Environmental
Protection Agency and the current environmental regulatory structure began in 1970. However, numerous
environmental acts and regulations existed pre-1970; but it is generally recognized that these were largely
ineffective at reducing environmental impacts. Throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s numerous updates to
environmental statutes were passed, creating the federal command and control structure that exists now. One
major difference between environmental regulations and occupational and safety regulations is the potential
for states to take over and supplement the federal environmental regulations. Professionals are cautioned that
environmental regulations can vary from state to state. Where the federal regulations allow states to take over
the federal program, the state regulations must at least meet the federal regulations but they can also add
additional regulations or create regulations that exceed the federal regulations.
National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”)
The passage of NEPA signaled a significant change in environmental policy and philosophy. Not only did it
establish national environmental policies and goals but also required that federal agencies consider and
implement those goals and policies. This requirement forced federal agencies to identify and consider
environmental considerations in their decision-making process.The judicial branch has interpreted NEPA to
mean that environmental protection is part of every federal agency’s mandate.
While NEPA only applied to federal agencies many states subsequently implemented similar state
regulations. Where applicable these typically require a form of assessment of environmental impact for an
action proposed by a governmental entity. Note that these can often also apply to actions taken with
governmental funding or grants.
General ventilation
Ventilation moves outdoor air into a building or a room, and distributes the air within the building or room.
The general purpose of ventilation in buildings is to provide healthy air for breathing by both diluting the
pollutants originating in the building and removing the pollutants from it.
ventilation rate — the amount of outdoor air that is provided into the space, and the quality of the outdoor air.
airflow direction — the overall airflow direction in a building, which should be from clean zones to dirty
zones; and
air distribution or airflow pattern — the external air should be delivered to each part of the space in an
efficient manner and the airborne pollutants generated in each part of the space should also be removed in an
efficient manner.
There are three methods that may be used to ventilate a building: natural, mechanical and hybrid (mixed-
mode) ventilation.
Natural forces (e.g. winds and thermal buoyancy force due to indoor and outdoor air density differences)
drive outdoor air through purpose-built, building envelope openings. Purpose-built openings include
windows, doors, solar chimneys, wind towers and trickle ventilators. This natural ventilation of buildings
depends on climate, building design and human behaviour.
What is mechanical ventilation?
Mechanical fans drive mechanical ventilation. Fans can either be installed directly in windows or walls, or
installed in air ducts for supplying air into, or exhausting air from, a room.
The type of mechanical ventilation used depends on climate. For example, in warm and humid climates,
infiltration may need to be minimized or prevented to reduce interstitial condensation (which occurs when
warm, moist air from inside a building penetrates a wall, roof or floor and meets a cold surface). In these
cases, a positive pressure mechanical ventilation system is often used. Conversely, in cold climates,
exfiltration needs to be prevented to reduce interstitial condensation, and negative pressure ventilation is
used. For a room with locally generated pollutants, such as a bathroom, toilet or kitchen, the negative
pressure system is often used.
If well designed, installed and maintained, there are a number of advantages to a mechanical system.
Mechanical ventilation systems are considered to be reliable in delivering the designed flow rate,
regardless of the impacts of variable wind and ambient temperature. As mechanical ventilation can
be integrated easily into air-conditioning, the indoor air temperature and humidity can also be
controlled.
Filtration systems can be installed in mechanical ventilation so that harmful microorganisms,
particulates, gases, odours and vapours can be removed.
The airflow path in mechanical ventilation systems can be controlled, for instance allowing the air to
flow from areas where there is a source (e.g. patient with an airborne infection), towards the areas
free of susceptible individuals.
Mechanical ventilation can work everywhere when electricity is available.
Mechanical ventilation systems often do not work as expected, and normal operation may be
interrupted for numerous reasons, including equipment failure, utility service interruption, poor
design, poor maintenance or incorrect management. If the system services a critical facility, and
there is a need for continuous operation, all the equipment may have to be backed up — which can
be expensive and unsustainable.
Installation and particularly maintenance costs for the operation of a mechanicalventilation system
may be very high. If a mechanical system cannot be properly installed or maintained due to shortage
of funds, its performance will be compromised.
Because of these problems, mechanical ventilation systems may result in the spread of infectious diseases
through health-care facilities, instead of being an important tool for infection control.
Natural ventilation
If well installed and maintained, there are several advantages of a natural ventilation system, compared with
mechanical ventilation systems.
Natural ventilation can generally provide a high ventilation rate more economically, due to the use
of natural forces and large openings.
Natural ventilation can be more energy efficient, particularly if heating is not required.
Well-designed natural ventilation could be used to access higher levels of daylight.
From a technology point of view, natural ventilation may be classified into simple natural ventilation systems
and high-tech natural ventilation systems. The latter are computer-controlled, and may be assisted by
mechanical ventilation systems (i.e. hybrid or mixed-mode systems). High-tech natural ventilation may have
the same limitations as mechanical ventilation systems; however, it also has the benefits of both mechanical
and natural ventilation systems.
If properly designed, natural ventilation can be reliable, particularly when combined with a mechanical
system using the hybrid (mixed-mode) ventilation principle, although some of these modern natural
ventilation systems may be more expensive to construct and design than mechanical systems.
In general, the advantage of natural ventilation is its ability to provide a very high air-change rate at low cost,
with a very simple system. Although the air-change rate can vary significantly, buildings with modern
natural ventilation systems (that are designed and operated properly) can achieve very high air-change rates
by natural forces, which can greatly exceed minimum ventilation requirements.
The emergency response plan is a portion of the employer’s written health and safety program. Employers
whose employees do not assist in the handling of hazardous waste emergencies, are
exempted from this portion of 29 CFR 1910.120 (HazWOPER) provided they have a written emergency
action plan complying with 29 CFR 1910.38 (a).
The written Emergency Response Plan must address the following areas:
pre-emergency planning and coordination with outside responding agencies, i.e., fire, EMS, police,
etc.;
personnel roles, lines of authority and lines of communication;
emergency recognition and prevention (what constitutes an emergency and how to prevent the
occurrence);
safe distances and places of refuge;
site security and control;
evacuation routes and procedures;
decontamination procedures;
emergency medical treatment and first aid;
emergency alerts and response;
personal protective equipment and emergency equipment
engineering controls;
air monitoring; and
critique of response procedures and follow-up.
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety defines major spill as a large spill that is greater than 500gm
or 500 ml or any amount of an acutely hazardous material.
An acutely hazardous material is any material that is imminently dangerous to life and health.
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety defines select agent spill as any amount of regulated select
agent released into the environment that could threaten the safety and health of the building occupants. Select
agent spills are considered major spill events. Upon identifying a release laboratory occupant must immediately
implement the major spill procedures.
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety defines hazardous gas releases as any amount of hazardous
gas released into the environment that could threaten the safety and health of the building occupants. Hazardous
gas releases are considered major spills. Upon identifying a release laboratory occupant must immediately
implement the major spill procedures.
Mercury Releases
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety considers mercury an extremely toxic and dangerous
material. In effort to reduce possible exposure risks to personnel and students all mercury spills are regarded as
major spills. Upon identifying a release immediately implement the major spill procedures.
• Minor Spills
The Department of Environmental Health and Safety defines minor spill as a small spill that is less than 500 gm
or 500 ml of non-acutely hazardous materials. The Department of Environmental Health and Safety shall provide
a list of some acutely hazardous chemicals. This list shall be referenced prior to any clean up. All spills that occur
in educational and/or vacant laboratories shall initially be identified as a major spill. The Department of
Environmental Health and Safety shall assess the situation and determine the appropriate course of action.
Hazardous Material Spill Procedures for Minor Spills
In the event of a minor spill the following emergency procedures shall be implemented:
1. If injured or contaminated with a hazardous substance immediately implement personal decontamination
procedures prior to reporting spill.
2. Laboratory personnel will be responsible for the containment and clean up of all minor spills.
3. Proper personal protection equipment shall be donned during the clean up of all minor spills. If laboratory
personnel does not have the proper personal protective equipment then contact the Department of Environmental
Health and Safety for assistance
4. All non-disposable personal protective equipment shall be decontaminated and stored.
5. All disposable personal protective equipment and clean up materials shall be disposed of as hazardous waste.
6. If the material spilled is not covered under the minor spill definition (< 500 ml or 500 gm of non-acutely
hazardous material) then laboratory personnel shall implement the major spill procedures.
Hazardous Material Spill Procedures for Major Spills
The following procedure applies to:
• Laboratory personnel
• Education personnel
• Facilities Personnel
• Maintenance personnel
• Outside Contractor Personnel
• Environmental Services personnel
• Administrative personnel
In the event of a major spill in area, all laboratory, education, facilities, maintenance, outside contractor,
administrative, and/or environmental services personnel will implement the following plan:
1. Notify persons in the immediate area that a spill has occurred.
2. Avoid breathing vapors, mists or dust of the spilled material.
3. Turn off all ignition sources, if possible.
4. If injured or contaminated with a hazardous substance immediately implement personal decontamination
procedures (i.e. eyewash, safety shower, etc.) prior to reporting spill.
5. Evacuate room and close the door
6. Contact the following using any in house telephone.