BASIC OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY & HEALTH

Chapter 1: Introductory Concepts: Promoting Safety as a Professional

& Ethical Responsibility; Basic Terminologies

WHAT IS MEANT BY SAFETY???

Safety is a state in which hazards and conditions leading
to physical, psychological or material harm are controlled in order
to preserve the health and over all well-being of individuals within
a workplace.
A safe and healthy workplace not only protects workers
from injury and illness, it can also lower injury/illness costs, reduce
absenteeism and turnover, increase productivity and quality, and
raise employee morale. A win-win situation for both the owner,
workers, and the community.

SAFETY AS AN ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY:

Engineers and other professionals are often faced with
situations requiring ethical decisions in promoting safety and
health in the workplace. Being ethical requires making a moral
judgment that is not always straightforward and easy to
comprehend for those involved. Ethics can be interpreted in
many ways and can represent morality, social responsibility,
rules, beliefs, doing what’s right, following company principles,
or humanity. Despite the meaning of ethics being subjective,
the focus should always be to follow principles, be responsible
and distinguish right from wrong.

As practitioners of Occupational Health & Safety (OHS), there is a code of ethics attached. The
code may differ based on the local OHS organization and geographical location but that the core values
are the same – which is to separate personal and professional judgment, focus on making informed
decisions, awareness of consent, open communication and transparency.

SAFETY AS A PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY:

All workers, whether being a professional or non-professional, have their own personal
responsibility regarding safety. All jobs have hazards, so in order to make the workplace safe and
prevent or reduce hazards both the
employer and the employees must follow
safety procedures.
Safety is not just the responsibility
of the “safety officer/ manager”, though the
mentioned individuals have a higher degree
of responsibility when it comes to safety
particularly in terms of drafting safety
policies/ programs and their proper
implementation in a workplace.

SIMPLE STEPS TO REMEMBER WHERE SAFETY & HEALTH IN THE WORKPLACE IS AN ENGINEER’S
PROFESSIONAL AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY:
1. Always follow government requirements, laws, guidelines, as well as company
principles and policies when conducting OHS related tasks and decision making.
2. Be transparent in communicating data, findings, recommendations to the respective
management.
3. Follow the code of ethics of the relevant professional association and/or accreditation
body and report any incident

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_1

 4. Detach personal judgment, thoughts and ideas from professional setting as much as
possible.
5. Support and follow OHS values and principles
6. Know what you know and know what you do not know.

INDUSTRIAL SAFETY: BASIC TERMINOLOGIES

Industrial safety refers to the management of all operations and events within an industry in
order to protect its employees and assets by minimizing hazards*, risks, near misses, and accidents.
Industrial safety is measured through a series of metrics/ studies that track the rate of near misses**,
injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.

Work related illness (Asthma) Work related death (Fatality) Work related injury (Broken leg)

WHAT IS A HAZARD???
“Hazards” are almost synonymous to accident causes. However, a clear distinction should be
made. A “hazard” can exist without an accident (although one might say that an accident is just waiting
to happen) while an accident cannot take place without a hazard (danger).
A “hazard” is any object, situation, or behavior that has the potential to cause injury, ill health,
or damage to property or the environment. Health and safety hazards exist in every workplace. Some
are easily identified and corrected, while others are necessary risks of the job and must be managed in
other ways (for instance, by using PPE’s like hard hats to protect against falling objects and body harness
to safeguard against free-fall).

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_2

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A HAZARD AND A RISK???
A “hazard” is something that can cause harm, e.g. electricity, chemicals, working up a ladder,
noise, a keyboard, a bully at work, stress, etc. A “risk” is the chance (probability), high or low, that any
hazard will actually cause bodily harm.

WHAT IS AN ACCIDENT??? INCIDENT???

You may hear the words accident and incident to refer to events in the news. These words are
easy to confuse, but they are not exactly the same. An “incident” is more general, and an “accident” is
more specific.
An “incident” is a broader term that can refer to any event – good or bad (positive or negative),
intentional or unintentional. This may involve either with property damage to property or injury/ death
or both or without involvement of both.
i.e. A bank robbery, a funny or controversial situation, an argument between celebrities..
Meanwhile an “accident” is a bad event caused by error or by chance. Accidents are always
unintentional, and they usually result in some damage causing the injury/ death or simply an injury/
death.
i.e. A car had crashed instantly killing all passengers except the driver.
A boy was slightly wounded when he was left alone while playing with a knife.
To summarize, all accidents can be considered as incidents but not all incidents can be treated
as accidents.
i.e. A bystander was pissed by a passerby with the former sneaking in a punch on the latter
who got hurt eventually
*The situation cannot be considered as both incident and accident even though someone got
hurt (negative).
**Though someone got hurt, the action on the part of the bystander was intentional even if it
was a reaction due to the pissing of the passerby.

All accidents have

causes and that a great
majority of them are roughly
99% preventable as shown by
the Hierarchy of Accident
Causes. It is therefore a
challenge to all concerned
especially the Safety
Engineers/ Practitioners to
identify or recognize the said
99% preventable accidents
and eventually prevent them
from taking place.

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_3

 *Preventable Accidents are those that can be prevented from happening with the proper
information dissemination, training, use of hierarchy of controls, etc..
i.e.: Falling from a ladder
Being electrocuted

Preventable accidents are either caused by direct causes (main reason) or contributory
causes (part of the reason on why such accident occurred but not the main reason)
i.e.: Falling from a ladder
Direct causes use of faulty ladder; improper use of
Ladder.
Contributory causes horse playing of nearby
workers even with the use of a new
ladder and user employing proper
safety protocols on the use of a
ladder.

Being electrocuted
Direct causes use of exposed/ worn-out electrical
wires.
Contributory causes worker not familiar with the
electrical wiring system he is working.

**Not Preventable Accidents are those that cannot be prevented from taking place but that
its occurrence (likelihood) or its effects (severity of harm such as injuries) can be minimized from taking
place.
i.e.: A butcher suffering from cuts
An ironsmith suffering from burns on the skin

***Human Failure are those that are either caused by human error (wrong judgement) and
plain ignorance (disregard of safety thinking that nothing could go wrong/ that it is not yet your time
to die).

****Unsafe Condition examples are the following:

(1) Mechanical Unsafe Condition refers to the physical/ mechanical condition of the
machine/ equipment being used;
i.e.: A grinding machine should have a safety guard preventing anything from
getting caught with the high speed rotating equipment.
(2) Physical Unsafe Condition refers to an agent, factor or circumstance that can cause
harm with contact. They can be classified as type of occupational hazard or
environmental hazard. It includes ergonomic hazards, radiation, heat and cold stress,
vibration hazards, and noise hazards.
i.e.: A worker in a foundry.
(3) Chemical Unsafe Condition refers to the presence of chemicals present in a given
location; and
i.e. Working on a petrochemical plant with the presence of Sulfur Dioxide, SO2
a kind paralytic toxic gas that makes a worker passed-out as the central
nervous system is being attacked and eventually die with prolonged
exposure.
(4) Environmental Unsafe Condition refers to the kind of environment a given workplace is
located.
i.e. Working on a remote location, a rainforest where Malaria infected
mosquitos’ breed highlighting the probability of acquiring a disease unless
vaccinated.

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_4

WHAT IS A NEAR MISS???
A “near miss” is an incident which results to no injury, no damage to property/
equipment/ machinery, and no environmental effect but has the potential for all
those cited. This is as a result of an unsafe condition/ unsafe act.
A “near miss” can also be termed as “near hit” does not pose any
immediate negative impact, but that it can present us with trend of events
which may result to serious damage and losses given a slight shift in time
or position.

WHY NEAR MISS INVESTIGATING ANG REPORTING IS VERY IMPORTANT???

1. It is could have been a product of an unsafe act or unsafe
condition.
2. May have resulted from a failed control.
3. Subsequent incident may present dire consequence.
4. When near miss is reported and investigated it helps
determine the root cause/ causes and implement
appropriate controls accordingly.
5. It will help prevent the same or similar accident from
taking place once again.
6. Helps create a culture that seeks to identify and control
hazards, which will reduce risks and the potential for
harm, etc.
When near misses are reported and properly
investigated, accident/ accidents can be
prevented, and appropriate actions can be made
to ensure the safety and well-being of the
worker/ workers, a win-win situation for both
employer and employee.

WHY REPORTING A NEAR MISS INCIDENT IS USUALLY NOT DONE???

1. People don’t like to do it.
2. It is usually inconvenient to fill-out a “Near Miss” Investigation form
3. It is convenient and sometimes less stressful to just forget the near-miss ever happened.
4. Who wants to report a personal experience that reflects at risk behaviour, careless, and maybe
irresponsible attitude? Possibly being scolded by your higher heads, meted by sanctions
(safety trainings), or affect job performance evaluation.

HOW TO WRITE A NEAR MISS REPORT???

1. Create a clear description of the near miss.
2. Investigate and assess the possible causes of the problem.
3. Identify solutions to the problem and design an action plan to solve the problem.
4. Prioritize action plan and classify information for future actions.
5. Distribute the investigation report to the people involved in the near miss, and
management staff.
6. Create actions to prevent another near miss.

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_5

SAMPLE NEAR MISS SCENARIO:

SAMPLE OF A NEAR MISS/ NEAR HIT BLANK FORM:

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_6

SAMPLE OF AN ACCOMPLISHED NEAR MISS/ NEAR HIT REPORT:

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_7

 ASSIGNMENT NO.1
___________________________________________________________
1. Identify all the hazards that may be found on the given workplace condition. Do this by
“encircling” the specific part of the caricature depicting the given workplace.

*Download the document to be answered/ to be accomplished via this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1z1kV6IBcJ6KvTntKyLiQWCsLGVT_xbtP

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_8

 ASSIGNMENT NO.2
___________________________________________________________
2. Create a duly accomplished Near Miss/ Near Hit Form involving the scenario being depicted
below. That of a worker working on a CONFINED SPACE with 16% and 15% available
Oxygen.

*Download a blank NEAR MISS/ NEAR HIT FORM via this link:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/1z1kV6IBcJ6KvTntKyLiQWCsLGVT_xbtP

List your actual name, contact number, and email address…

BOSH0101/ ENGR. GSROBLES, MEM Page_9