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Course Aims
• To provide a practical understanding of
occupational hygiene for people who need to
Mine (Occupational) Health and manage or advise on workplace health issues
Safety – MN 4111 in their employment
• To provide a foundation for students who wish
Dr . J. R. Rugarabamu to undertake more in-depth study in individual
DMPEE occupational hygiene subjects
• To inform and enthuse students about the
field of occupational hygiene

Learning Outcomes What is expected of you

On successful completion of this module you should have a basic
understanding of: • Ask questions as we go through
• The value of occupational hygiene and the role of the • Come to class on time
occupational hygienist
• The range of health hazards encountered in the Mining • Participate in the discussions
workplace.
• Hazard recognition techniques
• Participate in the practical exercises
• Sources and potential routes of occupational exposure • Attempt the questions each night
• Exposure assessment and the measurement processes
involved • Put on your phones on silence/switch off
• Methods of controlling exposure
• The management of occupational hygiene programmes.

Overview and history Overview and history

• Mine health and safety
• Occupational hygiene
• Examples of Hazardous Substances/Processes
• Other important definitions
• Introduction to occupational accidents
• History of occupational hygiene
• Importance of occupational hygiene
Mine safety refers to the management of
operations and events within the mining
industry, for protecting miners by minimizing
hazards, risks and accidents
Mine health refers to the physical , mental and
social well being of miners, mine health does
not necessarily mean absence of sickness

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What is Occupational Hygiene? HEALTH HAZARDS

The International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) Gases, vapours, solids, fibres, liquids,
Chemical agents
defines Occupational Hygiene as: dusts, mists, fumes, etc.
Noise and vibration
Physical agents Heat and cold
'The discipline of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating and Electromagnetic fields, lighting etc.
controlling health hazards in the working environment with the
Biological agents Bacteria, fungi, etc.
objective of protecting worker health and well-being and
safeguarding the community at large.'
Ergonomic factors Lifting, stretching, and repetitive motion

Psychosocial factors Stress, workload and work organisation

ANTICIPATING AND RECOGNIZING EVALUATION

ANTICIPATION – this involves identifying potential hazards in the
workplace before they are introduced
RECOGNITION - this involves identifying the potential hazard
that a chemical, physical or biological agent - or an adverse
ergonomic situation - poses to health
EVALUATION of the extent of exposure to the chemical hazards, physical
or biological agents (or adverse ergonomic situation) in the workplace.
This often involves measurement of the personal exposure of a worker to
the hazard/agent in the workplace, particularly at the relevant interface
between the environment and the body, e.g. breathing zone, hearing
zone, and assessment of the data in terms of recommended occupational
exposure limits (OELs), where such criteria exist.

CONTROL What is Occupational Hygiene?

CONTROL of the chemical, physical or biological agent - Work Activity

or adverse ergonomic situation, by procedural,

Occupational
engineering or other means where the evaluation Exposure
Hygiene
Occupational
indicates that this is necessary. Health
Occupational
Disease
Medicine

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Other definitions
• Accident: a sudden, unfortunate incident/event that
happens unexpectedly and unintentionally resulting
in an undesired outcome such as property damage,
bodily injury or death
• Occupational accident: Accident occuring at
workplace
• Injury: Physical damage to body tissues caused by an
accident or by exposure to environmental stressors
• Hazard : Any existing or potential condition in the
workplace which, by itself or by interacting with other
variables can result in death, injury, property damage
or other loss, Hazard is a potential source of harm.
Other definitions cont.
• Occupational safety: risk identification at
workplace and preventive measures taken to
reduce or eliminate the hazard which may lead to
accidents.
• Safe behaviour: Acting in such a way that no risk
of injury caused by one’s behaviour
• Safety professional: a person whose basic job
function and responsibility is to prevent accidents
and other harmful exposurs and the personal
injury, disease or propert damage
Important questions
• Who do report go to?
• What time-frame should be allowed to
complete investigation?
• Are there follow-up procedures to ensure
that report recommendations are
implemented?
• Have the appropriate authorities being
notified?
• What accident will be recorded and
investigated?
• Is a custom-designed form needed?
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Other definitions cont.
• Risk: the likelihood of harm (in defined
circumstances)
• Harm: The loss to aperson( or people) as
consequence of damage
• Damage: The loss of inherent quality
suffered by an entity (physiological or
biological)
• Danger: The degree of exposure to ahazard
• Safety: the absence of a danger
Causes of occupational accidents and
injuries
• Human factors
– Age, experience, use of medicine or drug,
motivation etc.
• Environmental factors
– Lighting, noise, temperature etc
– Hazards should be eliminated or isolated so that
there is no risk of accident.
Important questions
• Are all injuries recorded in the recording
system
• What training will investigator need?
• Where will records of accidents and
investigations be kept?
• Does regular analysis identify similar accidents
recurring or other trends?
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Accident rate
• Comparison of accidents between time-periods,
industries, occupations and countries
• Industrial accident Statistics are considered in
conjuction with employment, work hours,
production etc
• Frequency rate = total number of accidents
x103/total number of workhours worked
• Incidence rate= total number of accidents x103/total
number of workers exposed
History of Occupational Hygiene
• Ca 400 BC Hippocrates in ancient
Greece first noted illness in
mercury sulphide workers.
History of Occupational Hygiene
Agricola (ca 1556)
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Severity indicators
• The average number of days lost per accident
• The number of days lost per day worked by persons
exposed to risk,or, failing that, per person exposed
risk.
• Other countries number of days lost per 1000 work-
hours
• Death and permanently disabling injuries are delt
with separately from other accidents statistics. other
equates to 6000 lost days
History of Occupational Hygiene
• Ca 1540 Paracelsus in Austria
described lung diseases in
mineworkers
History of Occupational Hygiene
• 1700 Ramazzini, the father of industrial medicine,
and Professor of Medicine in Padua, wrote “De
Morbis Artificum Diatriba”, the first formal study of
industrial diseases.
• It was he who added an addition to Hippocrates list
of questions to patients when taking a history,
namely “what is your occupation?”
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History of Occupational Hygiene History of Occupational Hygiene

The Industrial revolution from the late 1700s through to the late
1800s led to increased urbanisation and industrialisation. Picture
of Manchester UK.
• 1858 John Stenhouse introduces a charcoal
impregnated mask to control exposure to gases and
vapours.

History of Occupational Hygiene History of Occupational Hygiene

1889 - Exposure limits are set for humidity and carbon dioxide
in cotton mills in the UK. • 1890s - Haldane undertakes work on the toxicity of Carbon Monoxide by
exposing rats mice and even himself to varying concentrations within an
“exposure chamber”.

• He used these results to develop “dose

v time” plots for severity and
discomfort of health effects.

• He introduces the use of small animals

and in particular Canaries as the first
way of monitoring to give an indication
of the levels of toxic gas.

History of Occupational Hygiene History of Occupational Hygiene

• 1917 - During the first world war, the urgency of the work in munitions
factories led to poor working conditions.
1910 Alice Hamilton works in
• The work of the “Health of Munitions Workers Committee” laid the
the US as the first Industrial ground for many subsequent practices in ergonomics, psychology,
welfare and shift-work regimes.
toxicologist pioneering the field
of toxicology and occupational
hygiene.

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History of Occupational Hygiene
• 1920s-30s - Industrial hygiene develops and grows in the USA in both the Public
Health Service (PHS) and large private companies. These developments lay the
foundations for the creation of two professional organisations.
• 1938/9 - The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygiene (ACGIH)
and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) were formed. The first
independent professional organisations for industrial/occupational hygienists . IH
numbers in USA grow rapidly during WWII to assist the war effort.
• 1953 - British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) founded. Society starts
publishing Annals of Occupational Hygiene in 1958.
• 1960s - Occupational Safety and Health Act in the USA and the Health and Safety
at Work Act in the UK lay the path for Risk Assessment / performance based
legislation.
The Importance of Occupational Hygiene
The World Health Organisation estimates that
globally there are:
• 2,000,000 work-related deaths per year.
• 386,000 deaths each year from exposure to
airborne particulates.
• 152,000 deaths per year from carcinogens in the
workplace.
• 37% of Lower Back Pain is attributed to occupation.
Importance of health and safety
management in Mining
• In the past centuries, mining was
characterized as a dangerous trade involving
high probabilities of injuries, illness or worse
• The dangerous characteristic of mines
persisted for a long time
• Regrettably, mining accidents were often
viewed as one of the tragic costs for extracting
the ore/mineable materials
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History of Occupational Hygiene
• 1970s - Occupational Safety and Health Act in the USA and the Health and
Safety at Work Act in the UK lay the path for Risk Assessment / performance
based legislation.
• 1980/90s - The practice of occupational hygiene grows widely in the USA, UK,
The Netherlands and Australia with legislation in these countries being
introduced specifically to focus on chemical and physical hazards.
• 2000s - The societies of 25 different countries are members of the
International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA).
– Industrialisation in countries such as China and India increase the need for
Occupational hygiene.
– The development of modelling techniques for assessing exposure.
The Importance of Occupational Hygiene
That means approximately 228 people have died
from work related injury or ill health since we started
an hour ago.
Importance of health and safety
management in Mining
• Today, mining is among the safest in the World as
reflected by comparable fatality and injury rates
• The improvements are due to:
– Improved mining methods (automation and other procedures)
– Routine general education and specialized hazards training for
workers
– Broader understanding and application of health and safety
management systems
– Greater recognition of moral imperative to protect the industry’s
greater assets – Its people
• Although these improvements are impressive, still there
are injuries, occupational diseases and deaths