CHN Prefinals

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH STRATEGIES: ASSESSMENT AND CONTROL OF

HAZARDS IN THE WORKPLACE
The way by which the occupational health could classify occupational health concerns
in the workplace is to identify (1) health hazards and (2) safety hazards. Health
hazards are the elements in the work environment that work-related diseases to the
worker. Safety hazards are the unsafe conditions or unsafe acts that significantly
increase the risk of a worker to be injured. Typically, the occupational health team
begins with risk anticipation and assessment by creating a job-safety analysis. This
could be done through reviews of records, process and equipment reviews, chemical
inventories, interviews, focused group discussions, surveys, observations, and walk-
through methods. In this process, the hazards present, those who are exposed, and
the degree of individual exposures are identified. The occupational health team may
categorize identified health hazards in the workplace as follows:
1. Biological-infectious hazards: Infectious biological agents such as bacteria, viruses,
fungi, or parasites that may be transmitted via contact with infected clients or
coworkers, and contaminated materials.
2. Chemical hazards: Various forms of chemical agents, including medications,
solutions, and gases, that interact with body tissues and cells and are potentially toxic
or irritating to body systems.
3. Enviromechanical hazards: Factors encountered in work environments that cause
accidents, injuries, strain, or discomfort (e.g., poor equipment or lifting devices and
slippery floors).
4. Physical hazards: Agents within work environments such radiation, electricity,
extreme temperatures, and noise that can cause tissue trauma through transfer of
energy from these sources.
5. Psychosocial Factors and hazards: situations encountered or associated with the job
or work environment that create stress, emotional strain, or interpersonal problems.
Table 17.1 provides examples of work- related exposures in each of these areas,
together with the illness that the worker develop. Having a good understanding of the
nature of these hazards will allow for the development of health promotion and
prevention strategies to mitigate exposure risk. Typical control measures for
occupational hazards can be categorized into three, namely:
1. Administrative control - refers to the development and implementation of policies,
standards, trainings, job design, and the like. For example, a workplace where a
substantial level of noise is involved may need to implement job rotation policies to be
able to assure that no worker is exposed to the threshold limit (i.e., 85 decibels per 8-
hour shift) in any given work day.
2. Engineering - refers to the adoption of physical, chemical, or technological
improvements to limit the exposure of workers to the hazards of the workplace. Noise-
emitting machines can be isolated with sound-proof walls, and dangerous machine
parts can be guarded with tough materials. Toxic chemicals could be substituted with
alternatives, and their handling could be automated as well.
3. Materials provision - refers to providing the workers with supplies or supplements
that can decrease their exposure or susceptibility to occupational hazards. Personal
(PPE), immunization, and vitamin supplementation are some examples of these.
Health care and laboratory workers could be provided with masks, eye shields, and
daily doses of multivitamins to decrease the exposure and increase the resistance to
infections. protective equipments.